Incredible what caking on powder and foundation and some eyeshadow and mascara could do for a woman.
Not that Mitch had anything against women who wore makeup. But Kiera didn’t wear makeup; makeup wore her.
“You can’t keep living in this apartment,” Kiera said, turning a tight circle in his sparse living room, surveying Mitch’s utter lack of interior decorating.
The room contained a couch and a TV, which was all he really needed.
And again…he had no desire to put down roots. But he couldn’t very well tell her that, so he said, “I didn’t know if the Knights were going to keep me around after the season was over. Renting this place month-to-month seemed like a smart decision.”
Kiera rolled her eyes. “You’re going to love the houses I found for you. They’re spectacular.”
Mitch sighed, zeroing in on the wordshousesandspectacular. “I don’t need some big fancy house,” he said. “I’m hardly ever home. What I need is something low maintenance.”
She waved her hand dismissively, which quite frankly pissed Mitch off, but he held his tongue.
“You only think you want low maintenance because you’ve been living like a monk for the last six months. But you’re with me, aren’t you? I think that decision speaks for itself,” she said with a wink.
The girl had a point. Her clothes were designer, her car had cost enough to make even Mitch balk when she’d told him, and she lived in a sprawling high-rise apartment complete with a doorman and all other bougie amenities a woman like her could want.
Now that he thought about it, it was possible her motivation to find him a home wasn’t entirely altruistic.
Add that to the list of reasons to end this relationship.
“Are you ready?” he asked, steering her from the apartment with a light hand on her lower back before she launched into another one of her monologues about the future.
A future that she seemed to think included him.
Mitch had never intended to lead her on. At first, she was someone to have fun with, and the sex was enthusiastic. From where he was standing, this wasn’t anything serious, and it was never meant to be.
He didn’t think he’d ever be able to doseriousagain.
But as the days rolled by, Mitch got the impression that Kiera expected more from him than he could give.
Which meant he really had to end it.
He would do it tonight after she showed him whatever listings she had pulled. Before they came back to his spartan apartment and he buried himself in her. He didn’t need sex bad enough to warrant fucking her then dumping her. Truth be told, there were plenty of women that would gladly take her place at the drop of a hat, ones who wanted far less of him.
They headed outside and approached Kiera’s car, Mitch folding himself into the low-slung vehicle, practically kneeing himself in the chest.
I fucking hate this car,he thought.
He missed his Suburban back in Detroit. After the move, he sold it and bought a sporty little Range Rover. It felt more…LA Mitch.
Kiera sped away from the curb and down the road, turning up into the hills instead of toward town, where all the high rises were.
“Kiera,” he said. “Where are we going?”
She glanced sideways at him, an attempt at a sexy smile playing on her lips. If Mitch wasn’t Mitch, if his chest wasn’t full of the broken pieces of his heart, it probablywouldhave been sexy. But all it did was irritate him.
“You’ll see,” she said innocently, a wicked gleam in her eyes.
She navigated them away from the city's bright lights and onto quieter residential streets, babbling the whole time about how one of the agents at the brokerage had poached a wealthy client from another and the drama it caused at the office.
Finally, she turned onto a tree-lined street broken by driveways veering off into the distance.
“We’re almost there,” she promised. “There’s this gorgeous house up here that I think you’ll love. Great for entertaining. I’ve been informed you like to throw a lot of parties for your teammates.”
Mitch groaned. “I already told you I’m not in the market for a house. I was hoping for an apartment near the arena. Somewhere that requires minimal upkeep since I’m gone so much.”
