A Forever Kind of Love (Kinds of Love 1)

He turned sharply to look at her, his eyebrows rising in surprise.

“I mean, billionaires are always painted as uncaring, money-hungry tycoons. But you honestly do care,” she explained.

“Money-hungry?” he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

Mia's cheeks heated. She hadn't thought that sentence through. She'd meant it as a compliment, but it obviously hadn't come out as one.

“Okay, not quite that bad,” she revised with a bashful smile.

“I better have my publicist work on my image,” he said. “I specifically requested to be seen as elitist and greedy. I'm going to have to fire all of them.” He winked at her, letting her know there were no hard feelings.

Mia let out a small laugh. “You take that really well.”

Carter shrugged. “I've been called many things. You get used to it after a while.”

Mia's heart ached for him. He didn't deserve to be called any of those things. From what she'd seen of the man, he was the exact antithesis of greedy or uncaring. She was glad she hadn't known who he was. She would have come in with a preconceived idea of what Carter would be like. He was rich, but he wasn't spoiled.

Carter cleared his throat and motioned to the designs. “What features would you want in a car like this?”

“Cup-holders,” Mia answered immediately. “More cup-holders than seem necessary. With kids, you need as many as possible.”

Carter chuckled and made a note on the drafting table, leaning over the table rather than using the chair. “Done. What else?”

Mia took a breath in as she thought. “A built-in vacuum. Smart doors that won't hit things when opened, easy to clean mats, door locks that are easy to take out of child mode... and did I mention cup-holders?”

Carter laughed. “No, I don't think you did mention those. This is why I need you.”

He leaned forward and added her ideas to his list on the table. He was so close that she could smell the soft scent of his soap. It was clean and masculine without being overpowering. It made her tremble with sudden desire.

The room was suddenly warm as her thoughts went from cars to how his muscles moved under his shirt. She wondered what he looked like with his shirt off and what his skin would feel like under her fingertips. Who cared about cup-holders anyway?

As if reading her thoughts, he stopped writing and looked up at her. Slowly, he came to his full height, and as she looked up at him, he reached for her. His fingers were cool and soft as they curled around the small tendrils of hair at the base of her neck. His touch on her bare skin sent desire snaking through her spine and down to her core.

The corner of his mouth turned up in a tiny, but confident, smile, and he leaned forward to kiss her. She forgot how to breathe, but it didn't matter. This felt so right, even with her heart pounding a million miles an hour.

The kiss never happened. Their lips never connected and everything went wrong. Just as their lips were about to touch, a sharp knock came on the garage door. They both paused. The door opened and the moment was ruined.

Mia turned. If it was one of her kids asking for the millionth time for pizza for dinner, she was going to murder them.

Only it wasn't her kids. It was the giant security guard from the first day on the ranch. Somehow, he was even bigger than she remembered. Scarier.

“Is the boy in here?” the man asked, his voice as deep as he was big.

“Which boy?” Carson asked, dropping his hand from Mia's neck.

“The youngest. Laura says he's not with the others. We can't find him.”

Chapter 7

Mia

“What do you mean, 'can't find him'?” Mia asked, the blood draining out of her face.

“Laura was working with the older two, turned around, and he was gone,” the security guard explained. He looked around the garage. “She thought maybe he followed the two of you here.”

“You mean you don't know where Grayson is?” she clarified, needing to hear the words.

“No ma'am. We don't know where he is.”