“I just have one more rule for now.”
“Go ahead,” I encouraged her.
Her cheeks turned pink and she could no longer hold my gaze. Instead, she found the grass to be of more interest. “I… we… whatever was happening that night, it can’t happen again.”
Something inside me deflated and I knew exactly what night she referred to. The night that I had been so close to claiming her body as mine.
“That is definitely not how friends behave. Plus, Amber…”
“Amber is not my girlfriend,” I cut across her to clarify. It came out more forcefully than I had intended, but I wanted Mia to understand this fact. I wanted her to see that I was not attached to anyone in any sense. Amber was fun but nothing serious. We had both always been clear on that fact.
“I don’t need to know about your relationship,” she told me quietly, picking at the grass. “It would just make it easier for us both to make sure nothing like that happens again. We’ll call it a blip. Maybe we’ll laugh about it one day.”
Highly unlikely. I knew what I wanted, and what I wanted was Mia. I had tasted the sweetest nectar from the forbidden fruit, and I wouldn’t be able to rest with the thought some other man would claim her as his own. I wouldn’t back down, but again, she didn’t need to know that.
“Just a blip,” I echoed her words.
“I think we can start over,” Mia told me finally, happy that I had met all the requirements.
She flashed me a proper smile, all teeth and crinkled corners of her eyes and I felt my heart give a small skip in my chest. Mia was a stunning woman when she was pissed off and tearing a strip from me for being idiotic, but she was something else entirely when she was happy. She stole the air from my lungs and gave me a renewed purpose to have been responsible for her joy.
“I’m going to grab a shower and get ready for dinner,” she said.
“I think Oliver and Lydia are joining us.”
“Sounds like great company.”
This time, I let her get up off the ground, collecting the gift and brushing herself down. I couldn’t help but glance at her ass as she did so, but Mia caught me in the act.
“Lucas! Rules!” But she laughed as she scolded me.
I shot her a grin, “I’m following the rules.”
She rolled her eyes and turned towards the house before she stopped and looked back at me. “Luc?”
The name sounded so good coming from her lips. The familiarity of Mia calling me Luc instead of Lucas warmed me inside. How had I become so weak that something as simple as a change of name made me happy?
“Mmhmm?”
“Call D,” she told me. “Don’t be mad at him. He loves you.”
“You spoke to him?” I asked her, surprised.
“I went to see him earlier,” she said with a shrug. Mia had proven herself to be more trouble than I gave her credit for. “He’s partially the reason I’m giving this friendship a chance.”
I nodded in response and watched as she disappeared back inside the house. Lying back on the grass, I pulled my phone from my pocket and called Dante, ready to smooth things over with my brother.
Chapter Fourteen
Mia
“You’ve barely touched your food,” Lydia said as I got up from the table.
“I don’t have much of an appetite,” I told her apologetically.
As I started to wash the plate, Lydia placed a hand on my back and spoke gently. “You shouldn’t worry about him. This happens sometimes. Would you like me to stay with you?”
Ever since our chat in the garden, Luc and I had both made an effort to work on our relationship. He still snapped at times and I still bit back, but it happened less. Meals had more laughter and it hadn’t escaped my notice that he worked shorter hours on the weekend, and we drifted towards each other for company.
