Perfect Fit (Serendipity's Finest) - By Carly Phillips Page 0,55

painful thoughts a sucker punch to his gut.

She didn’t think she believed, but she so obviously yearned for what Faith had—and Cara deserved that kind of love and devotion. He wasn’t the guy to give it to her, and for the first time in his life, Mike was disappointed that he couldn’t be what a woman needed.

Not a woman.

This one.

No hearts involved, wasn’t that what he’d told her? If that were true, then why did his chest ache so badly now?

Ethan cleared his throat, and the women glanced up. “Hi!” Faith said. “Come on in.”

The quiet spell that enveloped Mike broken, he followed Ethan into the room, but Mike knew this night would stay with him for a long, long while.

After they put the baby to bed, Faith and Ethan said good night to Tess and checked in with the housekeeper, Rosalita, who would be babysitting for the evening. They had dinner in a neighboring town at a steak restaurant, where they were seated in a small booth.

With Cara next to him, she invaded his personal space. Cara’s scent, a new warm, musky fragrance, cocooned him in a sexual haze. It was a miracle he’d been able to focus on conversation with the hard-on he had beneath the table. Faith and Ethan seemed happy to be out for grown-up time, so they ordered a bottle of wine and lingered over drinks, dinner, and dessert.

By the time they headed back to Cara’s, Mike realized he’d had a genuinely good time. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone on a regular date with another couple and was even more shocked to discover that not only had he liked it, he wasn’t itching to get back to New York or his solitary life.

All he could focus on was getting Cara into bed and keeping her there.

Ten

For a night that had been a roller coaster of emotions, Cara ended up having a really good time. She’d adored Faith’s baby, the sweet, innocent smell providing her with unfamiliar warm fuzzy feelings floating in her brain. Then she’d looked up to see Mike staring at her with a hot but unreadable expression on his face, and if she hadn’t handed the baby back to her mother, Cara might have ended up letting a deeply buried yearning creep inside. She couldn’t afford to think about things like babies, family, or even long-term relationships. The very thoughts were anathema to her on a normal day, but with Mike in her life, they were downright dangerous.

She’d been grateful when Ethan said it was time to go, and they’d said their good nights to Tess and Rosalita and headed off for dinner, just the adults. Cara had relaxed and let go, drinking more wine than she was used to, and even now, on their way home, she still felt a happy buzz.

Mike pulled into the driveway of her condo and cut the engine of his truck. Before she could focus, he’d come around to her side and opened her door. She fumbled for the seat belt, the fuzziness from the wine making her fingers less than nimble, and she couldn’t suppress a very un-Cara-like giggle.

“Let me.” Mike immediately leaned over her and unbuckled the seat belt with one easy click, releasing her.

She turned to hop out of the high truck seat and came into direct contact with his hard body, and his large hands came to her waist. It was all she could do not to lean farther into his warmth and the intoxicating scent she’d come to associate with Mike.

Instead of stepping back and giving her room to climb out, he lifted her out of the seat and deliberately allowed her body to feel the hard length of his as he lowered her to the ground.

She teetered a bit on her heels and wrapped her arms around his neck, telling herself it was so she wouldn’t fall.

“Cara,” he groaned, burying his face between her neck and shoulder. “Sitting so close to you at the restaurant, your bare thigh touching mine, your sexy scent distracting me, I’ve been hard all night.”

Her body clenched tight at his blunt words, and she let out a moan, arching her hips into him and tangling her fingers in his hair.

“Inside,” he said, grabbing her hand and heading for the door. “Keys?” He held out a hand.

She fumbled opening her purse but found the set and handed them to him so he could unlock the door faster than she ever could, and they stepped