Chapter 11 #2
She led the way up the curving staircase to a long hallway of rooms, the main one at the end. There were, in fact, doors, a bathroom that shared space between two connecting bedrooms, and a third nicely sized one with an impressive walk-in closet.
There weren't machines, but there were laundry hookups in another space, conveniently located on the floor with all the bedrooms, and then double doors into the primary suite that Mia and I walked into last.
It was twice the size of the other bedrooms, with its own bathroom that had been mostly finished save for shower doors that looked like they'd need to be custom made, a deep jacuzzi bathtub, private dressing room into the closet, and a wall-to-wall vanity, still without a mirror above it.
There were large windows in the bedroom, too. Even skylights above the most natural place for the bed. Two French doors opened up to a small veranda above the living room with the same view of the backyard and the orange trees.
Mia watched outside curiously. I knew she could see the vision.
The interior designer in her was brimming with it.
She cracked the doors open slightly and a breeze whispered through on the tails of the storm.
It washed a layer of humidity away instantly.
"Perfect place for a late-night smoke break. "
I came to stand beside her, treading softly.
"I quit.” Those words hadn't actually come out of my mouth yet.
I hadn't even fully uttered the thought to myself.
I knew I'd stopped reaching for a cigarette a couple weeks ago, right around the second time Mia told me how much she hated it, and I'd forgone the display at the gas station instead of buying another to replace my empty pack. "It's early days."
Mia blinked up at me, those big hazel eyes making me weak, her adorable wet hair now even more of a mane of natural curls framing her pretty jaw and perfect skin. I felt it in my chest, the need building, my heart pining after the woman in front of me.
"Why?" she asked faintly.
There was no use lying. Nothing to hide.
"I think you know why."
The air between us bloated. Her tongue darted out and perused her lips and she swallowed quietly. "Since when?"
My jaw flexed at the blanket of goosebumps rising over her chest and neck. The spring of blush I noticed always started right at her heart and wrapped like a vine around her throat and kissed her cheeks. "Since the second showing."
Her mouth parted and a short sigh came with it.
I didn't care what I'd just admitted. That she'd been in control of me for far longer than I’d let on.
That I'd been hanging on to the possibility of her for weeks, and if I were being honest, longer than that.
Since Vegas, maybe. The first time Mateo and I had a conversation about me coming down to Florida to work for him.
She was there then, and I wanted her then.
But I'd never wanted her more than I did right now.
I swept Mia's wet hair off her shoulder. "There's been other things keeping me occupied."
"Buying a house requires a certain level of focus," she said warmly. "Intention."
"I have a lot of intentions for this house."
"It's unfinished," she griped, watching me twirl a curl of her hair around my finger. "It's below budget, it's nothing like the homes I sell, and it's not even on my radar, which is why I didn't suggest a tour. It's been on the market for weeks."
"Like it was waiting for me to get here," I said, getting closer to her, close enough to inhale that light vanilla perfume, closer than an agent and a client should ever be.
"Think about it, Mia. The potential is there.
The framework and the bones of the house are all sound.
It's big enough for a family, blank enough for personalization.
The backyard is nice and open, private. There's no neighbors, but it's still tucked into a development.
There's a deck, a terrace, massive windows for…
" I stopped myself before I said something I actually wasn’t ready to say.
"I can make it happen. I can make it mine. "
She shook her head, tugging her bottom lip between her teeth. She was taking a risk on me, I knew that. Who could guarantee that the entire deal wouldn’t fall apart in negotiations, in the inspection, during any part of this?
"You're just a make-it-happen guy, right? A figure-it-out person. But how can you not care about the amount of work you're looking at going into this? I can find you something better."
I took her by the shoulders lightly, thumbs grazing the junction of her collarbones.
Those goosebumps rose again under my touch.
"The work is worth it, Mia. I like to work for things.
" She swayed lightly, her hands coming to rest on the front of my T-shirt near my belly button, her nails digging in slightly and making my stomach flex between pain and pleasure. "I like to earn things."
The room was dark with the storm still hammering steadily and the sun falling lower below the line of trees.
I didn't need light to trail my fingers from her shoulders down her chest slowly.
Mia swallowed hard, letting me do it, not fighting the way I pulled apart the buttons holding her damp blouse together and spreading it open.
The white lace bra was mesh and her perfectly hard nipples were taut against the fabric.
"Don't you think you've made me earn this, Mia?
" I crouched, nearly enough to take a knee, and slid my tongue across her breast. Her back arched, fingernails pushing past that pleasure and leaving marks on my skin I would revel at later.
I moved onto her other breast, sucking her nipple into my mouth, teasing it between my teeth and Mia's lips fell open, a sweet whimper echoing through the quiet room. "This is so unprofessional," she squeaked, but her hands dipped into my hair and held me close to her skin as I lapped at her.
"When you blush, it starts here," I said, kissing her chest, moving to her shoulder, the dip at the base of her throat, licking her rapidly beating pulse and then biting the lobe of her ear. "You get all pink and hot," I whispered. "I see it on your skin."
"I have keratosis pilaris," she argued lazily.
"You have a crush on me," I answered. "You know it's wrong.
Just like this is." My lips slotted over hers for the first time all day and it was like a breath of fresh air, like being brought back to life.
Our tongues mingled and she dragged my bottom lip between her teeth. "But it makes you fucking wet."
Mia's eyes glossed over. They were soft but not tired, feline in a way that gave me another jolt of interest below the belt. My dick pulsed heavy in my shorts, twitching for attention.
"Let's see if you blush down here, too." I fully dropped to my knees then, rucking her soft skirt up her legs until it was bunched around her waist and her panties were on display. I grabbed her leg and draped it over my shoulder.
"I'd lose my job if someone came up here…" Her words trailed off as I kissed the inside of her warm thigh and sucked on smooth flesh until a patch of crimson smarted there.
"No one's here," I continued, my nose nudging her legs open farther. Her hand landed in my hair again and I ran my tongue down her hip, stopping right before I could taste her the way I wanted to. "Can I eat you out, Mia?"
I looked up, into her lidded eyes. Her skirt was clenched in her fist, chest heaving, her blouse slipping carelessly off her arm. It was the closest thing to a Renaissance painting I'd ever seen. I'd put that in a frame on a wall any day of my life.
"Yeah." She nodded her head fervently, keeping my gaze as I dipped back between her legs and pulled the cotton panties to the side.
"Look how pretty you are," I murmured. Her cunt was puffy and wet. I blew a small gust of air over her clit and Mia's hips rocked toward it. "Tell me you're pretty."
"I’m pretty," she obliged breathlessly. A smile tightened my cheeks. I loved how gone she looked already, how needy, guiltless—it was all overcome by lust.
My tongue eased slowly into her core, teasing her bud of nerves, widening against every inch it could in slow laps. She tasted so fucking good, clean and tangy, warm in my mouth. I closed my eyes and devoured her, sucking, nibbling, holding her against my face as if I could drown in her.
Mia's breaths came louder, her hips grinding against my tongue in a rhythm that worked perfectly for the both of us. My tongue slid inside of her again, greedy for it, and Mia keeled over, curling in on herself with a long groan of pleasure. "I want you," she whined.
My eyes shot back to hers. I licked my lips, steadying my breathing. I'd gotten lost in her. My cock was throbbing, and those three words made it even more apparent.
"Yeah?"
Mia slid her leg off my shoulder and grabbed my shirt, tugging the neckline up and over my head. She was rushed, frantic, like she might change her mind if it didn't happen, and I snatched her skirt at the hips, pulling it along with her panties down to her ankles. "Are you sure?"
Mia dropped to her knees along with me and kissed me hard. I wrapped my arms around her small waist and explored, fingers creeping up her spine to the clasp of her bra that I pinched between my fingers and felt give.
Her mouth dragged across my jaw and neck.
Another rush of arousal shot right to my dick, and the shudder of pleasure racked my teeth together.
I was so fucking turned on it hurt. This was the limbo between torture and euphoria, the plane of existence where everything was tunnel vision.
All I could see was her. Her hands sliding down my chest, through the hair there, across my stomach and pulling at my belt.
"I'm sure," she promised me, undoing the button, then the zipper. "I'm so sure."