LITMIR.BIZ

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was my fault. I…I was only trying to comfort you about Joey—”

      “You were trying to comfort me?”

      He tried to think of a better way to phrase his concerns.

      Then she threw him for a loop. “I was trying to comfort you over Hannah.”

      His mouth tightened. Had she made love to him out of some misguided pity? “I don’t need your help getting over Hannah.”

      “And I don’t need you giving me therapy over Joey.”

      “Fine, this…us…it won’t happen again.”

      “Absolutely not.”

      “We’ll act like it never happened.”

      “Right. And we won’t tell anyone.”

      His temper flared. She’d never seemed secretive about that hood DeLito. Their public displays of affection had been almost embarrassing. “I’m certainly not going to advertise it.”

      She nodded. “You won’t tell Hannah?” Genuine horror rang in her voice.

      “Of course I won’t tell Hannah. After all, I still have to work with her.”

      “And she’s my sister.”

      Her chin wobbled as if she was on the verge of tears, and his gut clenched. He reached for her, the regret in his heart almost as dark as the look she gave him. “I’ll check the weather conditions if you want to shower.”

      “Fine. Oh, and you might want to put some powder on that eye. It’s a little blue.” Mimi swept the wrinkled bridesmaid dress from the floor and stumbled toward the bathroom. Seth’s stomach knotted as his body reacted, itching to go with her.

      Of course he didn’t move. He kept his feet glued to the floor. In fact, his fingers tightened around the empty condom packet. He’d been on the verge of discussing their possible problem when he’d seen her chin wobble. Maybe he’d save that conversation for the car. Once they were driving, she couldn’t just run away.

      MIMI PRAYED the soap and water and steam would clear her head and bring her back to her senses. As much as she didn’t want to want Seth again, when she’d seen him standing there, all shirtless and long brawny limbs, tight-lipped and sad eyed, she’d wanted to wipe that tightness off his face and that sadness out of his eyes and make him remember how great the night had been. She wanted to make him laugh and purr her name in that husky voice he’d used in the wee hours of the morning.

      But he thought their lovemaking was a mistake and so did she, and then there was Hannah, and oh, God…

      Tears leaked from her eyes and she let them fall onto the shower floor, unable to stop the flood. She always seemed to be creating messes.

      First, when she was little, she’d been so klutzy and messy she’d driven her own mother away. Grammy had said she was creative, and her father had laughed and bragged about her projects, but her mother had hated all the glue, glitter, paints, costumes and cooking disasters. She’d constantly complained, but Mimi had argued that her dad loved her impromptu shows, that he always ate her concoctions, no matter how bizarre they sounded. As a teenager, she’d brought home stray animals, and once she’d saved a turtle, but it smelled so badly her mother had gotten ill. Then her mother had walked out. And it was all her fault.

      Her teenage years had been rocky, too—she’d bounced from one loser boyfriend to another. Then she’d dropped out of college to pursue an acting career. And this past year she’d hooked up with Joey. He’d seemed like a loner when he’d first come to Sugar Hill, and she’d fallen for his candy-coated compliments. She’d been so naive she hadn’t known he was dating her to steal from her father. She’d put her father, his business and Hannah in danger because she’d been too impulsive and trusting.

      And now she’d really lost her mind. She’d taken Hannah’s ex-boyfriend to bed and actually imagined… No, she was not going to even entertain the possibility they might have a relationship. He had to get back to his analyzing and his stuffy family, and she had to return to her job as a manager of the café and practice for the audition.

      Finally her tears subsided. She toweled off and yanked on the bridesmaid dress, feeling like a fool wearing a rumpled evening outfit at seven in the morning. Her only comfort was that no one would ever know she and Seth had been together.

      Minutes later she patted her cheeks to put some color into them, and hoped Seth didn’t notice her red, puffy eyes. He was completely dressed, his jacket buttoned to hide the tear in his slacks, his body as stiff as a marble wall as he stood by the door. He watched her steadily, his expression closed.

      She lifted her chin and asked, “Ready?”

      He nodded. “Mimi—”

      “No, don’t.” She held up a warning hand. “Nothing happened. And no one will ever know. Agreed?”

      He hesitated and her heart did a strange pitter-patter. Finally he said in a low voice, “Agreed.”

      She nodded, wondering if the roads were clear enough to drive, but decided not to ask. They couldn’t possibly stay in the hotel a moment longer. Determined not to become emotional, she opened the door, only to see a couple who looked exactly like Hannah and Jake walking down the hallway of the hotel. Their hushed voices drifted toward her from the elevator, and her stomach churned.

      The couple was Hannah and Jake.

      Chapter Five

      Seth started to go into the hall, but Mimi yanked him back inside the room and slammed the door. Did she want to talk? Do something else? Had she changed her mind about not repeating their—

      “Hannah and Jake are in the hall!”

      “They’re here?”

      Mimi nodded, looking horrified. “I had no idea.”

      “Me, neither.”

      They leaned against the door as if to bar it in case Hannah had seen them and might come blasting through. Tension thrummed between them.

      “I suppose they couldn’t get to the airport because of the bad weather,” Seth said, trying to think logically.

      “The flights were probably canceled.”

      “And the roads going to the interstate were closed.”

      “And this was the only hotel with a vacancy.”

      Their gazes caught, and he noticed Mimi’s puffy and swollen eyes. “Good Lord, you’ve been crying. What’s wrong?” He was so shocked his knees wobbled. Hannah hadn’t been the emotional type, and neither was his mother. Of course when some of his patients got hysterical, he prescribed sedatives for them. But he couldn’t offer Mimi sedatives, not with the possibility of a pregnancy.

      She quickly averted her gaze. “I just felt sappy with Hannah getting married and Mom coming back, and I’m having PMS and…sex relieves tension.”

      He couldn’t help but smile at her blunt honesty. Tenderness for her filled him. Hannah had been only nine when her mother deserted them, so Mimi would have been seven. It must have been a traumatic time for all of them. “How do you feel about your mother’s return?”

      “Stop with the shrink stuff, already.” With a stubborn glare, she grabbed the doorknob. “I wonder if they’ve gone.”

      The scent of her perfume clung to her dress, tormenting him with reminders of their evening together, but her perfect pink mouth was pressed into a tight line, and her posture clearly indicated she wanted distance between them. She obviously was even more concerned about Hannah knowing they’d slept together than he was. He felt stung. “You want us to leave separately and meet at the car?”

      “That’s probably a good idea.”

      He nodded tightly.

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