Page 49 of Not So Fast
Mia fished a bundle of brown paper from a box and unwrapped one of his awards. “Why doesn’t it matter?”
“This is just how I got to where I am now. It doesn’t represent where I want to be. It doesn’t represent the ultimate goal I hope to achieve, which is becoming a world champion in Formula One.”
Mia dusted off the trophy, then walked it over to one of the bookshelves and placed it. “As the person who told you not to look back, I understand what you’re saying, but these are accomplishments. Big ones. That lots and lots of people in the world would wish they had achieved themselves. You should be proud of them. It shows how hard you’ve worked. Don’t diminish that.”
It sometimes felt like Mia had a portal into his heart and soul. How did she see right through him? “But you’re always diminishing your degrees.”
She cast a look at him over her shoulder. “It’s not the same.Anyone can go to school. It’s a much smaller subset of people who do what you do.”
“It doesn’t mean you should minimize your accomplishments. You know, you’re very good at dispensing advice, but I’m not entirely sure you listen to it yourself.”
“I definitely don’t.”
“Maybe we can work on these things together.” He went up behind her and stooped down, wrapping his arms around her rib cage and lifting her breasts. He kissed her neck softly. “I can think of some other things we can work on together.”
Mia turned in his arms and stood on her tiptoes so she could reach up and clasp her hands behind his neck. “Are we going to spend my entire stay in your bed?”
“I’ve already shown you the kitchen and my office. So, no.”
“Okay, good. Because I would like to get to know all parts of Xander Bishop. Not just the exciting ones.”
* * *
Late-morning trips to bed led to a few midafternoon rendezvous on the couch in the living room, which led to long nights where neither Mia nor Xander were getting much sleep. The days blurred into each other, a lovely haze of hours and minutes that simultaneously felt long and short. There were early-morning trysts started by nothing more than Mia’s innocent nudge of her nose against his cheek, or in Xander’s case, a not-so-innocent nudge of his erection against Mia’s bare ass. Mia had never been hot for a guy the way she was for Xander. Every minute with him had an undercurrent of sex, as if their bodies were silently conspiring with each other to find a way to get naked again.
Tell me you’re having sex, Jasmine texted her one day.
Maybe. ;)Mia replied.
OMFG. A lot?
Mia hugged her phone to her chest, not wanting Xander to see. Fortunately, he was dead asleep next to her in bed.
I think I wore him out. He’s sleeping. Right next to me. Right now.
You bitch. You have to tell me everything when you get home.
For an instant, Mia delighted in the thought. She and Jasmine loved sharing the juicy details of their romantic entanglements. Granted, there had been way more of that from Jasmine’s side of their friendship. Mia and love? Most of the time, it never got past the first date.
She began to type out a response, but just as quickly, she realized what was going on between Xander and her felt like far more than a hookup. With any other guy, this would be the moment at which she’d tiptoe out of the room with her clothes clutched to her chest. Panic would have taken over. Questions would have flooded her brain.What are you doing? What does this mean? Are you in love? Is this a good idea? You haven’t even done a background check on this guy.
None of that pertained to Xander. Maybe she was exhausted. Maybe it was because she was an ocean away from home and had no clue how to get back to Heathrow. Or maybe it was because he somehow soothed her most extreme tendencies. He had been so damn sweet and understanding when she’d shared those embarrassing stories about being teased in school. She wasn’t sure another guy had even bothered tolisten.
I’ll share the broad strokes. That’s it.
From the sound of it, there have been many broad strokes.
You’re not wrong.
Xander and Mia did manage to squeeze in a few nonsexual activities. There were meandering muddy walks on the property, where they spotted wild pheasant and Xander told her all about his great-grandparents’ hardworking and humble history as sheep farmers.
“Where are the actual sheep?” Mia asked as they stood in the middle of a field, the afternoon breeze blowing his hair in every direction. “I was hoping to see them.”
Xander shook his head. “We don’t have any anymore, I’m afraid. It’s so much work. I don’t have time to do it, obviously, and my parents have other worries to deal with.”
“Other worries?” Mia didn’t want to pry, but she was curious, especially since she knew how close he was with his family.
“My mum was diagnosed with MS a year ago. Not long after, my parents took early retirement.”
