Too Sweet: Hayes Brothers Book 3

“I WANT TO STAY WITH YOU TONIGHT,” I tell Mia when the cab driver pulls up outside her house just after two in the morning.

Her cheeks heat, but a small smile makes an appearance. “I want you to stay, too.”

“Stop blushing, baby.” I give the driver fifty bucks and help Mia out of the cab. “I’ve had three whiskeys, and you had two glasses of wine.” I dip my head, kissing her neck while she rummages through her bag, searching for keys. “I’m here to sleep. Nothing else.” As soon as the door opens, I haul her up, cross the threshold, and carry her into her bedroom. It’s easier to kiss her when she’s not craning her neck. “We will have sex,” I whisper, laying her on her bed. “There are so many things I want to teach you… but not tonight. I want you comfortable around me first.”

“Don’t make me wait long. I am comfortable.”

“Oh yeah?” She wouldn’t be blushing every goddamn minute if she were. I sit up, pulling her with me. “Strip.”

“Strip? As in…?”

“Get naked, Mia.”

It’s a dare. One I know she won’t take when that alluring pinkness spreads like a flame all over her face and neck. She opens the nightstand, pulls out a brand-new toothbrush, then hands me a towel. “I need a shower. There’s another bathroom at the end of the hall. Toby’s been using it, so I’m sure you’ll find whatever you need in there,” she says, locking herself in the en suite.

The shower starts running, and I smirk, falling back into a mass of fluffy pillows, surprised that Mia’s shyness doesn’t annoy me. I’m not used to this. The women I’ve surrounded myself with all my life are her polar opposite, but instead of the eyeroll moment I’d expect, I find Mia entirely too adorable.

I’m twenty-nine. Sex is natural. Definitely not something to fuss over, but Mia’s untouched. That makes sex a big deal.

Now that she’s mine, I don’t mind the wait. It doesn’t matter how long it’ll take before she’s ready for me. And it’s bizarre because this thing between us started with a dirty thought. I wanted her body from day one.

Now I’m all about her heart and mind.

I take a quick shower, not thrilled about wearing the same pair of boxer shorts once I’m done, but it’s either that or sleeping naked, which might not be the best idea the first night I fall asleep with my girl.

She’s still in the en suite when I sit on the bed to answer a few work-related texts. I instructed all my employees and business partners not to call me today. I guess I should’ve told them not to text either.

“Nico,” Mia utters, her voice soft, almost a whisper.

I peer up from the screen, my phone slips from my grasp, landing on the floor. She stands in the doorway, cheeks red, and damp hair over one shoulder as she toys with her rings, nervously twisting and turning.

And she’s naked.

My gaze dips to her perky breasts. They’re not big. A handful at most. Pale pink areolas almost melt into her complexion. A small beauty mark in the valley between her breasts begs me to kiss it. I glance lower, her waistline as perfect as my seared-in memory. Clean-shaved pussy, round hips, smooth legs.

“You have no idea how beautiful you are,” I say.

She really doesn’t. I can tell. It’s in her stance—the self-consciousness and insecurity. She knows she’s pretty when wrapped in a cute dress, but she has no idea how fucking beautiful she is dressed like Eve.

I get up, take her face in my hands, and kiss those unbe-fucking-lievable lips. I’ll never get over how full they are. How soft. I scoot her off the floor, aware I seem to do this every time I kiss her. She’s tiny. She weighs close to nothing, and having her legs wrapped around my waist is too enticing to pass on. I can’t fucking help myself, and I’m sure I’ll be carrying her around a lot.

“Comfortable?” I ask, laying her on the bed.

“As comfortable as I can be, I guess.” She pushes her damp hair back. “This is new. A little scary.”

I trace my fingers from her neck across her collarbone and lower, touching the side of her breast. She tenses immediately, her breathing shallow. Instead of retreating, I set camp in that spot, caressing her skin until she starts to relax.

“Getting naked when you’re in the heat of the moment, working your way up to sex, is easier than what you’re doing for me now. What’s the scary part?” I move my hand lower, making her squirm when I ghost the line of her waist and hip, then slowly up again.

“I’m not sure. Not knowing whether this…” She motions to her body, “…will live up to your expectations—”

“You exceed my expectations on every corner. Your body’s not an exception, Mia.”

God, I want to suck those pink nipples. I want to trace my lips down her stomach, dive between her thighs, and lick her until she comes, moaning my name and tugging my hair. I want to know how she tastes. Sweet, I bet. Everything about her is sweet.

“Okay, I believe you. You’re comfortable around me. Now get dressed before I have a fucking aneurysm.” I dip my head, kissing her neck. “I want a taste, baby. I want you to come on my lips, but that’s not happening tonight.”

She squeezes her thighs together, pupils blown.

“You’re already soaking wet for me, aren’t you?”

“I’ve been wet for you since we met,” she admits quietly. “I wasn’t far off volunteering to be your one-night-stand.”

“It could never be just one night. You’re too deep under my skin.” I dip my head even lower, kissing along her collarbones. Her pebbled nipple touches my chin, making Mia squirm beneath me. “Still comfortable?” I drop my nose between her breasts, inhaling deeply.

“Yes,” she utters on a sigh.

That does it. My restraint goes to shit. I veer off to the left and take her puckered nipple between my lips, gently grazing it with my teeth. Mia lets out a quiet, needy whimper, her fingers grasping a thick tangle of my hair.

“Good girl,” I whisper, toying with the other nipple between my thumb and forefinger. “Don’t ever hide how I make you feel. Don’t pretend you’re not aroused when I touch you. Own it. Show me. I want to see it.” I reluctantly grab a blue night dress from where she’s laid it out on the bed, pull it down over her head, then sit up, taking her with me.

She makes herself comfortable in my lap, all the pink blush gone from her cheeks. “Close your eyes,” she whispers.

“Why?”

“Please. Just close your eyes for a minute.”

I do, curious and unable to refuse. At this pace, she’ll have me wrapped around her finger by morning. I feel her fingertips on both sides of my jaw. She slides them lower to meet on my chin, then higher, over my lips and nose, brushing my eyelashes gently like she’s committing every inch of me to memory.

She moves her hands to caress the soft spot behind my ears, runs her fingers up the nape of my neck and into my hair, then cups my face, thumbs under my eyes, as she stamps a kiss on my forehead.

I’m gone. Swallowed by the intense feelings. Overpowered.

She won’t own me.

She already does when she kisses me slowly, slipping her tongue between my lips. I grip her neck, and my fingers disappear in her hair as I match the rhythm of her lips.

I’ve touched and kissed a lot of women; had sex with many, too. Wild, breathless sex, but nothing in all my twenty-nine years ever came close to the intimacy of this moment. It’s not what I imagined I wanted. Nothing like any of my deepest fantasies.

Mia’s more. So much more.

My whole life was a lie. An illusion crafted from a social definition of beauty and fulfillment—tall, confident, career-driven brunette. That’s what I thought I craved.

A petite, sweet, helpless little blonde is what makes me tick. She’s all I think about. I want her safe, happy, and mine.

I flip her back, laying her flat on the bed, never breaking the kiss. I don’t want more than this. Her lips, her touch, the cautious tenderness… it’s enough.

It’s fucking everything.

“I’ll take care of you, baby,” I whisper, my mouth grazing her cheek until I nibble her ear, my hand under her sky-blue nightdress setting another camp, caressing her hip. “I bet I won’t want to leave once I’m in there.”

Her cheeks heat again, but she fights embarrassment, toying with a thick tangle of hair at the back of my head. “I bet I won’t want you to leave. I waited a long time for you.”

So am I. She’s a blank canvas. The first time I claim her body will lay the grounds for our sex life. I want her to be comfortable in her own skin, focused on her pleasure, and courageous enough to ask for what she needs.

Happy, at ease, confident.

That’s the goal.

“I’ve wanted you since I met you,” she says quietly.

“You have me, baby. You had me before I saw your face.” I scuff my thumb across her lower lip. I don’t want to scare you, but I’m already fucking crazy about you.”

“I don’t want to scare you, but so am I.”

I peck her head, pull the comforter aside, and pat the mattress. “Hop in. It’s late.”

We get under the sheets, and Mia starts busying her hands by pinching the comforter, a nervous ritual. “Um… will it be a problem if I put a nightlamp on? I’m—” She trips over the words, inhaling deeply. “I don’t like darkness.”

It takes me two heartbeats to understand what she said. My only response is, “Why?”

“It won’t be bright, I promise. It’s not really a night lamp, it’s a projector, and I can dim—”

“You’re evading, Mia. If you don’t want to tell me, say so. Don’t pretend you didn’t hear me. Put the light on.”

She leans out, turns on the projector, then flips the overhead lights off. It feels like I’ve stepped out of the space station. The ceilings and walls are covered in constellations, stars, and planets.

“I was bullied in school,” she admits, curving into my side. “Kids used to lock me in the janitorial closet for hours after school, gagged and tied. It was pitch dark in there.”

“Bullied? Why were you bullied?”

“Why is anyone bullied?” She kisses the underside of my chin. “This isn’t a conversation I want to have the first night I get to fall asleep next to you. Let’s save it for a rainy day, okay?”

I let out all air from my lungs. “Yeah, okay, but we’re not spending that rainy day soaking wet on the beach.”