Perfect Fit (Serendipity's Finest) - By Carly Phillips Page 0,27

it even as she created a shitstorm of trouble in his head.

“Adam? Kevin?” The names sounded like sandpaper on his tongue.

Cara evenly met his gaze. “Tiffany?”

He groaned. Turnabout was fair play, and he deserved the pointed question. “Last I heard through the grapevine, meaning my mother, she moved out of state and got married.”

“Regrets?” Cara asked.

He raised his head. “You don’t do anything halfway,” he muttered.

“Neither do you.”

He grinned.

She didn’t.

“Not one damned regret.”

“Now, why the grilling? What’s gotten into you?” she asked. “Seriously.”

Good question. One he’d been asking himself over and over. Unfortunately, he knew the answer. “You’ve gotten into me.” He leaned in close, bracing one knee on the mattress, his arm on the headboard behind her. “You make me crazy.”

A dimple puckered her cheek, and he could tell she’d liked the admission. “Okay, since you came clean, I will too. I heard from two old boyfriends.”

Their bodies were so close, he could only feel and breathe her in. “And?”

“Both married. Neither interested me beyond some memories anyway. Why do you care?”

Damned if he knew. He’d never asked any woman about who else she was seeing. He hadn’t cared. “Because while we’re together, you’re mine.”

Her breath came out in a whoosh of air. “We’re together?”

“We’re not?” he asked, his words a definite dare.

Mike knew he was being unreasonable, an arrogant ass, making demands without any discussion at all, but she brought out the caveman in him.

She studied him long and hard, making him wonder if she’d just slap him and storm out. He’d deserve it if she did.

Instead she reached out and slid her hand around his neck, pulling him closer. “You’re going to break my heart,” she murmured.

And there it was. The lightning bolt of panic crashed over him hard. Yet oddly, he didn’t pull away. “No hearts involved,” he said instead.

“Right.” A flicker of something, suspiciously like hurt, crossed her face before she covered her emotions.

He didn’t like that she hid her thoughts from him, never mind that he’d all but instructed her to do so. Her tongue slid over her lush, pink lips, and the single stroke broke his control. He crushed his mouth to hers and kissed her for all he was worth. Kissed her to take away her pain from last night, to soothe the hurt he’d probably just inflicted with his careless but necessary words, but mostly to assure himself she was on board.

His.

For now.

To his relief, she reciprocated, opening to him and letting him inside. His tongue stroked and glided, tangled with hers, and suddenly everything was right inside him once more. No more anger or jealousy or mixed-up emotions he didn’t recognize, understand, or know what to do with. He groaned and came down on top of her, unable to hold his weight up anymore and needing to feel her solid and real beneath him.

She threaded her fingers through his hair and held on, holding her own thrust for thrust of their tongues and bodies until the call of his mother’s voice brought him back to reality.

It wasn’t easy, but he dragged himself off her and flopped to his side, placing an arm above his head. “Dessert’s probably on the table,” he said, willing his overheated body to calm down.

“I thought that was dessert.”

He chuckled, amazed at her ability to go with the flow no matter the circumstances.

“But we shouldn’t be doing this here anyway.” She scrambled off the bed and paused at the small mirror, wiping beneath her eyes and fixing her tousled hair.

“I should go back first,” she said. “If anyone asks, I’ll tell them I was in the bathroom.”

As if his family wouldn’t figure out what they’d been doing in here? But Mike didn’t want to upset Cara by pointing that out. “I’ll be out in a few.” As soon as he wouldn’t embarrass himself, Mike thought.

After Mike’s ridiculously possessive behavior at his parents’ house, he and Cara managed not to cross paths for the next few days. Mike used the time to get himself under control and look into the cold case and the cash left in the evidence room for all these years. He wasn’t kidding when he said they needed to upgrade the computer system. The one they had was shit, and in this day and age, that wasn’t acceptable.

For now, he had to go with handwritten notes and people’s memories, and the only person in Serendipity who knew about the case wasn’t talking. He tapped his pen against the desk, thinking about various ways