She made a sorrowful noise. "Hope, I've wanted to say this for a while. Your momma and I… we weren't close growing up. It doesn't matter now why, it's just how it was. But it is my fault that I never pushed past that to get to know you, and I am sorry for that, sorrier than I can say."

Hope looked at her, feeling her throat tighten. "Really?"

"Really." Mia glanced at Kevin, as if seeking help. In response, he ran his hand up her arm again in a sweet, united gesture, which was strange-the last time Hope had looked, the two of them generated heat and lots of sparks, but she'd missed this other, deeper bond.

In a shocking move, Mia reached for Hope's hand, bringing Hope into the circle, and for a moment Hope couldn't even breathe for fear Mia would pull away.

"We have definitely gotten off on the wrong foot here," Mia said softly. "Maybe we could start over."

"Why?" Hope asked warily.

"Hell, I don't know, maybe I want to get to know your sunny and gentle disposition."

Kevin choked out a laugh. "Sorry," he said when they both looked over at him. "I was just thinking how special it is that the sweet and gentle disposition runs in the family."

"I'll have you know, we're as different as night and day," Mia said.

Well duh, Hope thought.

"Although, I'll give you that we might both be a little stubborn," Mia said.

Well, at least one of them was, Hope thought, but it wasn't her.

Kevin just grinned.

Mia shook her head and said an extremely off-color word that made Kevin's grin spread.

Mia rolled her eyes, and right then and there Hope felt something new bloom in her chest, something she'd never expected.

Affection. Not wanting to be moved, wanting to soak in her self-righteous pity a bit longer, she bit it back. "Starting over… What does that mean exactly?"

"It means we wipe the slate clean. I pretend you just drove up." Mia thrust out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Hope. Maybe you can stay until the weekend."

Right. In three days her mother was supposedly coming for her, for real this time. Hope stared at the proffered hand and then shook it as she met Mia's eyes. "It's nice to meet you, long-lost Aunt Apple- Mia," she corrected quickly when Mia's smile slipped.

"I don't know, I kind of like Aunt Apple," Kevin said.

Footsteps sounded on the walk behind them, coming closer. Adam came into view, and when he saw the two adults with Hope, he slowed his steps. "Uh… hi."

Hope's heart started pounding. God, he was cute. That thought warred with another. Only three more days…

Kevin nodded to Adam. "What's up?"

Adam slid his hands into his pocket. "Just hanging."

Mia looked Adam over, too, taking in the baggy T-shirt, the loose pants that sagged past his butt, revealing black boxers, and the surfer shoes. She sighed. "Just don't get into any trouble."

Adam shot her his charm-the-stupid-adult smile. "No trouble."

Mia and Kevin exchanged a long look, but finally Mia shook her head. "Be in by eleven, Hope. That's half an hour from now." Then she and Kevin walked toward their houses.

Kevin turned back. "Adam?"

"Yeah?"

"If you give her alcohol or pot, I'll castrate you."

Adam swallowed hard. "No alcohol. No pot."

"Good."

Hope watched Kevin catch up with Mia, feeling oddly warm and fuzzy. And cared for. Mia had freaked when she'd thought Hope had left, and yet she was still sending her home in a matter of days… Sucked.

Adam smiled at Hope, his eyes sleepy and sexy as he stepped close. "Hey."

He was seriously in her personal space, looking at her with those eyes, and she tried to relax. "Hey back atcha."

Adam craned his neck to make sure they were all alone. When he saw that they were, he pulled her into the trees beyond the basketball court.

"Uh-"

"You look pretty," he said huskily and touched her cheek.

"I… do?"

He slid an arm around her, tugging her close, burying his face in her neck. "And you smell yum. Let's hang here," he murmured and kissed her throat.

"M-maybe for a minute."

"You have thirty," he reminded her.

Suddenly that seemed like a very long time. What the hell had Mia been thinking?

Adam kissed her then, sticking his tongue in her mouth and a hand up her shirt. His other hand slid into the back of her pants, startling her. "Wait," she gasped.

He pulled back a fraction.

"I have my period," she said brilliantly.

Adam signed and stepped free. "Damn."

"Yeah. Sorry," she said, breathing a huge sigh of relief. "Want to smoke?"

"Sure. What the hell."


***

Mia rushed toward her house without looking back, inexplicably close to losing it in a big way. She needed to be alone, to think, to process. God. When she thought Hope had left, she panicked. And then when she leaned on Kevin, as if it was the most natural thing in the world… She went around to the back of her house, slipping into her dark kitchen-

"Ow," Kevin said, rubbing his forehead where the door hit him.

She looked at him and felt an odd ache in her chest to go with her tight throat and burning eyes. She was holding on by a thread here. "Go home."

Instead he shut the door behind him and looked at her from those dark, sexy eyes that never failed to melt her into a pool of longing.

Damn, it was ridiculous how she responded to him. Ridiculous, and just a little humiliating. "I have nothing to say to you."

"Not even about your crush on me?"

"Ha ha." She stalked over to her table and put her hands flat on the wood, gulping in air. Hope was okay. She hadn't run off to do anything stupid.

And the man behind her… Well, things weren't so black-and-white with him. The way he looked standing there on the court with Hope: big, bad, tough, and so unexpectedly sweet she almost hadn't been able to breathe when she'd looked into his eyes.

Damn it, what was it about him? He made her think, laugh, yearn…

"Is it true?" he asked.

His hands came up, gripped the table at either side of her hips, putting them extremely close and in an unexpectedly intimate position. "Mia," he said very softly, tipping his head so that his breath brushed her jaw, her ear, making her feel touched by him, when in truth not an inch of him touched her at all.

"I read between the lines when you were talking about your sister. She was pretty rough on you, wasn't she?"

Mia lifted a shoulder. "All that's in the past now."

"Yeah. But I'm sorry I judged you for not being closer to your family. I had no right," he said quietly. "I think you were great tonight. I think you reached her." He sprawled his hands wide so that his thumbs just lightly skimmed over her hips. He was tall, hard with muscle from all his days playing basketball, and she felt trapped by him, petite and extremely feminine. Beneath the flimsy robe, her body reacted predictably.

"Is what true?" She had to clear her rough throat. "That I have a crush on you? Don't be ridiculous."

Leaning in, he let his mouth just barely brush her throat.

The hollow at the base of her neck.

And then her collarbone.

Oh, God. She had to lock her knees. She had no idea what to do with her hands, so they helped themselves to his shirt, fisting comfortably over his pecs, which were warm and solid. Real.

At her touch, he let out a low groan and stepped back, letting out a sound of disbelief. "How the hell did I end up here again?"

"I-" She was about to say it was because their bodies seemed to have a thing for each other, but she looked into his eyes-eyes the color of the Caribbean Sea, eyes that weren't holding anything back- and she lost the glib words. Instead she sank her hands into his hair and dragged his mouth to hers.

Chapter 14

Mia sank into the kiss, thrilling to the way he touched her. "God," he murmured, taking another hot little love bite out of her throat. "Why couldn't you be wearing a suit of armor?"

Her head fell back. The man could take her from zero to sixty with a single touch. For someone so laid-back and casual, he had a real edgy thing going when he concentrated, and when it came to her, he usually concentrated extremely well. His hair was tousled, and a lock of it fell over his knotted brow; his eyes were dark and sleepy and filled with an intense heat.

It was silly how strongly he affected her, but just looking at him, she felt her pulse skip. Her amusement at herself for that vanished in a flash when his fingers pulled open her robe. His low, throaty groan was heady stuff. He lifted her up onto the table, put his hands on her thighs, and pushed them open. "Look at you," he murmured. "You're already wet for me." With a light touch that sent her pulse skittering, he stroked her, outlined her, then slowly pushed two fingers into her.

His grip on her was presumptuous, familiar, and just a little rough, and she should have kicked his ass for it. Instead, she fought to see past the sexual haze and tried to rip his clothes off. She shoved up his shirt and had his jeans half undone when he shook his head as if trying to clear it and stepped free. "Mia. We have to stop."

"Damn it, I hate that word."

He let out a low, groaning laugh and touched his forehead to hers, squeezing her hips gently. "Hope. Remember Hope. I know you gave her a half hour, but she could come in the door anytime."

"Oh, God." She blinked, and wanted to cry. "There are teenagers around. Does that mean we can't have sex? I really need to have sex, Kevin. Right now."