Bad Boys After Dark: Mick (10 page)

“I will!” he yelled as his mother took his hand and they headed toward the tents.

“Talk about cute!” Amanda exclaimed. “Where did you get the harmonica?”

“I always bring him a little something. I picked it up when we stopped for gas on the way here.” He took her hand. Despite her wide smile and bright eyes, he was still thinking about the uneasy look he’d seen earlier, and he needed to know if she was feeling regrets.

“You didn’t look happy earlier,” he said cautiously. “Are you having second thoughts? Do you want to talk about what we did? About anything?”

She shook her head, but the uneasy expression returned. He stepped closer and she looked down. He curled a finger under her chin, lifting her beautiful face.

“What we did was intense, and not at all planned. If we crossed too many lines, you need to tell me.”

Her hands slid from his to behind her back. “I asked you to do it.”

“Baby, what we say in the heat of the moment, when everything feels right, can feel completely different afterward. If that’s the case, you need to tell me. I might be your sex toy for the weekend, but there are no batteries to take out to turn me off. I have a mind of my own, and if I know you don’t like, or regret, anything, I’ll know better how to handle other things.” He brushed his thumb over her cheek, and a smile lifted her lips. “You do crazy stuff to my dirty mind, so it’s important that we trust each other. I need to know how you honestly feel.”

Her eyes went glassy, filling him with a foreboding ache.

“Amanda?”

“Hm?”

“You look like you’re going to cry.” He folded her in his arms. “Shit, baby. I’m sorry. I should have known it was too much.”

She pushed out of his arms with a frustrated exhalation. “I’m
not
going to cry, and it wasn’t too much. I just scratched my arm by accident.”

Scratched your arm?
A small pink mark had appeared on her arm. “You’re sure?”

“Yes,” she snapped. “I’m fine with what we did. I liked it. Hell, Mick, I
loved
it. I’m just processing everything. You. Me. What we did. What we’re doing. The craziness going on inside me.”

He pushed a hand through his hair, watching her watch him. She crossed her arms and leveled him with a serious stare. A seriously
hot
stare. He felt his lips quirk up, and hers did the same, the playful look rattling his heart.

“I don’t know what to make of that.” He laughed.

Her smile widened. “Think I do?”

“Not if I’m reading you right, but you’re seriously messing with my head.” He tugged her in close again, and she wound her arms around his neck, laughing softly. The sweet melody made his head spin even more. “I should strip you bare and take you right here, just for messing with me.”

“Oh, no.” Her voice turned serious. “Are you one of those, what do you call them? Those men who like to punish girls?”

“
Jesus
. Do I
seem
like one of those guys?”

“How should I know? You’re the teacher. I’m merely the student.”

“You’re not
merely
anything. And you’re no student, Amanda. I don’t know what you are, but it’s not that.” He pressed his lips to hers in a chaste kiss. “To answer your question, no, I’m not a dom, but I’d be happy to spank you if you’re into that sort of thing.” He waggled his brows.

“I bet you would.”

She had him so tied in knots, he wasn’t sure he was reading anything right, making it even more important to clarify where her head was. “How’s the processing going? Do you want to change gears and scale it back? Spend the rest of the weekend as friends?”

“You told Bridgette and Louie we were friends. I don’t see the difference, Counselor.” The defiance in her voice was new and thrilling.

“Well, then…” He draped an arm over her shoulder, liking the feel of her so much he decided she belonged there. At least for the weekend. “Let me rephrase the question. Do you still want to fuck or not?”

“Oh, that’s what you meant?” Feigned innocence coated every word. “Affirmative. That is, unless some other hot guy piques my interest at the bar tonight.”

Jealousy gnawed at him. “Is that the game we’re playing now?”

“A girl has to keep her options open. And did you miss the part where I called you hot? Geez, your listening skills leave a little to be desired. You obviously didn’t have the best teacher.”

“Careful. You’re turning me on with your smart-assery.” Everything she did was turning him on and turning him inside out in equal measure. He needed to lighten his thoughts, and headed for the parking lot instead of the festival. “What do you say we blow off the festival and take my motorcycle out for a spin?”

“You have a motorcycle? I don’t remember hearing about this during the initial questioning,” she teased. “My boss warned me about slippery lawyers like you.”

He probably should have warned
himself
about
her
, because the more time they spent together, the more he wished Monday would never come.

MICK DIDN’T JUST have a motorcycle. He had a shiny, black Indian motorcycle. The name didn’t mean squat to Amanda, but watching Mick straddling the powerful machine was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen. She loved the feel of his muscles flexing and the heat searing through his back as she clung to him on the ride up the mountain. The roar of the bike filled her with adrenaline. The crisp evening air was as shocking as it was thrilling, seeping through her sweater to the skin beneath. Riding on the back of the motorcycle made the whole world look different. The trees seemed brighter, the smells were sharper, and the asphalt was no longer just a road but a path to freedom. Amanda felt untethered but not reckless, which she attributed to Mick. He was careful with her, grounding her, going over the rules of the road and secret signals in case she got scared. He drove like he owned the road,
owned
the very earth beneath them.

He veered off the main drag onto a narrow road that was more like a trail, buffered by woods. The sun was just beginning to set, casting a bluish hue through the thick umbrella of trees. The scent of pine and raw earth filled her lungs. The bike slowed as they neared the edge of the woods. Amanda’s insides hummed long after he cut the engine.

It took a few minutes for the roar of the bike to silence in her head, allowing the sounds of the forest to filter in. Branches swished overhead; leaves swirled along the grass and dirt. Mick climbed off the bike and removed his helmet. He shook out his hair, and Amanda felt like she was watching a scene from a movie made just for her.
Mick Bad, Super Hottie
. His lips curved into a delicious smile as he dug his cell phone from his pocket. His whiskers had thickened throughout the evening, and he looked even more like he had the night of the bar crawl. The more time they spent together outside the office, the harder it became to picture him in his suit and tie, with his mask of professionalism firmly in place.

He held up his phone. “You look hot. I want one picture of you on my bike.”

“Wait.” She reached for her helmet, trying to pry it off, and he stopped her with a thoughtful gleam in his eyes. He lowered her hand and took the picture.

“Our little secret,” he promised. He helped her take off the helmet and lifted her from the bike like a hundred and twenty-five pounds was nothing.

She liked knowing he wanted to have something to remember their time together. It gave her the freedom to ask for the same.

“Can I take a picture of you so I have one, too?”

He tugged her against his side and held his phone out for a selfie of the two of them. “Say cheese, baby.” He kissed her cheek as he took the picture. She turned and he kissed her lips, taking another few pictures, which she was sure caught her in a number of shocked and delighted expressions.

Her heart turned over in her chest. She was, for the first time in a very long time, truly happy with a man. She didn’t want to worry about later, or tomorrow, or Monday. She just wanted to revel in what they had now, and hope it lasted forever.

“I’ll text you copies. Come on. I want to show you something.” He took her hand and they walked across a clearing to an overlook. Rocky hills dotted with thick tufts of trees mapped the cascading mountainside. Sweetwater was nestled in a valley below. The lake reflected the setting sun like black glass, and roads snaked through the small town, disappearing beyond the peaks and valleys. She thought of the city’s smoggy air filled with pungent smells of exhaust and grime and the aggressive, overwhelming sounds of too many people.

She inhaled the fresh mountain air and sank down to the grass beside Mick.

He motioned to the incredible view. “Your postcard view of Sweetwater.”

She wondered if he used the word
postcard
because she had on their way into town, or if it was a coincidence. He rested his hand on her leg and smiled. His thoughtful gaze held her answer. She couldn’t imagine anything more perfect than sharing this incredibly picturesque moment with him. When he put an arm around her, it felt natural to rest her head against him.

“You have a nice life here. Willow and Bridgette seem wonderful, and Louie is adorable. Do you come often?”

He chuckled, and she bumped him with her shoulder.

“You’re such a guy. I didn’t mean the double entendre.”

“I don’t come as often as I’d like,” he said. “Pun intended.” He held his phone up and took another picture of them, then turned it toward the view and clicked off a few more shots.

He began texting the pictures to her, and she mulled him over: the man, the attorney, the mystery.

“What if you get a nosy girlfriend?” she asked, admittedly fishing for clues to his firm stance on relationships. “Aren’t you worried someone might see those?”

He shoved his phone into his pocket and stared out at the sunset. “Not going to happen.”

“Why? You’re hotter than any actor, a brilliant attorney, and a badass motorcycle-driving sex machine. Your female clients dress like they’d do you in the office. Why would you cut yourself off from finding
the one
?”

He chuckled. “A badass motorcycle-driving sex machine?”

The fact that he didn’t take the bait did not go unnoticed. “Not that I want to inflate your ego or anything, but yes.”

“Thanks, baby, but I’m not into relationships. I told you that.” He looked out at the sunset again.

She wasn’t giving up that easily. “Why?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” he said casually.

“I want a relationship.” She leaned back on her palms and sighed. “I want it all. A job I enjoy, a
man
I enjoy. A life that’s stable and interesting, sexy and fun. I want to look at my husband and know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I’m the one he wants. The
only
one, no matter what.”

She sat up and crossed her legs, realizing she was telling him the honest to goodness truth without worrying about what he thought of her because of it and decided to spill it all. She plucked a few blades of grass, suddenly nervous at the prospect.

“I want a man who loves me enough to stand on the road with a boom box for all the world to see, or show up at my door with signs proclaiming his love.”

“John Cusack and Andrew Lincoln. You want romantic-movie love.”

“I can’t believe you know that. I didn’t peg you for a guy who watched romantic movies.”

“I’ve never seen them, but you’d have to live in a cave not to have heard about those scenes.”

He drew his knees up and rested his forearms on them, staring straight ahead, his brows knitted. Amanda had always been fascinated by the way his mind worked, and she recognized the way his eyes narrowed, his jaw tightened, and the air around him beat with deep concentration. He’d slipped into attorney mode. In the courtroom, this was the mask he wore in the moments between knowing his next step and changing it up to win a case. He called those contemplative silences his
ascendance
. Other attorneys stuck to their scripts. They planned strategies and rode them out. Mick was as fluid in the courtroom as he was in the bedroom, forgoing his plan to find the right path, the right angle,
the right touch
, to secure his win. Knowing that about him brought a smile, but that smile didn’t last long, because soon she’d no longer see him in the courtroom, the office, or at all.

“Movie romance is your thing,” he said absently, “and you should have it.”

“Before Ally met Heath, she used to tease me about wanting that. She said it wasn’t real, but now she believes in true love.”

“I didn’t know that about her.” He turned with a serious expression. “Why didn’t she believe in love?”

Amanda shrugged. “You know about her being hurt. One of my
sad
moments,” she reminded him. “That broke her, and I guess no one could heal that break until Heath.”

“Why do you think? Why Heath? He’s an awesome dude, but what was it about him?” His tone was reminiscent of an inquisition, and she wondered why he was so curious.

“I think Heath was just what she needed at that time of her life. He
got
her. Neither of them were into relationships, and somehow he made her feel safe and sexy and happy, and she made him feel…” It was one thing to share her own feelings, but she realized it wasn’t right to share Ally’s.

“I think when you
click
, when you find
the one
, you know it, and Ally knew it right away.”
I’ve known for a very long time, but now I’m even more sure. And equally as sure that telling you so would be perilous
.

He shifted his eyes away again, nodding as if he agreed.

“And you? Why don’t you see a relationship in your future?” She plucked a few more pieces of grass and shredded them.

He scoffed. “I’m with the old Ally. Love is a fantasy. That’s why they make movies about it, because real life isn’t like that.” He eyed her curiously. “For most people, anyway. I hope you find it.”

She was beginning to see a correlation between Mick and Ally’s previous beliefs, but she wasn’t sure why, and she wondered if he’d had his heart broken by a woman in the past. Although she wasn’t about to ask him. Instead, she debated his belief.

“My parents have been married forever, and I think they’re truly happy.”

“You know the divorce rates. Life, love, work. Everything’s transient. Everything changes.”

“But…”
But what?
I want you to want a relationship?
That was the stupidest thing she could say, because people didn’t change. Only her sister and Heath were proof that they could, and according to Mick, everything changed. It was still a stupid thing to say, like poking a bear.

“How about your parents?” she asked. “Are they still together?”

“Not even close.” He kicked his legs out, crossed them, and leaned back on his hands. Worry lines crept across his forehead.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“It’s better this way.”

“Why? Did they fight a lot?”

He sat up again, clearly agitated. She expected him to tell her he was done with this conversation.

“Not at first,” he admitted. “But life has a way of tearing people apart.”

She could tell by the tension in his jaw that he was reaching his limit, but she’d come this far. She wasn’t about to let it go without saying her piece.

“Sure it does, but you fight through it if you love each other. There’s always good with bad. That’s what makes a relationship, isn’t it? It can’t be good all the time. That’s the difference between love and infatuation. Love lasts. Infatuation is transient.”

**

MICK TRIED TO temper the frustration that followed thoughts of his youth, but his emotions were all over the place. He felt like a twig, perched to snap beneath the weight of a grizzly.

“You’re naive,” he said too roughly. “I never pegged you as naive.”

Amanda sat up straighter. “I’m not naive, and that’s not a very nice thing to say.”

“I’m not trying to be mean, Amanda. But you’ve lived a perfect life, with a family who adores you. Mom, Dad, and two perfect girls. Life isn’t like that for everyone.”

“We’re hardly the perfect family, but even so, people without perfect lives still fall in love. Look at Heath and Ally. Heath’s father was murdered. His mother beaten and blinded. That’s not perfect, and he loves Ally to the ends of the earth. I believe love can last, and I believe it can conquer anything, even if it sounds naive.”

He gritted his teeth against the truth, but it came out anyway. “And Heath’s parents? His mother lost the man she adored. Nothing lasts. We all die, and death changes those left behind.”

She inched closer when she should have been running in the opposite direction, looking at him with so much compassion he felt it surrounding him. His insides coiled tight, fighting against her efforts to get him to open up to her—and his heart warred for a chance at what he’d never had or wanted before.

“Did you lose someone you loved?” she asked.

Fuck
. This was not something he wanted to talk about. He turned away, hoping she’d take the hint. She moved even closer, their bodies joined at the hip, thigh, and shoulder, but she said nothing. She didn’t have to. Compassion and worry rolled off of her and stroked over him like a caress. A cacophony of nature filled the silence as they lost themselves in the setting sun. Minutes passed, ten, twenty? He wasn’t sure how long, but it was enough time for him to realize she’d eased the pressure in his chest simply by remaining at his side.

He reached for her hand. It was so small and delicate he could hide it in his own. She was delicate, and yet she was stronger than he was, putting her heart on the line. She’d already given herself to him in so many ways, and now she was giving him even more, and in turn, she’d earned something he hadn’t known was up for grabs—his trust.

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and stroked her cheek. For the first time in his life, he wanted to share his past. He’d run from it for so long that he wasn’t even sure how to talk about it, but when he looked at Amanda, his heart knew.

“We lost our sister, Lorelei, to leukemia when she was eight.” He hadn’t said her name aloud in so many years, he wanted to cradle it in his arms and keep it safe. “I was fourteen.”

Amanda’s eyes dampened. “I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine…”

He cleared his throat to speak past the emotions clogging it. “I haven’t told many people that. Heath’s family knows because we grew up together, and the Daltons know. When Bridgette’s husband was killed, we all helped her through. But I haven’t shared it with anyone else.”

“Thank you for trusting me, and I’m sorry for Bridgette and Louie. I didn’t know she’d lost her husband.” She pressed her lips to his in a kiss so sweet and warm he wanted to climb inside it and hole up for the night. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.”

“I don’t know what I want, but this feels good. Talking to you feels good. We never talk about her. None of us do.” Mick scrubbed a hand down his face, trying to regain control of his emotions. “Before we lost her, we were a big, loud, loving family. Family dinners, four hellion boys with a sister to protect. We knew who we were. Then Lorelei got sick, and it all changed so fast. She’d been tired for a while, but then she got worse. The flu, my parents thought. She went downhill quickly. She got really weak, bloody noses, pain. God, it was like she hurt all over. Then the diagnosis came, and chemo, more tests. One day she had this rash and my mom was taking her to a doctor, and it seemed like the next we were sitting vigil by her hospital bed. Then the lights went out.”