‘You’re thinking again.’ Naomi gave her a sympathetic smile. ‘I recommend one of my lattes, a calorie-laden Danish, and something to distract you.’
Mia took her advice. Back at her flat she sipped on her coffee, attacked the Danish and phoned Elle with the latest update.
‘Bloody hell, you had sex?’ There was a pause, and Mia had to stifle a giggle when she heard Dave in the background yelling at Elle. ‘Oops, apparently Caitlin’s just asked what sex is and who’s had it.’
‘Jeeze, thanks sis. Way to make me the slutty aunt.’
‘Yeah, well forgive me for the screech. Last I heard, you slept in Luke’s bed but only cuddled, which I still can’t believe if he’s as hot as you say he is.’
Mia sighed. ‘He is.’
‘Right, but if I remember correctly, you gave His Hotness the cold-shoulder for a while because some bitch let herself into his flat the following morning. Then you found out bitch-face was his first love and they have a daughter together, which you were pissed he hadn’t told you about. Though you did say you were going to forgive him because he said some stuff about you being important to him and looking nice first thing in the morning. Have I got that right so far?’
Mia rubbed a hand across her forehead, feeling a headache coming on. ‘Sort of, but you’ve missed out some key bits that I’m too knackered to go through right now.’
Elle’s voice softened. ‘Key bits like the fact you’re falling for this man who got a girl pregnant at eighteen and has played fast and loose ever since?’
Mia’s voice cracked. ‘Yeah, bits exactly like that.’
‘So clearly you did forgive him.’ Elle paused. ‘Am I allowed to ask how the sex was, you know, purely from a sisterly concern point of view and in no way related to the fact that I can’t remember why we bothered with it, considering the potential sleep-shattering, life-upending consequences.’
‘Which you wouldn’t change for a moment.’ Mia grabbed at the coffee mug and took a big swallow. ‘Best sex ever.’ Before Elle could ask any more questions, Mia changed the subject. ‘So, what’s the plan this weekend?’
‘You mean aside from me pinning you down and getting all the sex details?’ Elle began to rattle off the arrangements: their parents would stay in the Travelodge; she, Dave and the kids would take over Mia’s spare room and ‘probably the entire flat’. Unconsciously Mia’s eyes drifted to the flat opposite. Luke was stood in the window, ready to begin his workout. He waved, and as she waved back a lump settled in her throat.
He’d introduced her to his friends, to Phil. He wanted her to meet Grace, and here she was, hiding the fact that her family were coming up this weekend.
He was trying to change, to let her in so they could have a real relationship.
She, on the other hand, was putting her head in the sand and refusing to acknowledge that her heart was opening to him, whether she wanted it to or not. The more she tried to pretend otherwise, to stop him getting too close, the deeper she dug into that sand. And the more she’d end up hurting both of them.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The last few days the bar had been busier than usual. Luke wasn’t sure whether it was down to Sandy’s social media promos, Mia’s new website, the Cocktails 4 U night or a total bloody fluke. Either way, when Phil had taken Luke through the accounts this morning, he’d reckoned there’d been enough of an uplift in customers through the door this week, to give him hope the bar might just make it.
Luke wasn’t sure he could say the same about his tentative relationship with Mia. Wednesday had been a turning point, the beginning of a new phase where they still were friends, still went on dates, still enjoyed the hell out of each other’s company. But also had frequent, frigging awesome sex.
Or so he’d thought.
‘Comes to something when the accountant has to get his own bloody coffee.’ Phil wandered back into the spare room, clutching at the mug he’d had to go to such extreme lengths to acquire.
‘I made the first. If you’re greedy enough to want a second, that’s on you.’
Phil plonked himself down on the chair in front of the computer. The one with the spreadsheets they’d just been peering over. ‘It’s not greed. It’s my way of ensuring you don’t kick me out of the door before you’ve given me the rundown on you and Mia. Are you still not going on dates and not having sex?’
Bugger it. Luke rubbed at the back of his neck, trying to knead out the tension. ‘I’m not in the mood for a cross-examination of my sex life right now.’ Aware he was being stared at, Luke turned to face him. ‘What? A guy’s allowed a bit of privacy, even from his brother.’
‘First, this brother has just spent his Saturday morning supplying free accountancy advice, so the least you can do is provide salacious details in return. Second.’ A gleam entered Phil’s eyes. ‘You’ve just admitted you’re having sex.’
Luke groaned. ‘You should have been a frigging lawyer, not an accountant. But okay, we did have sex.’ He rubbed at his eyes with the base of his palm, wondering whether to admit what he was feeling. ‘I’m just not sure if it’s going to happen again.’
Phil’s eyes boggled. ‘It was that shite?’
‘No, you dumb-arse. It was the most awesome bloody sex I’ve ever had. And before you say anything, I was under the impression she thought the same. Except now I’m not sure because she didn’t turn up to the bar last night.’ And he should know because his head had popped up like a meerkat’s – Mateo’s description – every time someone had come through the door. A lot of head popping, leading to a shit-tonne of disappointment.
‘Did she say she would?’
‘She said she’d drop in if she got the chance.’ It had made him feel like a chore she’d have to cross off.
‘So? Clearly the lady has better things to do than sit in a crowded bar just so she can snag a few seconds of your precious time in between customers.’
Luke let the words sink in. Not for the first time, his brother had a valid point. ‘You’re saying I’m reading too much into it?’
‘I’m saying, you’re acting like a thirteen-year-old kid who thinks his girlfriend doesn’t like him anymore just because she didn’t sit next to him in class.’ Phil pushed his chair back, clearly making himself more comfortable. ‘You know you could always phone her. Ask her if she’s planning on coming tonight.’
Yeah, maybe he could, if he’d not bottled it on Thursday morning. Then again, maybe she’d have said no. ‘If you’d listened to a word I’ve been telling you over the last few months, you’d know I don’t have her number. Hence the messages in the window.’ He gave Phil a hard glare. ‘The ones you told me were creepy.’
‘Ah.’ Phil looked at him pensively. ‘I kind of assumed after all this time, you’d have it by now.’
He knew Phil didn’t mean it to sound mean, but it pricked nonetheless. ‘She was burnt by her last boyfriend so she’s only given her new number out to key friends and family.’ People she could trust. Hence the reason he’d bottled asking. He could bitch and get frustrated all he liked, but considering her track record with men, and his track record with women, he could also understand why she hadn’t trusted him with it yet. Didn’t stop it hurting like a bugger though.