Page 38 of Bad Men

I shook my head, reaching for the sugar. “No, before that.”

To her credit, her features remained perfectly quizzical. “Yeah, I guess. For a bit.”

I concentrated on scooping sugar into my drink and stirring it before facing her once more. “What did you guys do?”

Mia shrugged. “Sat in the car, talked.”

I took a sip. “What about?”

A moment passed between us, a sliver of something that had our gazes clashing in a war neither of us knew how to resolve. It thrummed with a tension I couldn’t ever recall feeling between us. I really didn’t like it.

“You know,” she grabbed a nearby rag and rubbed it absently across the table between us, but her eyes never broke their lock with mine, “I don’t remember. It was raining, so I think it was mostly about that.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You just sat in the car and talked about rain?”

She jerked up a shoulder. “Not exclusively. Why? Did he say we talked about something specific?”

I took a sip of my drink, studying her face over the rim. Her poker face was incredible. If I hadn’t known Nero had blabbed everything, I never would have suspected that she was the one he’d blabbed to.

The mug was set down between us. “Did he mention what he was doing here?”

Her smile was unexpected and stunning. “He came to pick me up. He didn’t want me to walk home.” She rolled her eyes, still grinning like we were sharing some secret. “I told him I’d walked home a million times before. I was fine, but he insisted.”

I hummed softly. “Did he mention anyone?”

Mia blinked, smile dimming. “Like who?”

I shrugged. “Dunno. Anyone.”

She shook her head. “No.”

“No one?” I pressed harder, levelling the full force of my focus on her.

Rather than shift or avert her eyes as most people would have, Mia’s eyes narrowed. Her lips pursed into a disapproving frown. She stared hard into my face until I was the one who wanted to look away.

“If you have a question, shouldn’t you be talking to Nero?” she challenged hotly, arms folding over her uniform top. “He did a kind thing for me last night making sure I got home safely. I don’t know what else you want me to tell you, but I really don’t like being interrogated, Davien.”

With a disappointed shake of her head, she turned on her heels and started walking towards the kitchen door. I was out of my seat before her palm could flatten on the filthy barrier. I caught her arm and spun her to face me.

“That’s my girl,” I growled before claiming her mouth in a branding kiss that elicited a whimper from her that I devoured with a plunge of my tongue into the hot channel of her mouth. The fingers of one hand fisted into her hair, the other twisted into the back of her dress, just above the curve of her ass. She grabbed at me with small hands, but not to push away.

“Davien?” she panted around a beautifully bruised mouth. Dark, hungry eyes stared up at me, wide and confused. It took all my restraint not to toss her over my shoulder and take her somewhere to fuck senseless.

But I abstained from the gnawing urge with a final skim across her swollen lips.

“I’ll pick you up at three.”

“Wait.” She grabbed my arm before I could pull away. “What was that?”

I kissed her again, short and hard. “We’ll talk later. I promise.”

With a new skip to my step, I marched back in the direction of the diner doors. The two men Mia had been talking to when I’d arrived glanced up. Both gave me a thumbs up as I passed their table.

I didn’t go home, but I called Nero as I drove to the nearest grocery store. The phone was shoved against my ear as I exited the car and stepped through the open doorway.

“Yeah?”

I snatched up a basket and hooked the handles over my arm. “Just left Mia.”

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