* * *

Mia was so furious that she had no idea a crowd had formed about them as she’d told Ford’s parents exactly what she thought of them. He’d seen recognition in at least a dozen strangers’ eyes as they headed down the sidewalk and into the hole-in-the-wall pizza joint, but Mia was so obviously driven to keep them moving that no one tried to intercept them.

He could still feel her bristling as he paid for their pizza, then hailed a cab to take them to his place. She was uncharacteristically silent as she stewed over the unexpected meeting, but she never once let go of his hand. And even while he paid the driver, she waited on the seat beside him so that they could both get out of the cab without needing to let go of each other.

Once they were inside, he put the pizza box down on the kitchen counter and pulled her against him. “Have I mentioned recently that you blow my mind?”

Normally, he knew, she would have come back with a joke about having “blown” another part of him that morning. But tonight she simply looked up at him and said, “I heard everything you said about them, but I guess I didn’t really want to believe it. I wanted to think that maybe one day I could bring you back together to become a real, loving family.” She blew out a hard breath. “Instead, when I realized how far off base I really was, I yelled at them in the middle of the sidewalk.” Her expression hardened again. “Which they totally deserved. But still. I didn’t check with you first, I just let loose. I’m sorry, Ford, for not being able to help mys—”

He cut off her apology by brushing a fingertip down her nose, and was glad to see the corners of her mouth reflexively curve up just the littlest bit at his purposely ticklish caress.

“No one has ever stood up for me like that. Even my teachers, who had to know how fractured my relationship with my parents was and how much I dreaded going home, didn’t step in. I’m sure because they didn’t see bruises, they didn’t think it could be that bad. And, honestly, when I was away from home, which was most of the time, I pretty much blocked them out, so it wasn’t.”

“So you’re not mad at me for making a total scene and ripping them to shreds?”

A million people could call out his name from an audience and he would never feel as loved, as appreciated as he had when she’d given his parents hell in the middle of the sidewalk.

“I love you, Mia.”

The fire, the worry, immediately went out of her eyes, only to have that wariness about their future together take their place. “Ford—”

“And I love knowing that you’re going to protect our kids just as passionately, without reserve, without ‘thinking,’ if anyone ever tries to get away with not treating them well.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I know what you’re doing. You think that because I’m all riled up over your parents, it must mean that we’re besties now and you can start talking about marriage and kids again.” She whirled out of his arms. “I’ll have you know that I’m still making up my mind about us, and no amount of sweet talk about how great our kids and life will be together is going to get me to decide sooner. So you can just stop being so gorgeous and awesome and smelling so damn good and saying such beautiful things about how much you love me, because I’m telling you right now that I’ll make up my mind when I’m good and ready and not a moment before!”

Maybe he shouldn’t have laughed at her soliloquy, but she looked so cute as she told him off that he couldn’t help it. A snarl left her beautiful lips, and as she launched herself at him, he caught her in his arms and lifted her up.

“It’s a warm night for Seattle, don’t you think?”

He was big enough to easily pin her arms and legs against him as he carried her out through the kitchen to the back patio. The cool water would be the perfect way to jolt away the bitterness that had lingered from seeing his parents. He was used to them and knew exactly what to expect in the rare instances when they ran into each other, but she had been completely blindsided.

“What the hell are you doing, rock star?”

“Cooling off my hotheaded girl.”

Chapter Twenty-six

Mia’s eyes went wide as she realized he was taking her straight toward the pool. “Oh no. You’d better n—”

He held on to her until the very last second, then tossed her a few feet away from him so that their arms and legs wouldn’t collide when they went under the water together.

She came splashing up to the surface. “You’re in for it now.”

He was more than happy to let her launch herself at him, and as she shoved him down under the water, he pulled her down with him. When they came up this time, her arms and legs were around him and he was kissing her.

Though the water had made her skin cool to the touch, her lips remained full of heat. He’d already told her just how much it meant to him that she’d taken his side earlier...now he wanted to show her with his kiss.

But where his nip at her lower lip started out playfully, the way she responded so passionately with a low groan of pure, sweet desire made it impossible to do anything but devour every inch of her mouth while his hands cupped and stroked even more moans of pleasure out of her. And as his greedy need for her took over, he couldn’t get enough of her mouth, her tongue against his, wanted nothing more than to strip her dress away and have her wet curves totally bared to him like she’d been in the shower on his tour bus the previous night. Only, tonight, he knew that if they stripped away their clothes, there would be no chance of stopping.

Each time he made himself pull away from her, it sent him closer to the edge of madness. There was no one else he’d willingly lose his mind for. Only Mia. And a chance at a future with her was easily worth every painfully hard erection he’d had to deal with this past week.

“Look at you,” she said as she brushed his wet hair back from his forehead with a slightly shaky hand, “so smug, thinking you’ve just kissed me out of being mad at you.”

Despite his raging libido, it was easy to grin at her, considering he felt a hell of a lot more than smug with the most beautiful woman in the world in his arms. “Well, are you still mad?”

Her lips twitched before she finally admitted, “No, damn you.”

“Actually,” he said as he nuzzled the wet skin where her neck met the curve of her shoulder, “it’s pretty hot when you get riled up. Maybe sometime I’ll let you have at me in the bedroom during a fight.”

He could see by the sparkle in her eyes that she liked the thought of it, too, but she said, “We weren’t fighting.”

He nuzzled the other side of her neck. “No?”

“No. I was merely informing you that you were acting like a Neanderthal.”

She tried to swat his kisses away, but she ruined it with a giggle. Not to mention the fact that her halter top wasn’t exactly meant to get soaking wet, and when she pulled back a few inches in mock irritation, he got a fantastic eyeful of her lush breasts and hard nipples.

“Damn,” he said as he took a long, hot look, “you’re pretty.”

She ogled his shoulders and chest in his wet T-shirt just as he’d been drooling over her. “Right back at you, rock star.”

Their eyes met and both of them instantly understood that they were teetering on the edge of a precipice. Either they both had to agree to jump over it together tonight...or they had to back away completely.

A week ago, he wouldn’t have thought twice about taking advantage of the softness in her eyes or the hot press of her body against him. But now he knew he’d never forgive himself if he pushed her a step further than she was ready to go on her own.

Fortunately, both of their stomachs grumbled at the same time. “How about we go dry off and finally get to that pizza?”

She put her hands on either side of his face and kissed him before saying, “You should probably prepare yourself, because I think my dress has gone completely see-through.” She leaned in to whisper in his ear. “And I’m not wearing anything under it.”

She kicked out of his arms and swam to the edge, the wet, translucent fabric clinging to every inch of her perfect body as she got out and headed inside his house. By the time he’d worked to get his erection to go down at least a teeny tiny bit—to no avail—and followed her wet path upstairs, she was standing in his bedroom wearing one of his T-shirts and a pair of his jeans.

She’d knotted the gray cotton T-shirt at her waist and had his jeans folded over at least two times at the waist and at the hems. She looked like a little girl playing dress-up, and though his T-shirt and jeans hid nearly all of her curves, Ford knew he’d never seen anything more beautiful in all his life.

All he’d been thinking about was winning her back.

He hadn’t realized that she’d help him heal his past, too, by making it stop hurting.

She tossed him a towel, but she wasn’t looking at him, she was staring in dismay at the growing puddle at his feet. “As a seller of fine homes,” she said with a little grimace, “I just can’t stand leaving the floors wet like this. It drives my parents and brothers crazy, but I can’t help it.” She skidded along the floor with a towel beneath each foot and wiped it clean as he dried off and changed out of his wet clothes.

A short while later, he found her sitting on the couch with the TV remote in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other. “The pizza’s cold,” she informed him right before shoving the huge slice into her mouth. Around pepperoni and black olives, she said, “Good thing I’ve always liked it better that way.”

And as he settled next to her and they began a spirited debate over which movie they should watch, Ford knew with absolute certainty that playing stadiums and flying around the world in private jets to meet royalty had absolutely nothing on hanging on his couch with his girl to watch the positively terrible movie he was going to let her insist they see.

* * *

Full from the large pizza and the bottles of beer that had been, rather predictably, the only thing in Ford’s enormous state-of-the-art fridge, Mia easily settled into his arms. They were both suffering their way through a movie she’d known was going to be a total joke, but had wanted to see anyway because she couldn’t deal with anything emotional or thought-provoking right now. Fart jokes and characters falling down for no reason whatsoever were her limit tonight.

Ford had obviously thrown the two of them into the pool to try to erase their confrontation with his parents. But even though he made her laugh at his ongoing commentary that was way funnier than anything in the movie—and though having been slippery and wet against him in the pool had made her want, just like always—all the while her heart ached for him.

A week ago she’d thought she hated him. But tonight, what she felt for Ford was so far from hate that all she could focus on, as the movie on the large TV screen blurred before her, was what she could possibly do to help heal his wounds.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she was surprised when Ford pressed a kiss to her forehead and said, “I never knew a blank screen could be so riveting.” Startled that she’d missed not only the end of the movie, but also the fact that he’d turned off the TV entirely, she came back to him on the couch.

“Sorry. I—”

God, she couldn’t tell him what she’d actually been thinking. She had four brothers and knew exactly how sensitive their pride could be. The last thing she wanted Ford to think was that she pitied him in any way. On the contrary, she could see just how strong he was now.

Everything she’d achieved had been with the full support of her parents and family.

Everything he’d achieved had been despite his parents’ disappointment.

The ache intensified as she shifted in his arms so that she could put hers around his neck and snuggle closer. “I’m just tired. And your couch is really comfortable.”