Read Under the Mistletoe for Free Online

tricky, and I don’t want to clip the dock. Jax hates it when I do that, because he’s the one that fixes everything around here. Oh shit, am I close? Stop checking out my ass and go look! Hurry!”
    “I’m not much for hurrying,” he said, doing as she asked and moving to where he could see their hind end. “I’m more a fan of the slow and thorough.” He slid her a look through the door. “I’m going to remind you of that you when it’s my turn to be in charge.”
    She stopped moving, nibbling on her lower lip as her eyes went a little glossy.
    “Mia?”
    “Yeah?”
    “The boat.”
    “Oh!” She jerked back to attention.
    When they cleared the marina safe and sound, he joined her inside. She wiped her brow and turned to him. “Slow and thorough?”
    “Have you forgotten?”
    She blushed. “No. I remember.”
    “Do you?” He liked the look of her standing at the bridge. He came up behind her, a hand on either side, caging her in. “I was starting to wonder…”
    She closed her eyes when he leaned over her and brushed his mouth along her jaw. Taking that as a good sign, he concentrated on the sweet spot beneath her ear. She let out a shuddering sigh, but gave him a nudge back.
    “I need space,” she said. “I can’t think when you’re so close. I’m not going to run this thing into the ground because you’re distracting me.”
    The sensation of needing more room had figured prominently in Nick’s life. He’d always needed far more room than he’d been given. Then he’d turned eighteen, been free of the system, and made sure to never be cornered again. That she needed room from him sucked. “I never meant to hurt you, Mia.”
    “Is that what you came all the way across the country to tell me?”
    “Yes,” he said. “Partly.”
    “You could have said that much on the phone.”
    “You didn’t answer your phone,” he pointed out.
    “I was on a plane. And I called you back, and you didn’t answer your phone.”
    “Because I was on a plane,” he said.
    She sighed. “You shouldn’t have come.”
    There was something terrifying in her voice. A distance, he thought, and felt the licks of a newfound and very unwelcome emotion blocking his throat. Panic.
    She apparently didn’t have the same problem. “We’ve said all that needed to be said,” she told him.
    “Not by a long shot.” Turning her to face him, he pulled her in close, which took some doing because she was stiff as a board. “I didn’t come out here just to apologize, Mia,” he said, cupping her face. “I wanted to be with you. I’ve wanted to be with you since day one, when you saved my ass.”
    “You’d have figured it out. That class wasn’t hard.”
    “I don’t mean the stupid class,” he said. “I mean life. You saved my ass in life. And you’ve been saving it ever since. Keeping me on track when no one else ever gave a shit, encouraging me to go after what I want. And what I want, Mia, is you. I want you in my life, in a relationship with me.”
    She searched his gaze for a long beat. “When I asked you to this wedding,” she finally said, “I really just wanted your company. I wasn’t asking for—”
    “I know. I was an idiot, Mia.”
    She rolled her eyes again but definitely warmed toward him. “Look at us,” she said. “Two ridiculously scared peas in a pod.”
    He shook his head. “Scarred, maybe. Not scared. I’m not scared of this.”
    “Well, that makes one of us.” She let out a breath. “I thought I knew what and who we were. But I was wrong.”
    “I screwed up.”
    “No,” she said, shaking her head. “No one can blame you for not being ready for a relationship. I thought I was ready, but the truth is, I’m not even sure what a real relationship is.” She paused, and a frightening solemnity came into her eyes. “We were both given away once. I’ve made peace with that. I grew up loved, so I know what it feels like. Now I have my birth parents in my life, too, and have had