Pure Attraction (Attraction Series Book 2) Page 4

  “I’d like to kiss you, but I don’t know why.” HOLY CRAP! Why did I just say that? Oh my God, Oh my GOD! He’s going to think I’m a stage 5 clinger who’s just attached her pregnant self to him. Crap!

  Before I could explain myself better, he closed the small distance between our mouths and kissed me. My panties didn’t just melt. They went up in flames.

  My hands slid up from around his broad shoulders and into his hair where I grabbed fistfuls and held his head in place so he couldn’t pull back. He let out a slight moan as his fingertips sank into my jaw where he was cupping it. When his tongue slid against my bottom lip, I shuddered and opened for him.

  If my legs had been circled around his waist instead of pressed together in his lap, I would have been grinding against him trying to relieve this sudden throbbing ache building inside me. I pressed my legs together tighter, desperate for some small amount of relief.

  “Fuck, Pretty Girl,” he groaned against my lips without breaking contact.

  I could feel him growing hard against my butt cheek, and it was like a bucket of cold water had been thrown over my head. I let go of his hair and pushed against his chest to separate our mouths.

  Neither of us spoke for a few beats as we regained our breath. I searched his eyes for answers, but they were every bit as confused and aroused as my own. He ran his hands through his messy hair, smoothing it back down before resting his hands behind his neck and hanging his head. Right before I lost contact with his eyes, I saw a flicker of shame.

  “Please, don’t do that,” I whispered. I was surprised I could even find my voice.

  He glanced up. “Do what?”

  “Blame yourself for what just happened. It wasn’t your fault. I don’t even know why I said that. I’m so messed up, Kai. I’m sorry.” I told him exactly what I was thinking. Again.

  His brows furrowed. “Don’t apologise. Whatever you do, don’t apologise. It was one hundred per cent my fault. You’re vulnerable and emotional right now, and I took advantage of it. But you know the most fucked-up part,” he paused and I shook my head in response, “I’m not even sorry. I felt more in that kiss than I have in years. And I wouldn’t take it back for the world.”

  I blinked, and when I opened my eyes, he was still holding me in his big, tattooed arms, waiting for me to say something. But I had nothing, nothing at all. No one had ever talked to me like that.

  Taking a deep breath in a lame attempt to gain some composure, I decided that I would just keep going with the full-on honesty approach. “I’m not sorry, either. But that doesn’t mean it should have happened. Or that it should happen again. I’m in no position to be kissing men I barely know. I’m pregnant and homeless, for goodness sake. I have bigger issues than being horny to deal with right now.”

  Kai raised a questioning brow. “You’re horny?”

  “Of course, that’s the important part of what I just said.” Sarcasm dripped from my voice.

  He smiled. “Well, kinda. I am a gentleman, you know, and it’s bad form to leave a woman needy.”

  “Oh, you’re smooth. Smooth as snot,” I shot back.

  A full belly laugh erupted from him. “Well, I was trying to be,” he finally said when his laughter died down. “But seriously, I know what you’re saying and I agree. I’ve got my own shit going on, too. Not that I’m pregnant or anything, but I’m messed up. As far as barely knowing me, I’d like you to know me. Well, parts of me anyway.” He bounced his brows in jest, and I punched him in the shoulder.

  “Ow, who taught you to hit?” he complained as he rubbed his shoulder.

  “Mostly myself but my gym teacher in high school gave me a few pointers, too.” I shrugged.

  The playfulness in his eyes disappeared. “I don’t want to know why you had to learn how to pack a punch, do I?”

  I shook my head. “No, you probably don’t.”

  Kai’s fists clenched, and his jaw went ridged. Silence filled the room, and I began to feel uncomfortable sitting in his lap like this. I went to stand up, but his hands wrapped around my waist. “I’m sorry.” He whispered.

  “For what?” I asked.

  “For going all intense on you there. I just, I had a younger sister once.” He had moved his hand back to his neck again and was rubbing the tense muscles there. “I’m glad someone taught you how to hit.”

  I wasn’t sure what had happened to his sister since he spoke about her in past tense, but I knew he wasn’t ready to talk about it. Even though I could tell he needed to. So I let it go and changed the subject. “Umm, about this morning when you got back from your run…” I trailed off as his expression changed again, making me feel as though perhaps my choice of new subjects was not a good one.

  “Yeah,” he said, “about that. Where were you going?”

  I cleared my throat. “I told you last night I don’t belong here. This house, it’s so much more than anything I’ve ever known. I can’t stay here.”

  His eyes narrowed on me. “Where were you going to go? Another park bench? Back to your boyfriend? Hmmm?”

  “I umm, well I hadn’t thought that far into it. I just, I’m sorry, Kai. I appreciate what you’re trying to do for me. I really do. But surely there’s another way. You know I can’t afford a place of my own, and even when I do get a job, I still won’t be able to afford anything like this place.”

  His shoulders finally relaxed. “I don’t expect you to get a place like this, Mia. Gabe inherited this house from his grandparents. I was thinking more like an apartment or something.”

  I nodded. “An apartment sounds much better. But I don’t have that kind of money yet, so maybe a women’s shelter would be a better place to start?”

  His face turned stony again. “No. I’m not trying to pull a Trent on you here, but a shelter isn’t good enough. Not when I can help you get something better, safer, more secure, and more permanent.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “For someone trying not to be controlling, you suck at it.”

  He scrubbed his face with his hands. “I know. I’m kinda sorry, but not really. I’m not trying to take away your freedom. I’m offering you a better alternative. For you and the baby.”

  Crossing my arms, I continued to glare at him. “Don’t try using the baby card on me. A women’s shelter would be perfectly acceptable and probably better than what I’m used to anyway.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel any better, Mia,” he responded in a flat tone.

  I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t trying to make you feel better. I was just letting you know it will be fine for me. I’ll be happy enough there. I’ll be safe and warm, and I’ll be able to look for a job. It’s perfect. Plus you will have me off your hands sooner rather than later.”

  He pulled back as if I’d slapped him across the face. “Who said I want you off my hands? Have I given you that impression? Have I treated you like a burden? Or like you’re not worth my time?”

  I was shocked that he took offense to my comment. “What? No. Why are you getting pissy about it? You offered to help me find somewhere to stay, and a women’s shelter is the perfect solution for both of us. You get to feel like the hero, and I get off the park bench.”

  Kai slid his hands around my waist again, but this time, he used them to lift me up and remove me from his lap. Then he stood up and started pacing the room. Seriously, what was wrong with this guy? He was bent on helping me but only on his terms. I was beginning to get pissy with him myself.

  I jumped to my feet and positioned myself right in front of him. “What’s your problem?”

  His brown eyes were swirling pools filled with confusion and something I couldn’t put my finger on. “You are my problem. All I want to do is help you, and you won’t let me.”

  “How am I not letting you? I stayed in this house last night because you asked me to, and I trusted that you wouldn’t hurt me. I trusted that all you wanted was to help me, but you only want to help me in a way that suits you,” I fired back.

  He
threw his hands in the air. “Well, sorry if I don’t think a shelter is good enough for you.”

  “You don’t even know me! What does it matter to you? As long as I’m off the streets, your good deed is done,” I huffed in frustration.

  Kai’s hands wrapped around both my small shoulders and held me with a firm but tender hold. “This isn’t about doing good deeds, Mia. You’re under my skin, and I won’t be able to get you out until I know you are taken care of properly. Not in some fucking shelter that’s overflowing with drug addicts and alcoholics.”

  “Oh.” I tried to stay mad, I really did. But the way he laid it all out there like that made it hard. Throw in the way he was looking at me, and it was impossible. Slowly, I nodded my head in acceptance of his demand. “Okay then, we’ll do it your way.”

  He released what was clearly a sigh of relief, and then his hands slipped up over my shoulder and gently rested at the sides of my neck. “Thank you.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Being around Mia was slowly driving me crazy. I had a constant semi and my brain was wired for sex. Somehow my mind found something dirty in everything she said. And that kiss, that kiss had kept me up half the night with a raging hard-on. We’d decided to skip the apartment hunting yesterday when Mia had a breakdown over her shabby clothes.

  I thought she looked fine in her denim cut-off shorts and the skin-tight tank top that her boobs almost fell out of. But she said she didn’t want to have to add slut to her résumé and then burst into tears. Ivy came to the rescue on that one and gave Mia some clothes to borrow. She then told me the names of some good charity clothes shops that she thought Mia would like.

  We spent yesterday afternoon in The Salvos and Lifeline digging through racks of second-hand clothes until Mia had enough outfits to last her a week without washing. I would have taken her to any clothes shop she wanted, but it was pretty clear she didn’t like me spending money on her.

  It was the strangest thing. Women I’d spent time with in the past had always wanted me to buy them shit, but here was Mia, carefully adding up the cost of the clothes she had picked in a charity store to make sure she could pay me back one day. I would never accept her money, but it wasn’t an argument we needed to have, so I left it be… for now.

  We’d spent this morning doing up Mia’s résumé. It was a very informative exercise. I found out her last name is Lynn, she’s twenty-three, and hasn’t worked for the last three years. She explained about Trent making her quit her job when they moved in together and how things got subtly worse from there.

  It was easy to see why she let it happen. The more she spoke about her life with and before Trent, the clearer it became. She was so determined not to end up like her mother that when she was offered a different future, she took it without a second thought.

  I had conflicted feelings about this Trent guy. In one way, I was glad he got her out of her mother’s home. But then I was furious with the way he treated Mia— as if she were his maid not his woman. Then I was back to glad again because if he hadn’t been such a controlling wanker, I would never have found Mia.

  Earlier, I’d sat down with Mia and quizzed her on her previous employment history and education while scribbling down notes on a pad at the kitchen bench. Now I was sitting at my laptop, typing up what I hoped would be a decent looking résumé.

  “How’s the résumé coming along?” Ivy asked from behind me. I was still sitting at the kitchen counter when she got home from grocery shopping with the girls. Mia was taking a nap.

  “S’ok. I think it looks alright, but she honestly doesn’t have much work experience. The douche she was with made her quit her job a few years ago, and that was the first and only job she ever had.”

  Ivy nodded her head thoughtfully as she put the groceries away. “What did she do?”

  “Checkout chick. She’d been promoted to supervisor a couple of months before she quit. She’s smart, like really smart. She aced everything at school, and she said she took a few free online courses at the library on the sly over the last few years, too.

  “I’m just not sure who would take a chance on her when she’s been out of the workforce for so long, you know? I mean, she could easily pick up work at another supermarket, but she’s better than that.”

  Ivy remained silent as I rambled on, just listening to what I had to say. Then Gabe walked down the hall from his office. “What kind of courses did she do?”

  I grabbed the notepad off the bench beside my laptop. “Umm, she did her certificate in office management, one in customer service, and another in basic computer skills.”

  Gabe looked over to Ivy, and she was beaming while nodding at him. They then turned back to me. “We need a part-time office girl to help Ivy. It’s too much on her, trying to keep up with the books and look after the girls. I’ve been picking up the slack, but I fuckin’ hate paperwork. You think your girl could handle it?”

  I knew Ivy was struggling with the books, but they hadn’t said anything about hiring anyone else. I hadn’t even thought of it when I was trying to figure out something for Mia. “I’m pretty fuckin’ sure she could, but I’ll talk to her. She’s already weirded out by the amount of help we’re willing to give her. She thinks everything has a price, like she keeps waiting for me to tell her I expect something from her in return for my help. It pisses me off.”

  Gabe shrugged. “Whatever. Just ask her. If she wants it, it’s there. If not, I need to know so I can get someone else.”

  I nodded. “Will do.” I shut my laptop down after saving the résumé in case Mia didn’t want the job.

  Just as I stood up to leave, Ivy stopped me with a hand on my wrist. “I called my doctor this morning. They can squeeze Mia in on Wednesday next week at 3 p.m.”

  I kissed the top of Ivy’s head as I thanked her and headed down the hallway to see if Mia was up yet.

  I knocked on the bedroom door softly but didn’t hear an answer, so I quietly opened the door and slipped inside. Mia was snuggled up in my bed, still out like a light. Her dark hair splayed across the cream pillowcase in soft waves. I wanted to run my hands through it to feel if it was as soft as it looked. But I knew better than to wake a pregnant chick.

  I’d woken Ivy up by accident once— never a-fucking-gain. She delivered the most severe glare I’d ever seen. I swear my skin was about to melt off my flesh. Then she proceeded to rant at me about the importance of sleep for pregnant women and to never ever interrupt one of her naps again, or the punishment would be severe. Judging by the look on her face, I didn’t doubt that one bit.

  As quietly as humanly possible, I put my laptop back on my desk and turned back towards the door when Mia’s smooth voice stopped me in my tracks. I glanced over my shoulder to see her propped up on an elbow watching me with a puzzled look on her pretty face.

  “Shit, I’m sorry. I was trying to be quiet,” I said, hoping she wasn’t about to go crazy pregnant chick on me.

  She tilted her chin to the side a little making her hair spill over her shoulder. “It’s okay. You didn’t wake me.”

  “Oh, okay then.” I straightened and decided to talk to her now about Gabe’s job offer since she had woken up. I walked back over to the end of the bed. “Mind if I sit?” Mia shrugged, so I sat on the edge but turned my body towards her. “I was just talking to Gabe and Ivy about finding you a job, and Gabe said they were planning on hiring a second office girl and thought maybe you’d be interested?”

  Mia’s sleepy eyes widened. “For real?”

  I smiled at her reaction. “Yeah, for real. Why not? I told him about the courses you took at the library. You’d be great. Ivy will show you the ropes, and you’ll pick it up in no time.”

  She blinked at me a few times. “That’s, umm,” she shook her head, “it’s more than I was expecting to get. I mean, I’ve never worked an office job before. I thought I’d just pick up work at a supermarket again.”

  I nodded my understanding. “I know. And I don’t mean to be a crushe
r of dreams here, but I don’t know how easy it would be to pick up where you left off. Why would a supermarket pay a twenty-three-year-old to do what they can pay someone fresh out of high school to do for less money? Do you know what I mean?”

  Mia began chewing on that damn bottom lip again. It drove me nuts. I know it was what she did when she was nervous or thinking. I’d picked up on it pretty quick, since every time she did it, a shock wave went right to my dick and told me to suck on that lip when she was done with it. I inwardly chastised myself for being such a pervy bastard and made myself focus on the issue at hand.

  “Do you get what I’m saying, Mia?” I asked as I reached out to grab her foot that was peeking out of the blankets near where I sat.

  She slowly started nodding. “Yeah, I guess I do.” She closed her eyes, tilted her head up towards the ceiling, and ran her fingers through her hair down to the ends where they got caught in a tangle of knots. “Ow,” she muttered as she struggled to tame the mass of hair.

  I moved closer to her upper body on the bed, took the hair from her, and started untangling it as I spoke. “I think you can do it. Ivy will be a great teacher, and with her help, you’ll pick it up in no time.”

  Mia tilted her face to mine. “You really think so?”

  She was so uncertain of herself that I wanted to find the fucker who took away her self-confidence and beat his arse to a pulp. “Yeah, Mia, I really think so.”

  She smiled her heart-stopping smile at me and leaned into my body. “Thank you,” she whispered.

  I couldn’t help myself. I wrapped my arms around her and leaned back on the pillows taking her small body with me until we lay flat on the bed. She snuggled in closer, and I kissed the top of her head.

  We lay in comfortable silence for a few minutes before I remembered about the appointment Ivy had made for her. “Ivy made that appointment with her doctor for you. It’s on Wednesday.”

  Mia’s body stiffened. “I thought I told you I couldn’t go to Ivy’s doctor?”