Unexpectedly You (15 page)

The potent surge of emotions swirling in her body gave her the confidence to pleasure him the way she’d fantasized for months. She wanted him to feel the ecstasy she’d felt when he’d so unselfishly made love to her moments earlier. She didn’t stop stroking, lavishing and kissing until he held her hips in place and lunged up, his hips off the bed, to fill her.

* * *

Mitch lay with his arms behind his head and his eyes wide open. He’d been staring at the wooden beam above Emma’s bed for the past two hours while she lay curled next to him, her hair spread out over her pillow and her breathing relaxed.

A complete one-eighty from where they were earlier. There was no doubt he’d lost his mind. Sleeping with Emma LeFleur had to be the most asinine thing he’d done in a while. And now here he was in bed with a woman who fully expected him to be there in the morning. She’d probably insist he stay for breakfast. Just thinking about what they’d talk about over coffee and eggs made him want to squeeze his head in a metal vise. Why the hell hadn’t he listened to his gut and just left it alone rather than offering to drive her home?

He had known it would be a stupid move. But hearing her impassioned defense of him to her neighbors, knowing she was pretty much eating her words in front of her friends, pierced a hole through his frozen core. Whereas he knew she had much to gain from his project going forward, he didn’t think her words last night were merely for show. He’d seen the stark emotion in her eyes and had heard the quiver in her voice. He knew the neighbors had noticed it too.

He studied her sleeping form. Who would have known underneath that fleece was a woman who made love with wild abandon? He shook his head at the memory of Emma on his lap, making out in her driveway, her teasing him with her mouth.
Jesus
. She made him burn, and he nearly took her in his truck had she not stopped him.

I
need to get my head examined.

He got hard just looking at her lips but he knew she must be exhausted. As gently as he could, he extricated himself from her arms.

She stirred beside him. “What’s wrong?”

She was soft and warm and her eyes when she looked up at him were full of...hope. And something else that injected cold fear in his heart. Dammit to hell. He was in over his head.

“Thirsty. Be right back.” He avoided her eyes, even as he called himself the world’s biggest coward.

She settled on her side with her head cradled on one hand. He snatched his boxers and his jeans from the floor and yanked them on, cursing under his breath when he lost his balance and almost toppled over.

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and watched him with amusement.

He tried to smile but his features felt gooey like taffy. Her jasmine perfume infiltrated his senses and he struggled to catch a breath that didn’t remind him of her. Realizing he couldn’t just walk out without looking like a complete dick, he took several languid steps toward her, but the eerie sensation like he was walking the pirate’s plank consumed him. He leaned in awkwardly and gave her a hard kiss that ended up landing on the side of her mouth.

Her brows arched and her lips quirked. But he didn’t give himself time to enjoy her taste on his lips. He willed himself to walk rather than run out of her bedroom, down the stairs, quietly slipping out the front door.

Once outside, he gulped in mouthfuls of the damp morning air to steady his racing pulse and stared up at the red-orange sky.

Son of a bitch.
How did she manage to not only get under his skin but actually penetrate his very soul?

Emma LeFleur blew him away. Beautiful and alive, she tilted his world. With her, he barely recognized himself. For the first time in his life, he didn’t care about his own passion or satisfaction. It was all about Emma. He wanted to please her. He wanted to prove something to her. But what the hell did that even mean?

He took another lungful of sea air. What the hell had gotten into him last night? He wanted to possess Emma, and that amount of need terrified him. He’d never wanted anything so much in his life. He was scared stiff he’d buckle under the force of his need. He didn’t just have the best sex of his life in there, he had the most amazing connection he’d ever had with a person. It didn’t hurt that the person was fucking hot and intense.

He shook his head and rubbed his hand across his prickly face. The motion bringing alive her scent on his skin.
Jesus
. His heart knocked against his ribs.

Emma LeFleur.

The one person who stood in the way of his project’s success was the same woman who came alive in his hands and dared him to believe in things he’d long ago given up on. She’d reeled him in, only to let him loose again. But he was hooked. And like a fish on a hook, he swam hard and fast the opposite direction to get away, but in the end, he would succumb.

And she knew it.

Chapter Seventeen

Emma poured a cup of fresh brewed coffee and waited for Mitch to come down. He’d insisted on taking a shower first before having breakfast. Interesting. She didn’t really know the protocol. She’d never done this before—have a man, who wasn’t her husband, stay over.

But she definitely had no complaints. She’d woken up and her world had tilted on its axis. The skin around her nipples had scuffs, her lips were swollen and her body deliciously sore in embarrassing places.

She jumped when the doorbell rang, triggering Bogie’s pathetic bark. She glanced at the clock. Kind of early for a friendly visit.

She wrapped her terry cloth robe around her body and tried her best to tame her hair. She peeped through the side window and sighed when she saw David standing outside.

Cracking open the door a foot, she stuck half her body out. “What are you doing here?”

“We need to talk.”

Rather than invite David in, she deliberated for a second before she stepped out onto the porch, pulling the door shut behind her. The brisk, early-morning chill sent shivers up her bare arms and legs.

David’s eyes narrowed at her appearance although instead of commenting, he turned and nudged his head toward Mitch’s truck parked haphazardly in her driveway. Searing heat trailed up her neck.

“To say I’m shocked would be the understatement of the year. What are you thinking? Are you even thinking?”

The censor in his tone stiffened her spine. “I know what it looks like. I’m sorry you had to find out this way. I realize you’re worried about me, but I am aware of what I’m doing.”

He blushed beneath his white Ralph Lauren polo shirt. “I don’t think you do. You think you’re enamored with this man and granted, he’s a good-looking fellow, but he’s not the right man for you.”

She expelled her irritation at his condescending attitude. “I don’t need you to tell me who the right man is for me. Don’t you think I’ve thought this through?”

“He’s using you, Emma. Don’t you get it? He wants his project approved and he’ll go to any lengths to get it done.”

“His project will be approved. We voted last night.”

“So what’s all this? His way of thanking you? I didn’t realize your affection was for sale.”

She drew in a sharp breath. “I’m going to forget you said that and chalk it up to the fact you’re hurt and surprised and you’re not thinking right. I do, however, think you should leave.”

His shoulders sagged. “I’m just trying to protect you from getting hurt, thinking you have feelings for this guy.”

Resentment pulsed in her veins. “Why? Because you like it when I’m weak and needy? So you can come in and be gallant and save me? I don’t need saving. I know it’s hard for you to hear this, but here’s the truth. I am crazy in love with Mitch McKenna. Wild, insane, ‘I want to rip his clothes off with my teeth’ in love, and nothing you say will change that.”

David’s angry gaze shot beyond her. “Well, if that’s the case, I hope you still feel the same way when you find out his plans for Bella Del Mar if the Planning Board rejects his plan.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Ask him yourself.”

“Ask me what?” Mitch stood, his hands braced against the door frame, his angry look directed at David.

Emma cursed inside.
How long has he been standing there?

“Why don’t you tell Emma about your plan B? Better yet, read it for yourself,” David said, handing her a copy of
Coastal News
before jogging down the steps toward his car.

Emma watched David’s back, not turning to face Mitch until she was certain she’d be able to withstand whatever came out of his mouth. She was wrong. The look in his eyes nearly sent her to her knees. The truth of David’s words rang loudly in her ears.

Mitch drew out a long breath. “Hear me out. Don’t get all riled up before you know everything.”

Emma strode past him to the kitchen, where the smell of the pancakes and sausages she’d made turned rancid in her stomach. “Why? What am I going to find when I read this?”

Mitch’s face hardened. “I don’t know how that guy got this information. It’s not for public consumption. Someone from my crew must have leaked it.”

“Leaked what?” Her fingers shook when she scanned the headlines of the local paper. Her brows creased as she read the details of Mitch’s plan to sell Mrs. Madsen’s property to a national motel chain if his plans didn’t get approved. Her breath caught in her throat. Fury roiled in her stomach.

I’m going to be sick.

“Emma. I would never have gone through with the plan. It was drawn—”

She gaped at him. “You were going to sell out to a motel chain?”

He cleared his throat. “No...yes. Jesus, that was before—”

“Before? Before we trusted you? Before you lied and pretended to care about Bella? Yet all along your fallback plan was to sell us out?”

Mitch rubbed his palm against his jaw. The jaw she’d traced with her tongue earlier to wake him up.

“Was this your idea?” Her voice was barely audible.

“Yes.”

“How long have you had this plan?”

“A year.”

He’d lied to her. Even if his plans didn’t go through, he’d still make out. The only losers would be Bella Del Mar. And her. He’d promised to invest in her business and save her home. But if didn’t get what he needed from her, he would have sold to a national chain that would destroy her home and her community.

Tears welled in her eyes but she willed herself to keep them in. There was nothing she could do to stop the fury that burst in her chest and choked the air from her lungs.

She had defended him, like he was her family, in front of her friends and neighbors.
He’d played me for a fool.
A stupid, pathetic fool. Her lips trembled from the potency of her rage. Her gaze met his. “You lied to us. To me.”

His eyes hardened and his jaw tightened at her words. “It was before—”

“David was right. I should have known better than to trust someone like you.”

His gaze collided with hers. “Yeah, guess you should have gone with your first instinct about my kind. We’ll always show our true colors eventually. I just proved you right all along.”

His words didn’t ring right in her ears yet failed to pierce the armor that had swiftly gone up to protect her heart. “You used me to get what you want.”

“And you damn well agreed to it, or should I remind you?”

“I didn’t do it for the money,” she said.

“Oh, no? Then why did you do it?”

“Because I was stupid enough to think you cared about Bella. That you cared about—” Her voice quivered and the words died in her throat.

He cursed under his breath. “Here we go. I recognize that look on your face. Don’t you start with that ‘I was wronged and it’s all your fault’ look. I was up front with you. I said I’m not the right man for you.”

“You could never be the right man for me, Mitch. You wouldn’t know what to do with someone like me. You don’t deserve someone like me. You’re not good enough.”

“No one is good enough for you,” he ground out. “Hell, what man can stand up to a fucking saint? I know I can’t and you know what, who said I was even trying? But for the record, I didn’t hear you complaining last night.”

Her eyes widened. “Don’t confuse sex with love.”

He dug his fingers into his damp hair. “I’m not confusing sex with love, but maybe you are.”

She gasped. Tears streamed down her cheeks but she didn’t bother to swipe at them. Her heartbeat flooded her ears, loud enough that he had to be able to hear it. She wrapped her robe tightly around her body to keep the chill of his words from penetrating her skin. Her eyes dropped to the newspaper on the kitchen table. She quickly folded it up and handed it to him.

She was a fool. She’d given her heart to someone who didn’t know what it meant to commit to a promise. His heart would be forever frozen in time. Forever blemished by his past. He couldn’t or wouldn’t be vulnerable again—not to her, not to anyone.

She’d fooled herself into thinking that she could save Mitch from a lonely life. No sense of belonging, no attachments. He’s asked her to help him be the kind of man her neighbors could love, and she succeeded. So much so that she’d fallen flat on her face in love. But it was all a lie. An act. And she’d fallen for it hook, line and sinker.

“Everything is about winning with you, isn’t it?”

He narrowed his eyes. “That’s not true. There was no reason to tell you about my plan B because I would never have gone—”

“Please, don’t,” she interrupted. “I get it. Really. You didn’t want to tell me before...before...” The right word for what they did stuck in her craw. She took a deep breath. “You knew that by telling me about your backup plan, I would feel differently about you.”

“It wouldn’t have changed a goddamn thing. You wanted me and I wanted you. It had nothing to do with any plan. Last night was personal.”

“You’re wrong.” She walked two steps before he grabbed her arm.

He pinned her with his stare. “What do you want from me?” His eyes were almost black in their intensity. “I told you it wouldn’t end the way you want it to. I’m not the kind of man you think I am. I didn’t renege on our deal. I have your money. You won’t lose your home. I had to have a backup plan a year ago. It was necessary to secure a loan. That reporter must have gone to some lengths to find that information. It’s dated. No one outside of my crew even knows about it.”

“Then why didn’t you tell me about it? Because you knew that I would not have vouched for you in front of my friends and neighbors. They believed in you, just like I did.”

He bowed his head in defeat. “It’s a moot case. The Planning Board will likely approve my plans and we don’t have to think about a plan B anyway.”

Pain knifed through her heart, making it hard to come up with the words. “You used me to help win the town over. And you succeeded. They fell in love with you and if you don’t get what you want on Monday, you will break their heart.”

His eyes turned hard. “The plan was drawn up over a year ago. You want to be a business owner? Welcome to the cutthroat world of sole proprietorship. You will make difficult choices sometimes and hurt those you care about.”

“We all make choices, Mitch. Sometimes the choices we make don’t always work out the way we want.” She pulled her arm free from his grasp.

She wheeled around before he could see her tears. She focused on her breath, even though the pain around her heart made it an effort. How could she ever have fallen for someone who could so easily manipulate the truth? Mitch was incapable of intimacy. He wasn’t built like her kind. He didn’t want what she wanted. The sooner she got that in her head, the sooner she could heal and move on.

She’d done it before. Losing Stefan had taught her that she was strong. She could bear pain and get through it. It might take time, but she would be fine. She just had to suffer through the next few weeks of seeing him across the street from her home. But once he was gone, it would be easier.

“Emma.”

She turned to face him, her arms firmly crossed on her chest.

His eyes turned a shade of blue she hadn’t seen before. A muted blue—full of regret. He watched her, unblinking. “For the record, I didn’t tell you because I have no intention of—” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Believe what you want. You’re gonna believe what you want about me anyway.”

She shrugged, even though her heart was in pieces.

Mitch gave her one last imploring look before he cursed something fierce under his breath and slammed out of the back door.

* * *

“Mrs. LeFleur, Tim is held up on a call but should be with you shortly. You didn’t have an appointment and he usually leaves early on Friday to play golf.” Tim Brooks’s receptionist stated the obvious before leading Emma inside a cozy conference room.

Emma sat and placed her briefcase on the round table.

The receptionist headed toward the door. “Would you like a cup of tea?”

Emma shook her head and avoided the woman’s haughty stare by concentrating on the words she planned to say to Tim. She hoped her plea for an extension wouldn’t sound like she was begging. But if she had to beg, she’d do it to save her home.

Ten minutes passed before Tim walked in, looking surprisingly casual in a pair of Dockers and a bright yellow golf shirt. “Emma, perfect timing. I’ve been out of town for a couple of days and didn’t get a chance to call. I’m sure you’re eager to sign the papers,” he said, a wide grin on his face.

Why would she be eager to sign away her home? “I don’t understand.” Dread sat like a pound of kneaded dough in her stomach. What was going on? Why would Tim be smiling like the Grinch who stole Christmas? He couldn’t possibly be that cruel.

Tim took the swivel leather chair next to her and crossed his legs. “I can have the paperwork ready on Monday. But I’m guessing this is a big relief to you.”

A bead of sweat materialized on her upper lip. “What are you talking about?”

“When Mitch handed me a check a few days ago, I was taken aback. But it made sense. He wants to make sure his neighbors are successful. When you’re successful, he’s successful. I think that’s what he said.”

She could only nod in agreement.
Mitch handed Tim a check?
When?
Her heart knocked in her chest. “When did he drop the check off and what did he say
exactly?
”

Tim leaned back and crossed his arms against his chest. “He dropped the check off on Tuesday. He said you and he had agreed on a private loan. I’ll be honest, I was very surprised and asked him why, but all he’d offer was that he wanted to invest in you, your home and your business. He believes Paws on the Beach can be successful.”

Emma’s pulse accelerated with each word that came out of Tim’s mouth. She found it difficult to keep her foot from tapping in time with her rapid heartbeat. Mitch paid her loan? But he hadn’t said anything...
But I hadn’t been listening
. Mitch came through on their deal, even though she’d accused him of being a liar and worse.

Tim reached out to lay his hand on her bare arm. “You look a little pale. Are you feeling all right?”