Love to Hate You: a Hope Valley novel

by Prince, Jessica

  “Absolutely. Any man worth a shit is gonna want a woman who sticks up for herself and knows her own mind.” He leaned in closer, brushing the tip of his nose against mine as he lowered his voice. “And any man worth a shit knows, he gets his hands on fire like that, you don’t let it go. You make it grow until it burns wild and out of control, scorching everything in its path.”

  I released a shaky breath, my eyes darting down to Micah’s lips, desperate to taste them. “That sounds dangerous.”

  “Only way to live. You soak what you can out of life and burn wild, baby. Anything less is only half a life, and what’s the point of that?”

  Pressing harder against him, I lifted my face just a bit closer, whispering, “So you’re gonna hold on and let me burn?”

  “Not a chance, Red,” he said emphatically. “I intend to get caught in your flames.”

  Then he kissed me, igniting a fire deep in my belly I wasn’t sure would ever go out.

  Chapter Twenty

  Hayden

  My stomach sank as soon as I spotted that red Mercedes turning onto our street.

  “There he is! Look, Mommy!”

  “I see, love bug.” I smiled, careful not to show how sad I was that my girl was going to be gone for another weekend. I was looking forward to some quality time with Micah over the next couple of days, but what I’d told Sylvia a couple weeks back still rang true. Handing Ivy off for a weekend wasn’t ever going to get easier.

  He pulled up to the curb, and sure enough the bitch formerly known as my best friend was sitting right beside him, her large sunglasses doing nothing to hide the glower she was directing at me through the window, like I’d done something to her.

  Alex climbed out of the car and rounded the hood, scooping Ivy up as soon as he reached her. As much as I couldn’t stand the sight of him, I’d always count my blessings that he was a good dad to our daughter. Even though our marriage failed, she still had us both, and that was all that mattered to me.

  “Hey, monkey. It’s so good to see you. I’ve missed you.”

  “I missed you too, Daddy!” She hugged his neck tight before pulling back quickly. “Can we gets ice cream for dessert again?”

  He looked down at her and let out a small laugh. “We’ll see, honey. Did you have a good week?”

  Yuh-huh! I gots to play with my friends at daycare and go in with Mommy to the flower shop. Oh, and I gots a new treehouse!”

  Alex looked a bit baffled as he turned to me. “You built her a treehouse?”

  Ivy got there before I could answer. “My best friend Mike made it. And he gave me six dollars for the swear jar, but Mommy made me give it back,” she added with a mild pout.

  “Mike? Who’s Mike?”

  “Mike is—” I began, but before I could get anything else out, Ivy began to squirm, demanding her father put her down, and shouted, “There’s Mike!”

  Micah’s truck came growling around Alex’s car and turned into his driveway. Instead of pulling all the way in, he stopped close to the street and climbed out. He was still dressed for work in a pair of gray slacks and a sage green button-down that did incredible things for his eyes. His badge was still hooked to his belt, adding an element of authority to his already drop-dead gorgeous appearance. Taking in all that was him just then, it was a wonder I didn’t spontaneously orgasm.

  “Hey, Monster,” he greeted as she ran up to him. She launched herself into the air, and he caught her with ease, spinning her in a circle that made her squeal before settling her on his hip and closing the rest of the distance between us. Watching that, I nearly swooned into a puddle right there on the walkway.

  Before I had a chance to do that, he moved right into me. Looping his free arm around my waist, he pulled me into his chest and bent his neck, pressing a lingering, claiming kiss to my lips. When he pulled back, he still didn’t bother acknowledging Alex’s presence as he asked, “You have a good day, baby?”

  “Uh.” It took practically nothing for this sexy man to leave me tongue-tied. “Y-yeah. It was good.”

  “And what about you, Monster? Good day?”

  “Yep!” Ivy told him.

  Alex cleared his throat then, demanding attention. He looked at me incredulously. “This is Mike?”

  “Micah, actually. Only Ivy calls me Mike.” Oh damn. I curled my lips between my teeth and had to lower my head to hide my laughter. “And you are?”

  “Alex,” my ex grated out. “Ivy’s dad.” His gaze bounced between the two of us a few times before finally settling on me, his tone almost accusatory as he asked, “So how long has this been going on?”

  Once again, I was cut off before I could answer. “I’d say since that weekend in Richmond a little over a month ago.” Micah’s eyes came to me then, the green glinting with amusement. “Right, Red?”

  Had it really been just over a month since I met this man? It felt like so much longer. “Uh huh,” I replied, unable to form a full sentence for fear of bursting into laughter.

  Alex’s mouth gaped open. “I didn’t—I wasn’t . . .” Tugging at the collar of his shirt, he cleared his throat awkwardly. “I, uh, wasn’t aware you were seeing anyone.”

  I wiped the humor from my face and looked back to him. “Yeah, well . . . now you are. And you guys probably need to get on the road, huh? Ivy hasn’t had dinner yet.”

  Micah turned his attention to my daughter. “All right, Monster. Time to go. Put one there.” He pointed at his cheek and Ivy gave it a smacking kiss before he put her down. I crouched down, dislodging Micah’s hold so I could give my baby girl a hug and kiss. “Love you, honey. Be good, and I’ll see you in a couple days.” As soon as I rose back up, Micah reclaimed me.

  “Bye!” She waved enthusiastically as she skipped to the car and yanked the back door open.

  “Hayden,” Alex said, pulling my attention from my daughter. “Can I have a quick word?” He cut his eyes to Micah for a split second. “Alone?”

  “Not a chance,” my new man answered on my behalf, and the only reason I didn’t throw attitude was because he’d said exactly what I’d already planned on saying.

  My ex bristled, and in that moment I couldn’t help but compare the two men standing there. It was no surprise that Alex came up short by miles. “I wasn’t speaking to you, thank you very much. I was talking to my wife.”

  “No,” Micah gritted out instantly, “you were talkin’ to my woman.”

  “She knows what I mean.”

  I heard the whir of the automatic window seconds before Krista’s voice sounded. “Alex, sweetie? What’s taking so long?”

  Things were deteriorating fast, and while I wasn’t thrilled Ivy would be leaving with them, I wanted Alex and Krista as far away from my home as possible. “Alex, it’s time for you to go.”

  “Alex, come on,” Krista said in a whiny, nasally voice. “I’m hungry.”

  He clenched his jaw while pulling a sharp breath in through his nose. “Just a second,” he said before looking back to me. “I’m going, but you and I need to talk. I’ll bring Ivy back a little early on Sunday so you and I have some time to sit down together.” At that, I felt Micah’s entire body spring so tight I thought he might snap.

  “Alex!” Krista snapped, but he acted like he couldn’t hear her.

  “If you want to bring her back early, that’s totally fine with me, but unless it directly involves Ivy, you and I have nothing to talk about. And if whatever you have to say does directly affect our daughter, you can tell me over the phone or through email.”

  “Hady Cakes—”

  “What did I tell you about calling me that?”

  His whole frame rocked back. He was so used to me being the one to jump through hoops to make him happy that he was taken aback by my tone.

  “Get in your car and go,” Micah rumbled under his voice. “You make me say it again, you aren’t gonna like what happens.”

  “Are you threatening me?”

  “Clue in, asshole. You’re standi
n’ on my woman’s property in my town, and I’m the one wearin’ a badge. How do you think this is gonna play out for you?”

  I was officially done with this whole thing. Stepping out of Micah’s grasp, I moved to the back door of the car and pulled it open, leaning in to buckle Ivy into her booster. “Have the best weekend ever, love bug.”

  “’Kay, Mommy. Love you.”

  “And I love you.” I gave her one last kiss before closing the door and moving away. I didn’t bother giving Alex another look as I started up the cobblestones toward my house. Micah’s footfalls sounded on the path as he followed after me. A few seconds later, I heard a car door open and slam shut. Alex’s car was gone by the time I walked into my living room and stared out the front window.

  Micah came through the front door after me, closing it behind him. I could see him from the corner of my eye as he stopped no more than five feet away and crossed his arms over his chest. “That the bitch he threw you over for?”

  “Yep,” I muttered, still looking out at my quiet, tree-lined street.

  “Shit’s gone south between the two of them.”

  “I suspect your right. Fortunately for me, that’s not my problem.”

  “Hate to be the one to break this to you, baby, but it’s about to become your problem.”

  On that cryptic statement, I finally shifted my focus from the window to him. “What do you mean?”

  He moved closer but still didn’t touch me. Instead, he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his slacks, and I got the feeling it was in an effort to keep from reaching for me. “Shit’s gone bad between them because she’s a bitch. Told you I’m good at reading people, and I know women like that. She’s a chameleon. She’s good at changin’ herself in order to attract men. But as soon as she’s got her claws sunk into the one she wants, the real her comes out. He’s seein’ that side now, and he isn’t liking it. But more, he’s regretting the hell out of his stupid-as-fuck decision to walk away from his wife and kid. So, like it or not, it’s about to become your problem, ’cause I’m guessin’ Sunday is when he plans to make his play.”

  The skin between my brows creased with a deep frown. “Why are you telling me all this?”

  “Because I need to know right now if there’s even the smallest part of you that would be willing to give him a second chance.”

  Realization dawned in that moment. “Ah. I see,” I murmured.

  “See what?”

  “Why you aren’t touching me right now. You’re holding yourself back because you’re worried I might want my ex back.”

  There was a part of me that was still expecting some smartass, arrogant response, but he didn’t give me that. “I don’t think it’s too much of a leap to have that concern, considering your mood sank the moment you walked away from him.”

  I let out a heavy sigh and turned fully away from the window, closing the last few feet between us and placing my palms on his chest. “Honey, my mood sank because I had to say goodbye to my girl. This is the first time you’ve experienced it, but this is how I get every time he picks her up for one of his weekends. I’m not a big fan of handing her over.”

  His expression remained hard, his eyes swimming with uncertainty. “You sure that’s all?”

  “The saying ‘hindsight is twenty-twenty’ exists for a reason, Micah. Sometimes it’s hard for a person to see how bad their situation is when they’re deep in the middle of it. I’m not saying finding out my husband was fucking another woman while we still shared a bed didn’t hurt, because that shit would hurt anybody. But I can say with absolute certainty that I see how unfulfilling that relationship was, and there isn’t a single part of me, big or small, that would give that man another chance. I don’t love him anymore.”

  His hands finally came out of his pockets and rested on my hips.

  I arched a brow, deciding the mood needed to be lightened a bit, and teased, “So . . . you really like me, huh?”

  His fingers pressed in hard enough to make marks on my skin as he bent to trace the column of my neck with his tongue. I let out a stuttered sigh and dropped my head back to give him better access. “Baby, you have no idea.”

  I pressed closer, feeling the hard, defined ridge of his steel erection through his pants. “Then I suggest you take me to bed and show me.”

  The last word barely passed my lips before he bent low and tossed me over his shoulder like he’d carried those two-by-fours the other day. Then he bolted up the stairs like he was in an Olympic race.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Hayden

  The sound that rattled from his chest and up his throat sent a new wave of arousal through me and pooled between my thighs. Lifting my eyes, I looked up, over his taut abdominals and rapidly rising chest, to see the cords strained and protruding as he clenched his jaw. His eyes were like green fire, pinned on me as I swirled my tongue around the fat crown of his cock.

  I’d seen Micah in the throes of ecstasy, but I’d never had such an outstanding view of what he looked like when he was on the brink. It drove me wild. I felt myself getting close, and other than the hand fisting my hair, he wasn’t even touching me.

  Pulling a deep breath in through my nose, I relaxed my throat and took him deep. As much as I wanted to, I’d never be able to take his full length, but I was determined to get as much of him in my mouth as I could. The head of his cock bumped the back of my throat, and I swallowed on instinct, wrenching another animalistic sound from him.

  “Jesus, fuck!” he clipped, the fist in my hair tightening reflexively. “Goddamn, my wild woman.”

  I started sucking faster, bringing my fist up to meet my lips on each downward glide. I was drunk on his taste, on the sounds he was making, on the fact that it was me bringing this man to the edge of sanity. I felt myself getting closer to my release as I brought him toward his own.

  “Christ, Hayden, baby. I’m about to blow.” His words were a warning to let me know I needed to move, but I wanted all of it. I was determined to watch him from my place, curled up between his bent legs.

  I hollowed my cheeks, prepared to take him all the way past the finish line when I was suddenly pulled off his cock and flying through the air. I landed on the mattress with an ooph.

  “I wasn’t finished,” I snapped as he came to hover over me.

  “You were finished,” he panted, sitting back on his haunches and pulling me up so my ass was resting on his strong thighs. In this position, I was completely open and exposed to him.

  “No I wasn’t. I wanted to watch you—oh shit!” My protest ended on a cry when he buried himself to the hilt.

  He looked down at me with a self-satisfied smirk. “Yeah, baby, that’s what I thought.”

  “Shut up and fuck me,” I gritted, stretching my arms over my head to wrap my fingers around the headboard.

  He let out a grunted curse and drove into me again and again. His muscles strained and beads of sweat formed along his hairline as he fucked me at a pace that was almost a punishment. And God I loved it. “Why the hell does the fact you’re arguing while I’m fuckin’ you turn me on so much?”

  I smiled and stretched my limbs like a cat so he could see everything while I circled my hips to match each of his thrusts. “Because you know I’ll burn for you,” I answered in a low, husky voice.

  He gripped my hips so hard I thought he might leave behind bruises, but I didn’t care. I wanted to be able to see his mark on me long after we finished. Just the thought of that made my pussy ripple greedily.

  “Fuck yeah,” he gritted between clenched teeth. “You gonna burn for me now, baby?”

  My head fell deeper into the pillows and my eyes slammed shut as the pressure built in my core to an almost frightening level. “Micah,” I whimpered, feeling goosebumps pebble across my skin.

  “That’s it. Almost there, my wild woman.” His hands moved, one going up to pull at my straining nipples while the other traveled south to my clit. “Give it to me, Hayden. Let me hear you scre
am while you flood my cock.”

  And I did just that. Without having to worry about anyone hearing us, I let my orgasm overtake me until my throat burned from screaming his name. He kept at me until there was absolutely nothing left, my bones were liquid, and my vision spotty. Only then did he give me his weight, pumping into me so hard the headboard slammed into the wall over and over.

  “Fuck, Hayden,” he ground out. “So good. Every goddamn time.” I wasn’t sure how it was even possible, but I felt another one building inside me as his length swelled.

  My eyes went wide. “Oh God, Micah.”

  “With me, baby. Come with me, now—Uhn!” He slammed deep and planted himself there on a wild groan. The first spurt of his release set me off, and I came again on a long, low moan. We rode it out together, clutching each other tight as we came together.

  Just as he’d done the last time, he kept us physically connected once we were finished, shifting us in my bed so we were lying face to face on our sides.

  I lay there with my eyes closed, feeling like I was floating on a cloud as he traced my hairline with the tips of his fingers before slowly and gently dragging them through my hair.

  I managed to peel my eyelids open so I could look up at him, and saw he was watching his hand with fascination. It was as if watching my hair fall through his fingers was mesmerizing. His expression was so soft and unguarded it nearly stole my breath.

  “I need to clean up,” I whispered a few minutes later. I hated the thought of losing him like this, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep with him leaking out of me.

  He moved, but not to let me go so I could get up. Instead, he rolled, throwing his legs over the edge and climbed out of the bed. I watched, with my knees curled closer to my chest, as he padded across the floor to the bathroom. I heard the sink turn on and off before he returned, carrying a damp washcloth in his hand.

  He put his knee onto the mattress and leaned over me, placing his palm on my thigh and gently applying pressure until I lifted it. My heart swelled, the emotions that were bombarding me almost too much to contain. It was just as Sylvia had said. Without even realizing he was doing it, he was nourishing that beauty he held in the palm of his hands.