Miah-1(Lane Brothers, Book 2)(11)
It boggles my mind that one family can be this fractured, and yet I’ve seen the dissension with my own eyes for years before Pop cut all ties with them.
The only reason Roman isn’t as poisoned against us as the rest is because Ma kept at the poor kid till he came around and settled in with us. Thank God for that, because I’d hate to have that fucker as an enemy and I’ve told him so.
“We’re done for tonight. Miah, be a dear and escort Clari home, would you?” Ma says from the doorway where Ellie is grinning from ear to ear while Clari looks as if she was just asked to strip naked and do the fox-trot.
“Er, no, that’s fine, I’ll just—”
“Nonsense, Clari dear, of course he’ll take you home. He’ll also be going inside to be sure that everything is safe and as it should be. No, no, dearest, it’s no trouble at all.”
God bless my mother, she just gave me a real excuse to literally get a foot in the door with my next mission.
No wonder I love the old bat so much.
Clari is looking anywhere but at me.
“Now don’t be a stranger, darling. We like having you around in this rambling monstrosity.”
“Thanks, George.”
She’s smiling by now and squeals when Jace lifts her five-three frame and starts smooching her cheeks.
“Thanks for the brownies the other day, sis. I shared with Jared and I swear they were as good as Ma’s.”
Brownies? She made this asshole brownies?
“Alright, idiot, let the woman go so she can breathe already,” I snarl, flipping him the bird behind Clara’s back when all he does is laugh and start whistling the wedding march under his breath.
Clari is stiff as a board and looks ready to dive out of the vehicle when I strap her in and make my way down the long drive in Wyatt’s prized Bugatti.
“I won’t bite, you know,” I growl after five minutes of silence and the sound of her uneven breathing.
“I know. Just…don’t come in, okay? It’s all fine and…and I just…”
“Relax, Clari, I’m just coming in to check things out and make sure no one got in.”
And then I’m going to do what I’ve been dreaming of for months and finally get a taste of that rosebud mouth of yours, I add silently, surreptitiously adjusting the bulge I’ve been sporting all night.
Tonight is the beginning of what I hope will be more than a quick flash of lust and raging desire. Make fun of me for flipping switches so quickly. I don’t care one bit because if I manage to get this woman, it’ll be a flipping miracle.
We get to her place in under thirty minutes, thanks to the car, and I hate that she lives so far out from us and the security that our home provides.
“You don’t—”
“I’m doing it and that’s final, Clari. I’m a cop, remember? And after the hell I saw today, I’d feel a lot better knowing that your place is safe, alright? Now come on and give me the key, woman. Stay here till I come back out. Anyone or anything gets near the car, you start it and leave. Clear?”
She rolls her eyes but nods eventually when all I do is stare at her demandingly.
“Fine. Check under the bed, too, would you? The bogeyman might be hiding there.”
“Funny. I’ll be back.”
Her house is a weird mix of odds and ends and it just drives home to me that she’s not in the financial position to live the way I’m accustomed to, but I like the homey little cottage and the comfort I feel in every small room.
What bothers me is knowing that her windows would be a breeze to pop and the lock on her back door wouldn’t keep out a mosquito if it flew too fast.
It’ll do for now with the way I jammed the lock, but she’d better start coming around quickly or I’ll have to consider taking a leaf out of Wyatt’s book and carrying my woman off to captivity till she relents.
“Clear. Come on, you can offer me coffee while I secure your windows,” I say after handing her out and locking the car.
“What? No. I—”
“Give me a break, Clari. Come on, babe, I won’t get a wink of sleep knowing you’re a screwdriver twist away from being accosted while you sleep. Besides, now that I’ve pointed it all out, aren’t you a little worried, too?”
Nice, Miah, worry the poor woman to freaking death, why don’t you.
“Worried? Is it really that bad? I can’t afford to have a security system put in and—”
“I’ll fix something up and send Jared out here tomorrow to install something worthwhile,” I say, not backpedalling but feeling like a real shit for scaring her.
If I thought for a second that scaring her to death would get her to my home, I wouldn’t hesitate, but my girl is stubborn as a mule.