Resisting the temptation to bang her head on her desk, Mia retrieved her phone, then snapped a photo of the beautiful display. She attached it to a text message to Alex, and wrote,
Thank you so much for the gorgeous flowers. Here they are in pride of place on my desk. And there’s nothing to forgive or make up for—the fact you were needed to save lives was more than good enough of a reason for me. I hope you’re managing to get some downtime. Sorry for the delay in messaging you—I didn’t get back from London until last night, and my gardener took delivery of the flowers and brought them to me this morning. It’s also been a manic day. Let me know when you’re free and I’ll give you a call. Hope to see you soon. Mia xxx
She sent the message, then put down her phone and turned her attention back to her computer, which had now loaded her email inbox. With a heavy sigh, she junked a handful of spam emails, then started working through the legitimate ones. Many were just for-your-information messages that didn’t require a response, so she read and absorbed them, then dragged them into the respective folders in her email programme for future reference.
When she’d read a message from one of her tenants for the third time and realised that none of it had sunk in, she shifted her gaze away from the screen with a groan. It landed on the pot of tea, reminding her she hadn’t actually had any of it yet. It’d probably be quite strong now, the teabags having sat in there for a while, but the extra caffeine could be just what she needed to kick her brain into gear. She poured a cup, added milk and sugar, and sipped at the hot, soothing liquid as she made a further attempt to get her head around the email. By the time she’d drained the cup, she’d arrived at the conclusion that it was her, rather than her tenant, at fault. The words, sentences, and paragraphs were all spelt and structured correctly; it was Mia’s highly distracted brain that was the problem. It may as well have been written in Latin. She marked the email as unread and resolved to come back to it later.
She sighed again. Sitting here staring at the screen was doing nobody any favours. And, if she was completely honest with herself, she knew precisely why she was having trouble focussing on anything more than the utterly mundane. Thomas. She needed to sort things out with Thomas. Work could wait—he was way more important.
Not bothering to shut down her computer again, she hurried from her office, through the house, and out into the gardens. It was only when she was halfway along the parterre that it occurred to her it would have been easier to call him first to find out exactly where he was—but it was too late now, since she’d left her mobile on her desk. At least it had stopped raining—though a glance at the sky made her wonder just how long that particular state of affairs was likely to last.
After almost twenty minutes, and thanks to the metallic sound of his rake dragging on the ground, she found him clearing leaf mulch from a large flowerbed. It was surrounded by a path, then a tall, dense hedgerow, so if it hadn’t been for the noise he was making, she’d likely have walked right past without even realising he was there.
“Hello,” she said, walking along to the part of the path which was nearest to where he was working, her heart racing as she awaited his reaction. There wasn’t one, not so much a flinch, and a sick feeling flooded her stomach until she spotted the reason for his lack of response—headphone wires dangled from his ears and disappeared into the collar of his jacket. He was probably blasting out some of his hideous heavy metal music, therefore unable to hear her.
There was no way she was going to walk on the flowerbed—it was currently devoid of plants, though thanks to Thomas, she knew that dozens, probably hundreds, of bulbs nestled within the earth and would hopefully start coming to life in the next few weeks—if they hadn’t already—providing a riot of colour and beauty come the spring. She could see the mud that clung to Thomas’s wellington boots, no doubt exacerbated by the earlier rain, and had no wish to get it on her own footwear. She settled instead for continuing around the path until she entered his line of sight.
It was apparent the very second he spotted her, when he jumped and clutched at his chest, a startled expression on his face. He used his left hand to tug the headphones out of his ears, the right still holding on to the rake. “There you are!” he said, relief transforming his features. “I’ve been so worried—where have you been? Are you all right?” He looked her up and down as if inspecting her for injuries, then carefully picked his way across the soil and onto the path beside her. Now he was close, she could hear the tinny sounds emanating from his headphones.
Immensely thankful that he seemed concerned, rather than pissed off, she replied, “Yes, I’m fine. Are you all right?” She reached up and gently caressed the cheek she’d slapped earlier, happy to find it unmarked. His stubble grated against her palm, and her brain immediately jumped to a memory of just how that stubble felt when it grated against the skin of her inner thighs. For Christ’s sake, Mia, not now!
He chuckled, and rummaged around in his coat for a moment. The headphones fell silent. “Takes more than a slap to hurt me. Though I admit it was quite the shock. Still, not as shocked as Betty was, I’d wager. What happened after I left?”
Mia recounted what had taken place, right up to the point where Betty walked out of the office.
“Bloody hell,” Thomas said, ruffling his hair unconsciously. “That’s full-on. You haven’t spoken to her since, I take it?”
Shaking her head, Mia said, “I daren’t. I was waiting until I calmed down—and she calmed down. And then… well, there’s something else.”
“Oh God, isn’t there always?” he replied with a groan.
She continued the story, through Arjun’s phone call and their subsequent lunch date. She finished with, “I gave up trying to work because I couldn’t concentrate, I just had to come and talk to you. I thought you were mad at me, especially when you didn’t come back or phone or text me.”
“I couldn’t come back, Mia. I didn’t know if you were alone, did I? I didn’t want to make the situation any worse. And why would I be mad? Because you slapped me? Or because of what you said before you slapped me?”
“All of it! It wasn’t a very nice thing to do.”
“No, it wasn’t, but I get that you were backed into a corner and couldn’t see any other way out. Plus, I’m as much to blame as you. I wasn’t exactly standing there idle while you kissed me, was I?” He gave a small smile. “I understand why you did what you did, said what you said, and I forgive you. Just please… don’t make a habit of it, all right?”
She smiled back, then nodded. “Of course I won’t. I never wanted to do it, and I’ve hated myself ever since. I can’t believe you’re not mad, and that you forgive me. What the hell have I done to deserve you?”
“More like what have you done to get lumbered with me!”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be stupid.”
“Never mind that—what are you going to do about Arjun? Is it a good idea to start seeing someone else when Elias and Alex don’t know about me yet, and the engagement hasn’t yet been announced? The situation is already tenuous enough.”
With a shrug, she replied, “I don’t know if I am going to start seeing him. I certainly can’t start anything with him without telling him the truth, and I have no idea how he’s going to react when he finds out. He might be all right with it—six months ago I’d have said that was highly unlikely, but I’ve learnt lately that anything is possible—or he might not. At least if I’m upfront right away, there are no deep feelings involved. Anyway,” she narrowed her eyes, “what’s changed your tune? I thought you were okay with me potentially dating Arjun?”
“I was… I am. What I’m not okay with is you getting hurt, or stressed. You’ve already been through enough, and it’s quickly becoming apparent that this whole harem thing involves quite a lot of juggling and balancing, and mostly on your part. At the moment, nothing is going entirely to plan and I can tell that you’re worrying about it. I just don’t want adding Arjun to the mix to be the
straw that breaks the camel’s back, all right?” He paused, and a glint appeared in his eyes. “It’s got absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he is sickeningly good looking, freakishly intelligent and richer than God.”
Despite being fully aware he was trying to lighten the mood, Mia couldn’t help asking, “How do you know he’s sickeningly good looking?”
“I might just be a lowly gardener,” he ignored the roll of her eyes and shake of her head, “but I know how to use the internet. And luckily for me, Google knows the correct spelling of his surname. He’s quite the celebrity in science and technology circles, you know.”
“Yeah? And what else did the internet tell you about him?”
“Nothing about his private life, if that’s what you’re getting at,” he replied with the merest lift of an eyebrow.
Heat rushed to her cheeks, making it pointless to deny it. “Sometimes it sucks that you know me so well. I just… well, it’s weird that he’s young, gorgeous, smart, and rich, and yet he’s single. And, unless he’s playing some kind of sick game with me, which I don’t think he is, he’s not gay. You’d think he’d have women falling over him.”
Thomas shook his head. “Nah, I don’t get a gay vibe from him, either.”
“You haven’t even met him!” she said incredulously.
“That can soon be rectified, can’t it?” he shot back, then glanced at his watch. “He’ll be here in a couple of hours. Why don’t you get him to bring enough food for three?”
For once, Mia was unable to tell if he was joking or not, so she decided to call his bluff. “Yeah, all right, I will. Are you in the mood for pizza, or Chinese?”
He shrugged. “I really don’t mind. Happy to go with the majority.” He fell silent then, and glanced up the sky. “Ugh, was that rain?”
“I don’t kno—oh, yes, I felt it then, too,” she replied, even as her brain reeled with the information that Thomas wanted to meet Arjun. Arjun, who could still very easily walk away once he learnt about the situation. He hadn’t even met the other men that were part of her life yet. But perhaps he just taking advantage of Arjun’s proximity—she knew he was keen to meet Elias and Alex, too.
“Come on,” Thomas said, grabbing her hand. “Let’s head under cover before it starts pissing it down—look at that black cloud.” He began walking, and she hurried along beside him as he made his way out of that section of the garden and back onto the main path, where he stopped and looked at her. “We’re about the same distance from the house and the cottage here—where do you want to go?”
She took in his attire, and smiled as she spotted the mud stain on the side of his neck. “The cottage, I think. No chance of running in to anyone else there, and besides, you should get showered and changed before Arjun arrives.”
“Why?” They started walking again, in the direction of his cottage. “Am I not good enough to meet your potential new boyfriend looking like this?”
She scowled at him. “Don’t put words in my mouth. You know damn well that’s not what I meant. You wouldn’t meet anyone looking like that, so why should Arjun be any different?”
He glanced over at her, a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. “It doesn’t seem to bother you when I’m all dirty and smelly. In fact, I think you quite like it. Am I your bit of rough compared to your other men, in their posh designer clothes and expensive aftershaves?”
She squeezed his hand, hard, though she knew it wouldn’t hurt him. “You’re deliberately trying to wind me up now—stop it.” She might have protested, but his words had actually given her food for thought. Had he hit on the reason that this whole multiple men thing—once the proverbial creases had been ironed out, of course—was appealing to her, rather than terrifying? Yes, it had started out as a means to an end, but the deeper she got, the more she found she really and truly did want it to work out long term with Elias, Alex, and Thomas—and possibly Arjun. They were all so different, and yet they each had something that connected them to her, a similarity or something in common. Sure, compared to the other three, Thomas probably was her “bit of rough”, but she couldn’t care less about that. The conditions of her father’s will meant she had to marry someone with status so she could inherit, but she personally didn’t give a shit about all that status malarkey. She’d marry Thomas in a heartbeat if she could, but it wasn’t possible. The estate was as important to her as he was, and luckily she was in a position where she could have both, even though it involved getting hitched to someone that wasn’t him.
Overwhelmed by just how fortunate she was, she squeezed his hand, more gently this time. “I love you.”
He peered at her again, his smile wide. “I love you, too. So…” his smile faded, “what are you going to do about Betty? Sounds like she was pretty mad—with both of us. Just so you know, if I see her I’m going to run for it.”
“Argh, do we have to talk about that now? I only just sorted things out with you, and very shortly I’ve got to tell a gorgeous Indian tech billionaire that I’m into polyandry. Could I stick with tackling one thing at a time, please?”
“Yeah, all right,” he replied good naturedly. “But before you do that, there’s something I could use some help with, if you’re willing.”
“Of course. What do you need me to do?”
They’d just reached his cottage, and he leaned his rake against the wall before reaching into his pocket to retrieve his keys. He unlocked the door, then opened it and ushered her inside before following her and closing the door. “Well,” he continued, having pulled off his muddy boots and left them on the doormat, “I could really do with some help washing my back…”
A splutter of surprised laughter escaped her. “Tom! I thought you were being serious, then, that you actually needed my help with something!”
He pouted and gave her a wide-eyed look. “I do…” With that, he unzipped and removed his coat, then threw it over the back of the sofa. His T-shirt followed immediately afterwards, and as his hands went slowly to his belt, Mia’s gaze followed them.
“Well,” she said, a smile spreading across her face, “when you put it like that…”
Chapter Eleven
Mia turned and raced up the stairs, Thomas hot on her heels. Within minutes they were naked and in the bathroom. “When I abandoned my work to come and sort things out with you, this isn’t exactly what I had in mind,” Mia said, pulling two thick, fluffy towels from the cupboard and putting them on the rail ready for when they’d done in the shower.
Thomas looked over his shoulder from where he was adjusting the temperature of the water. “It wasn’t what I had in mind when I started cleaning dead leaves off that flowerbed either, but here we are. You’re not complaining, are you?” he added with a grin.
“What do you think?” She moved up behind him, wrapped her arms around his middle and pressed her front to his back. The heat of his skin seeped through to hers, and a shiver of delight ran through her, zeroing in on her pussy. He smelled of fresh sweat with a tinge of shower gel, and she committed the scent to memory. She began exploring his muscular body; enjoying the sensation of the wiry hairs on his pecs beneath her fingers, before trailing slowly down his abdomen, intending to tease him. Before she got much further, though, her hands brushed against Thomas’s cock, already rigid and red hot. She grasped it, gratified when it swelled yet further at her touch. “Guess it doesn’t matter what either of us had in mind—we’ve clearly come up with a better idea, huh?”
“You can say that again,” Thomas replied huskily. He let his head loll back, obviously enjoying the gentle pumping motions Mia was lavishing on his dick. “Anyway,” he cleared his throat, “shall we get in the shower, then, otherwise it’ll all be over before it’s even started.”
She released him and stepped back, then they clambered into the tub and Thomas tugged the curtain across. “So,” she said, raising her eyebrows, “your back’s dirty, is it?”
Thomas nodded emphatically, a look of innocence on his
face. “Filthy.”
“Let’s see what we can do about that then, shall we?”
He shifted back to stand directly under the spray and got his hair and body good and wet. Then he handed Mia a bottle of shower gel and turned away from her.
She took in the delectable view as she flipped open the lid and squirted some of the bright blue, viscous liquid into her palm. Broad shoulders, high, taut buttocks, thick thighs… all framed with water spray and rapidly-increasing steam. She licked her lips and grinned widely. She really couldn’t give a toss if he was a bit of rough or the ruler of the universe, she loved and wanted him, and that was all that mattered.
Having put the shower gel down on the edge of the bath, she spread the liquid in her palm across both hands, then reached up and put them on Thomas’s shoulders. She paused for a moment to allow the blue goop to trickle down his back, then began scrubbing along the tops of his shoulders, digging her fingertips in to his flesh so it was something between a wash and a massage. She continued down his arms, taking extra time to relish the hardness of his biceps and triceps, before skipping back to his shoulder blades and gradually working her way south. By the time she’d reached the tops of his buttocks, the heat overwhelming her was nothing to do with the water—she was horny as hell and wanted nothing more than to feel his thick cock inside her. But, determined to see out their sexy game, she carried on—washing his buttocks, even delving right in between them and brushing her fingers over the knot of his hole, then moving down each of his legs in turn before reaching for his hips and urging him to turn around.
She’d knelt to allow her access to his lower legs, therefore when he did turn, his cock was right in front of her face. She took it in her hand and looked up at him. “This dirty, too?”
“Yes. Even more so than my back, I reckon,” he replied with a wicked grin that made her pussy clench.
“Well, then, I’ll have to scrub it even more thoroughly than your back, won’t I?” She grabbed the shower gel and squirted more into her hand before replacing it. Then she turned her attention to Thomas’s dick, rigid and thrusting rudely towards her face. She lightly smoothed her hands down it, smiling as the action turned his skin blue. “You’ve got a Smurf dick!”
Mia's Wedding: A Reverse Harem Romance Novel (The Heiress's Harem Book 2) Page 9
