Though she would admit to hoping he’d offer one. “Why are you bringing this up now?” she asked.

“Truth?”

She nodded. “Always.”

He inclined his head. “Sam asked what I’d do to a guy who treated Erin the way I treated you.”

Not the answer she’d been hoping for, and deep inside, hope withered. Mike hadn’t suddenly decided to care about her feelings. He was merely making amends because her best friend had come to her rescue.

She straightened her shoulders, preparing to walk out with her head held high. “Don’t worry. I knew the deal going in, so you can relax.” She was proud that her voice didn’t waver.

“Oh.” He blinked, appearing surprised by her answer.

Well, what had he expected? Her undying gratitude that he’d stepped up as a man? Or for her to cling and beg him to give them another chance? Neither would happen. Not now and not if hell froze over, Cara thought.

“I’m glad we understand each other,” he said gruffly.

She managed not to curl her hands into fists and show her real emotions. Feelings she wouldn’t let surface until later, when she was alone.

“If we’re finished, I have paperwork to complete.” She started for the exit, but he still blocked it with his large frame.

Realizing he stood between Cara and her escape, he stepped aside and opened the door.

She was almost past his alluring scent and the tempting warmth of his body when she forced herself to pause. “Mike?”

“Yeah?”

“You can tell Sam he worried for nothing. I always knew you weren’t the kind of guy to expect much from,” she said, sweeping past him with as much dignity as she could muster.

Only when his door slammed shut with him inside did she allow her knees to buckle as she sank into the chair behind her desk. She’d get past this moment, she promised herself.

She’d get past Mike Marsden. On the job, she’d continue to be a good little officer and treat him with the respect he was due. But off duty? No more tiptoeing around him. She’d be herself, the only way she knew to put him and the entire night behind her once and for all.

I always knew you weren’t the kind of guy to expect much from.

He knew what Cara meant with her cutting remark. Not only had he deserved it, he’d prided himself on that very thing. Unless the people involved were his immediate family, Mike made himself off limits. Like his biological father, Rex Bransom, Mike had taken off from Serendipity as soon as he got the chance, leaving his family and the police force he’d recently joined.

Also like his sperm donor, he’d hurt a woman in the process. At least Tiffany hadn’t been pregnant, as Mike’s mother had been with him. Mike was young then, barely twenty-two, and he hadn’t known enough to lay out his feelings for Tiffany—or lack of them. To Mike, she’d been fun and he liked her well enough, but he sure as hell never planned on marrying her.

He shuddered at the thought, recalling how he’d used his escape from Tiffany as his ticket out of his small hometown, next stop Atlantic City, where he’d picked up again as a beat cop. He’d been bored, something obvious to his superior, who’d recognized his talent along with his tendency to skirt the rules, pulled some strings, and gotten him into the NYPD. There, life had been more exciting, keeping him hopping. Never bored, never tied down.

He loved his life. So why did Cara’s words still bother him two full days later?

What bugged him even more was that he had to visit his brother at Cara’s house, a place filled with memories even he couldn’t shut off.

Parking his Ford F-150 in the driveway, he recalled following her home from Joe’s and pulling up behind her sporty blue Jeep Cherokee. His hand on her back as they walked up the entry to the small condo. Her shutting the door behind them, flicking on the hall entry light. And then any gentlemanly qualities he possessed had flown out the window. Mike had always been a guy with a healthy sex drive, and his months undercover had been a long dry spell, but he was hard pressed to explain the chemistry that had his hands all over her immediately.

So what if her laughter in the bar had rung in his ears, leaving him with a lightness inside him that he hadn’t experienced in too long, if ever? And he’d seen sexy women in short skirts and cowboy boots before, but when Cara had leaned over a table to whisper something to a friend, Mike realized those tights she wore rose only thigh high. He’d broken into a sweat right then. Still, not enough of an explanation in his mind. Neither was what happened next.

Joe’s Bar had never been known for dancing, but somehow Joe’s fiancée, Annie Kane, had persuaded him to expand the bar and put in a dance floor. Mike had been nursing a beer with Sam when he caught sight of Cara in some guy’s arms, his hands slipping downward from her waist to her ass. Mike was up in an instant, reaching her just as Cara gripped the man’s wrist and threatened to break it if he didn’t play nice. She hadn’t needed Mike’s help, but she’d gratefully let him cut in. Next thing he knew, his hands slipped from her waist beneath her shirt, his fingertips grazing the silken skin on her back. Except she didn’t stop him.

When he asked, “Want to get out of here?” her softly whisp

ered “Yes” slammed into him full force. She’d excused herself to say good-bye to Sam and Alexa and the other friends she’d been hanging out with. And the next few hours had completely blown his mind and had him leaving before she woke the next morning.

Was it any wonder he hesitated in front of her front door now?

Without warning, the front door opened wide and Cara greeted him. “Were you going to ring the bell? Or did you plan to stand outside all day?” she asked, a knowing smile on her face.

Tags: Carly Phillips Serendipity's Finest Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net