Six Hot Summer Nights. Leslie Kelly

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СКАЧАТЬ eyes turned dark as he jerked his gaze to hers. “No, you don’t. There’s nothing that concerns you.”

      Mia wet a rag and wiped off the counter. She needed a prop for her nervous hands. “Actually, it does involve me, considering you’re hesitant about everything because of your past. Your ex-fiancée is always in the room with us, whether you realize it or not.”

      “Leave it alone, Mia.”

      For once she was not going to back down. “You know all about my life. You know why this baby means so much to me. I want to know why this baby scares you to the point that you can’t even discuss it without tensing up.”

      Bronson came to his feet, running a hand through his stylishly messy hair. “I don’t know why you think now is the time to rehash all this.”

      “I’ve been wondering for a while, Bronson, and today your mother—”

      He jerked around. “My mother? You’ve got to be kidding. Did she tell you I loved that child, that his name was chosen and that I could hardly work for all the anticipation surrounding my upcoming marriage and baby?”

      Mia tossed the rag into the sink. “She just said that—”

      “What?” He threw his arms out to the side. “She said what? That my ex-fiancée was sleeping around behind my back and the baby wasn’t mine? Oh, and did she tell you how I believed the baby belonged to Anthony?”

      Breath caught in Mia’s throat. Anthony the father? That couldn’t be. He loved his wife more than anything and was fighting to save his marriage.

      She placed her palms on the island and stared into his tormented eyes. “Oh, God, Bronson. I had no idea.”

      “No, but you had to push and push until I gave in. Well, congratulations. Now you know my secret.” He muttered a curse. “I don’t know how that wasn’t leaked to the media.

      They all assumed we split over her losing the baby, that the stress was too much.”

      Mia remembered reading that, hearing those rumors. Now she understood why this DNA test was so important … especially considering the rumors about her and Anthony and after he’d seen them talking in Cannes.

      “That’s why you don’t believe me,” she whispered. “All of that in your past, added to my history with Anthony, has stacked the deck against me and instantly put you on guard. In Cannes, even, you probably thought I was working for the enemy. You slept with me with all these hateful thoughts in your head. I swear, Bronson, I never even entertained thoughts of sleeping with Anthony.”

      Mia turned, holding a hand over her slightly rounded stomach. She didn’t want any of this ugliness to touch her baby.

      “Maybe dinner was a bad idea.” She kept her gaze down, her body facing away from him. She couldn’t look him in the eye right now. Not when she knew so much hurt was swimming in hers. “I honestly didn’t meant to hurt you, to make you relive that nightmare. But I can’t be around someone who believes everything I say is a lie.”

      Bronson’s hands came up to her shoulders. “Dinner isn’t a bad idea at all. I want to spend time with you, Mia. I didn’t mean to yell at you. I just wanted you to see where I’m coming from.”

      Mia allowed those strong hands to turn her around, and she studied those eyes that showed so much emotion. It was probably a good thing he was on the other side of the camera. No way could he ever hide his true thoughts.

      “I see a lot of pain,” she told him, smoothing the line between his brows. “I see a man who wants to hope and is afraid to. If you’ll look back at me, really look, you’ll see we aren’t so different.”

      And then she did something she’d been dying to do—even with the accusations, the lies, the uncertainty.

      Taking control of the situation, she rose on her bare toes and kissed him.

       Ten

      He was toast.

      Bronson knew when he’d been waiting on her porch that if she so much as hinted that she wanted physical contact, he’d be all over her. He’d been wanting her for weeks. Not just a kiss, either.

      And her pressing her lips, her body, against his was much more than a hint—it couldn’t get more obvious than that.

      Bronson wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up, holding her body against his. She’d read into his feelings, his emotions too well, and that scared the hell out of him. He didn’t want to be under her scope—he didn’t want pity.

      He wanted to know if she was trying to trap and destroy him.

      But most of all he wanted to know what she wore beneath her simple black skirt and sleeveless pink top.

      Mia framed his face with her palms and moaned as his mouth traveled from her lips down her neck. She arched into him, sending all kinds of jolts throughout his body.

      “Bronson, we—”

      “Need fewer clothes.”

      He hated the loss of control he had as far as she was concerned. Hated that she had the power to ruin him.

      But right now, Mia’s breathy sighs and pants in his ear clearly overrode common sense.

      “Dinner …”

      He nipped at her lips. “Still has a while and I need you now.”

      Mia’s eyes widened, then softened as a smile spread across her face. “I didn’t think you liked me.”

      Bronson palmed her breasts through her silk top. “I like you, Mia. I still can’t trust that you’re telling me the whole truth, but right now, I don’t give a damn.”

      She started to protest when his mouth settled over hers. He didn’t want to hear excuses or reasons they should not be together. He knew them already and chose to ignore them.

      He slid his hands around to the waist of her skirt and moved the zipper down. She wiggled those mesmerizing hips until the unwanted garment fell to the floor with a whoosh. She pulled the silk top over her head and tossed it toward the breakfast area, leaving her in a sexy, pink, lacey bra-and-panty set. Her rounded belly wasn’t the only sign of pregnancy. Her breasts nearly spilled over the top of the lace.

      “You destroy me,” he muttered before pulling her body back against his. “Utterly destroy me.”

      He devoured her mouth as her hands made quick work of his belt and pants. He kicked off his shoes and stepped out of his pants, then lifted her onto the kitchen island and stepped between her legs.

      “Just to be clear, I’m going to have you again tonight on a bed.”

      Mia smiled, tracing his lips with her fingertip. “Count on it.”

      He pulled her bra cups aside and slid his hands over her bare breasts, pleased when she moaned and arched into his touch. Wrapping one arm around СКАЧАТЬ