Claiming Mia Read online

  “Where’s Barry?” she asked in a sharper tone than she’d intended. It wasn’t the first time he hadn’t shown up or had come in late.

  Drew fidgeted, flicked a quick glance toward Donny and replied, “He’s tied up with something but will be here, boss.”

  “He swore he was only running fifteen minutes behind,” Donny added.

  Mia blew out a frustrated breath and gave them her stern ‘mom’ look. “I’ll deal with him when he arrives and remind him to let me know when he’s running late. You two start watering while I get the deliveries lined up.”

  Sunday afternoon shoppers tended to browse more than buy, but she couldn’t afford to be shorthanded if that proved different today. She was coming out of the greenhouse twenty minutes later, waving to Dee and Bob who were looking over the row of annuals, when Barry came strolling toward her with a sheepish grin.

  “Sorry, Ms. Reynolds. I was doing a favor for someone and didn’t keep track of the time. Won’t happen again.”

  “You made that promise before, Barry.” With her wristband, she wiped the sweat from her brow, not liking the way his jaw clenched even though he kept the small smile in place. “One more time and you’re gone. Go help the guys.” She walked away before he could blow his last chance with an insolent remark.

  She’d just finished ringing up a customer when Dee bounced up and grabbed her arm, her Cheshire grin setting off Mia’s inner alarm before she even heard Dee demand, “Okay, give. I heard your truck was seen parked overnight at Chief MacGregor’s house.”

  Mia groaned over the pitfalls of small hometown living. “Who told you that?” she hissed, after making sure none of the browsing customers could hear them.

  “Barb Willis at church this morning. She lives two houses down from him. You lucky hussy, I want details.”

  With an emphatic shake of her head, Mia refused to reveal what went on between her and Nolan. She was still assimilating through everything she’d experienced, everything she’d felt, and what Nolan hadn’t done or explained this morning. He’d pursued her until she’d caved and agreed to the overnight he wanted, yet the way he’d held himself back still both baffled and upset her. She didn’t understand him, his motives or what he wanted from her, and didn’t care for the emotional rollercoaster ride he’d left her stranded on.

  “No, and don’t ask me again. I mean it,” she warned when Dee opened her mouth to protest. “It was a onetime thing, not to be brought up again. Got it?”

  “If you insist,” Dee agreed with a huff before touching Mia’s tense arm with a look of concern. “If he upset you, though…”

  “He didn’t.” She hesitated for a second before offering her best friend something to ease her mind. “It was great, Dee. I’m just sorry I didn’t know how good it could be before now.”

  Dee started to comment but saw her husband, Bob, approaching with a flat of the bright green-leafed, red flowered perennial, Pineleaf Penstemon Mia knew Dee wanted for ground cover. Grateful for his timing, Mia reached out, took the wooden crate from him and set it next to the register.

  “Good choice. If you plant them where you can see them out either your front or back window, you’ll be able to enjoy the hummingbirds they attract,” she informed them as she rang up the purchase without looking at Dee. Mia should have remembered how pushy her friend could be.

  “We’ll talk later,” Dee whispered as Bob swiped his card.

  Ignoring her, Mia smiled at them both. “Are you two going to be at the annual picnic this year?”

  “Of course.” Bob grinned. “We haven’t missed one yet. You’ll be there this year, right?”

  Mia shrugged. “Sure.” After her bumbling reaction to facing Peter and Tami at the diner, she changed her mind about going this year and planned to skip the gathering the entire town turned out for, not wanting to face them again. She intended to come up with an excuse to appease her friends before then.

  “Good. We’ll hold you to that.” Bob’s smug look matched the one on Dee’s face as she finger-waved goodbye.

  “Catch you later, Mia.”

  Mia blew out a breath of exasperation. Why did she have to be lucky enough to have such good friends?

  The afternoon sped by and she was grateful for the business that kept her mind off both Nolan and Barry’s disgruntled attitude, at least until Nolan showed up five minutes before closing. Her heart executed a slow roll as he unfolded his six-foot-two frame from behind the wheel of the police-issued cruiser and tipped his Stetson down to shade his eyes from the late afternoon sun. His loose-limbed stride ate up the ground between them and the way his thigh muscles bunched beneath the snug denim of his jeans drew a sheen of perspiration along her neck that had nothing to do with the summer heat. The tight stretch of his black tee shirt across his shoulders and around his biceps emphasized his bulging muscles, and she shivered as she recalled the comforting strength of his arm wrapped around her as he drove her crazy.

  And all she could think was, what more could he want from her?

  “I’m about to close, Chief,” she managed in a cool tone despite the instant flutter of her pulse and deep in her core when he stood in front of her.

  “Then my timing is perfect. Let’s get something to eat.”

  Mia stiffened and took a physical step back from the temptation to say yes she didn’t understand. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Thank you anyway.”

  He unnerved her with his silent scrutiny before he drawled with a tip of his hat, “Good enough, sweetheart. For now.” Without another word, he pivoted and returned to his vehicle, leaving her standing there bemused, irritated and… needy.

  “We’re out of here if you don’t need anything else, boss,” Donny said, his approach drawing her attention away from Nolan’s departure.

  “No, thanks. I’ll see you at the end of the week.”

  Barry was already driving away as Drew joined them. “When are you expecting another delivery? We can arrange to be here to unload if it arrives before Thursday.”

  “Thanks, Drew, but I’ve slowed down on ordering since planting season is ending soon. I have a small shipment due in three weeks, a lot of fall shrubbery. Now I’ll need your help most for the weekly lawn services and the landscaping contracts.”

  Drew nodded. “Works for me. See you Thursday afternoon then.”

  It had been great of the guys to pick the summer school schedule that could give them the most hours at the nursery. Whenever Barry annoyed her, she remembered how hard they always worked between Thursday afternoon and Sunday evening.

  Mia closed the gates and trotted upstairs to her apartment, eager for a hot shower, cold salad and quiet night, vowing to forget about a certain police chief who could tie her up in knots with just a look. She didn’t even like the man, for pity’s sake.

  * * *

  The man she didn’t like but who could still seem to send her blood flowing in a hot molten lava flow of pulsating need with just a look or his nearness, intercepted her in line at the grocery the next morning. “I’ll get those for you,” Nolan insisted, his tone indicating he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

  Instead of arguing in public, Mia hissed, “Fine,” none too pleased as she followed him out to her truck. “I didn’t need your help.” She glared at him after he set the bags on the seat.

  “Not with your groceries, but you do need me. You’re just too stubborn to admit it. You’ll like a club I belong to in Albuquerque. Let me take you there this weekend.”

  Leaning his muscled forearm on the top of the truck’s door, he stared down at her with a small curl of his mouth and made her long to feel those lips crushed to hers again. Shaking off the unwanted desire, she replied, “I don’t think that would be a good idea. Thank you anyway.”

  His small grin stretched into a smile. “Good enough, sweetheart. For now.”

  * * *

  Mia had just placed her foot on the first stair to her apartment on Tuesday, intending to break for lunch while Trish
manned the office, when Nolan again showed up out of the blue. She paused, waiting in annoyance for him to reach her carrying a takeout bag from her favorite taco shop.

  “Chief. What can I do for you today?” She knew her voice dripped sarcasm and didn’t care. The tacos smelled too darn good.

  “Have lunch with me.” He snatched her hand and she let him tug her over to the covered picnic table behind the shop.

  “I should file harassment charges against you,” she grumbled, taking a seat and the taco he handed over.

  “But you won’t. It’s lingerie night at my club on Saturday.” He bit into his taco, his eyes never leaving her face.

  “That’s nice… just what kind of club is it?” she asked around a throat gone dry.

  “BDSM, kink, alternative lifestyles… pick a name. I promise it’s safe, sane and everything is consensual, no different from my house last weekend.”

  Except he would want to torment her in public. No way, no how, even if her traitorous body went damp at the image in her head. She swallowed her bite, took a long drink of bottled water and replied, “I don’t think that would be a good idea. Thank you anyway.”

  He didn’t argue, instead switching to mundane topics until she took her last bite and he stood to gather the trash. “Good enough, sweetheart. For now.”

  Mia watched Nolan saunter back to his truck, scowling at his back. She needed to do something to neutralize the increasing urge to agree to his invitation yet one more time.

  * * *

  He didn’t make an appearance on Wednesday, and she wasn’t happy when she caught herself looking for him, refusing to admit to disappointment.

  On Thursday Barry called in sick, so it was left to her to do the mowing at the police precinct, another aggravation to plague her. Her mood didn’t improve when her palms turned clammy and her heart thumped with expectation when she saw Nolan’s vehicle in the parking lot. When he brought her a bottled iced tea, invited her to his club again, and it was on the tip of her tongue to say yes, she knew she needed to do something to get her mind off him.

  “I don’t think that would be a good idea. Thank you anyway,” she answered automatically. This time, Nolan left her unsettled when he deviated from his standard reply.

  “You’ll be sorry when I stop asking, sweetheart.”

  That’s what worried Mia.

  * * *

  Nolan entered the Raging Bull on Friday night in a foul mood. His third bar that night, and he had spotted nothing that would point him toward nabbing the people smuggling the tainted drugs through his county. On top of that frustration, Mia’s stubborn refusal to let go of her insecurities and get on with her life was wearing thin. Maybe he’d made a mistake in not fucking her last weekend, he contemplated as he slid onto a barstool and held up one finger to get the bartender’s attention. Considering her inexperience, he’d believed a slow initiation into what she’d been missing and suppressing her entire adult life would be best. For the first time in a long while, he might have handled a sub wrong. Not that she’d admitted to being submissive.

  With a curse at not being able to get a grip on her, he ordered a beer and swiveled around to face the crowd, this one tamer than the last two. Too bad. He was in the mood for a fight. And then Mia walked in, fidgeting with the short hem of her denim skirt, Trish yanking on her arm to lead her to a table. The look on her face appeared more resigned than happy to be here, and he guessed the younger girl had talked her into coming. His first inclination was to storm over there and haul her outside for another lesson, but he reined in that urge to do his job.

  An hour later, Nolan was ready to call it a night, and to drag Mia out with him. She’d done nothing since coming in but sit at the table and drink while watching Trish flirt and dance. By his count, she was on her third beer and he decided it was time to tell her she wouldn’t find what she craved in alcohol.

  Coming up behind her, Nolan reached around and plucked the beer bottle from her hand before she reached her mouth again. “You don’t need this.” Setting it on the table next to hers, he sat down and faced her angry glare. “You will not forget last weekend, or what I can do to and for you, so give it up,” he growled in demand.

  “That is not what I’m doing,” she snapped, shifting in her seat.

  “Sure it is. Why else would you come here and just sit?”

  Mia opened her mouth to reply then clamped it shut again before releasing an exasperated huff.

  Leaning back, he crossed his arms to keep from reaching for her. “Talk to me, Mia. After the way you came apart under my hands and mouth, why are you running away from me instead of begging for more?”

  Mia flicked a panicked glance around before relaxing and leaning forward. “How did you know I would… like what you did?” Not even the dim lighting could disguise her blush.

  “I’ve been a Dom a long time, sweetheart. I’ve learned to read women well, and you are an open book.”

  “Dom? As in women kneeling at your feet and calling you Master?” Her voice emerged in a whispery gasp, but those stunning green eyes glowed with interest.

  He nodded, his mouth quirking. “As in. My dealings with suppressed subs has proven they’re the ones most responsive to dominant control.”

  She reared back as if insulted and said exactly what he thought she would. “I’m not suppressed.” Nolan noticed she didn’t deny being submissive, so he raised one brow and just stared at her until she fidgeted and snapped, “Knock it off.”

  “Careful, sweetheart,” he warned, deepening his voice. “I have ways to punish you you may not enjoy as much as a spanking.”

  Mia tilted her head, curiosity replacing censure on her face. “Like what?”

  He shook his head, bemused. She never failed to surprise him, and he liked that. “Like hours of orgasm denial.”

  * * *

  A shudder ran through Mia. After her explosive climaxes last weekend, denial sounded like pure torture. So why did her body tingle from head to toe at the thought? She mentally shook her head, glancing away from Nolan’s penetrating gaze. She’d let Trish browbeat her into coming tonight in the hopes someone would take her mind off him and his invitation. A sex club. Just the words threatened her resolve to stay away from him. Curiosity and a week of low, simmering, unfulfilled need that his actions last weekend seemed to have stoked higher instead of appeasing made her itch to say yes. And then he said the one thing sure to get her to agree.

  “How long are you going to allow Peter, the prick, to keep you wallowing in regret? Come with me tomorrow night.” He held up a hand. “We’ll just observe, more only if you want. C’mon, Mia. What have you got to lose except time?”

  Before she could change her mind, she listened to the heated clamoring of her body and said, “Yes.”

  Chapter 6

  Mia ran trembling fingers through her unbound hair as Nolan grabbed her other hand and led her up a stone walkway leading to the stately, two-story home surrounded by five acres of well-kept, landscaped lawn. The man saw way too much without her revealing visible signs of how his attentive nearness always flustered her. It had been that way ever since that chance encounter on the street when she’d experienced a warm rush from witnessing his dominant control for the first time. As a married woman, she’d had no business feeling anything for a man not her husband, and contributed her startling, unwanted response to her instant dislike. Even though she was now free to indulge in another relationship, she still couldn’t wrap her mind around the way he tugged at all her senses.

  “This isn’t what I expected,” she commented as Nolan reached for the ornate doorknob and pulled open one of the doublewide doors.

  “A BDSM party can be anything from a small gathering in someone’s private home to a crowd of over a hundred members indulging at a downtown club.” He nodded inside the wide, marble-floored foyer. “A group of us went together to purchase this place to give us something in between the relaxed atmosphere of a spacious home with the strict rules and
oversight of a well-run establishment.”

  He kept a tight grip on her hand as she brushed by him upon entering the mansion. Faint strains of edgy music filtered through the walls along with laughter and the low hum of conversation. Nolan tugged her to the left and down a short hall that opened into a high-ceilinged, spacious room where about twenty people were enjoying a drink and the long table of appetizers. Other than the women dressed in a variety of sexy lingerie a lot more revealing than the torso-hugging, spaghetti strapped camisole and short skirt Mia wore, she noticed nothing like what she’d expected. Something of her surprise must have shown on her face because Nolan stopped and peered down at her with a wry twist to his lips.

  “Disappointed or relieved to not see people engaged in sex?” he asked in a slow drawl that sent a wave of heat through her.

  “I didn’t know what to expect,” she defended.

  “There are theme rooms on the second floor and private rooms on the third. We’ll explore those shortly.” He drew her toward a corner bar. “You’re allowed one drink. What would you like?”

  Mia almost stumbled when a command from a stern-looking man sent his attractive companion to her knees in front of him. Releasing his erection into her hands as the couple they’d been conversing with watched, the young woman appeared unabashed and content to use her mouth to lavish attention on his shaft.

  “I think I’ll have a rum and coke,” Mia replied when she could talk past her dry throat. Watching such an open display of eroticism and the pleasure consuming the young woman’s face made her even more conscious of her bare buttocks bisected by the miniscule thong Nolan had insisted she wear, along with dictating the rest of her outfit.