Page 27 of Mysterious

The man from concierge presses the button to summon the elevator and hears her say she wants a pizza. “I will get one sent up to your suite immediately, miss.”

“Can you send up some sweet tea too?” Mia asks with a smile.

“Of course, of course,” he says, still flustered at having to deal with a major star being carried through his very posh lobby.

“Thank you so much. I really mean it. Thank you,” she says as the elevator doors open and we step in.

“It’s our pleasure, miss. We only want your visit with us to be the very best it can be.”

I force a smile for him as the doors close because he looks like he’s about to have a breakdown. I guess it isn’t every day that one of their guests has something happen to them and shows up in a man’s arms.

We silently ride up in the elevator, but right before we reach her floor, Mia quietly says, “I overreacted back at that bar. I’m sorry, Liam. Those people just wanted to see me.”

Staring straight ahead at the gold doors reflecting the image of her in my arms back at us, I growl at the memory of what those people tried to do. “They were like animals. That’s not wanting to see someone. That’s wanting a piece of someone.”

“Are you mad at me, Liam? You’re acting like you are,” she says, her words full of hurt.

I don’t look down at her, but out of the corner of my eye I see her staring up at me like she desperately needs me not to be angry. I’m not angry with her. I’m angry with me. I fucked up. I let those animals get close to her because I dropped my guard.

I’m saved from having to answer her when the elevator rings to announce we’ve reached her suite and the doors open. Her crew is having a good time, but everything stops dead when they see me walk out of the elevator with Mia in my arms.

“Oh, my God! Mia, what happened?” her life coach asks in a voice that sounds remarkably similar to the frantic one the concierge guy had downstairs.

She rushes over to greet us as I set Mia down on the gold print sofa in the lounge area of the suite. “You’re bleeding. Let me get you a washcloth to wipe it up. What happened? You said you were going out for a little bit. I figured you meant you were staying in the hotel, though, like always. If I had known you were going somewhere with whatever attacked you, I would have chained you to the floor.”

Mia looks up at me and rolls her eyes. “Ainsley gets a little freaked at the sight of blood. Sit down. You can have some of my pizza. It should be here soon.”

“No, that’s okay. I need to get back downstairs to talk to my guys.”

She reaches out her hand to grab mine and keep me there, but I step back, needing to get out of this room full of all of these people gawking at her.

A look of hurt settles into her eyes. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

I shrug, needing to get away from all of these people. Including Mia. “I’m fine. It looks like you’re in good hands, so I’m going to go.”

Before she can try to convince me to stay, I hurry over to the elevator, nearly running into one of the hotel’s waiters coming out with Mia’s pizza in his hands. Sidestepping him, I rush in as the doors close, quietly apologizing for nearly flattening him as he tried to make his delivery.

Regret fills me with every second that passes on my way down to my floor. I utterly failed in my job tonight. I can’t forgive myself.

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

Mia

All the peoplebuzzing around me to make sure I’m comfortable, happy, and fed only serve to make me wish Liam was still here. Why did he leave? He’s angry, but I don’t know why.

That’s not true. I know him well enough to understand that tonight I broke one of his rules and now he’s regretting going with me to that bar. I knew he was trying to keep us from going with all those reasons why we shouldn’t even try to get into a bar, but I figured once we slept together everything changed.

Or is it that he’s regretting that instead of what happened after we had sex?

God, I wish he was here. Everyone’s attention seems fixed on me, and I feel like some freak at the circus. The blood on my shoulder was from a tiny scratch. Nothing big. I don’t even think it was that much blood since I don’t need a bandage or anything.

Liam’s so overprotective. I love that about him, but he shouldn’t be unhappy about what happened tonight.

Part of that is my fault. I overreacted when all those people started coming at me. I should be used to that. I’ve had people clamoring to get close to me for years. I had Liam there with me, the one person I trust more than any other in the entire world. If only I hadn’t freaked out, everything would have been fine.

“So what happened?” Ainsley asks as Crystal sits down next to her to hear the story.

I wave away her question, not wanting to rehash my mistake. “Nothing happened. Liam and I were having a couple drinks at a bar and it got crowded. Things got a little crazy, but he got me out of there before anyone could hurt me.”

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