Still Into You (16 page)

He knew it and held her hips steady and in three strokes silenced her as an earth-shattering orgasm gripped her.

Holy shit!

How did he know how to do that? He knew her body so damn well, like he’d been there before. Or was it the fact that she hadn’t been with someone in close to a month? Did that have anything to do with it? She had no idea. The only thing she did know was that this was some fucking mind-numbing sex.

Tom collapsed on top of her after he came, capturing her mouth in a quick kiss, then got off her and ran to the bathroom. He came back, condom free, and crawled into bed next to her. He pulled her to him and held her like he didn’t want to let her go. She burrowed against him, her head on his chest, content for the moment, until the bell in her mind rang again.

This was their first time, but why did this feel so familiar? Was it because of Ethan? Mia didn’t think so . . . well, not exactly. She hadn’t been thinking about Ethan, but guilt was claiming her now. It had been close to a month since she last slept with him and here she was naked in bed with another man. But he wasn’t any other man. This was Tom. She’d known him for eight years. It felt natural doing this with him, but there was still a part of her that felt wrong. What the hell did that even mean? What happened with Tom, it wasn’t cheating. She hadn’t cheated on Ethan, but she’d be damned if it didn’t feel that way. She loved Ethan. He loved her. But it wasn’t just a break anymore. They were not together.

But . . . if it wasn’t for her troubles, maybe they would still be together. She should be figuring things out so she could get back to Ethan instead of sleeping with Tom. But Tom made her feel so good. He made her forget that pain. She needed to feel that from him. She didn’t feel guilty that she was hurting Tom.

For now, at least.

Her brain actively pushed those thoughts back into her hidden corners of her mind. It didn’t want the pain either. But the bell rang inside there again, nagging her.

“It feels like we’ve done this before. It was like my body recognized you. Weird, right?”

He turned on his side and looked at her incredulously. “You seriously don’t remember?”

“Remember what?”

“This isn’t our first time sleeping together.”

Fuck,
she didn’t expect that bombshell.

“Very funny, Tom. I would totally remember sleeping with you.”

“Obviously not.”

“We really slept together?” she asked, realizing he wasn’t kidding. How could this be? How could she have slept with him and not remembered it?

“Yeah, about three and a half years ago. A few weeks after our first kiss.”

“I can’t believe we slept together. Things were so awkward after that kiss, I thought you didn’t . . .” she trailed off.

“I didn’t what?”

“You didn’t like me
that
way. You didn’t want to step over the friend line again.”

“Things got awkward because you didn’t remember what we did.”

“What did we do, Tom? When did this happen?”

“We were at a party at Marc’s house. You and the guys were jamming, drinking, and probably getting high before I arrived. You and I kind of went off by ourselves, talking, flirting, drinking. While sitting on the deck, we kissed again and that turned into a serious make-out session. We somehow decided to head inside to one of the guest bedrooms. And then it pretty much happened like this,” he said, gesturing at her room. “Clothes being thrown, lips and hands all over one another.”

Mia frowned.

She had absolutely no recollection of that night. Her body did, but her mind, not so much. What the hell? How high had she been that night not to remember sleeping with Tom, someone she had wanted so badly? Three and a half years ago . . . 2004, right? She inventoried what she could of that summer and fall. Shit, she was at a party like every weekend and she could probably guarantee she was high at all of them. She wasn’t going to remember now.

“Are you mad?”

He put his hand on her cheek and let his thumb caress her lip. “No. Disappointed? Yes. Frustrated? Hell yeah. We were on fire that night. I wanted more of you.”

“Why didn’t you talk to me about this?”

He sighed and she knew he was upset. She wanted that answer, but by the look on his face, she wouldn’t get it. She’d be getting something else.

“Instead of talking about this, how about we make up for lost time?” he asked, pulling her to him, her breasts pressed so wonderfully to his chest. “What do you think?”

She smiled as his hand went straight between her legs, making sure she didn’t say no.

Luke

April 2008

“Come on! Answer!” Luke wailed at his phone. Frustrated didn’t even cover what he felt right now. Since Mia left Indy, her communication with him had been pretty much non-existent. When he called, she never answered. He had not heard her voice in over a month. He just got brief texts from her. Nothing like the talkaholic she normally was with him, and that worried the hell out of him.

Luke had been texting with Ethan, asking the quarterback about Mia and the end of her tour when Ethan told him that she’d ended it. She hadn’t said a word to Luke. Again, unlike her.

When he called her and left a message, asking if it was true, he received a simple, two-word text from her—
It’s true.

Why the hell would she end what she called the best thing that had ever happened to her? First the break and now the end of their relationship.

Another week went by without any word from her. They normally talked three to four times a week, even when she was on tour.

When the story of their broken engagement hit the papers, he had been half-tempted to drive up to Chicago to see how she was doing. But he’d decided to call instead. He didn’t expect her to answer. She was probably inundated with phone calls right now. She’d get back to him when she saw it. He hoped.

And three days later, she’d had finally sent him a text. All it said was that she was doing as well as could be expected. Whatever the hell that meant.

Over the course of the next few weeks, he’d given her space. Many times he almost dropped everything to go to her, but life got in the way, as it often did.

He finally gave in to that temptation this morning. Kaitlyn was on Spring Break with her mother. He had nothing important that week keeping him in Indy. So he’d packed a bag and headed up to Chicago.

Finally, the phone in his hand stopped ringing and was replaced by the sexiest voice he had ever heard.

“Hello?”

“Allie?” he said. Another person he hadn’t talked to since the time Mia was in Indy. That night with her . . . he hadn’t had anything like it. Well, that wasn’t the truth. He had
too
many like it, but what was different—not wanting to leave her. But life got in the way yet again. Not that he minded, not when he had his adorable daughter telling him how much she loved him.

“Luke.” It wasn’t a question. She knew his voice.

“Yeah.”

“Um . . . uh,” she said, her normal, confident voice not present. “What can I do for you?”

“Mia. Where is she?” he said, getting right to the point.

“She’s supposed to be in the studio later this afternoon. I think she’s at home now.”

“How is she?”

“Well . . .” Allie started and he knew she was trying to come up with something and that made him glad he was already on the road. He needed to see Mia. He was too goddamn worried.

“It’s bad?”

“Yeah,” she said on an exhale of breath. “I don’t know what to do.”

“I’m on my way right now.”

“You’re coming to Chicago?”

“Yeah, still on 65. Almost to the toll road.”

“So what? About an hour?”

“Yeah.”

“You heading straight to her place?”

“Yeah. I need to see her. I’m tired of her hiding from me.”

“Good luck with that,” she answered with a soft huff of air.

God, this conversation was awful, and definitely not like two people who had been intimate with each other. After that night in Indy, he hadn’t reached out, despite having her number. He felt too much. He wanted too much.

But he couldn’t have it. He wouldn’t do that to his daughter. Kaitlyn was his sole focus. The moment he found out about her, it had changed him and he’d vowed to never let her feel abandoned. Not by him. He knew that feeling all too well. His adoptive parents never made him feel anything but love, but that nagging feeling of being abandoned by the woman who gave birth to him had stayed with him. And he never wanted his daughter soiled by that.

So he stayed away. First, Mia. Now . . .

“Allie . . .” he groaned in frustration. He wanted her.

“I’m not going to the studio, so if you want to
talk
after you see Mia . . .”

Talk?
He wanted to blow her fucking mind again. That’s what he wanted to do. In this moment, Luke didn’t want to stay away. He desperately needed to be surrounded by this woman.

“Text me your address.”

“Okay,” she said in a breathless voice, the same voice she used when he hovered above her as she begged him to make her come.

“
Talk
to you later, Allie,” he said and hung up.

For the next forty-five minutes, he navigated the heavy Chicagoland traffic. Traveling up the Dan Ryan to the Loop, the normal longing he felt for his hometown was missing. Of course, he missed Chicago, but home was with Kaitlyn now.

Luke got off the highway and maneuvered through the city streets until he arrived in Mia’s neighborhood. The last time he was here was a little after she bought it, over a year ago. He found a parking spot a few houses away and made his way to her brownstone. Standing outside of Mia’s home, key in hand, the imposing, brick façade made him hesitate.

Was he making the right choice by just showing up unannounced? It had been five weeks since he had last heard from her. She was hiding out and he had absolutely no idea what was going on with her. Luke was concerned, very concerned. He needed to see for himself how she was, especially since she wouldn’t tell him.

This was definitely the right decision. Time to be the overbearing best friend.

He rang the bell to announce his arrival, then undid the lock. Walking in, he did a quick perusal of her place, noticing that there had been some changes. Lots of new furniture. It made him sad that she was making this her home and not Indy. He had such hope that she’d be his neighbor, that he’d be able to see her all the time.

Hope sucks sometimes.

“I’m still in bed,” Mia’s lyrical voice called out, interrupting his train of thought. “Where you left me.”

Wait. What? Who left her up there? And how was she left? He didn’t answer, but hurried up the steps to her bedroom, a whirlwind of questions spinning around in his mind.

Was she with someone? That didn’t seem right. Mia didn’t sleep around. When she had sex, she was in a relationship. It had only been five weeks since she had broken up with Ethan. She couldn’t be in another relationship already—could she?

Rounding the landing, he walked towards her bedroom and froze when he saw her sprawled out on the bed, the sheet barely covering her nakedness, her skin flushed. Yeah, she definitely looked like she just had sex. He knew that look well.

“Mia?” he asked, his gaze trained on her face. He wanted to see her reaction to him being there. Her eyes closed at his voice, her head falling back to her pillow.

“What are you doing here?” He sensed her disappointment that he was there. He’d be lying if he said it didn’t hurt. But he had to shake those thoughts and focus on why he was there—his troubled friend.

He marched into her room, kicked off his shoes, and plopped down on the bed next to her. She quickly glanced over at him and then turned her head back to look at the ceiling. Her reaction didn’t make him happy. She’d always leaned into him. He wasn’t having this. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he pulled her to him. She came but kept her body stiff, on alert.
His poor Mia.

He tenderly pushed her hair back. “You see, my best friend wasn’t responding to any of my messages. And I know for a fact some major stuff went down and I was worried about her. And since she wouldn’t pick up her phone, I decided to come to her.”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Luke,” she said, lifting her head and leveling him with an impressive glare.

“Hey! Why are you mad at me?” he asked, scooting down to get even with her face.

She pushed herself to a seated position, holding the sheet tight against her chest. “God, I’m not mad at you.”

Okay, so she wasn’t mad at him, but he could definitely feel the anger rolling off of her. She was angry at herself and the situation she was now in.

“But you’re mad.”

His simple rebuttal defused any anger Mia had. She blew out a big puff of air, her hair flying up in the air before slowly falling like a feather back into her face. Again, Luke brushed it aside, studying her dark brown eyes. He took a deep breath when he saw that the sadness had settled in her beautiful orbs.

“So, who left you in bed?”

She had the decency to look a little embarrassed. Now would she talk to him? He hated that he wasn’t sure. Before she pretty much told him everything happening in her life. Now she was a mystery to him. She was closed off.