Wild Lover Complete Series (8 page)

             
Blaine gripped her hands harder. “Come with me,” he said.

His comment didn’t register with Mia. “To St. John?”

He nodded, an ecstatic grin on his face. “Yes.”

             
Mia let go of his hands and backed away. “For five weeks?”
              “You don’t have to work.”

             
“But—what about Perdita?”

             
Blaine laughed. “I’m sure your mum can keep her.”

             
The mention of her mother raised another problem. “I can’t—Blaine, my parents would freak out. Going to the islands with a man I just met for five weeks?”
              “You’re twenty-six, Mia,” Blaine said. His grin faltered. “You can do what you want to do.”

             
Mia refused his logic.
He doesn’t really want me to go
, said her frazzled mind.
He’s just being nice.
“It’s not that simple…I—I won’t know anyone. And I get sick on boats. I can’t live on a boat.”
              “You’re sweet and friendly and smart. Everyone will love you. And we can rent a condo. Or a beach cottage. I can find us someplace amazing.”

             
“I thought you didn’t want a woman who needs to be spoiled.”
              Now a scowl completely replaced his grin. “Okay. Do you want to stay in a shack? Fine.”

             
She shook her head. “No. I don’t want to stay anywhere but here. At home. I’m not comfortable living with you, and hanging around with all your smoozy rich friends—“

             
He tried to put his arms around her, but she pulled away. His phone rang in his pocket. “Answer it,” she said.

             
He pulled the phone out, and as usual, pushed decline and slipped it back in his pocket. For some reason, that small gesture made Mia see red. “Who was that?”

             
“My ex—“

             
“Why don’t you ask her to go with you?” Mia felt near tears, and her own reaction made no sense to her. Blaine had asked her to participate in any girl’s dream: a month long, all expenses paid vacation in the Caribbean. To top off the luxury, she’d get to spend the vacation in the company of the man with whom she was falling in love. For some reason, something in her core rebelled at the idea.

             
“What’s the matter with you?” Blaine asked, incredulous. “I want you to come with me.”

             
“If you want to be with me,” Mia said, “stay here.”

             
“That’s not fair, Mia. I’m telling you, this tournament is a dream opportunity.”

             
She turned on her heels and called over her shoulder as she left. “Your choice.”

*

             
When Mia got into her car, her hands seemed to be working of their own accord. She scrolled through the favorites list on her phone. Her mind raced.

             
This has all been too perfect,
she thought.
He’s had his fun, now he’s leaving. He probably doesn’t really want me to come with him, anyway. Asking me to go makes him seem like a nice guy.
And again, over and over in her head,
Why would a man like that want me? Really want me? Why, why, why?

             
She hit Jeff’s number. The phone rang once and he picked up. “Hey. You remembered me.”

             
Mia cut to the chase. “Do you want to come over so we can talk?”

             
“Uh—I was about to go for a run—but yeah. Like right now?”
              “I’m on my way home. Meet me in fifteen minutes.”
              “Okay, sure,” Jeff said. “I’m really glad you called—“

             
“See you soon.” Mia ended the call and stepped on the gas.

She beat Jeff to her apartment by only ten minutes. She took the time to put on deodorant and lipstick, but her prep ended with the basics. She let him in, and asked
him if he wanted something to drink. The decorum seemed weird. After all, less than a month ago, this man had practically lived at her place. She got a diet Coke for Jeff and joined him on the couch. Mia at one end, Jeff at the other. They were like offensive and defensive lines preparing for a fourth down attempt. Jeff wore flip-flops and an old fraternity tee shirt. His shaved head fairly glowed in the lamplight.
              Mia found she wanted to laugh, or maybe cry.
He’s such a child. A child with a bald, shiny head. He couldn’t be more opposite to Blaine. 

             
Bald or not, Jeff had a great smile. He used it on her now. “It’s so good to see you.”

             
Mia pushed aside her comparisons and focused on Jeff, right in front of her. “You too. What did you want to talk about?”

             
“I made a mistake, Mimi,” he said. “I miss you. We had our problems, but ours was still the best relationship I’ve ever had.”

             
“Hmmm,” she said.

             
“I’ve been out some over the past couple weeks. You know—went on a few dates and chatted with some girls in the bars—“

             
She rolled her eyes. Jeff’s comment was more annoying than heartbreaking.
This is stupid,
she thought.
Why am I wasting my time talking to him?

             
“Don’t roll your eyes, Mimi,” he said. “You’ve been out with other people. Hell, I saw you with that big GQ dude out by the lake.”

             
Mia giggled. Blaine was a big GQ dude. A smart, successful GQ dude. A real man. Not to mention kind and gentle and funny—

             
Jeff was still talking. “…I just think we should give it a try. See if we can work it out, you know? It was real sweet how you booked that fishing charter. Maybe we can go together.” He scooted toward her on the couch.

             
“Uh…I don’t know—”
              His leg was brushing hers. Suddenly Mia realized that the last thing she wanted was for Jeff to touch her. Panic set in. What if she’d blown it with Blaine? Maybe she needed to call him… at least talk through the St. John thing. “Sorry, Jeff—I don’t think—” Her phone dinged, distracting her again. She just had time to see Blaine’s name on the screen before Jeff kissed her.

             
He stuck his tongue in her mouth. She pulled away, but not before he managed to grind his lips into hers. She shoved him, hard, on his chest. “Stop it, now. This is over.”

             
“Mia—” Jeff’s lip trembled, and Mia had time to wonder why any display of sensitivity on Blaine’s part turned her on, but Jeff’s show of feeling left her disgusted and somewhat sorry for him.

             
“You need to leave,” she said. “Right now.”

             
His face darkened. “Aren’t we talking?”
              She stood. “I should never have let you come over here. It’s a waste of both our time. And I have stuff to do. I have to leave, actually.” Mia prayed Blaine was still at home, or that he’d at least answer her phone call. The thought that he own insecurity had caused her to ruin what they had terrified her.

             
Jeff laughed. “You’re running back to Mister GQ?” He stood up and grabbed his wallet. “I’m no homo, but I’m also not blind. A dude like that? What’s he want with a girl like you? He’s probably run off to Miami already and found himself a model.”

             
Mia gritted her teeth and refused to let Jeff stoke her insecurities. “He’s not just any dude like that. He’s different.”

             
“Whatever, Mia. Good luck. Don’t come crying to me when he dumps you on your ass.”

             
“It couldn’t be much worse than when you dumped me on my ass. Although, now I feel like that’s the best thing that could have happened to me.”

             
“Right. Guess I made a good decision.” He opened the apartment door.

*

             
Blaine sat in stunned silence after Mia left his condo. He didn’t understand what had just happened. He’d asked her to come with him, and she’d not only turned him down, it seemed like she’d broken it off with him.

             
He wondered the condo aimlessly for a few minutes. He moved piles of papers and picked up bits of lint and rewashed a few dishes. What did I do wrong?

             
His phone rang, and in his distraction he answered it before reading the name. Candice’s voice on the other end didn’t improve his mood.

             
“I finally caught you!” his ex-wife said. “Where have you been?”

             
“Sorry,” he said. “Busy. Offshore a lot with no reception.”
              “Oh, well…” Candice launched into her spiel about the massage parlors. Blaine tuned her out. Mia’s angry face kept running through his head.

             
“…so it’s a sure thing! Really lucrative. And I promise, this time I’ll hire a financial advisor. Please, Blaineee…. Please?”

             
“I—What?” He rubbed his eyes. “Candice—I don’t know—“
              He could almost see her pouty face. Her collagen puffy lips and her blinking blue eyes. “You’re not listening to me,” she said.

             
“I’ve got a lot on my mind. I’m having some—some problems.”

             
Candice took a deep breath that Blaine could hear through the phone, across the three thousand miles that separated California from Florida. “Business problems?”

             
“No.”

             
“Boat problems?”

             
“No.”

             
“Hmmm…your parents harassing you to come back to the UK?”

             
“No! Don’t worry about it.”
              “Ah,” said Candice. Blaine remembered that while Candice was materialistic and irresponsible, she wasn’t stupid. “Woman problems?” she asked.

             
Blaine wasn’t sure why he answered her, except for the fact that she and Mia were both women, and at least Candice could relate to the crazed XX chromosomal arrangement. Blaine started at the beginning, with Mia showing up on his boat and puking her guts out, and continued until her got to her abrupt departure that afternoon. “So now, I have no idea what I did to make her so upset, or what to do to fix it.”

             
Candice was silent, and Blaine thought the call had failed. “Hello?” he said.

             
“I’m here,” Candice said. “It’s just sort of weird to hear you talk about another woman.”

             
Maybe she did have some kind of feeling for him at some point. There was a bit of a relief in that. He’d convinced himself that Candice had seen him as nothing more than a meal ticket. “Sorry—if you don’t want to hear it—”

             
“No—it’s okay. Here’s my advice. You freaked her out by asking her to come with you. She’s probably totally intimidated by the kind of people she imagines you know down there. I was.”
              “You were?”

             
“Yeah. And honestly, Blaine, a guy like you is almost too good to be true. Maybe she’s afraid of getting in too deep and getting hurt.”
              “I don’t want to hurt her. I want to take care of her.”

             
“Well, sometimes you hurt people without meaning to.”

Now it was Blaine’s turn to go silent. “I—I’m sorry. It never seemed like it really mattered to you.”

              Candice cleared her throat. “It did. I’m just not one to show it. Besides, my lawyer told me to go for the jugular. So I did.”
              Blaine grunted. In addition to having a measure of intelligence, Candice was a survivor. “Right.”

             
“Look, if you can help me out with the massage parlors, let me know. In the meantime, go find this girl. Talk to her. Convince her you’re not going anywhere. She’ll come around.”

             
“Okay,” Blaine said. “I will. And Candice…”
              “Yeah?”

             
“Thanks. I needed a woman to explain a woman.”

*

When Jeff opened the door to Mia’s apartment and started to storm out, she followed him. She was ready to slam the door behind him as soon as he got out of her way. She was already thinking about brushing her teeth and washing her face. She wanted to rinse Jeff’s spit from her mouth. Her hair was messy and she had lipstick smeared all over her mouth and down her chin.