“To a fundraiser with your father.” Momma leaned into the mirror and brushed a lip gloss wand over her lips until they were slick.
“A fun-raiser?” Mia perked up. She liked fun. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to raise it, but she’d sure like to try. “Can I come?”
“It’s not for children,” Momma said, and Mia’s bare feet, which had been kicking in the air behind her, fell onto the mattress in dejection. Her mother never went anyplace that was for children. “But your nanny is taking you and your brother to see a movie,” Momma added. “You’ll like that.”
Mia sighed. She liked her new nanny. The brown-haired woman was nice and she was teaching Mia some French words. But Mia had liked her old nanny better. Her old nanny had had silvery-blond hair like Rapunzel. Her old nanny had baked cookies and sometimes she’d let Mia lick the batter bowl.
But Mia had learned not to become too attached to any of the people who worked in the Ennis household. The housekeepers and nannies never lasted long. Inevitably, Momma would get mad at them for something and, by the next morning, their bags would be packed and Mia would never see them again.
Mia’s eyes drifted over to the emerald-green dress hanging from a hanger over the top of her mother’s closet door. It had a filmy skirt that reminded Mia of fairy wings and a sequined bodice that looked like a mermaid tail.
She couldn’t wait until she was big enough to wear a dress like that.
Of course, she’d never be as beautiful as her mother. No one was ever as beautiful as her mother.
“What’s that, Momma?” she asked when her mother twisted off the white cap on an orange bottle, shook out something round, and placed it on her tongue.
Her mother’s gaze was sharp as she stared at Mia in the mirror. But then Momma smiled and said in a sugary sweet voice, “That’s Momma’s candy.”
“It’s her fault what happened to you and your little brother,” Romeo snarled as Mia finished with the reverie.
“No.” She shook her head. “I knew the pills weren’t candy. Not really.”
A line formed between Romeo’s eyebrows. “Why did you eat them then? Why did you give them to your brother?”
“That’s the thing.” She swallowed and shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t remember doing it. I don’t remember anything about that night after coming home from watching A Bug’s Life.”
She’d racked her brain for the last twenty-four years trying to recall what had happened that night, trying to remember why she’d done what she’d done. But, just like always, there was nothing.
Or...not nothing. It was more like a gray mist clouded her mind whenever she tried to peer too deeply.
“Maybe I did it because I was acting out?” She frowned. “Because I was tired of being ignored by my parents? Or maybe the answer is simple. Maybe I did because I was a kid, and kids are idiots who eat paste and stuff LEGOs in their ears.”
“Wait a minute.” He raised his hand. “If you don’t remember the night it happened, how do you know you were the one to feed the pills to your brother? Maybe he fed them to you.”
“No.” She shook her head. “The housekeeper found me and Andy in my room. The pill bottle was on my nightstand. I even had a couple of tablets still in my hand. It was me.”
She chanced a tentative look into his face. She expected to see at least a small measure of censure. But instead, all she saw was compassion.
Of course he only felt compassion. He was Romeo. The tenderest, most warmhearted man she’d ever known.
“That must’ve been a terrible weight to bear as a child,” he whispered.
It had been. But it was nothing compared to the burden of shame and regret that’d come after. To the load of blame and self-loathing she’d been carrying around since her twenty-first birthday.
She couldn’t tell him about that, though. So she did what came most natural to her. She lapsed into silence.
And wished she had a time machine.
If she had a time machine, she would fire it up and take them back to when they’d been staring at each other with longing in their eyes. Back to when he was telling her about his fantasies. Back to when the very air between them throbbed with unquenched desire.
Regrettably, she was no H.G. Wells. The only thing she could do was point to a glimmer of starlight in the rapidly darkening sky and say, “First star of the night. Make a wish.”
She could tell he wanted to say more about her mother. But he took pity on her and turned to look at the twinkling star.
After a moment, he closed his eyes to make his wish and she noticed, not for the first time, how impossibly long his eyelashes were. So sooty and thick. When he blinked open his eyes, she was gratified to see some of the heat had returned to his gaze.
With deliberate gentleness, he caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger. Leaning in close, he whispered, “I wished for you.” His breath puffed against her lips and smelled like peanut butter and chocolate. “I wished for all of you. Starting now.”
Just like Cami had described, he didn’t break eye contact as he slowly closed the distance between them. Before his mouth could touch hers, however, she scolded, “You’re not supposed to tell your wish. Then it won’t come true.”
He turned his head slightly, a teasing twinkle in his eye. “It won’t?”
“Oh, who am I kidding?” She grabbed the collar of his T-shirt to keep him close. Glad he had made the first move, since she’d proved herself incapable of that very thing. “Of course it’ll come true. You have me. I’m yours for...” She swallowed the word that was perched on the tip of her tongue. A word that sounded a lot like forever. “For as long as you want me.”
His answer was a rumble of anticipation that rolled up from the depths of his chest.
Then he kissed her.
After weeks of secret yearning and unrequited passion, she half expected him to ravish her mouth. To savage it. For his kiss to be this marauding entry that lacked finesse and was all about animal aggression.
Which would’ve been fine. In fact, two seconds ago, she might’ve said that was exactly the kind of kiss she preferred.
But the Mia from two seconds ago was a damn fool, because this kiss? Oh, this kiss was so much better than fine. It was so much better than animal aggression.
This kiss was all about temptation. Titillation.
A gentle press of his warm lips against hers. A tiny flick of his hot tongue at the seam of her mouth. An achingly tender seduction that made her feel precious. Priceless. Like she was the greatest treasure he’d ever known.