Author: Bella Andre

“If it were you looking for a house in Seattle, would you buy it?”

“I thought we were going to stick to business until we finished making your offer.”

“I need to know your answer, Mia.”

She sighed. “Yes. I would.”

He grinned. “Good. Then let’s tell Alana and her ex that I’ll pay their asking price today.”

She held up her hands to try to slow him down. “Even if you make a cash offer, you don’t have to pay it right this second.”

“I want to move in right away. Let them know I’ll have the money transferred into their account by lunch. And I’ll buy everything in it, too.”

Mia was shaking her head at what she obviously thought was an impulsive decision, but she picked up her phone and conference called the owners. “I’ve got an offer for you,” she told them, “and I think you’re really going to like it.”

* * *

Ninety minutes later, the paperwork had been signed by both parties and Ford had called his personal banker to transfer the money. Mia had done some pretty big and quick real estate transactions in the past six years, but this one blew them all away by miles. Even for a woman who had always loved speed and excitement—nearly as much as her car-racing cousin, Zach—she felt like she’d been blown over by a hurricane. That was how strong Ford’s determination was when he focused on an end goal.

And as Orlando took Ford out into the office to introduce him to the rest of her employees and she watched him charm everyone through the glass walls of her office, she acknowledged, again, just how difficult it would be for anyone to resist him. Especially when he was determined and focused on having something.

Or someone.

With his deep voice and laughter carrying through to her office, knowing that the sexiest man on the planet was close by made her need a bucketload of her own determination and focus to concentrate on answering some high-priority email and phone messages.

A short while later, when she saw in her peripheral vision that he was headed back toward her, Mia’s heart rate started jumping and the words in the email she was composing about a property in escrow blurred on her computer screen.

“Your staff is great,” he said with a grin as he stepped back inside her office. “And they adore you.”

She clicked Send on her email and closed her laptop. “I adore them all right back.” She pushed away from her desk and grabbed her bag. “Congratulations, again, on your amazing new house. How about we go pick up some champagne to celebrate?”

He looked surprised, and clearly thrilled, by her suggestion as she told Orlando that she was taking a few hours off. Still, even though Mia knew that spending even more one-on-one time with Ford was a bad—okay, it was a terrible—idea, she tried to justify it by telling herself that she couldn’t treat him any differently than any other client who had just spent millions of dollars on a house.

But as Ford held open the passenger door of his Tesla and she slid onto the smooth leather seat, Mia couldn’t deny that the lies she was telling herself about him were only getting more pathetic by the hour.

I don’t like him.

He was sweet with her employees, had been great with her family at the wedding...and if she wasn’t so busy grappling with not letting him hurt her again, she’d already be head over heels in love with him.

This celebration is going to be just business.

Considering that her business meetings had never included super-hot kisses before, and she was about a thousand percent positive that this celebration would, she was either going to need to change the definition of business...or she was going to have to accept that spending the day with Ford was about so much more than just celebrating a real estate transaction.

Our connection is just a sexual one, no matter what Ford says to the contrary.

Oh, how she wished this one were true...but there had never been a moment with Ford, either in the past or right now, where her heart wasn’t on the line.

Chapter Eighteen

“Everyone always talks about how rainy Seattle is,” Ford said as Mia spread out their picnic over the thick blanket they’d brought outside his new house while he uncorked the champagne, “but every time I’m here there’s bright sun and blue skies.”

“Now that you’re officially a local, I guess I can let you in on our secret.” She leaned close and whispered, “Our weather is actually awesome nearly all the time. Don’t tell anyone, okay?”

Of course, Ford took advantage of her closeness to tug her in for another kiss before he agreed, “Okay.”

Their kiss was short this time, but so darned sweet that when he moved back to finish opening the champagne, a disappointed little sigh slipped out of her mouth.

She knew they still had to continue the discussion that had begun in her office, but she wanted to feel steadier before they did, so instead of digging deep again, she said, “This has always been one of my favorite areas of the city. I actually went to school not far from here.” She laughed. “My poor teachers. I was a little hellion, pigtails flying, always talking during lessons.”

“Something tells me you got away with it.”

“I loved learning,” she agreed, “but I also wanted to be outside running and playing. Looking back, my mother was amazing at getting me to do my homework by making it all seem so interesting. As soon as I’d finish with my math or science worksheets, she’d push me on the swings before we’d settle back inside with a book. One day I hope I’m that good with my kids.” It wasn’t until she stopped for breath that she realized she was doing it again—sharing everything with Ford while he just sat back and listened.

“I saw you playing with your nephews and nieces at the wedding. They lit up just being around you. You’re going to be great with your kids.”

“I had great teachers.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to meet your mother or your father at the wedding.”

“My mom and dad are amazing, although sometimes I wish they were a little more clueless like my friends’ parents. Because if you had met them, they probably would have guessed something was up with you and me...and then they would have asked me questions.” She definitely hadn’t been up to the kinds of questions her family would have asked, especially since she absolutely hated lying to her family, and her five-year omission already felt perilously close to a big fat lie.

“Speaking of questions, has my brother Ian tried to contact you?”

“He called me at midnight on Saturday.”

She’d hoped Ian had taken her at her word when she said that she could take care of herself. Clearly, he needed a reminder. She reached into her bag for her phone and said, “I can’t believe he thinks he can butt into my—”

Ford put his hand on hers to stop her from calling her brother and reading him the riot act. “He loves you, so I get why he’s so protective. I’d never want anyone to hurt you, either. Maybe you should go a little easy on him.”

She sighed as she reluctantly dropped her phone back into her bag. “At least tell me what he said to you.”

“Let’s put it this way...he strongly advised me to be on my very best behavior.”

“Or what? He’s going to hop a plane from London to Seattle just to punch you out?”

“Or he’ll be calling your brothers to fill them in on what’s going on with you and me so that they can all take care of the punching.”

She blew out an irritated breath. “If I want them to know what’s going on, I’ll tell them myself.”

“I hope you will, Mia.” His gorgeous mouth quirked up at one corner as he added, “Despite how physically risky a few hours with your brothers might be for the guy you bring home.”

Suddenly, she could see it so clearly, taking Ford home and introducing him as her boyfriend, even though she’d never brought a guy home before, not one single time in twenty-eight years. Her father would be protective but fair to Ford, her mother would likely fall for him at his first smile, and her brothers would take a heck of a lot of convincing that anyone could ever be good enough for their little sister.

“I always envied the kids at boarding school who had siblings,” he said, echoing what he’d said to her after the wedding. “I was sent to boarding school when I was five. My parents probably would have sent me away earlier, but none of the elite private schools would take a kid until he was in kindergarten.”

Even though she was glad that Ford was openly sharing another piece of his past with her, the sad look on his face had her wanting to pull him down on the blanket with her to kiss him until he forgot all about it.

“That must have been hard for you, to have to leave home so young.”

“It was better than staying home with the nannies. At school I had friends to play with. It was coming home at the holidays that was the worst part. My mother and father were strangers to me.”

Mia loved the holidays with her family. Dozens of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter celebrations over the years had been full of laughter and fun.

Obviously, everything she was feeling showed on her face because he said, “Don’t feel sorry for me. My parents might not have given a crap about me, but they never hurt me physically or verbally. No one ever said no to me, either. Not with so much money and influence behind my family name. Me and the chip on my shoulder were never hungry or bruised.”

Mia knew all about pride, and the lengths to which people would go to protect it. After all, when she’d badly needed support from friends and family after she and Ford had combusted five years ago, she’d shut all of them out. God forbid she should let any of them know that she had failed or made a bad decision.

“When we broke up,” she suddenly needed Ford to know, “I told myself all the same things. That I didn’t have an empty stomach. That I wasn’t bruised. That I had a great apartment and career. And I couldn’t stand the thought of any of my friends or family feeling sorry for me. Or worse, thinking I was making a mountain out of a molehill. So I kept it all inside.” She watched a lone ant head back toward a long trail of ants from which it had temporarily broken away. “But the truth was that I did need them. And when I finally had to spill everything to my best friends after seeing you on Friday, instead of feeling like a fool, I felt loved. But even knowing that my friends and family will always love me, no matter what, I still brought that pride chip with me to my cousin’s wedding and worried that people would find out about us.”

He reached into her bag and handed her the phone. “Here,” he said with a grin, “you can call them all now to fill them in.”

She took it from him, laughing. “If it makes sense down the road for me to give my cousins news about us, I promise to block out an entire afternoon to call each and every one of them.”

Maybe it had been a crazy thing to say, but suddenly the chance of a future with Ford didn’t seem completely out of bounds. After all, he’d just bought this house in Seattle, and he was actually telling her important things about his life.

She knew that it was easier for him to focus on her than himself. But for all the anger she’d nurtured over the past five years, now that she’d spent the past few days with him, she couldn’t deny that she cared again. Back then, whenever she’d had questions for him about his past, it had always been easy for him to pull her back into bed and make love to her until she’d completely forgotten all about them. And there was a big difference between begging Ford to share his life with her and his offering it up to her unprompted, wasn’t there?

Or, was that just her pride talking again? Because if she was really considering a relationship with Ford going forward, then could she keep locking her heart in a cage like this?