CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
I was so out of my league. I was used to keeping my cool and acting rationally when things got rough. But I’d never had to rush to a hospital because one of the best men I knew had a heart attack.
Noticing my distress, Danny drove me to the hospital a town over while Ben stayed with Haley, so she wasn’t alone. Somehow, I had the insight to call my brother on the way. It gave me a brief sense of helpfulness. That soon turned into agony .
As soon as Danny parked the car, I ran into the hospital looking for Mia. I found her down one of the corridors and sped up to her.
“What happened?”
She looked frazzled as she rubbed her left hand. “John went for a walk and felt sick. One of the neighbors saw him and called an ambulance. I’m listed as his emergency contact so they called me. I ran to Holy Water’s hospital, but they decided to bring him here for better care, due to his age. I called you as soon as I arrived. They’re running some tests now.”
I took off my glasses to rub my eyes and paced the corridor. Danny found us and talked quietly with Mia, as I tried to calm myself.
I felt her small hands touching my arm. “He’s going to be fine.” She interlaced our fingers and squeezed my hand, saying quietly, “Breathe.”
I pressed our joined hands on my chest and breathed, letting her anchor me. We stayed like that for a while, until a beautiful doctor with curly hair and dark skin approached us.
“Mia?”
She turned to the doctor. “Ariel. This is Ethan, John’s grandson. Is he okay?”
Ariel smiled. “He’s fine. The cardiologist ran the tests and confirmed the suspicion that Mr. Cross had a heart attack. But it was a minor one and thankfully, he was soon medicated. But considering his age, we’re keeping him overnight just in case.”
“When can I see Pop?”
“He’s settling in his room. I’ll be back to take you there in a bit.”
As soon as the woman left, without even thinking about it, I pulled Mia into my chest and kissed the side of her head. We hugged each other as if our lives depended on it.
And in a way, it did.
“I hope there’s salt in this Jello because there’s none in the food.”
It was safe to say Pop was getting better if his snarks were any indication.
Mia fluffed his pillow. “I don’t think you’re supposed to eat salty food.”
He sneered but his eyes at her were venom-less. “You should’ve let me die then.”
She touched her chest. “I’m sorry, next time I’ll be mindful of that.”
I don’t know how she managed that, but Mia convinced her doctor friend to let Shane and I spend the night with Pop. She ran by her place to get me new clothes for the night, then picked up a few things for Shane and Pop at his house .
Shane and I were barely keeping it together with worry, while she dealt with Pop’s bad mood like a queen, as we waited for the doctor to come and make sure he was going home. I didn’t sleep a wink that night.
My parents Facetimed us a couple of times since the day before, and we insisted they didn’t need to come because Shane and I could handle it. But I wasn’t so sure we could.
I tried to tidy the sterile hospital room, but there weren’t enough things to clean and organize to calm me down. I needed to stay busy, so I resorted to organizing Pop’s clothes in the handbag Mia had brought. My brother abandoned his flirty self and decided to be plain moody. At least one of us would carry Pop’s grumpiness trait.
“Isn’t there anything else to eat?”
She sat down in the armchair next to his bed, with her legs crossed under her, leaned her arm on the armrest, and rested her head on her hand. “Well, I heard they make a killer pancake with raisins. I can ask them to prepare some if you want.”
He squinted his eyes at her. “I know you’re kidding. But on the off chance you’re being serious: I don’t want pancakes with raisins.” He huffed on his bed. “Why are you all here?”
She waved a hand at the window and answered promptly, “For the view. There’s just something about an unfinished construction site that always moved me. ”
“I hope that’s the truth, Ms. Mia. Because it’s foolish to be worried over nothing.”
I took off my glasses to rub my eyes. “Pop, you had a heart attack! That’s not nothing. We are worried and we have the right to be. My God, we could’ve lost you. In case you haven’t noticed, you’re not that young anymore.”
“ Pff . The age is in the mind.”
Mia snorted. “I think your back just laughed.”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, she ended up extracting a few chuckles from us. Once again, I was glad she was there with us. With me.
“What are you talking about? It feels like the back of a seventy-year-old man.”
“Was your back better at seventy?” Shane asked.
My brother was saved from the nasty response Pop was surely about to give him when a doctor came in to discharge him and give instructions moving forward.
After dealing with his papers, I wheeled him out and the three of us took him to his place, where Shane would keep an eye on him. I knew Pop was trying his best to keep his grumpy fa?ade and act like everything was fine, but it told a lot that he didn’t complain when the three of us walked into his house to settle him in and when Shane announced he’d be in town longer.
Once we made sure he was fine and taken care of, Mia and I left his place to go home. I was torn between wanting to stay longer with Pop and needing a reprieve from the fear I was feeling.
We walked inside, and I soaked up in Hugo’s greeting. I sat down on the floor as he traipsed around the living room, bringing to me everything that could fit into his mouth. After a while, I plopped down on the sofa, leaned my head back, and closed my eyes.
I smelled hot chocolate and felt the couch dip by my side under Mia’s weight. Still resting my head, I shifted it to the side to look at her.
She handed me a cup and sipped hers. “How are you feeling?”
I sat straighter. “Worried. Terrified. Guilty.”
“Guilty?”
I pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose. “I spent so much time working. I jumped from town to town, fighting demons, drying ice, always planning the next attack, preparing for the next assignment, creating the newest software that could improve my work.” I rubbed my eyes under my glasses. “I had down to a dot every single professional aspect, I prepared myself for every scenario regarding the agency, the cartel, any investigation I was a part of…Yet I failed to prepare myself for the screaming reality that I won’t have Pop forever.”
We drank in silence for a while, and I was grateful that she let me organize my thoughts and feelings.
“I could’ve come more often. I should’ve spent more time with him. I don’t care that the doctors say he’s fine. I almost lost him.”
She bit her lip and looked at her cup. “I won’t try to convince you that you shouldn’t feel guilty. Not that I think you are. But because I know it’s not something that goes away just because I tell you it should. We spend so much time worrying about fixing the world first and our needs and relationships later, under the belief we’ll have time, and then one day life slaps you in the face to remind you that she’s the one in control. You could have the best strategies, the greatest training, yet she still can beat you and attack you where it hurts the most.
“On the other hand, your grandfather is fine. You still have time with him. And nothing can erase the moments you already had together and the memories you created. That man has nothing but wonderful things to say about you. As grumpy as he can be, he sure loves you and never tries to hide it.” She touched my arm, rubbing her thumb over it. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. You don’t deserve that anger.”
We placed our empty cups on the coffee table, and I took her hand and interlaced our fingers. “Thank you. For everything. For taking such good care of Pop. For standing by my side. For letting me have my emotions, but also helping me deal with them. For being there for him and for me when we needed it. I couldn’t have gone through this alone.”
She squeezed my hand. “As unorthodox as our beginning was, I think we make a pretty good team.”
I pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose and tried to come up with the right words. “Maybe we should stick to this truce.”
She smiled. “I wouldn’t mind that. As much as I looked for something to hate about you, I still haven’t found one.”
I looked at her, and when I stared into her big, dark brown eyes, my breathing stopped. My heart galloped inside my chest as we leaned our heads closer. When our lips touched, a charge of electricity seemed to course through my body.
I palmed the back of her neck, pulling her closer, and she didn’t leave me hanging. She shifted on the couch, straddling my lap, and ran her small hands through my hair. I slid my hand to her neck, applying pressure, and with the other one I squeezed her hip.
As our tongues danced together, we started grinding against each other, seeking the relief only the other seemed to be able to provide.
Still holding her neck, I let my other hand roam over her. I slid it inside her blouse, touching her soft skin, and my cock swelled beneath her. Craving more of Mia, I pulled the hem of her shirt over her head, breaking our kiss, and threw it on the couch .
I let my fingers feather-touch what seemed to be quite a few bullet-wound scars on her torso and arms. My heart constricted at the sight; she’d been through so much. Yet it soared at the marvel that she was alive and with me. That moment was for us.
As I soaked her image in, she panted. “I’m at a disadvantage here.” I was about to take off my glasses when she touched my hand. “Keep them.”
Not one to disappoint her, I pulled my shirt from the back of my neck but left my glasses on. At her blatant perusal of my ink, I got harder. She touched each tattoo with lust, but what surprised me was that she leaned over to kiss my freckles. Not that I’d complain; I had a lot of those for her to kiss.
But it took all my self-control when she started to kiss my neck.
She nibbled her way up my mouth and bit my bottom lip, making me groan with desire. “I can’t contain myself much longer, Spitfire.”
“You don’t have to.” She stood up in front of me and pulled my hand.
I got up and followed her to her bedroom. As soon as we walked inside, I closed the door behind us—I didn’t think Hugo was old enough to witness what was about to happen—and pulled her to me again, devouring her lips. Her smell entranced me, her lips drove me crazy, her skin made me crave her like a man starved.
I unclipped her bra, letting the string slide down her arms, and palmed her breasts. Her intake of breath surged me on, so I played with her nipples, twisting and pulling them between my fingers, yearning for more of her mewls.
She ran her short nails over my chest. When she reached my waistband, she unbuttoned and unzipped my pants, and I groaned in anticipation. She reached her hand inside and palmed my cock, which seemed to have never been that hard.
I broke the kiss, and since Mia was so much shorter than me, I sat down on her bed and pulled her to me. Craving the taste of her skin, I bit the underside of one of her breasts and then sucked one of her nipples while playing with the other.
I unzipped her pants to take them off and lifted my hips just enough for us to pull my pants and boxers down. As I sat naked on her bed, she straddled my legs again only in her underwear.
Mia rubbed my shaft up and down, driving me insane, while I played with her breasts, getting harder with each one of her moans.
She got off my lap and kneeled between my legs. I could swear my cock jumped in joy at the sight of her, but I wanted to make sure she was comfortable. “You don’t have to do that, Fire. ”
She languidly stroked me up and down and played with my piercing. “Don’t you want it?”
“God, I do! Just don’t think this is something you should do.” She squeezed me, making me pant. “I’m just trying to give you a way out.”
She smiled up at me, and there seemed to be more than lust in her eyes. “I’m already in.”
Without any other warning, she pulled me into her hot, wet mouth, and I struggled not to buckle into it. Mia circled her tongue around my piercing and sucked hard, driving me crazy. I pulled her hair back to look at her pretty face taking me in and fisted it at the back of her neck.
She bobbed up and down on my shaft, taking more and more of me each time, until I could feel her throat.
“ Fuuuck! Do that again, suck me in deep.” She slid my cock into her mouth again and sucked, hollowing her cheeks, while her hands caressed my balls. “Damn, I knew you’d be trouble.”
She let go of my shaft with a pop. “Use my mouth.”
On instinct, I tightened my grip on her hair. “Touch yourself.” She did as instructed, and I slid my cock inside her mouth again. Holding her head, I fucked her mouth, mindful not to hurt her or make her uncomfortable, but feeling the kind of freedom and ecstasy I’d never experienced before.
Her moans as she touched herself pushed me forward, and I started to lose control of my thrust.
I pulled myself out of her mouth and leaned over to her lips. The kiss was wild, raw, and I could’ve come from it alone.
“I’ll come in your mouth later. And I swear I’ll taste your pussy and every little inch of you. But I need to be inside you.”
She bit my lip and then licked it to ease the sting. “I always loved a dirty bird. But don’t take the glasses off.”
I chuckled and pulled her head for another scorching kiss, positioning us both on her bed. She lay on her back, and I rested my forearms on each side of her head. We stared into each other’s eyes again, and I felt something shift inside me.
It didn’t feel like fucking or scratching an itch. We weren’t blowing off some steam. Mia and I were finding our way to each other. That was me being thankful for her loyalty. It was her showing me she trusted me despite all odds. That was the two of us discovering something strong blossoming between us, something we couldn’t ignore. Something we didn’t want to ignore.
I kissed her softly again as I pulled her underwear down her legs. I settled between them and ran my hands on her slit, marveling at how wet she was. She threw her hands into my hair again, never breaking the kiss, and I inserted two fingers inside her, making her moan.
Thrusting them inside and out, I circled my thumb over her clit and applied enough pressure to drive her crazy, but not enough for her to jump over the edge.
We played like that for a while, until she begged me, “More, Ethan. I need to feel you inside me.”
There was no way I could say “no” to that plea. I positioned myself at her entrance and slid inside in one long, smooth thrust. We both moaned at the sensation, and I had to stand still so she could get used to my girth and I could get my bearings.
“Damn, you’re so tight.”
Our noses touched, and we breathed each other’s air until she moved her hips beneath me, and I took that as an invitation to thrust. I began slowly, savoring her skin and how hot her pussy was. But when she tightened her walls against me, I was gone.
She panted. “I can feel you deep. I’ve never been this full.”
My thrusts became erratic, and I pounded into her with abandon. She circled her legs around me and met me stroke for stroke, while fisting my hair. The headboard banged against the wall, but we didn’t care. I was getting dangerously close to the edge, and I was torn between being inside her forever and seeking the release we both desperately needed.
“Touch yourself, Fire.”
“Choke me.”
I held the headboard with one hand and circled her neck with the other, choking her. She palmed my ass with one hand and slid down the other to pinch her clit. I looked down at where I was entering her and lost it. I thrust and thrust brutally, applying more pressure on her neck, until we couldn’t take it anymore.
Her legs shook around me, and I felt her tightening around my cock, squeezing me like a vise. As she cried out my name, I lost the battle against my control, and came inside her, groaning her name on an endless plea, as wave upon wave of pleasure engulfed me.
I slowly let go of her neck and lay on top of her, scattering kisses on her chest, her neck, her cheeks, as I tried to regain my breath.
“Can I take the glasses off now?”
Mia giggled. “If you have to.”
I smiled looking at her pretty and satisfied face, took my glasses off, and dropped them on the bed by the pillow. Still nestled inside Mia, I rested on top of her and lay my head beside hers, rubbing my nose against her cheek back and forth with my eyes closed, as she played with my sweaty hair.
She shifted her head to the side to look at me. We stared into each other’s eyes again, our noses almost touching, and without a single word, we both knew something had changed. The Mia and Ethan who walked in weren’t the ones lying together in a tangle of limbs .
And as much as I loved rules, order, planning, and foreseeable settings, nothing had made me happier and more at ease than the little brown-eyed, unpredictable mayhem in my arms.