Her Sexiest Mistake Read online

  She tightened her palm around the one chocolate she hadn’t yet eaten and tried to pretend she didn’t have anything in her mouth.

  He lifted a brow.

  She turned away and began to frantically chew so that she could swallow, but it wouldn’t go down. Now everyone would really think she was a thief.

  She’d deny it. And to that end, she slipped the second candy bar into her pocket and hoped it didn’t melt, but since she was already sweating, that seemed unlikely. She looked anywhere else but at the brother: at Mia and Kevin arguing, at the ceiling and the two spitballs on the light box, then at the floor and the stacks of files next to Kevin’s desk. She looked at…oh, God. There was nothing else. Slowly, inevitably, her gaze was drawn back to the dark eyes.

  He reached out.

  She shrank back.

  His smile faded and he slowly opened his palm, showing her another chocolate. Offering it.

  He knew. She shook her head.

  He arched a brow that said I know you want it.

  Again she vehemently shook her head. No. Don’t look at me. She closed her eyes. When she finally got up the nerve to look at him again, he was moving toward the door.

  Mia stopped arguing with Kevin.

  Kevin’s brother signed something, and Hope’s chest went tight. He was telling on her.

  Indeed Kevin turned his head and looked right at her, then at the candy jar.

  Hope stopped breathing.

  Kevin nodded, and his brother walked out the door.

  Kevin watched him go as if maybe he really wanted to say something else, but he didn’t.

  Instead he once again looked at Hope. A trickle of sweat ran between the breasts she’d just gotten last year, but Kevin smiled. He smiled like he really meant it, and Hope let out a helpless one in return, hoping she didn’t have chocolate on her teeth.

  Whatever he’d been mad at, it hadn’t been her. She didn’t know why she cared really, except for that she did. A lot. “So how are you doing this morning, Hope?” he asked.

  Hope knew most people asked that as a matter of greeting, not really caring about the answer, but he sounded like he really wanted to know.

  How was she doing? Actually, she hadn’t given a lot of thought to that, as she’d been quite busy just surviving. Then she’d woken up in a bed, a huge, comfy, expensive bed, instead of her car. She wasn’t on the road—hallelujah!—and the realization had been a little unsettling. Nice, but unsettling. Cranking the music to cover that unease had been fun, and it had the added benefit of annoying Mia. That was nice, too. And the ride over here in the Audi…wow. The navigation system alone could have kept her entertained for another cross-country drive—not that she wanted to ever make that drive again. “Fine.”

  His smile felt genuine. “I’m glad to hear it.” He turned back to Mia. “You know, your accent matches Mia’s.”

  Mia seemed to grind her teeth at this. “I do not have an accent.”

  “Right,” he said and laughed. “Well, I’m sorry. The teen center is truly full today. I can get her in tomorrow—”

  “I need her in today.”

  Leaning back against the wall, he crossed his arms and feet casually, lifting a brow. “Maybe you could take her sightseeing today, get to know her, and then tomorrow—”

  “I have to get into work.” Mia glanced at her fancy-smancy watch that Hope was betting was not a Kmart special. “I’m already running late. I need you to take her.”

  “Hmm.”

  “And what does that mean?”

  “It means you have a real thing about getting your way,” Kevin said lightly.

  This seemed to make Mia’s eyes nearly bug out of her head. She looked pretty good today, Hope had to admit, even with one of her sandals broken. Her skirt was a pale blue and floated on air when she moved, and her jacket revealed a lacy thing beneath, both of which hugged her body. It was a sexy, elegant look that Hope could never pull off in a million years, even if she wanted to wear colors again.

  “Can you, or can you not, take Hope?” Mia said in a quiet but scary voice that made Hope’s spine itch.

  Hope would have sworn Kevin’s smile changed now that it was aimed at Mia. It wasn’t kind anymore, but filled with mischief, revenge, and…heat. Yowza, lots of heat.

  “Not,” he said firmly in an apologetic tone that didn’t match his expression. “We’re full up. Unless…”

  Mia gritted her teeth. She was going to grind them to powder if she didn’t watch it. “Unless what?”

  “You say please.” Kevin’s smile widened. “You do know the word, right?”

  Mia let out a low growl that sounded a bit rabid as she turned to Hope. “We’re outta here.”

  Hope was surprised, because if you asked her, these two had some unfinished business. Their mouths were arguing, but the rest of them were not. “We are?”

  “You’re coming into work with me.”

  Hope didn’t know if she was excited or wary but settled for somewhere in between because it beat the hell out of riding a horse.

  Or being on a bus heading back to Tennessee.

  They left Kevin’s office and walked back into the bright morning sunlight. With each hobbling step Mia appeared to become more and more uptight. “Here,” she said to Hope when they got outside and handed her the keys. “Start the car. I’ll be right there. I need to talk to Kevin for a sec. In private.”

  Hmm. Hope supposed that was code for getting a quickie or something, but she stared down at the keys in her hand, then lifted her head, trying to hide her elation. “You trust me with your car?”

  Mia narrowed her eyes.

  “I mean, it’s good,” she said quickly. “I’m, like, totally trustworthy.” She began to walk away, but Mia snagged her by the scruff of the neck and pulled her back.

  “Let me just add that if anything happens to my car I’ll personally deliver you to Tennessee right this very minute.”

  Hope didn’t dare smile. No way was Mia going back to Tennessee to bring her home, this minute or otherwise.

  “Are we clear?” Mia asked.

  Hope pretended not to care less, even lifting an insolent shoulder, but inside she was jumping.

  She had the keys to the Audi! And Mia hadn’t said don’t drive it, she’d just said not to let anything happen to it. Biting her lip to keep her smile in, she nodded. “Take your time.”

  Chapter Nine

  Mia walked—limped—back inside the teen center, ready to kick some ass, but it was hard to remain self-righteous with only one heel.

  She caught Kevin just as he came out of his office door, looking clean and dangerous and sexy. He’d removed his leather jacket. His leanly muscled shoulders pushed at the limits of his dark blue T-shirt, which was loosely stuck into a pair of low-slung Levi’s. His shirt read ALWAYS FINISH WHAT YOU STA—. He wore his boots, both only half laced, and had a leather saddlebag slung over his shoulder and chest. Then there were those see-all eyes, steady as the earth beneath her feet. Admittedly, she didn’t know him thoroughly, but she knew enough to understand that everything about him was steady, from his rock-solid strength to the way he saw things. The man lived worlds away from hers, and yet he seemed firmly rooted, maybe more so than anyone she’d ever met.

  But she was pissed and he was going to hear it, no matter how fine he looked this early in the morning.

  Or naked. “Hang on,” she said and pushed him back inside his office.

  “Well now, darlin’,” he murmured, his voice like smooth velvet, glancing at his watch. “I’m afraid I don’t have time to scratch your itch right now.”

  “As if I’d have you right now.”

  He stared at her, his eyes a warm, swirling caramel. “Did you know that the madder you get, the more your accent matches Hope’s? I never did quite catch where you’re both from.”

  “I’m from right here, right now. And I don’t appreciate what you’re doing,” she said.

  His mouth quirked. “And what’s tha