Page 30 of Never and Always
“I gave this to you,” he said, gazing deeply into hereyes.
“Yeah.” She took it when he handed it to her and immediately felt embarrassed. Embarrassed for hanging onto a gift he’d given her when she was eighteen, and embarrassed for all that took place tonight. “Thank you, and thanks for savingit.”
Mia turned around and walked back to the room; hefollowed.
“Mia. Comeback.”
“No. How did you find me?” She couldn’t look at him, because she knew he was thinking about the necklace, and most likely what she’d said earlier about being confused around him. She shouldn’t have said that to him, and now she couldn’t take itback.
“I’m a private investigator, Mia. It wasn’t that hard. Come back to the house withme.”
“No.”
What a disastrous night. Everything was such amess.
When she got back inside the room she walked over to the wardrobe and looked at herself in the long mirror as she tried to put her necklace back on. One of the links had loosened. She frowned, but knew she should be lucky the latch itself hadn’t broken. The link would still need fixing, just to be on the safe side, but for tonight she could dothis.
She held the link out and looped it around the next link that would complete the chain. Mia then squeezed it down so that it closed but was slightly bent. She’d fixed plenty necklaces like that in the past. Temporarily. Her favorite ones, like this with it being so special to her, made it to the jewelers to be fixed properly. She would go as soon as she was able to. For now this had towork.
“I can’t believe you still have that,” hesaid.
She glanced at him quickly but then turned back to herreflection.
He walked over to her and took hold of her arms. The gentleness in his touch soothed her from the horrible encounter she just had with that creepyguy.
He looked her over, but something in the way he looked at her hadchanged.
“Did he hurtyou?”
“A little.” Her head hurt from where she was shoved into thewall.
“Where, baby?” He held hergaze.
Should she take note that he called herbabyinstead of babe like he usually did? Was that the samething?
“It’s okay. I’m okay.” She tried to fight back moretears.
Mia felt like hell, as if she’d been chewed up and spat out. She was far from okay, so very far fromit.
“Give me the necklace.” He put out his hand to take it fromher.
She looked at his outstretched hand and set the necklace in the center of hispalm.
Her nerves scattered when he touched her waist, touching the bare skin where her top had come away. He turned her so that her back was facing him and stood closely behind her. She rested against the hard wall of his chest as he smoothed her hair to the side and set the necklace around herneck.
He clipped the latch and then took a moment to look at them in themirror.
She did, too. They looked good together, really good, as if they were a couple. She watched his reaction in the mirror as he looked at them and she wondered what he wasthinking.
The image of them was highlighted even more so when he slipped his arm around her and pulled her closer, keeping his hand on the flat of her stomach. Now she could feel the rapid beat of his heart againsther.
“It looks just as good as it did on you back then. I can’t believe you still have it, and you wear it,” he said in a lowvoice.
“You gave it to me,” she replied. “Of course I still have it, and wearit.”
He must have known how she felt about him. He had to. There was no way that he couldn’t. She’d made it obvious and, despite herself, she knew she was doing it againnow.
Mia could have melted when he pressed his lips to her hair and kissed herhead.
