Perfect Fit (Serendipity's Finest) - By Carly Phillips Page 0,32
that you’re obviously involved with her and didn’t think to mention it? Yeah, that would have been good to know too.” She held herself tight but didn’t step out of his grasp.
No anger. Yet. Mike’s heart beat harder in his chest. Lauren had come close to slapping him when he told her he was involved with Cara and had shown up with her without giving his ex-lover a heads-up.
Mike glanced at Cara, whose level of anger he still couldn’t gauge. Perhaps he ought to put his hand over his groin. Just in case.
“Or maybe it was the fact that she was drop-dead gorgeous that I’d have liked to know?”
Mike winced, knowing that Lauren looked nothing like the computer geek she actually was. “I didn’t think about it ahead of time because we’re not currently involved.”
Cara raised an eyebrow. He was certain many suspects had shriveled under that steely gaze.
“Come on. Her greeting left no doubt. And I’m not that stupid.”
He couldn’t help but grin at that. “No, but I am. We had an understanding. That’s all it was. She scratched an itch.”
Cara shook her head and tried unsuccessfully not to groan. “You are such a man.”
“And yet you aren’t yelling, screaming, or pitching a fit. Why is that?” The woman confounded him.
And wasn’t that why he liked her so much?
“Because turnabout is fair play and while we’re together, you’re mine,” she said, repeating his words back to him.
He burst out laughing, but it wasn’t funny. She was one in a million and he wasn’t ready to let her go.
Apparently she agreed because she finally wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him flush against her. Those lush curves were a perfect cushion for the harder planes of his body and the even harder ridge of his aching erection.
“Do we have an understanding?” she asked.
“Seems only fair.”
She blinked, looking into his eyes. “Did you and Lauren have that understanding?” she asked.
As he threaded his fingers through her hair, he could honestly say, “No. Lauren and I were an occasional, when-it-was-convenient thing.”
“And what about me? Am I just…scratching an itch?”
God, he was an ass.
“No, you are most definitely not just scratching an itch.” He shifted his hips, and a soft moan escaped her lips.
“Now that we’ve got that settled, can we get on with our night?” He’d more than satisfied her curiosity, and she liked his answers.
She smiled. “I’d like that. Very much.”
Cara’s body hummed with sexual need as Mike held out his hand. One last glance out the big window overlooking the city showed her that the light flurries the weatherman had predicted had turned into more of a full-blown storm, and they might not get back to Serendipity tonight. She wondered if she cared.
She should. So many red flags had been waved in her face today, she knew she ought to heed them. From the day Mike left Serendipity when everyone knew he couldn’t get away from Tiffany’s expectations fast enough, to the present, the warning signs were clear. He had affairs with no emotional connection. He’d failed to warn her she’d be meeting a woman he’d slept with. He kept the lease on his apartment, though he had no idea how long he’d be in Serendipity. All were signs that he was a restless man who moved through life without thought to how his actions affected the people who cared about him. She knew better than to think he didn’t care in return. He just didn’t know how to deal with relationships.
If he’d said Lauren meant something to him or that Cara was just a quick fling, she’d have been gone in an instant. But in her gut, the same gut she trusted to keep her alive on the job, she knew he wasn’t feeding her a line to get her into bed.
Cara got it. She knew who he was and desired him anyway. Which meant she had to accept him. As is.
So here she was in his bedroom. In her jeans and long-sleeved T-shirt, she was nothing like the glamorous woman he could have had. Yet he devoured her with an expression that told her he wanted to pounce.
“Changing your mind?” Mike asked, bringing her out of her thoughts. He still held out a hand, waiting.
A grin tipped the edges of her mouth. “Not a chance.”
In an instant the energy around her changed. First she’d anticipated. Now she was awash in sensation. Mike met and held her gaze, every step he took deliberate and calculated.