Then there was a knock on the door and he flung it open, lifting the gorgeous woman on the other side of it into his arms and carrying her through the flat to his bedroom.
‘Err, hello.’ Her hands were either side of his face, her mouth raining kisses over it.
‘Hello yourself.’ He threw her inelegantly onto the bed where she landed with a soft thump and laughed back up at him.
‘Are you in cave-man mode?’
‘I’m in I need to bury myself inside you so I can be absolutely certain this isn’t a dream, mode.’
Her expression softened and she reached for his hand. Tugging him down onto the bed before rolling over, she stared down at him. ‘I’m sorry it took so long for me to tell you.’
Emotion balled, clogging his throat. ‘Don’t be.’ With his finger he traced the curve of her cheek, the outline of the mouth he never wanted to stop kissing. ‘You had to be certain.’ His eyes found hers. ‘You are, aren’t you? Certain, I mean. Because if there are any doubts I want to know.’
Her lips found his, soft, teasing. ‘I’m one hundred per cent sure I’m in love with Luke Doyle,’ she stated solemnly.
His body relaxed, his heart filling. ‘I feel I should state, for the record, that I am also one hundred per cent certain I’m in love with Mia Abbott.’ As she sighed and snuggled into him he felt the need to add, ‘I do still think we need to make absolutely sure this isn’t a dream.’
The breath from her laughter fluttered across his skin. ‘I’m inclined to agree with you.’
‘Inclined to?’ He dug his fingers into her side, tickling her. ‘What are we, a Charles Dickens novel?’
‘Jane Austen, please.’ Her hand slid under his T-shirt until she found his piercing and the tweak she gave it travelled all the way to his groin. ‘So, are we going to do some basket making?’
He spluttered out a laugh. ‘Is that what she called it?’
‘No, she wasn’t so vulgar.’ She reached up until her lips feathered across his ear. ‘But I can be.’
And that was it, he was done talking.
Mia woke slowly. When she tried to move, the big arm draped across her tightened and she smiled, happy to stay where she was a while longer.
‘Morning.’ His voice was gruff with sleep.
She wriggled round. ‘Morning yourself.’
His eyes skimmed over her face, as if he still couldn’t believe she was there. ‘You have anywhere you need to be in the next few hours?’
‘Yes.’ His face fell and she kissed him. ‘Here, you muppet. This is where I need to be for the next few hours.’
‘Good.’ God, she could lose herself in his eyes. It wasn’t just that they were a beautiful colour. They told her so much about what he was thinking; glinting when he was amused, darkening when he was turned on, vivid and intense when he was emotional, like he clearly was now. ‘We didn’t get a chance to talk last night.’
‘No. Somebody threw me onto a bed and ravaged me.’
He grinned. ‘We made a lot of baskets.’
‘That we did.’
He brushed at her hair. ‘But perhaps we should talk now. About Freya.’
Mia swallowed. Following her chat with Grace, she no longer felt that burning jealousy, or the cramping fear that Freya was Luke’s real love. Still, she didn’t want to betray any confidences. ‘What about her?’
‘Grace said something in the car the other day, about Freya having a hard time getting used to you and me. It made me wonder if she’d been making life hard for you?’
She didn’t want to lie to him, but if she had any hope of getting on with Freya, she couldn’t tell him the truth, either. ‘Everything is fine,’ she reassured. ‘The only problem was in my head.’
He nodded, his hand in constant motion, trailing down her face, up and down her arm. As if he couldn’t stop touching her. ‘But now you know what I felt for Freya was a long time ago, and it was nothing like the all-consuming love I feel for you.’
‘Now I know.’ He opened his mouth to speak, then stopped himself. ‘Say it,’ she urged him. ‘We have to be able to talk about stuff that’s difficult without worrying if the other person is going to get upset.’
‘Okay.’ His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. ‘But I don’t want to upset you.’
With a laugh, she pushed at him. ‘I can’t promise not to get mad, but I can promise I will always stay and argue. I won’t run off.’
His chest heaved as he drew in a deep breath. ‘I was going to talk about why I slept with Freya those two times. To explain it wasn’t because of any rekindling of feelings. It was Christmas Eve. Her mum was in hospital and I’d just broken my ankle playing five-aside football, so I couldn’t drive anywhere. We were both stuck in our flats and feeling miserable. Two nights on the trot, when Grace had gone to bed, Freya got out the tequila. By Boxing Day we’d both had enough of each other and tequila.’
Mia pressed a kiss to his lips, silencing him. ‘You convinced me at tequila.’
He laughed softly, and she could hear relief as well as amusement. ‘One thing I’m confused about, and I’m not sure if you can help clear it up or not.’
‘Oh?’
‘Grace texted me last night to tell me there was a message in your window for me.’ His lips twitched in a wry smile. ‘The run from the bar to here nearly gave me a heart attack.’
She patted his cheek. ‘Aw, you poor old thing.’
He snatched at her hand. ‘Less of the old.’ Then his eyes narrowed on hers. ‘What I’m trying to work out is, how she knew there was one.’
Mia was crap at poker, but she tried her best to keep her expression bland. ‘She’s got a key to your place. Maybe she came in and saw it.’
‘Umm, maybe.’ His eyes searched hers. ‘Why do I get this feeling that you and my daughter have been talking about stuff other than maths?’ But then he smiled. ‘You know what, I don’t need to know. I love that my two favourite females are building a relationship.’
‘Your daughter is amazing.’
Another smile. ‘My girlfriend is amazing, too.’
Just then the door to his bedroom creaked open and Pickles jumped onto the bed.
Luke groaned and sat up, lifting her into his arms. ‘The deal was, you gave me twelve hours.’
Mia shifted so she could fully enjoy the sight of this sexy man lying in bed, muscled chest on full display, arms around a smug-looking rabbit. ‘She clearly heard you call me and Grace your two favourite females.’
‘Damn.’ He peered down at Pickles. ‘Are you jealous?’
‘She doesn’t need to be. There’s room for the three of us.’
His eyes caught hers and the smile he gave her caused a zing from her head to her toes and in all the places in between. ‘Not in this bed. She needs to understand the only person I want in my bed from now on, is you.’ And just as she started to melt, he waggled his eyebrows. ‘Though if you fancy putting on one of those hot bunny costumes from time to time, I won’t stop you.’