Making Mina 2: Strings Attached by Tacie Graves Read Free Book Online Page A

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    “No.”
    His eyes rested on her, an almost physical weight.
    “Are you upset?”  His voice was so calm it took a moment for her to hear the steel in it.  She took a deep breath and looked at him.  There was no question about it—going home with him had been the most impulsive thing she’d done in years, maybe in her life.  There’d been no planning, no painstaking deliberation.  She hadn’t thought past her own body.  When her rational mind had resurfaced she had run—she still wanted to run—but curiosity kept her in place.  She didn’t completely trust him; she didn’t know him well enough for that.  But, she wanted him.  She wanted to be wanted by him.  She wanted what he had already given her—the passion, the moments where she believed she was the most beautiful creature in the world, the overwhelming feeling that she was what he most desired and he only had eyes for her—but the only way she was going to get it again was if she asked for it.  Marco had made it clear that he wanted her, but looking in his eyes Mina knew that the next move had to be hers.
    She turned her hand under his so she could clasp his.  A twist of her wrist and her fingers slid between his, her pale oval nails shining against his dark skin.
    “Not upset really.  I’m a little at a loss.”  Marco tightened his fingers around hers and a rueful smile quirked her lips.  “I usually have a plan—step by step, day by day—and everything goes the way it’s supposed to. When you step in and do things without explaining…  It’s unnerving to realize that I have no idea what to expect.  No control over how things are going to turn out.”
    Marco kept his grip on her hand and she could feel the heat of him seeping into her skin.  She raised her eyes back to his and smiled again.
    “If you’d told me a week ago that I’d be here with you…” her voice trailed off and Marco pulled her forward a little.
    “Yes?” he prodded and she shook her head.  He wasn’t letting her get off that easily though.
    “Tell me,” he insisted, and she let out a frustrated sigh.
     “I’d have said you were crazy.  It would never happen. You’d never notice me, not to mention actually  want  me, and even if you did it wouldn’t matter.  I was engaged. Ethan loved me. I had a plan, and everything was going to go just the way it was supposed to.”
    Mina tucked her chin in embarrassment, the pain of admitting just how clueless she’d been hurting even more than the actual pain of losing Ethan.  Marco leaned across the table and lifted her chin until she had to look him in the eyes.
    “And now?” He wasn’t going to make it easy for her.  She braced herself and shifted slightly until she could rub her cheek against his calloused fingertip.
    “Now, I can’t imagine going back.”  She took a leap of faith.  “I don’t want to go back.”
    Mina watched as heat flared in his eyes, pleasure flooding her at the proof that her words affected him, even if it wasn’t as strongly as he affected her.  Until Marco she hadn’t known she could feel these things, but all she had to do was to look at him and she felt her body heating, her pulse speeding up.  She wanted him with an intensity that staggered her, and her life had become focused around him and on him, to the exclusion of everything else.
    “What do you want?” The words were simple, but his voice rasped across her senses, hunger lacing it, and her hand trembled in his.  After this there would be no going back.
    “You.” She had to clear her throat to continue. “I just want you.”
    “And the plan?” Marco watched her closely, and Mina swallowed thickly.
    “Screw the plan.”
    Marco signaled for the server, his movements concise, his intent obvious.  Within moments he’d settled their account and gathered Mina to him, leading her through the maze of linen covered islands, the faces and conversations existing only on