“As long as it’s not the guy next door to you. That dude is into something illegal, I can tell. Your whole apartment complex is sketchy.”
“The rent is cheap,” she said. “Well. Relatively speaking it’s cheap. At any rate, it’s all I can afford.”
“I need to tell you something. You’re probably going to be mad at me, but just remember how much you like me and my cock.”
Mia eyed me. “I do like your cock,” she said, dryly.
That made me grin. “Hold on to that romantic thought, baby.”
“Why am I going to be mad at you?”
“I have Ji-Ho screening home health aides for your mother. You can talk to him about setting up interviews so you can pick the candidate you think is the best. I’m paying for it, obviously.”
“Wow, James…” She took a deep breath, but didn’t say anything further.
“I’m not taking no for an answer,” I said. “You need to feel like your mother is safe at home when you’re at work. At least short-term for the next month or two.”
“I’m trying to be better at accepting help,” she said. “It’s hard. Especially since you don’t even know me that well. Why would you be doing all of this for me?”
Did she really not get it? If she didn’t get that, then she wasn’t ready for me to tell her I was completely in love with her. I bit my tongue and picked my words carefully. “I know your character, who you are inside, and you deserve help. But you’re right. We’re still getting to know each other. Tell me something about you I don’t know.”
“I love thrift shopping,” she said. “Bargain hunting. I use coupon apps on my phone.”
“I am not surprised by that at all. You said your shoes cost eight dollars. Bargain hunting is a good skill to have.” Not a skill I possessed. Or wanted to possess.
“It’s an adrenaline rush, to be honest, to score something for a few bucks, way under its value. It started when I was a kid and I would go to garage sales with my grandmother in Georgia.”
“It sounds like your grandmother was a positive influence in your life.”
“She was. Is. How about you? Are you close to Essie?”
I was impressed that she remembered my grandmother’s name. “Yes, very. I really should go visit her soon. She was a nurse in Vietnam and she saw some horrible shit go down. But mostly I remember as a kid baking with her. I can bake, can you believe it?”
“That is hard to believe.”
“Hey. That feels like an insult.”
“It wasn’t meant to be. I just can’t picture you in an apron.”
“Oh, I fucking rock an apron. You think I’m getting my clothes dirty? Hell, no.”
That made her laugh. “Good point.”
“Now my grandfather, on the other hand, spent a lot of time with me fishing and playing football and camping. I was a regular Texas boy. Don’t let anyone tell you different.”
“Who would tell me different?” she asked, looking amused.
“Haters. You’ll get to see my tough side in Nashville.”
Mia rose up on tiptoes and gave me a kiss. “I kind of like your sweet side. You’re a cinnamon roll, James. Soft on the inside.”
She could call me any damn baked good she wanted as long as she kept getting naked with me. “Don’t tell anyone. It might make the locker room awkward.”
Mia laughed softly. “Your secret is safe with me. Thank you for the home health aide, by the way, I really appreciate it.”
That was just the intro. Time to lay it all on her. “Then you should probably know that I also bought you a house.”
Mia let go of my shoulders and dropped back down onto the sidewalk. She stared up at me. “What? A house? That’s… absurd.”
Her favorite word. “No, it’s not. The house barely cost more than my watch, and this is way more important than an accessory for my wrist.” Well, maybe a hundred grand more, but she didn’t need to know that right now. “I have the money, and it doesn’t mean anything to me. Knowing you and your mom and Christina and her son are somewhere safe does mean something to me.”
“But I can’t pay you back. I’ll never be able to pay you back.”
I pulled her into my arms. “It’s a gift. You’re supposed to just say thank you and then enjoy it. It’s paid for, so you can live there forever if you want. All you have to do is pay the property taxes, which are like two hundred dollars a month.”
“James…” She was shaking her head.
My hand drifted to her lower back, then even lower, to the curve of her ass. Not so much to be sexual as because I wanted to pull her in as close to me as possible. I wanted to feel every inch of her and have the right to touch her freely. “Mia. We do this a lot, you know. James. Mia. Mia. James.”
She stuck her tongue out at me.
I practically growled. “It’s stupid sexy when you do that,” I said. “All I can think about is the way your tongue looks sliding over my cock.”
“You’re trying to distract me,” she said. “From the fact that you just went and bought me a house. A whole house. When we just started dating.”
It sounded a little crazy when she said it out loud, but fuck it, it was only money. Mia was my future. I wasn’t taking no for an answer. She was going to be mine, forever. But I had to play it cool for now. “Look, if you decide in six months that I’m the most irritating man on the planet and you never want to see me again, at least something good will have come out of our relationship.”
The corner of her mouth turned up. “What makes you think it will take six months?”
I patted her on the ass in reprimand. “Hey. Don’t be like that.”
Mia laughed, but then she quieted, her expression serious. She furrowed her brow, studied me. “Why would you do this for me?” she asked, softly.
My throat and gut felt tight. “Because you’re you.”
That was it. That was everything. In one sentence.
Chapter Fifteen
Mia
James had bought me a house. A. House.
Who did that?
Pro football players, apparently.
Maybe I was getting used to his surprises and over-the-top gestures because instead of being horrified or worried, I was excited. And really, really turned on. What could be hotter than a man who was absolutely determined to make my life easier?
Nothing.
Especially since he was six foot five and looked like he had been chiseled out of stone.
I felt special and that was a new feeling. I didn’t hate it. Not at all.
He could also dance, which surprised me. He’d readily agreed to go to a nightclub, and moved easily with me to the grinding music. I loved to dance. It was the most freeing feeling in the world to spin around, arms up, hips moving. There were no worries about Mama, no bills, no demanding managers when I was just dancing under the hot pulsing lights.
James matched his rhythm to mine and held me loosely against him. He smiled down at me. “I told you I can dance.”
“I’m impressed,” I yelled over the music. “I might want my Magic Mike routine after all.”