Her Sexiest Mistake Read online

  Hope let out a sound that might have been a snort of agreement, or a sob.

  Mia lifted a hand to touch her, then let it fall back at her side, but another sound came from Hope, a definite sob this time. “The hell with it,” Mia muttered and scooted closer, wrapping an arm around Hope’s skinny shoulders, feeling a little like crying herself. If there was a worse day since the one all those years ago when she’d driven herself west and never looked back, she couldn’t remember it—and there’d been some pretty bad ones, especially in the beginning.

  They sat that way for a long moment, silent, miserable, with Mia wishing things were different, that she could actually help make things better for Hope, or at least take away her misery. She cared about the kid, damn it, far more than she’d thought possible.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. Mia lifted her head hopefully, thinking maybe it was Kevin. He could fix this; he could fix anything. But the damn truth was she just wanted to see him. “Just a minute,” she whispered to Hope and got up.

  A tall, skinny, dark-haired kid stood on her doorstep. “Hi,” he said, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Um, is Hope home?”

  Mia looked over her shoulder. Still out of view on the stairs, Hope lifted her head, swiped quickly at her tears, and rose to her feet. “Cole?” she said, and came down the stairs.

  He flashed her an uncertain grin that for some reason endeared him to Mia. “I just thought I’d see if you wanted to do tonight’s science project with me.”

  Hope had black makeup smeared beneath her reddened eyes. Her hair had fallen out of its ponytail. She looked young, uncertain, and adorable, and right then and there, like the last piece of a puzzle falling into place, Mia fell the rest of the way in love with her.

  “I don’t know if we can,” Hope said and jammed her hands into her pockets.

  They both looked at Mia. “It’s homework, right?”

  Hope nodded.

  “Well, then what a perfect way to torture you.”

  Hope rolled her eyes but couldn’t hide her pleasure. The two of them started to walk into the kitchen, but the doorbell rang again.

  Mia opened the door and this time was caught utterly by surprise at the sight of Kevin. Wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, he looked so good she stood there for a startled second, just taking him in.

  He didn’t help the situation any by shooting her his smile, the one that always went straight to her throat. He lifted a bottle of wine. “So what’s cooking?”

  She couldn’t have heard him right. “Cooking?”

  “Uh oh,” Hope said behind her.

  Mia turned to look at her. “Uh oh what?”

  Hope rolled her lips inward. “Can I, like, talk to you for a minute?” Without waiting for a reply, she came forward and pulled Mia into the hall, out of hearing range. “Okay, listen, this isn’t going to go over well, but just remember, I was looking to piss you off.”

  Mia crossed her arms. “Keep talking.”

  Hope winced. “I sort of told him you were cooking him dinner.”

  “You what?”

  “Shh.” Hope put her hand over Mia’s mouth. “I’m sorry,” she said earnestly. “I was being a stupid teenager, okay? I was mad because everyone in the world was happy except me.”

  Mia pulled her hand from her mouth. “Oh, no, you don’t. You read that in my Cosmo mag. Ten Reasons Why Teens Act Out.”

  “Yeah, but it nearly worked on you, I could tell.”

  Mia paced the hall. “Damn it! This day was a total waste of makeup.” Sighing, she looked at Hope. “You told him I’d cook him dinner, knowing that I’d rather have a root canal without drugs?”

  Hope grimaced. Nodded. “See, you were all disappointed in me, and I decided I liked it better when you were mad.”

  “You know, that’s just twisted enough that I believe you.” Mia took a deep breath. “Okay, in the kitchen. Get started. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Why don’t I just tell him—”

  “Oh, no! Are you kidding? Never admit your mistakes! Not to a man! Now move it—we have some major deception ahead of us. You know when you mentioned being in cahoots with Satan? You were just kidding, right?”

  Kevin heard the frantic whispers and murmurs coming from the kitchen and glanced questioningly at Cole. The kid lifted his shoulder.

  Kevin moved closer to the kitchen door.

  “Canned soup isn’t cooking,” he heard Mia hiss. “You told him homemade.”

  “We don’t have anything to homemake,” came Hope’s voice. “I keep telling you a growing teenager needs food in the fridge.”

  “Hey, I feed you.”

  “Yeah, takeout.”

  “Expensive takeout! And at least I’m making sure you’re eating your veggies and fruit. Just this morning I bought you frozen yogurt.”

  “Hate to tell ya, but yogurt isn’t a fruit or veggie.”

  “Yours had strawberries in it.”

  “You know,” Hope said, “if you’d just be honest and tell him you’re not perfect, I wouldn’t be able to get you in these situations.”

  Mia muttered an oath and Kevin grinned. So Mia wanted him to think she was perfect? Kinda cute, really. Cute and extremely revealing, especially since he already knew she was far from perfect.

  “Look, this has been a bad day all around.” This from Mia, sounding frazzled. “I just don’t want to admit that I can’t even put a meal together. It makes me seem pathetic.”

  “You’ve got other stuff going for you.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like…um…”

  “Yeah, don’t hurt yourself, thanks.” Mia sighed. “A real woman can cook. All right? I intended to learn, I just never got around to it.” The sound of cabinets shutting drifted through the door. “Damn it, I don’t even have a cookbook.” More slamming of cupboards. “I ought to make you drive to Giapetti’s and bring back takeout, which we could then claim as our own cooking, but making you drive the Audi isn’t exactly a punishment.”

  “How about if I pretend to hate it?”

  “Hope, I swear to God, if you don’t try looking sorry that you got me into this mess, I’m going to ship you back to Sugar via UPS ground.”

  Kevin laughed—oh, yeah, this was what he’d needed; she was what he needed—and opened the kitchen door. He rattled his keys. “How about I drive us all to Giapetti’s?”

  With a squeak, Mia whipped around to face him. Her cheeks had two high spots of color and there was a strand of hair hanging in her eyes, but something else seemed off…Ah, she’d kicked off her heels, bringing her down to her own petite height. She fixed that by immediately slipping into them again.

  Tell him you’re not perfect.

  The words had amused him a moment ago, but now he felt a hard tug on his heart. Didn’t she get it? He didn’t want perfection, he just wanted her.

  She smoothed her hair in a calm, cool gesture he knew was faked. “Well,” she said with a laugh. “I was going to cook something right here, but if you insist.”

  He smiled. “Oh, I insist.”

  He let her keep up the pretense all through dinner, which was excellent, but he could tell something else was seriously bugging her. He waited until they’d gotten back home and Hope had gone inside to do homework with Cole before he stopped her. “What is it?” he asked her.

  Mia looked at him in surprise. “Is it all over my face then?”

  “Maybe I just know you.”

  She studied him for a long moment, the evening breeze ruffling her hair. “Is it weak to admit I actually liked the sound of that? You knowing me?”

  Her admission grabbed him by the throat, but he smiled and shook his head. “Not at all.”

  She leaned in as if to kiss him, and his engine revved, but her cell phone rang. She looked down at the ID and sighed. “It’s Tess. I have to get it.”

  “I just heard,” Tess said in Mia’s ear. “Oh, honey. Dickhead didn’t deserve you, either.”