Chapter Twenty-five

Ford had never thought much about what he wore until he became famous. Over the years, he’d learned how to blend in when he needed to. Tonight he made sure his baseball cap came down low and his long-sleeved shirt covered up his tattoos. A couple of people did double takes as he walked into Mia’s building, but he just kept moving. At least, until she stepped out of the elevator and made his brain and body grind to an abrupt halt.

Because it was a warm night, she was wearing a cream-colored halter dress that left her gorgeous shoulders bare and hugged her curves. Regardless of how good the pizza or movie was, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to do anything but stare at her all night long.

As she walked toward him in strappy heels that made her legs look like they went on forever, she said, “I think you look great, too.” And then she gave him a soft, sweet kiss that rocked his world all over again.

Last night it had been a big deal when she’d kissed him backstage in Oregon, even though he knew that no one among his crew would talk publicly about the two of them. But this was the first time she’d ever kissed or touched him intimately in a truly public space.

“I called in our order fifteen minutes ago, so the pizza should be ready for us to pick up.” She studied him in his ball cap and nondescript dark jeans and shirt. “Do you want to hide out at my place while I go get it so you don’t create mass hysteria on the street?”

It was probably a good idea, but he badly wanted to see if she’d hold his hand in public. He knew he was being greedy, that the kiss should be enough. But it wasn’t. Not even close.

He wanted all of her, heart and soul.

And he wanted it as soon as possible.

“I’m willing to risk it if you are.”

“Now that you own a house here, I suppose people are going to have to get used to seeing you around town,” she said with a shrug. “Why not start tonight?”

When she didn’t take his hand as they walked outside, but she also didn’t purposely avoid being seen with him in public, Ford reminded himself about what an improvement that was compared to where they’d been even a few days ago.

“Looks like you’ve been busy today,” she said as she pointed to a newspaper stand with his face on the cover.

Just then, a large man jostled her as he rushed by and when she stumbled in her heels, Ford was glad for the excuse to put his arms around her.

“I’ve got you.”

In the middle of the crowded sidewalk, she didn’t immediately pull away, but stood there with her hands pressed flat on his chest. “You really mean that, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

But words weren’t enough. He needed to kiss her, even if it wasn’t fair to push her into a public declaration like this. Ford had reached his limit of self-control this morning at exactly the same time she had, and now it seemed there was no way of getting that control back.

He could nearly taste the hint of mint on her lips when a crisp—and very familiar—voice said, “Rutherford, what a coincidence this is.”

Despite the fact that Mia’s hands were still on him, he couldn’t stop himself from stiffening. She looked up at him in confusion, then to the well-dressed couple standing in the entry to an expensive looking restaurant.

“My parents are here.”

She looked back and forth between the three of them. “Those are your parents?” she asked in an incredulous voice.

As he nodded, he wondered, what were the odds that these people wouldn’t just ruin his childhood, but they’d somehow find a way to screw up his future, too? Because with Mia still on the fence about being with him, meeting his parents certainly wasn’t going to help his case any. Not when she’d actually see the genes that would pass through to the kids he wanted to have with her. He’d described his childhood to her, but it was much worse for her to actually see it for herself.

He was bracing himself when Mia slid her hand into his and smiled up at him. “I’ve got you, too.”

They were just four simple words. But they instantly changed everything.

* * *

Mia knew there had to be a family resemblance between Ford and his parents, but she honestly couldn’t see it. They were so starched-up and pinched looking, whereas he was so comfortable in his skin.

“Catherine. Lance. This is Mia Sullivan.” He didn’t say he was glad to see them, and neither did they to him.

“Hello.” She reached out to shake their hands, even though they hadn’t yet offered them.

They didn’t leave her hanging, but they didn’t look particularly impressed with her, either, in her cute little dress with her hair up in a ponytail and artsy cut-glass earrings on instead of pearls or diamonds. She was sure they still had dreams of seeing their son with a perfectly bred girl from the Junior League, not a woman like her who had grown up in a middle-class family...and who had begged their son just hours ago to let her have at his glorious erection.

His mother turned cool eyes back to him. “How are you, Rutherford?”

God, Mia thought, it was like watching distant acquaintances meeting on the street who felt they needed to exchange pleasantries. She squeezed Ford’s hand to remind him that he wasn’t in this alone.

He smiled down at her, and she was glad to see the spark leap in his dark eyes before he turned back to his mother. “Everything is great, thanks. What about you guys?”

His father’s brows came down over his eyes at the casual way Ford spoke to them. Clearly, Lance Vincent had been bred and trained for another kind of response entirely. “We are well, thank you. Seattle has become quite the art scene, and we’re here to solidify a few acquisitions for your mother’s gallery.” He looked slightly uncomfortable as he added, “This meeting is extremely fortuitous, as one of our main local investors has informed us that he enjoys your music. I’m sure he would like to meet you, if you would come inside with us.”

“We’ve got a pizza waiting for us. But tell your friend I’m glad he’s digging my music.”

Ford’s mother finally reached out to touch her son on the arm. There was nothing motherly about it, especially since the way her nails sank into his skin showed that she was feeling more irritated with him than anything else. “You are here now and we leave tomorrow evening. Surely your pizza can wait a few minutes.”

Before Mia could think better of it, she asked, “You’re here in Seattle to meet with investors, but you’re not even staying a little longer to see the final show of your son’s latest world tour?”

“We have obligations. Besides, we’re not fans of his kind of music,” his mother said, as if that explained everything.

“No?” Mia’s voice was deceptively gentle. “What music do you like?”

“Rutherford’s father and I are on the board of the Boston Lyric Opera and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.”

“Surely, despite that, your obligations can wait another day so that you can see his show.”

His mother made a sour face, at least as much as she could, given how badly her Botox injections had frozen her expression to one of almost perfect blankness. “Lance and I find it so difficult to listen to all that screeching and hammering. Rutherford had such talent when he was young. He could have been a classical musician. He could have been a respected composer if only he had put his mind to it instead of fooling around with that electric guitar.”

“Fooling around? He could have been respected? Screeching and hammering?”

Rage was nearly knocking Mia flat on the sidewalk. Only Ford’s hand on hers kept her from going over. Maybe, Mia had the barest amount of remaining clarity of mind to think, Ford would be happier with continuing not to engage with his parents, but she’d been raised to say what she thought. And if this was going to be her only chance to lay into them, by God, she was going to take it.

Because she thought his parents sucked.

“Your son is one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met. He not only has more talent in his little finger than any of the proper musicians that you obviously revere, but far more important than that, he’s also one of the kindest, funniest, most wonderful men I’ve ever known. Which is even more impressive, now that I’ve met both of you.” She sneered at them, not caring what they thought about her attacking them, because clearly, their opinions didn’t count. “I used to think it was sad that you weren’t bragging about him to your friends, but now I’m glad you don’t, because neither of you deserve to call him son. And,” she needed to add before they could completely edge away from her and into the restaurant, “his name isn’t Rutherford. It’s Ford.”

His parents gaped at her in outrage, but she was done with them. Ford was staring at her, too, his expression unreadable as she tugged him away from two people she was this close to slugging.

* * *

Mia was so furious that she had no idea a crowd had formed about them as she’d told Ford’s parents exactly what she thought of them. He’d seen recognition in at least a dozen strangers’ eyes as they headed down the sidewalk and into the hole-in-the-wall pizza joint, but Mia was so obviously driven to keep them moving that no one tried to intercept them.

He could still feel her bristling as he paid for their pizza, then hailed a cab to take them to his place. She was uncharacteristically silent as she stewed over the unexpected meeting, but she never once let go of his hand. And even while he paid the driver, she waited on the seat beside him so that they could both get out of the cab without needing to let go of each other.

Once they were inside, he put the pizza box down on the kitchen counter and pulled her against him. “Have I mentioned recently that you blow my mind?”

Normally, he knew, she would have come back with a joke about having “blown” another part of him that morning. But tonight she simply looked up at him and said, “I heard everything you said about them, but I guess I didn’t really want to believe it. I wanted to think that maybe one day I could bring you back together to become a real, loving family.” She blew out a hard breath. “Instead, when I realized how far off base I really was, I yelled at them in the middle of the sidewalk.” Her expression hardened again. “Which they totally deserved. But still. I didn’t check with you first, I just let loose. I’m sorry, Ford, for not being able to help mys—”

He cut off her apology by brushing a fingertip down her nose, and was glad to see the corners of her mouth reflexively curve up just the littlest bit at his purposely ticklish caress.

“No one has ever stood up for me like that. Even my teachers, who had to know how fractured my relationship with my parents was and how much I dreaded going home, didn’t step in. I’m sure because they didn’t see bruises, they didn’t think it could be that bad. And, honestly, when I was away from home, which was most of the time, I pretty much blocked them out, so it wasn’t.”

“So you’re not mad at me for making a total scene and ripping them to shreds?”

A million people could call out his name from an audience and he would never feel as loved, as appreciated as he had when she’d given his parents hell in the middle of the sidewalk.

“I love you, Mia.”

The fire, the worry, immediately went out of her eyes, only to have that wariness about their future together take their place. “Ford—”

“And I love knowing that you’re going to protect our kids just as passionately, without reserve, without ‘thinking,’ if anyone ever tries to get away with not treating them well.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I know what you’re doing. You think that because I’m all riled up over your parents, it must mean that we’re besties now and you can start talking about marriage and kids again.” She whirled out of his arms. “I’ll have you know that I’m still making up my mind about us, and no amount of sweet talk about how great our kids and life will be together is going to get me to decide sooner. So you can just stop being so gorgeous and awesome and smelling so damn good and saying such beautiful things about how much you love me, because I’m telling you right now that I’ll make up my mind when I’m good and ready and not a moment before!”

Maybe he shouldn’t have laughed at her soliloquy, but she looked so cute as she told him off that he couldn’t help it. A snarl left her beautiful lips, and as she launched herself at him, he caught her in his arms and lifted her up.

“It’s a warm night for Seattle, don’t you think?”

He was big enough to easily pin her arms and legs against him as he carried her out through the kitchen to the back patio. The cool water would be the perfect way to jolt away the bitterness that had lingered from seeing his parents. He was used to them and knew exactly what to expect in the rare instances when they ran into each other, but she had been completely blindsided.

“What the hell are you doing, rock star?”

“Cooling off my hotheaded girl.”