"Fuck, Mia, what do you want from me?" I dragged my hand through my hair, a habit I thought I'd conquered a long time ago, around the time one of the bouncers at Mum's club in the Cross had whipped my arse for being a 'pansy’. Lessons like that stuck.
"I want us to be friends," she said, holding her hands out to me like she had nothing to hide. "Discounting the sex last night, which we both know was amazing, I thought we connected."
She glanced away, as if nervous. "I don't have many friends in these parts anymore. Since I went away to college, I only vacation at home occasionally. Most of the tennis crowd who train here are transient and the rest are fake schmoozers who want to suck up to me to get to my dad." Her fingers clenched into fists. "I hate it."
"That's why you targeted me last night, wasn't it? Because I didn't look like one of your dad's hangers-on?"
She nodded. "I already told you that. But it was more …" She wrinkled her nose. "You were partially right about me. All that stuff you said when we first met? I am daddy's little girl. It's been the two of us since Mom died. We're close and he's cool. But because we don't see each other much these days, when we do, he smothers me."
"So you think he'd approve of you being friends with a bum like me?"
"You're not a bum." Her lips curved into the smile I remembered from last night, the smile that could slay a guy and make him doing crazy things: like say fuck the altruistic crap and let's go to bed. "You're different."
"Which is why you targeted me in the first place."
"Yeah." Her gaze locked on mine, willing me to believe we could do this. "But then you started talking and that Aussie accent, plus the resemblance to the Hemsworths, did the rest."
"You're obsessed," I said, grinning like a loon and enjoying our reversion to teasing way too much to be good for me.
"Yeah, but not just with them." She walked across the small lounge to lay a hand on my chest, directly over my heart. "I'll have a chat with my dad. Tell him we're friends. But that means we need to do some friendly stuff together."
"We got pretty friendly last night," I said, willing my heart to stop bucking like a wild thing beneath her palm.
To my surprise, and delight, she blushed. I didn't think girls did that any more. "Have you been to LA before?"
I shook my head. "Boys from the Cross don't get to travel much, let alone overseas. Every cent Mum earned was poured back into the club to keep it viable. And most of the money I earned went to her and to fund my tennis."
Surprisingly, she didn't ask questions or delve into my past. Brownie points for her.
"In that case, how would you like a guided tour of all the LA hot spots? Hollywood Boulevard. Melrose. Beverly Hills. The works." Her palm pressed harder against my chest. "It's what friends do. Hang out. Have fun."
I was tempted. Seriously tempted. I'd seen nothing of LA, bar the crazy freeways from LAX to Santa Monica. Hell, I hadn't even seen anything of the area surrounding the tennis academy.
"If I agree to this, we're just friends, okay?" I managed to keep a straight face while delivering the rest. "No funny business."
Her smile was radiant. "You thought what we did last night was funny?"
I waggled my finger under her nose. "And stop talking about it, okay?"
"Why?" Her gaze dipped to below my waist. "You have a boner?"
I stepped away before she could feel how right she was. "Friends don't talk to each other like that."
She hesitated, before nodding slowly. "Okay. Friends it is. I can do friends."
"Good, because it's all I'm offering, Mia."
It had to be, despite every instinct in my worthless body screaming to grab hold of this incredibly spirited girl and never let go.
Chapter 11
KYE
I didn't go for touristy stuff as a rule. Hated the rubberneckers who trawled the Cross, torn between gawking at the trannies and avoiding the hawkers trying to entice them into peep shows.
But the opportunity to see some of LA while I was here, especially through Mia's eyes, was too good to pass up.
I'd turned into a soft-cock when she'd given me that spiel about being friends. I shouldn't have bought into it. Should've made a firmer stand and kept my distance. Instead, we'd spent the last few hours visiting places I'd seen on TV: Rodeo Drive, Melrose, Sunset Strip, Kodak Theatre.
Interesting, but not half as interesting as the woman by my side. She'd recited funny anecdotes and teased and bumped me with her hip, like friends do. The decidedly unfriendly thoughts running through my head? Major pain in the arse.
Last stop was the Hollywood sign. Maybe I'd grow some balls and reiterate how this friends thing wasn't working for me.