“Jude invited you to dinner, and before you say no, I have to warn you that she’s dropping by in about ten minutes to get you there. Kicking and screaming if she has to.”
“Ellie…come on! You know why I don’t—”
“Miah’s not going to be home for a while. He left to go to DC this afternoon, so calm yourself, sister. This is just a family dinner, not us matchmaking again.”
“Ugh, fine. I’ll come, but I swear, Ellie, if Jeremiah is there, I’m not going to be happy.”
The sly little minx just grins and keeps eating her contraband ice cream, all the while giving me sidelong glances.
An invitation is one thing, but having Jude arrive on my doorstep is another. So if the oaf gets moody about my presence, he can take it up with his mom.
And I can enjoy his presence a bit without having to feel like a clingy idiot who wants to actually be there.
Chapter Four
Miah
I know she’s here before I turn the corner and enter the dining room. I can’t say why or how I know, I just do. She’s like a physical presence within me. I feel her like an ache without so much as smelling her.
And there she is. Ma went and seated her right beside me at the dinner table.
“Oh, Jeremiah, honey, I didn’t know you’d be home tonight.”
Yeah, Ma, whatever you say, I think, smiling sardonically at her poor acting skills and the innocent batting of lashes when she looks over at Clara.
The woman is a damn menace, and from the eye roll I see from my girl, she’s thinking the same thing.
“Stop standing around as if you’ll grow taller and sit down, kid,” Pop says, his lips twitching in what I see is a smirk trying to break free.
That’s when I know that I’m outgunned. I’m also tired of fighting something I’ve tried to deny for a year now.
After the shitty day I’ve had, coming home to see her sweet, shy face at the dinner table feels so right that I can’t deny this anymore. I want her. My only problem now, as I sit down beside her and she scoots away minimally, is getting her.
“Evening, Clari.”
She tenses at my use of her nickname and peeks at me from beneath her lashes, her eyes rounded in shock and…is that dismay?
“Jeremiah.”
Conversation starts flowing around us but I can only focus on her and her every breath. Jesus, she smells good tonight, like a field of flowers and some sort of musky undertone that goes straight to my groin and starts a strong throb below my belt.
She’s wearing skinny jeans and an off-the-shoulder peach top that shows off her golden skin and the smooth expanse of her back.
The sight of so much skin when I’ve never seen her in anything revealing is a temptation I can’t resist, and I want nothing more than to lean over and press my lips to her and lick, just to see if she tastes as good as she looks.
“I ran a check on you today.”
Clari stiffens and turns my way, but instead of seeing the recrimination and anger I expect, she looks at me with a horrified gaze. She seems embarrassed.
I want to know what made her give up a relationship that lasted almost six years from the time she met that dickwad Nick Grimes in high school. I see the need for stability in her eyes—something her ex is more than capable of giving her, if my background check on the guy was right. He’s also raking in six figures a year.
What would make her leave? There’s a story there, and being the nosy bastard that I am, I want to know what, how, why, and when.
I meet her eyes squarely and wait for her response.
“You ran a check?”
“Yeah, and you know what I found out, Clari?”
Her eyes heat every time I use her nickname, and I wonder what she’ll look like when I call her “baby” or “sweetheart.”
Slow and steady wins the race.
“I’m a white-trash princess from the wrong side of Philly’s tracks?”
“Nope. I found out that you got out of poverty and worked your way through college despite a mother who knew a bottle better than she knows her own child. That must have been hard, working your way through school and keeping your boyfriend happy.”
I’m not too impressed knowing that she put what little time she had into another man, but I’m not a lunatic, and I can’t go nuts because the woman loved another man.
No matter how much the thought bugs me.
“It was.”
So she’s not a Chatty Cathy. For some reason, I like that about her, as much as I liked reading about her volunteering at soup kitchens and churches even after Ellie left town.
“Why did you leave him?”
Her face heats this time and she goes ramrod straight before turning back to her food and picking at it.
“That’s none of your business.”
“I disagree. See, I happen to believe that when two people get intimate, they should know each other better than we do, so give me something here, Clari. Why the breakup and move halfway across the country?”
I want her to say that she didn’t love him anymore, or that she wanted something different, which I am, but she just shrugs and keeps avoiding my eyes.
“We are not going to be intimate, Jeremiah.”
Is that a challenge, sweet Clari?
“We will. But that’s not an issue right now. Like I said, we need to get to know each other.”
“Fine,” she huffs, laying her fork down and facing me. “I wanted a change, and that wasn’t going to happen in my situation. And I really missed Ellie, too. Happy?”
Not by a long shot, but I can deal with a snarky Clari as long as she’s talking to me.
“Not happy, no, but I’m okay with digging deeper into your past if you won’t talk to me about it,” I respond, schooling my face when her head shoots up and her eyes narrow.
“Jeremiah—”
“Miah, my name is Miah. Ma only calls me that to tick me off, and it works, so do me a favor and don’t call me that,” I warn.
I don’t hate the name. I just can’t stand to hear it all that often because it’s what Carrie used to call me all the time.
I’m not carrying around some flickering lovesick torch for my ex, but after finding one of my best friends and fellow SEAL balls deep in the woman I was planning to propose to, I don’t like any reminders of her.
Ma says the more I hear it, the easier it will get, but hearing that name on Clari’s lips seems wrong.
“Okay, Miah, here’s the thing. We are not getting to know each other or sleeping together or whatever it is you all of a sudden want. Nice about-face, by the way, but give a girl a chance to recover from the freaking whiplash, would you?”
My Clari may be the retiring type who hates arguments and scenes, but she’s not exactly a pushover, either. Of course she’d choose tonight to let her stubborn streak rear its ugly head.
Too bad for her, I can feel her attraction to me practically seeping from her skin, and I have no intention of letting her hold me off now that I’ve decided to just give in and see where things go.
All I have to do now is convince her that an affair is a good idea. This is not exactly my forte since women usually throw themselves at me, but I’m SEAL-trained and know how to plan my attacks perfectly.
By the time I have Clari Elms, she won’t know what hit her.
“Oh we’re going to be together, Clari, mark my words. It’s up to you how long this drags out, though,” I whisper, leaning closer so that my breath tickles over the sensitive skin just beneath her ear.
She shivers delicately and gets all flustered, reminding me of the fact that although she’s been with a guy for years, Clari is still innocent of so much.
It should be fun unleashing all that fire I’ve heard redheads possess.
“I hate controlling men,” she says after dessert arrives and we’ve tuned back into the conversation.
The statement is so quietly spoken and emphatic that I know she’s giving me a hint.
; “Clari, babe, I have no intentions of controlling you. I’m a cop who has to control everything around me every day, and I don’t want that shit in a relationship. Saying that we’re going to be together is not me trying to force my will on you. It’s just a fact. We’ve been circling each other for months now, woman. Don’t you think it’s time we stop being so stubborn and just enjoy what can be?”
God, just say yes. It will make things so much easier when I drive you home tonight and steal a kiss.
Her sigh is all the answer I get, but she does turn to me and smile before joining the conversation when Ma starts throwing out ideas for the nursery.
With the women occupied and completely ignoring the rest of us, I turn to Wyatt and throw out a few pat answers when they start talking business.
My job is hard and gruelling and dangerous enough that some days I wonder what possessed me to walk this path at all, but I swear to God after listening to Wyatt and Pop discuss portfolios and investment strategies, I’m so glad I never once considered entering the shark tank that is business in America.
I’ve got a trust fund that could buy a small country and enough cash socked away from my past paychecks to never have to worry about money.
I dabble in business with Pop every once in a while just to keep myself sharp and interested in the family business, but that’s it. I much prefer risking life and limb to wearing a suit all day and talking to some idiot who thinks money is the only qualifier in life.
“You changed your mind quickly,” Wyatt says an hour later when the ladies have scuttled away upstairs for another session of decorating gone wild.
I’m nursing a beer while Pop and Wyatt drink brandy, and Jace, who’s been quiet all night, sits staring into thin air.
“I just decided that fighting this isn’t something I want to do anymore, man. After the crap I had to look at all day with one crime scene after the next, and trying to juggle the undercover operation, it felt good coming home and seeing her here, ya know?”
That snaps Jace out of his trance and he laughs and pulls himself out of his thought with a slap to my back and a lot of crowing.
“Does that mean I’ll be getting another niece or nephew soon?”
“Hell no, bro! I don’t want kids anytime soon. You know how I feel about having a kid when all I see all day is death and the worst humanity has to offer. Not to mention that the thought of having rug rats makes me break out in freaking hives. No offense, Wyatt, but why you’d want to share your wife with a pooping, crying baby so soon after getting her is beyond me.”
Wyatt chuckles and shrugs.
“Ellie wants lots of kids, man, and I ain’t exactly getting any younger, so we just went for it. But I get what you’re saying, sharing someone you just got to know isn’t easy, especially if we consider that the family is already so full of shit.”
Pop and Jace laugh at the truth of that, and we all sit back with grins on our faces. What he meant was that getting Ma to share her little princesses is like poking a feral bear on a good day and we all know it.
If things go right, and I sure hope they do, I’ll have Clari in my bed and under this roof soon. I’m not thinking marriage for at least a year or two, but I’ll be damned if she stays in that rinky-dink cottage alone and unprotected when she could be here with us being adored by Jude, the terrible, and my doting father.
“Any luck on that case you’re working?” Jace asks when another ten minutes pass with no sign of the girls.
“Nope. Roman and Jared are using tonight to plant a few bugs and tag Dobson’s lines while he tries to keep track of me. If this doesn’t work, we’ll have to think of something else. These assholes are too organized and aware of things to let anything hang loose, and I haven’t been able to get a scrap of hard evidence yet. All we have are a few loose leads and names that could or couldn’t be connected to the militia.”
“I don’t want Roman getting in too deep with these animals,” Pop growls.
“You and me both, old man, but he’s determined to do what he has to to get something going here. Without an inside man, it’s going to be almost impossible to get enough intel for my superiors to move in.”
I hate it as much as Pop, even more just thinking about the danger Roman will be in, but the man is not one to just give up because he’d be in danger.
“Okay, so that’s not something we can do anything about. Let’s get back to you and Clari. Be nice to her, Miah, she’s not…Ellie wasn’t very forthcoming about that ex of hers, but from what she didn’t say, I take it the guy isn’t right upstairs. Plus, I’m concerned about the family seeing her as an easy target if they discover that she’s going to be yours,” Wyatt says earnestly, his eyes darkening with the memory of what happened and almost happened to Ellie at the hands of one of our own.
Now with Jace and Jared keeping tabs on the others, we’re all considering the possibility that they may hit back at us soon.
Roman is still part of the other Lane side thanks to his dad’s refusal to let go of old family gripes, so he gets some insider information every now and then. From what he’s said, we’re not ruling out another plot from that side.
It boggles my mind that one family can be this fractured, and yet I’ve seen the dissension with my own eyes for years before Pop cut all ties with them.
The only reason Roman isn’t as poisoned against us as the rest is because Ma kept at the poor kid till he came around and settled in with us. Thank God for that, because I’d hate to have that fucker as an enemy and I’ve told him so.
“We’re done for tonight. Miah, be a dear and escort Clari home, would you?” Ma says from the doorway where Ellie is grinning from ear to ear while Clari looks as if she was just asked to strip naked and do the fox-trot.
“Er, no, that’s fine, I’ll just—”
“Nonsense, Clari dear, of course he’ll take you home. He’ll also be going inside to be sure that everything is safe and as it should be. No, no, dearest, it’s no trouble at all.”
God bless my mother, she just gave me a real excuse to literally get a foot in the door with my next mission.
No wonder I love the old bat so much.
Clari is looking anywhere but at me.
“Now don’t be a stranger, darling. We like having you around in this rambling monstrosity.”
“Thanks, George.”
She’s smiling by now and squeals when Jace lifts her five-three frame and starts smooching her cheeks.
“Thanks for the brownies the other day, sis. I shared with Jared and I swear they were as good as Ma’s.”
Brownies? She made this asshole brownies?
“Alright, idiot, let the woman go so she can breathe already,” I snarl, flipping him the bird behind Clara’s back when all he does is laugh and start whistling the wedding march under his breath.
Clari is stiff as a board and looks ready to dive out of the vehicle when I strap her in and make my way down the long drive in Wyatt’s prized Bugatti.
“I won’t bite, you know,” I growl after five minutes of silence and the sound of her uneven breathing.
“I know. Just…don’t come in, okay? It’s all fine and…and I just…”
“Relax, Clari, I’m just coming in to check things out and make sure no one got in.”
And then I’m going to do what I’ve been dreaming of for months and finally get a taste of that rosebud mouth of yours, I add silently, surreptitiously adjusting the bulge I’ve been sporting all night.
Tonight is the beginning of what I hope will be more than a quick flash of lust and raging desire. Make fun of me for flipping switches so quickly. I don’t care one bit because if I manage to get this woman, it’ll be a flipping miracle.
We get to her place in under thirty minutes, thanks to the car, and I hate that she lives so far out from us and the security that our home provides.
“You don’t—”
“I’m doing it and that’s final, Clari. I’m a cop, remember? And after the hell I saw
today, I’d feel a lot better knowing that your place is safe, alright? Now come on and give me the key, woman. Stay here till I come back out. Anyone or anything gets near the car, you start it and leave. Clear?”
She rolls her eyes but nods eventually when all I do is stare at her demandingly.
“Fine. Check under the bed, too, would you? The bogeyman might be hiding there.”
“Funny. I’ll be back.”
Her house is a weird mix of odds and ends and it just drives home to me that she’s not in the financial position to live the way I’m accustomed to, but I like the homey little cottage and the comfort I feel in every small room.
What bothers me is knowing that her windows would be a breeze to pop and the lock on her back door wouldn’t keep out a mosquito if it flew too fast.
It’ll do for now with the way I jammed the lock, but she’d better start coming around quickly or I’ll have to consider taking a leaf out of Wyatt’s book and carrying my woman off to captivity till she relents.
“Clear. Come on, you can offer me coffee while I secure your windows,” I say after handing her out and locking the car.
“What? No. I—”
“Give me a break, Clari. Come on, babe, I won’t get a wink of sleep knowing you’re a screwdriver twist away from being accosted while you sleep. Besides, now that I’ve pointed it all out, aren’t you a little worried, too?”
Nice, Miah, worry the poor woman to freaking death, why don’t you.
“Worried? Is it really that bad? I can’t afford to have a security system put in and—”
“I’ll fix something up and send Jared out here tomorrow to install something worthwhile,” I say, not backpedalling but feeling like a real shit for scaring her.
If I thought for a second that scaring her to death would get her to my home, I wouldn’t hesitate, but my girl is stubborn as a mule.
“Thanks, uh, come in and I’ll put a pot of coffee on.”
Chapter Five
Clara
The coffeemaker starts gurgling and spitting out the aromatic blend I bought on a whim, and I’m suddenly glad I splurged so I wouldn’t have to offer him the cheap brand I usually buy.
Miah (Lane Brothers #2) Page 3
