Page 3 of Totally Off Limits

“You have one of those local microbrews?”

“Sure do. Would you prefer an ale or a lager?”

“Ale.” Now was the best time to make her escape, but she’d lingered a second too long. When Mickey turned back to Sierra, she hadn’t taken a step yet. “Martini?”

With a shrug, she said, “I thought about getting a beer—but a martini would draw less scorn from my parents, if you catch my drift.”

He raised his eyebrows in the sexiest way. “Are you here with anybody else?”

Oh, God. Why was he asking? “Just my—”

As if on cue, Mia ran up to Sierra, hugging her around the legs. “Mama!”

No sense prolonging the agony—and a child could scare him away, which was for the best. “This is my daughter, Mia. Mia, this is my friend Mickey.” Her bubbly child grinned but then hid her head against Sierra’s leg. “She’s a little shy.”

“She’s a cutie—and it’s probably a good thing to be a little afraid of strangers. So you’re here with your family?”

“Yep. The whole Hayden clan.”

Mickey scrunched up his mouth a bit as if doing math in his head. “All seven of you? Or eight with her daddy?”

“Nine, actually. Mia and Grandma included. No daddy.”

The way he cocked his eyebrow told Sierra he was thinking far too much.

Thatwas dangerous.

“Your beer, sir.”

Mickey picked up the cool brown bottle and tossed a ten-dollar bill in the jar. Just that alone made Sierra wonder what the hell it was her old high school classmate was doing nowadays—but she wasn’t going to ask. She had to get the hell out of here instead—beforehe figured anything out. After all, she didn’t want him asking questions about Mia. “Hey, Mickey, it was nice seeing you again, but I have to—”

“No problem. How long are you going to be at the reception?”

“I’m at the mercy of my mother, so only God knows.”

“Then promise me a dance and a drink later.” Before Sierra could protest, he added, “You owe me that much.”

Yeah, she probably did. So, one hand holding her daughter’s while the other gripped the stem of the martini glass, she said, “Our table’s over there whenever you’re ready.”

“Let me finish this beer.” Then he said, “Nice to meet you, Mia.”

The child giggled and waved but didn’t say a word.

Swallowing the saliva that had pooled in her mouth, Sierra said, “See you later.” As she headed back to the large table with her family, she wondered what the hell she could tell that beautiful man that would keep him in the dark.

That would likely be easy.

The problem? How could she convinceherselfthat she no longer wanted him?Thatwould be the trick.

CHAPTER2

Well, the martini hadn’t helped. Not one bit. The nervousness Sierra had been feeling earlier had ratcheted up to its highest point.

Why? Because if Mickey really was going to come over to their table, she would never hear the end of it from her mother. In fact, if Sierra recalled correctly, her mother had at one time called him a “scamp from the wrong side of Winchester.” The last thing she needed was something else for her parents to zero in on and criticize.

And she most definitely didn’t need them to figure out the secret she’d hidden from them since first confessing she was pregnant out of wedlock: that Mickey was Mia’s father.

To Sierra, there was no mistaking when she looked at Mia’s face after gazing upon Mickey’s. So she had to keep her family from Mickey—and, ideally, keeping Mickey from Mia wouldn’t be a bad idea, either.

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