“Everything, huh?” He smoothed his hand over her dress. “Did I mention you look hot as fuck in this?”

“You didn’t mention that. But thank you.”

“Look. I get that you’re angsty over this change in our relationship. You’re worried for nothing, Mia. I can’t imagine not being friends with you. And the sex is good. Really good. Right?” As he spoke, he ran his hand along her thigh, then slid it up her back. She responded by leaning into him, so he knew damn well she was affected by his touch. He needed her to at least acknowledge that.

She inhaled a deep breath, and let it out. “Right.”

It had taken everything he had to stop kissing her, but he wanted her to understand there was a lot more to them than just being fuck buddies. He knew the friendship part was important, and he could take things slowly. Even if slowly meant he’d go home with his dick hard tonight.

He slid her gently off his lap.

“You’re really okay with this?” she asked.

“No sex. Just hanging out with you tonight? I’m always okay with it.”

He picked up her remote and turned on the television, then watched TV with her for an hour or so before leaving. He never wanted her to think he was with her only for the sex, though after all these years she should already know that. When she started yawning, he got up, said good night and left her with a kiss on her forehead.

“See you later,” he said.

“I’ll see you, Nathan.” He saw the regret on her face, and for some reason that made him feel better.

SIXTEEN

MIA HAD MISSED NATHAN OVER THE LAST WEEK, BUT she’d had work to keep her busy, along with planning Nathan’s surprise birthday party, so she hadn’t had much time to dwell on it, which was a good thing.

And okay, maybe she was dodging him because she didn’t want to do or say anything that would spoil his surprise party. Running her business was always a great excuse for her limited time, and Nathan was awesome about understanding when she had to put her job first.

Nathan was pretty awesome in general.

She’d met with Tara and Amelia earlier in the week. Tara had secured a venue for the party. Amelia had planned the menu and taken care of hiring cooks to assist her. It was up to Mia to wrangle the guest list and to get Nathan there without him becoming suspicious.

For that part she’d brought in Nathan’s friend Jamal. If everything went according to plan, Nathan wouldn’t have a clue what was going on until he stepped through the doors.

They’d arranged to have dinner with Jamal and Wendy. He wouldn’t suspect a thing.

She was grateful the event was on a Saturday so she didn’t have to go into the office. She’d wanted the entire day to help Tara, though when she arrived at the venue, Tara and her event crew had everything well in hand. The tables and chairs had been organized to create a dance floor and plenty of areas for people to stand or sit and chat. Tara had secured a deejay for the evening and his area had already been set up. Mia helped with the decorations and then she called Amelia, who was preparing the food for the evening. Amelia was happily on schedule and confident the menu would be perfect. When Mia hung up, she pulled out her planner, so she and Tara could review Mia’s checklist one last time to make sure they’d covered everything.

“Are you nervous?” Tara asked.

Mia shook her head. “No. It’s all under control. I’m more excited than anything. I want this to be a great party for Nathan.”

Tara laid her hand over Mia’s. “It will be. Don’t worry.”

She fielded several calls from people who were attending to confirm the time or give directions to the venue. The number of Sabers team members who had said they were attending, including coaches and staff, surprised her. She just hoped they could pull off the surprise aspect. The more people who knew about the party, the bigger chance someone would spill to Nathan. Though he hadn’t said anything to her yet and they’d had several phone conversations, so it was likely he didn’t know.

Perfect.

On her way back home, Nathan called her.

“Hey, what’s up?” she asked.

“Nothing. I was just wondering what you were doing?”

“Oh. Uh. Heading to the gym for a workout. How about you?”

“Did that this morning. Just chillin’ now. Thought I’d come over and hang out with you. Maybe when you get back from the gym.”

She had a million things to do before the party tonight. “Sorry. I need to stop by work and handle some paperwork, and then I have some errands to run. So I can’t.”

“No problem. I’ll see you for dinner, okay?”

“Sure. Oh, and, Nathan?”

“Yeah?”

“Happy birthday.”

He laughed. “Thanks. See you later.”

She hung up, realizing her pulse was racing. She’d tried to act nonchalant. Hopefully she’d pulled it off. She supposed she’d find out when she saw Nathan later. In the meantime, she was going to hit the gym and work off some of this nervous energy so she wasn’t a total stress ball tonight.

She wanted this to be Nathan’s best birthday party ever.

SEVENTEEN

NATHAN KNOCKED ON MIA’S DOOR, HEARD HER MUMBLE or holler something that sounded something like the door was open, so he tried the knob. It turned, so he walked in.

“Mia?”

“I’m upstairs finishing up. I’ll be down in a sec. Shit. Stupid dress.”

His lips curved. “Need some help?”

“No. Yes. Come up here.”

He went upstairs and into her bedroom, where Mia stood in front of her full-length mirror making a face at herself.

“What’s wrong?”

She whirled around to glare at him.

“I got this dress and I don’t know how they expect single women to dress themselves when the damn zipper goes from Africa to Canada. Would you mind?”

He made a twirl motion with his finger, so she pivoted. He couldn’t help but notice her bare skin or the damn sexy flimsy-as-fuck underwear she had on.

“You did that on purpose,” he said as he drew the zipper up.

She gave him a look over her shoulder. “Did what on purpose?”

“Wore that underwear.”

She sat on the bed and slid into her shoes. “No idea what you’re talking about. It’s not like I planned on having a pain-in-the-ass zipper, Nathan. What I planned on was to be ready when you got here. You look amazing, by the way.”

He looked down at himself. Mia had told him to dress nice, no casual clothes. “Nice” to him was black slacks and a matching black button-down shirt. “Thanks.”

Mia stood, and holy shit, that dress formed to her body like a second skin. It was a dark silver that shimmered in the light. And she wore damn-high-as-heaven shoes that made her legs look a mile long.

“You’re really trying to kill me, aren’t you?”

She frowned. “What?”

He walked over to her and pressed a kiss to her cheek, then whispered in her ear, “What I mean is, you look hot as hell in that dress and those shoes.”

She leaned back and smiled at him. “Oh. Thank you. I’m finally ready, and thank you for the assist.”

“Anytime. You’ll of course let me know if you need help getting out of the dress.”

She laughed, then pressed her palms to his chest and brushed a soft and oh-too-short kiss across his lips. “You, of course, would be the first to know. And happy birthday again.”

He sucked in a breath, really wishing they were staying in tonight. They could order in, and when they were finished eating he could take that dress off of her.

Mia started out of the bedroom and toward the stairs, though, so he supposed that wasn’t going to happen.

Dammit. He’d thought about her all week long. She’d been busy. He understood work was her first priority, so he hadn’t pushed to see her. And he’d had his own shit to do with workouts and agent and PR meetings.

But now he was more than ready to spend his birthday with Mia.

They headed down the stairs. “So where is this place we’re going to dinner?”

Mia grabbed her clutch and a sweater. “It’s a trendy new bistro. I thought we’d give it a try. Jamal and Wendy are meeting us there, right?”