Page 41 of Seductive Scoundrel

“You’ll have to be more specific. I know lots of Mikes.”

I frown. “We only have the one in common, at least as far as I know. Mike Boyd.”

Mia is so strangely uncomfortable talking about the party where we met and the only mutual friend we have. Maybe her behavior was out of character, so she doesn’t like looking back on the evening. Although that makes no sense because we picked up where we left off. It’s another Mia mystery.

I’m looking forward to my upcoming lunch with Mike. He’ll be able to tell me if Mia has always been so inconsistent.

“We went on a few dates when I first moved here and stayed friends,” Mia replies.

“Did you fuck him?”

“Jesus, Dean.”

“That isn’t an answer.”

“No. Apparently, I only jump into bed with you.”

“Now that’s a great answer.”

Mia laughs. “Mike might not think so.”

“His loss is my gain.”

We spend another hour in the park, and I’m about to suggest we head back to my place when Mia speaks first. “I should get Wally home and feed him dinner.”

I’ve never had a woman cut our time together short before, and I’m a bit taken aback. Luckily I have enough practice keeping a poker face to hide it. “Sure, no problem. Or we can order food and then spend some time in the hot tub.”

Except I have zero time to waste, and I’ve already lost an afternoon. Now I’m proactively offering to lose my evening? What the actual fuck is the matter with me?

“Wally doesn’t like takeout,” Mia replies. “But I’ll take a raincheck. Call me later?”

“I need to at least have my driver take you home.” We’ve circled back to the front of my building, and I’m already texting Robert to come around.

“I was able to navigate the city before I met you,” Mia says with an eye roll that makes me want to spank her. Publicly.

“Well, now you don’t have to. I need to know that you’re okay at all times.”

“But I’m not your girlfriend.”

“No,” I agree. “You’re not. But you’re mine all the same. So just cooperate to make it easier for both of us.”

Robert gives Mia a salute when we come into view and she smiles. “Nice to see you again. And who is this handsome fellow?”

“My dog, Wally.”

I should have planned this better. I don’t let my staff watch me kiss women, but the thought of not tasting Mia again until next weekend is akin to torture. I don’t know that I’ll be able to see her before the gala, and she might choose to be difficult even if I can.

Fuck it.

I don’t know which of the three of us is more surprised when I hook an arm around Mia’s waist and pull her tight to my chest, taking her mouth with no hesitation. When her lips part and she fists my shirt, I have to hold back a groan while also drawing the line.

I can’t start something we can’t finish in the middle of the street. I shouldn’t have kissed her at all. It takes everything I have, but I pull away. “Text me when you get home.”

“Yes, sir,” she purrs as my cock twitches and tries to convince me that work can wait while reminding me that I have organic dog food samples in the penthouse.

Before I can make the suggestion that would be altogether too needy, especially after I just laid out the rules, Mia presses her lips to the column of my throat in an incredibly tender move. “See you soon.”

The view of her ass while she helps Wally into the back of the car, and then climbs in herself, doesn’t help my cause. I solved the mystery about the damn dog – he does exist, go figure – and now he’s screwed me out of sex...

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