Fortunately I’d been too busy, mostly happily, to worry about it while here in Napa. But seeing Mia on the screen suddenly reminded me as my stomach bottomed out. I’d know whether I got the job. And likely very soon.
“So hey, I should get going,” Mia said. “We’ll get together for lunch one of these days, Kat?”
Kat turned the screen back towards herself. “Absolutely mandatory. Next week.”
“It’s a date. Have a safe trip home in a few days.”
Kat sighed. “I wish we were coming home sooner.”
“Eh, why, so you can get back to work?” she laughed.
Kat commiserated and ended the call, setting aside her tablet. The skirt of her dress had ridden up her shapely pale thigh as she lay on the bed, barefoot. She also looked a little rumpled, as if she’d napped earlier. Her hair was an untidy cinnamon cloud around her shoulders and there was a warm glow to her skin, pink in her cheeks. She looked absolutely…
Fuckable.
And I wanted to do just that. Again. As soon as possible. Just remembering how those strong legs felt wrapped around my hips while I was buried inside her made me hard again. Instantly.
To cover for my bodily reaction, I sat down on my side of the bed.
“How’s Julia?” She rolled onto her side to face me.
I smiled. “She’s fine. Had a good cry. Thanks for giving us the time to talk. I—it’s been a long time. I guess I’m as guilty as my parents are for not appreciating that she’s a lot deeper than I thought she was. I can visibly see the change in her.
She bit her lip and watched me with wide eyes. “So neither of you are mad at me?”
I frowned, drawing back. “Mad at you? Why would we be?”
“Because I could tell you two just wanted to blow your dad off. But I engaged anyway. I couldn’t stop myself. I’m sorry but when I see someone mistreating another, I just have to stand up for them. I got so pissed, I couldn’t back down.”
“You stand up for others being mistreated, but not when you’re the one being mistreated…”
That adorable crease between her brows reappeared, and she looked off into the distance, considering. “You’re right. I hadn’t thought about it that way. I guess maybe because my parents always sided with Derek, I got tired of fighting against it? It’s… it’s easier to stick up for others than for myself.”
“Somewhere along the line you got the idea that you weren’t worth the trouble.”
She looked up at me. “I’m glad I had you there last time. I guess today makes us square.”
I laughed. “That’s very important to you, isn’t it? That we stay even at least, or that you’re ahead. You can’t stand it when I’m the one ahead.”
She nodded. “Accurate.”
“Well, anyway, neither one of us is mad at you and Julia is super grateful you stuck up for her. She’s going to take some time to figure out her next step regarding the parents and she’ll be asking me for advice with that. I think she’s going to be fine.”
Kat kept her eyes focused on mine, her stare intensifying. “I like Julia a lot. But I didn’t do it for her.”
I returned that gaze, seeing… something deep in the sky-blue depths of her eyes. Suddenly there was this rush of feeling—like freefall, an exhilarating, heart-pumping breathless sort of feeling that almost overwhelmed me.
She did it for me.
I cleared my throat after far too long of a pause “Well… thank you.”
She smiled and reached out her hand to cover mine. “I told you, we’re family. Even if it’s temporary. And family sticks up for each other. And supports each other. The good kind of family, anyway.”
I twitched a brow, staring at that hand covering my own without making a move to respond to her touch. I was also, curiously, finding it difficult to even talk.
She tilted her head toward me. “We both got a bit of a bad draw in the family department. But you and me, we’re smart and kind and good people. We can be there for each other.”
I swallowed in a thick throat, surprisingly moved by her sentiment. I chanced a glance up to meet her gaze and when we connected, she smiled sweetly.
Without even realizing what I was doing, I reached up and smoothed her soft cheek. God, she was amazing—and not just to look at, and not just in the sack. And I realized that as much as she’d rubbed me