A Major Seduction (10 page)

He was gone before she woke the next morning, but he’d left
a note and made her coffee. He had to be at work early Monday morning. So a
valid excuse. With the field exercise nearing, staying late after work also
made sense.

Since his parents had returned, he’d moved in with Brad. Now
spending his nights at his brother’s, he didn’t feel comfortable having sex in
the next room. Same with Maria’s place. Their lack of intimacy would have given
him one more reasonable excuse for distance…if Olivia hadn’t been such an
understanding sister and moved in temporarily with Brad, giving Mike and Maria
alone time.

A stronger man would have kept his distance while he got his
emotions under control. But anytime he was around her, his dick led his brain.

Tonight, while he pounded inside her hot body, his heart
told him to have a firm, decisive talk with her. But his balls protested that
something fierce, needing to share with the woman all that he had inside.

“Please, Mike.
Oh yes.
”
She moaned as he fucked her into an orgasm, clamping hard around him until he
couldn’t hold it anymore and climaxed with her.

“
Damn.
” He
couldn’t stop coming, shuddering while the woman
owned
him. Her pussy worked him into a weakened state, and when he
withdrew, he slumped over her, accepting her hug because he was too weak to
move. Once again those awkward, confining emotions swamped him, exhausting him
even more. He worried like hell he might love her back. Christ, what a mess.

She rolled them over until she lay on top of him. He kept
his eyes closed, pretending fatigue. Not so much a pretense considering she’d
sucked the life out of him.

“You’re amazing.” She sighed and put her head on his chest.

Too comfortable to move, loving the woman too fast too soon,
and unable to figure out a nice way to gain that distance he needed, he made a
noncommittal
hmm
and closed his eyes
again. He’d go in a bit, but not yet. Not until she’d drifted off.

Maria knew the moment he fell asleep. The faker had waited
her out, but she’d been craftier, waiting
him
out. What the hell had happened between them? It was like the minute they’d
agreed to be together, he’d emotionally retreated. She’d seen the cautious way
he handled her smile, the way he continued to steer clear of her whenever
possible. It hurt. More, it pissed her off.

For years
she’d
been after him. But little Maria had apparently never been woman enough for big
Mike. Then, finally, she’d gotten him to see the real her, and after confessing
how she felt, taking a huge risk, he’d rejected her without saying the words.
Everything with Mike happened on his schedule, following his rules, and it wasn’t
fair.

But you pushed it. You
told the truth when you could have kept quiet
, her conscience whispered.
Yeah, but for a guy apparently not wanting a relationship, he sure the hell
hadn’t protested her going down on him, had he? It had taken her a little while
to notice, but even the best sex in the world couldn’t disguise a skittish
“boyfriend.”

He’d been leading up to some stupid field exercise he had to
be a part of. She planned to have a long talk with him when he returned. If she
had the patience to still be here anymore. She’d spent fourteen freakin’ years
waiting for Mike to love her. And when she had the courage to tell him how she
felt, to think he might feel it back, he pushed her away.

A sign, it had to be. Time to stop frittering away her
affections on someone who didn’t care. “Isn’t worthy,” she muttered, trying not
to cry.

She shouldn’t have pursued him after all this time.

Yeah, and he shouldn’t
have succumbed. Not like I seduced him in his parents’ house. “Let’s see where
this kiss takes us,” my ass.

Not able to deal with much more, she left him a note for him
in her bedroom and slept in Olivia’s room. When she woke the next morning, he
was gone.

Mike spent the next six days watching his Marines train.
He’d done his best to focus on work, but for the life of him, he had trouble
sleeping without feeling Maria in his arms. Hell of it was he missed her. He
was glad she’d been restless that first night, and not wanting to wake him, had
slept in the other room. But after so many days in the field, forcibly away
from her, he found himself thinking about her all the time.

Spending the days away from her gave him a fresh
perspective, as did talking to a few of his friends. Not everyone had a rough
marriage. His commanding officer had been married to the love of his life for
twenty years. His own parents were happy. And a few of the company commanders
with them had long-term girlfriends they treasured.

Mike wondered if he’d simply had a case of cold feet. Did
her confession that she loved him really mean he had to say it back? It wasn’t
as if they’d exchanged vows or even planned on moving in together yet. And he’d
freaked—because he loved her right back.

By the week’s end, he felt like a complete idiot. Brad had
been right. He had a bad habit of bailing when things got serious. His previous
girlfriends had tried but hadn’t connected with him. He hadn’t let them. But
Maria was different, and he knew it.

Hell, she hadn’t even bugged him during his field training.
Not one call or text. She’d given him plenty of space, and he hadn’t even asked
for it.

He went back to Brad’s, cleaned up, then bought flowers from
a gift shop on the way to Maria’s. When he arrived, Olivia met him at the door.

“Well, well.” She glared at him. “If it isn’t the hometown
heartbreaker. What the hell, Mike?”

He blinked. “Huh?’

“You couldn’t let her down easy or anything, could you? The
girl has loved you
forever
, and you
just don’t get it. Sad to realize my brother’s a Grade-A asshole.”

He pushed through the door before she could shut him out.
“What are you talking about? Where’s Maria?”

Olivia didn’t often argue with him, and she rarely used that
disappointed look she currently wore. “How could you?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

Brad appeared from the kitchen and gave him a disdainful
onceover. “Why are you here?”

“Why are you?” Where was Maria?

“Well, after you broke your poor
girlfriend’s
heart, she left,” Brad said. “I’m still trying to talk
Olivia off the ledge. Little Sis is threatening to go to Mom. I say we should
just shoot you.”

“What? Maria left?” Alarm threatened to overwhelm him, so he
swallowed it down, taking control. “Tell me what’s going on.”

“I have no fucking idea,” Olivia snapped. His sister never
swore. Even Brad stared at her in shock. “She seemed so happy. She’s been in
love with you since she laid eyes on you. But after nearly fifteen years she
was just about to throw in the towel on your sorry ass. Then you showed up and
seduced her into loving you all over again.”

“It was mutual,” he growled, upset Maria wasn’t here.

Olivia sighed. “Yeah, well, she apparently loved you too
much. She thought you were into her. You kissed her in front of Mom and Dad,
even warned Brad off. Then…what happened? She tells you she loves you, and it’s
too much? I’ve gone over it with her, but I’m drawing a blank. Brad tells me
you fell hard for her, but you’re treating her like shit.”

“I am not.”

“What do you call screwing her then avoiding her? Because
that’s low.”

Trust Maria to share their intimate details with his sister.
Shit.

“Dude, that is low,” Brad agreed. “Why are you here? Another
booty call?”

“Shut up. Where is she?”

Olivia huffed. “Not here. Visiting relatives somewhere in
Georgia, I think. She’ll be gone for a while, but I don’t see why you should
care.”

Realizing Maria had been aware of his turmoil and
confused—and hurt—about why he’d acted the way he had made him feel lower than
pond scum. “Hell.”

“Yeah, that’s where I was thinking you belonged too.” Brad
nodded. “Mike, what the fuck?”

“I don’t know.” He rubbed his eyes with one hand and put the
flowers on a nearby table. “I panicked. Hell. We’d just agreed to the whole
boyfriend label when she surprised me by springing the L word. Then, well, we
have chemistry, okay? It’s hard for me to say no to her.”

“Funny, because I think she heard it just fine.” Olivia
shook her head. “Pretty much the worst thing you can do to a woman is share her
bed then dump her. Couldn’t you have just told her how you feel?”

“No, he couldn’t,” Brad said. “Asswipe doesn’t know, do you?”

“No,” Mike groaned. He sat on Olivia’s couch and leaned his
head back, staring at the ceiling. “She scares me shitless. I think about her
all the time. I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I think I love her, but I feel
smothered to death at the idea of marriage.”

“She asked you to marry her?” Olivia stared.

“No, but—”

“So where did you get marriage from?” she asked.

“Yeah.” Brad glared at him.

“Love usually precedes marriage. And kids. And
divorce
,” he added, feeling squirrely
about the topic.

“You’re neurotic, you know that?” Brad sighed. “I think this
started back when Dana and I broke up.”

“It did not.”

“Yeah, it did. We were close, and it all went wrong. You
took it to heart.”

“And you didn’t?” Olivia asked.

Brad looked uncomfortable. “Maybe I did, but this is about
him and his issues, not mine.”

“Mike, you’ve always been skittish about your
relationships.” Nice of his sister not to sugar-coat it. “Not saying Brad and
Dana wrecked you, but it sure didn’t help you get around your fear of being
with a woman for longer than a day.”

“Longer than that,” he snapped.

Brad talked over him. “So you finally found a woman who gets
you, still loves you after knowing you for years, and you tossed her aside
without even giving her a chance.”

“Brad, it’s been three weeks with her, tops. Give me a
break.”

“No, it’s been a lot longer than that,” Brad said softly.
“Just admit it. You like—no,
love
—Maria,
and it scares you to death. You think no one can measure up to Mom, and you’re
afraid to fail at being in a committed relationship. You, big brother, fail at
nothing. But this, risking your heart, is a huge deal. There’s no way around
getting hurt with someone you love.”

“Shut up, Dr. Phil.”

Olivia stared at Brad, agape. “Wow. That was really
insightful. You
are
intelligent, aren’t
you?”

“I keep telling you.” He focused on Mike. “What will it hurt
to see where your relationship with Maria goes, really? You let yourself fall
the rest of the way in love with the girl—hell, you’re already halfway there.
She wasn’t asking you to marry her, at least I don’t think she was.” A glance
at Olivia showed her shaking her head. “So take a chance, see where your time
with her goes, and then, maybe years later, if you’re still together, walk down
the aisle. But stop being such a pussy and take a chance.”

That stung, but Mike felt a huge wave of relief. He’d jumped
the gun for sure. Marriage after they’d only just agreed to date exclusively?
“I’m a dumbass.”

“And maybe a perpetually single dumbass,” Olivia said.
“Maria’s really hurt. You spent a lifetime ignoring her. Then she gave you her
heart, and you pretty much dumped on it.”

“How? By avoiding her a little?”

“Michael Cava. Own up, or I lose all respect for you. The
woman isn’t dumb. She knows a silent breakup when it comes.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t break up—”

“She thinks you did, and this time I think she’s really done
with you. I don’t know if you’ll have a shot when she gets back.” Olivia looked
saddened by that fact, and that worried the crap out of him.

“Wait, you said she’s in Georgia? I’ll make this right.”

Brad shook his head. “She’s a few hundred miles away, bro.
Not like you can snap your fingers and be there in five minutes.”

“I’ll take leave.” Nervous that he might really have blown
it with Maria, he itched to rectify things. “Where is she exactly, Olivia?”

She told him, and he thanked her. Then Brad. “I’ll be moving
out when I get back. Thanks for letting me stay at your place.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I figure I’ll need a place to host my
girlfriend
, if she ever speaks to me
again. But I’m not moving in with her or anything,” he growled.

Olivia rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

He left, spent the next two days arranging some leave time,
and drove all the way to Augusta, Georgia. Looking for the address, he wound
through a rural area and ended at a nice house at the end of a cul-de-sac. To
his relief, he spotted Maria’s car.

He pulled in behind her, should she dare to make a quick
getaway, and felt nerves he hadn’t experienced since Officer Candidate School.
With nothing to lose but his sanity, he walked up to the front door, prepared
to offer his head on a platter to have her back. He’d done a lot of soul
searching on his trip, and he knew that he loved her. God knew why she’d loved
him when he’d been such an ass. But admitting it to himself had opened the
floodgates on his feelings. Beyond the physical perfection of the woman, there
was her smile. Her giving nature. Her quick wit. Everything about Maria sang to
him.

When the fuck had he ever lost his appetite before over a
woman?

Hell, it
had
to be
love.

He knocked and waited.

A woman who looked a lot like her mother, Laura, answered
the door. “Hello?”

“Hi. Name’s Mike Cava. I’m here to see Maria.”

“Ah. The jerk from North Carolina.” The woman narrowed her
eyes. “I’m Maria’s Aunt Stella.”

Great. Her aunt hated him.

“Won’t you come in?”

“Thanks.” He stepped inside.

“Last door down the hallway on the right. I’m heading out
for a lunch date with friends. Be nice to her, or I’ll personally remove your
tonsils when I get back.”

Surprised the woman thought to leave him with Maria at all,
he must have showed his expression because she said, “That girl loves you like
crazy. Her mother called warning me you were coming. Apparently Laura thinks
you’re a good man who made a mistake. One that can be fixed.” The woman shook
her head. “Men.” Then she left.

Mike felt as if he’d fallen down the rabbit hole. But, hell,
he’d take what he could get. He moved down the hallway and pushed the door on
the right all the way open. Maria lay half off the bed, her feet and torso
visible, the rest of her hidden by the bed. Emotive, angsty music trickled from
speakers on her dresser. After five seconds hearing her tunes, he wanted to
slit his wrists.

He softly closed and locked the door behind him, knowing he
needed to have words with his girlfriend.
Please
let me still have a girlfriend.
Once again, that possible—probable—future
with her unfolded in his mind’s eyes. That of the pair of them laughing and
living happily ever after.

And his brother and sister wanted to know why he’d gone
overboard. Because he freakin’ loved her and couldn’t imagine living without
her. So, yeah, dumb to end it, but hell, losing her after committing to her
would drive him bat-shit nuts.

“Maria?”

She screeched and fell off the bed.

“You okay, honey?”

She quickly stood, looking wan, weepy, and still gorgeous,
even dressed in ratty shorts and a pink T-shirt. She glared at him. “What do
you want?”

Not the reception he’d been hoping for. “I came to talk to
you.”

“Oh?
Now
you want
to talk? Really?”

“Look, I’m sorry—”

“You really are. You’re not worth it, Mike. I’m done.” She
took a step toward the door.

“Wait.” Freaked out that he’d really blown it, he stood with
his back against the door, not letting her leave. “You need to hear me out.”

“Why? Let’s be honest. You’re not interested in anything
more than a booty call. Thank God we never went further than trying to label
ourselves.” She snorted. “Boyfriend? More like boy toy. But thanks. If I want
great sex, I’ll call you. Now would you please leave?”

He would have snapped back, but he saw the tears in her
eyes. “Hell, Maria.” He advanced on her and lunged when she would have crawled
over the bed to avoid him. He caught her in his arms and hugged her tight.

Her struggles ceased as wracking sobs shook her.

“Shh. Honey, it’s okay. God, I’m so sorry. Don’t cry.” He’d
never seen her tear up before. Well, once, when she’d been stung by a bee. But
that was it. A tough girl, a smart ass, a woman who never let any man throw
her, according to Olivia. Until Mike.

Maria finally stopped crying and buried her face against his
chest. “Why, Mike?” she mumbled. “Why can’t you like me?”

Would she really settle for “like” when she deserved so much
more?

“Can we talk, please?” He felt her nod against him, and they
sat on the bed. Even crying, she looked wonderful to him. Like a sexy little
fairy he wanted to hold on to forever.

She blew her nose, and he had to smile.

“Not funny. I know I look like crap.” She paused. “Why are
you here?”

“Because I screwed up.”

“So did I. I’m fixing things.”

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t fix anything,” he said. “Just listen to me, okay?”

“Fine.” She sighed.

“Don’t tell anyone this, because I’ll deny it, but I first
realized how fucking hot you were when you were only fifteen.”

“Liar.”

“I did. You were wearing this really tiny blue bikini to
Olivia’s sweet sixteen party, and it about killed me.”

She blinked. “I remember that suit. Frankie Tolan noticed me
because of that.”

“So did a ton of other guys, trust me.” He’d knocked around
a ton of heads that night, protecting his sister and Maria from lecherous
creeps. “You were more than cute, more than Olivia’s friend. And it freaked me
the hell out.”