Mike's Way Back (Finding Perfect) (8 page)

“Oh God, Taryn.” He breathed out pulling her tight against him.

With her head against his chest she felt the pounding of his heart beneath her cheek. It wasn’t right, and she shouldn’t wonder, but at that moment her thoughts weren’t about all the odds that were against them. All she could think about was that kiss. And if he could bring her to her knees with one kiss—what would the man do to her in a bed?

She knew the answer.
Something no one else could.

Taryn was playing with fire, and it wasn’t something she’d ever done before. She tried keeping her distance physically and emotionally, careful to keep her guard up. Her goals in life
never involved climbing a corporate ladder or becoming wildly rich. Growing up in a very testosterone-driven house, she was quite sure she didn’t need a man. But the warmth of his body against hers was making her think otherwise. Maybe she was wrong—very wrong. Maybe up until now, she just hadn’t found the
right
man.

Mike nuzzled his cheek against the top of her head and Taryn took advantage of it, dragging in another long pull of his cologne. Memorizing it for when she was alone, then she regrettably pulled back. Glancing around her surroundings, her cheeks flamed. They’d practically made-out like teenagers in the middle of his driveway—during broad daylight.

Chuckling, Mike took her hand and led her toward the back door. “Come on. I’ll give you a tour of the house. I know that’s why you’re interested in me in the first place.”

With a raised eyebrow, she jerked her chin. “Just so long as we’re both clear on that.”

“Oh, Taryn Watts…we’re going to get along just fine, sugar.”

Chapter 8

Taryn ran her fingertips lovingly over the fireplace mantel and drank in its beauty. It had been driving her crazy not to know what sort of care the house had received over the years. She hated to ask him over the phone when he described different projects he planned for it. It just seemed so rude. As it turned out, the house, although it hadn’t been renovated over the years, wasn’t abused either. That would have made her sick.

“So, do I pass?”

Whipping around, she took in the ease of the man leaning in the doorway that led to the kitchen. Embarrassment quickly passed as she studied him. He was dressed in gray dress slacks that hung perfectly on his trim hips and a crisp white button down with a burgundy power tie. His light brown hair was short and professional, but his face wasn’t pampered and pretty like Andrew’s
.

Mike’s hobby fit him to a
T
.

He might dress for success
but, he was ruggedly handsome. The lines of his face were etched and defined, and his skin tanned by the sun and his hands weren’t softer than hers either. No, they were strong because he worked with them. His muscles, while she’d seen him working out, weren’t manufactured in a gym. The beauty he’d given to his home was through his own sweat and hard work.

Her jaw slowly opened as he closed the space between them once again. This time though, she was well aware of it. The tug at his mouth felt predatory, but there was a twinkle of mischief in his eyes that kept him from coming across as a man who was out for just one thing.

“Here you go,” he said.

Taryn took the glass of iced tea as he winked at her and nodded. “It’s beautiful, Mike. You’ve done an amazing job keeping with the architectural integrity of the original design.”

The smile spread instantly across his face. “Thanks, sugar. That means a lot coming from you.”

Turning back to the mantel, she pointed to the large picture in the middle. “Is this you and your brothers?”

“Yeah. That’s Sam. He’s the middle child—and trust me…he’s the epitome of the joke. That’s Carter, the youngest, and that’s his wife, Molly.”

“Her wedding dress is beautiful, but so is she.”

“She’s a sweetheart. You two would get along great. Those are his two best friends, Jesse and that’s Eli.”

“You can tell which three of you are brothers.”

“Oh yeah?”

“The eyes are a dead giveaway.”

“I’ve never heard that before.”

“You haven’t?”

“I’m kidding.” He winked again. “These are our parents.”

“Wow…you look just like your father. You and Carter both, Sam, though…he’s got the same ice-blue eyes, but he looks more like your mom.”

“Sure does. And these are my babies.”

“Oh my God. Mike, they’re gorgeous. Twins?”

“Sure are. That’s Alexandra, Alex for short and that little man is Jackson or Jack. They’re Molly and Carter’s. God, I miss them.”

He pulled in a deep breath as he stared at the various pictures he had of the twins across his mantel. Her heart went out to him. With her free hand, she ran her fingers over his forearm. It was damn near impossible to miss the muscles hidden by his shirt sleeve, but she forced herself to put off thinking about that for later. Like at bedtime. “Carter is your brother who lives in
Pennsylvania, right? I got him and Sam confused. So I take it you don’t get to see them as often as you’d like?”

“No. Carter and I’ve always been close, but between his career and mine it was already hard. Throw in a few states separating us these days and
I don’t get to see them nearly as much as I liked to. Especially now with the twins running around.”

“How old are they?”

“I can’t believe it, but six. Time is flying by I swear.” He blinked multiple times and glanced at her. “Wow. I’m sorry. I got sidetracked. So where were we?”

“It’s okay. I’m glad you’re so close to your family. It’s sweet.”

“So…you never really say much about your own family. You have two brothers as well. Are the three of you close?”

Taryn took a long look at the wedding picture in the middle. Mike and the rest of the men surrounded Molly, all with wide, laughing smiles. She shook her head, “No…not like you all.”

~~~

She turned on her heel and Mike had no choice but to follow her into his kitchen. The sadness washed over her so quickly she hadn’t been able to disguise it. He’d noticed on more than one occasion during their late night phones calls she was quick to steer their conversations away from any mention of her own family. Where he was ready and willing to share story after story with her, and loved hearing her laugh as he told them, what she didn’t want to talk about sparked his interest.

“So…what can I help you with?”

Mike shook his head and tried not to chuckle. Her question was spoken to him, but she gave her full attention to the cabinets that filled his kitchen. That was fine with him. He had spent so many hours stripping old varnish off and re-staining
them he’d had to resort to buying a hot tub because he hurt so bad. He knew what he was biting off when he purchased the house, but it seemed once he got the kitchen started, it was the one room that couldn’t be dragged out over several months.

“You’re my guest, here”—he pulled out a chair at the table—“have a seat and let me take care of you.”

When some women he’d known would have gone all gooey-eyed on him, Taryn bristled. After a long moment of sizing him up, she finally made her way to the chair. Mike squeezed her shoulders, but she was still stiff as a board.

“So, Taryn…what sounds good for lunch?”

“Whatever you have is fine.”

She wasn’t snotty, but something in the words “take care of you” chilled her several degrees. However, watching her cross her legs did something to him. Instead of running the other direction, he was drawn to her. Mike was turned on by Taryn…and she didn’t even have to try.

And then it hit him.

All the pieces of conversations they had over the last few weeks, though they were cryptic, gave him enough information to form a very vivid picture in his head. Not a very pretty one at that.

Pulling out a chair, he sat close to her. She kept quiet and didn’t look away while he studied her. There were glimpses of a fun-loving girl, but for the most part she had a shield around her. Like now—calm, cool, and very guarded—the ultimate professional persona.

“Taryn
, what does your father do for a living?”

Her eyes widened for a split-second.

“Why?”

“He’s a cop…isn’t he?”

Pulling in a deep breath, she closed her eyes and nodded her head. “How did you know?”

“Living in a big city like
Boston, he must have been very protective of his little girl, huh?”

“Wow. Now I know why they were sick to lose you in
Chicago. You’re a hell of a detective, Sterling.”

Even the sass in her answer wasn’t enough to keep the walls around her from cracking. Her stiff back relaxed and the sadness washed through her eyes.

“So, I am right?”

“Add in two older brothers, and I’d say you’ve hit the jackpot.”

“Did they follow in your father’s footsteps?”

Taryn rolled her eyes then nodded.

“Must have been a pretty strict household?”

“In every sense of the word. It was very confining. I could do nothing that they did not need to know every single detail about in advance. I could go nowhere without supervision. The boys intimidated the hell out of any guy that got within fifteen feet of our house. It was very…suffocating.”

He took her hands in his. Although he saw the way it destroyed their family relationship, Mike skated the fence. He was a cop through and through, and like Taryn’s father he had worked on a large city force. There were things that just couldn’t be unseen, events that couldn’t be forgotten. Unfortunately, he could very easily see how her family would want to keep her under lock and key while she was growing up. Running his fingers along her cheek, he pushed her hair behind her ear and offered her an understanding smile. He remained quiet to keep from being a hypocrite. “I’m sorry, sugar.”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Taryn, you ran to the other side of the country as soon as you were done with high school. I know you rarely go back home. I’d say it is a big deal.”

“God…I can’t believe I told you that. I’ve never told anyone any of that, nothing. Not even Andrew or Scott knows what it was like, not that in-depth. Neither of their families were very understanding when they
came out of the closet
so-to-speak, so we just fell into our own little family of three out in California. It has just stayed that way all these years.”

Mike leaned in and touched his lips to hers. Breaking the contact as slowly as humanly possible, he stayed close. “Can I ask you something?” For a brief moment, she lowered her shield and he got a peek at the girl behind the power suits. Her chin came up and she swallowed but remained silent. “Is that why you had such a cool reaction when Kelly mentioned what I did for a living?”

Her shoulders deflated and she averted her eyes. “I didn’t want to like you. I just can’t go back to that world again, Mike. I can take care of myself. I’m a big girl.”

“I know you can. But letting me take care of you isn’t the same thing. You are a very smart woman, an amazing artist, and you’re quite capable of running your own business. That doesn’t mean you can’t let me take you to a restaurant. I want to fix you meals here sometimes, or do things
for you to show you I care for you. That doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re able to do it for yourself, it just means I like you. A lot, Taryn. I like you a lot.”

“But every cop I’ve ever known
has a dominate personality behind the badge. Taking orders is what was expected. If you’ve noticed, I don’t do that well.”

“I promise…no orders.”

“You can’t promise that, Mike. I know we really haven’t been around each other much in person, but I can sense it in your personality. I feel like we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well with our emails and phone calls over the last few weeks.”

Mike wasn’t going to let her get away easily,
but that didn’t mean she wasn’t giving him a run for his money. Interrogations had taught him patience. The trait was also in his family genes. Taryn would figure that out about him soon enough. Like when she talked until she was blue in the face and finally ran out reasons why they couldn’t be together. “Look, I’m not going to lie to you, and you’re right and perceptive. I have a strong personality, I can be dominate when I feel I need to be”—he laid his finger across her lips when she started to insert her next line of defense—“however, that in no way means I’m a
my way or the highway
kind of asshole. You know me better than that by now.” He replaced his finger with his lips again and smiled against her mouth.

“I like arguing with you,” she said.

He could tell she didn’t want to, but the smile tugged at her lips—her very kissable lips, which were still close to his. “Oh, honey, there’s a whole hell of a lot more I could think of that I’d rather be doing with you right now.”

She pulled back and the smile was gone again. “You’re a hard man to say no to, Mike. That scares me. Like just now. You didn’t lay down the law like my father would have, but you got your way in the end anyway.”

With his hands, he uncrossed her legs. She pulled in a breath, but said no more. Mike was incredibly strong and she weighed nothing in his hold. Scooting her butt to the edge of the chair, he easily picked her up, and brought her toward him to straddle his lap. It was a way to keep her from running, but the second she made contact with his crotch he wished he had thought out his plan ahead of time. Mike was instantly hard, and from the flare of her eyes Taryn was well aware of it.

Keeping one hand on her butt, he tried to tuck her hair behind her ear again. A smile tugged at his lips. The gesture reminded him of the first night they met when he watched her fight the same movement over and over as she worked. Her hair won that night too, refusing to stay out of her eyes.

“Sugar. This isn’t a power struggle I’m trying to win with you. We are totally equal here. But I’ll let you know right now—there is one thing I will fight you on.” When one of her perfectly manicured eyebrows went up, Mike leaned in and kissed her. Pulling back in time to see the sleepy bedroom eyes she opened up at him had him involuntarily twitching between her legs. “I want you, Taryn. Give me a hundred and one excuses, and I’ll fight every one of them tooth and nail. I’ve been married before, I’ve dated, and I’ve been around long enough to know what I feel for you is different. I’m not going to let you slip away just because of a few hundred miles between us. We’ll work something out. If it’s not meant to be, I understand, but distance isn’t going to keep us from giving it a shot. I know you don’t find the right person every day, and when the right one comes along you have to be smart enough to hold on tight.”