THE frustration of shifting back to small talk after all that flirting had Ella balancing on her last nerve by the time they reached her apartment. Matt waited as she unlocked the door, then held it open as he ushered her in first.
“I’ll just get those wedding presents out of the way for you.” He followed her up the stairs.
“Thanks. Mel’s brothers are coming Saturday to pick up her furniture and stuff to take to Brian’s, but they didn’t want to be responsible for moving the fragile things.” She pointed in the direction of the boxes. “I’ll go grab some tape to close them up so they’ll be easier to carry. I’m going to change, too, if that’s okay. I’ll kill myself trying to carry stuff down the stairs in this getup.” He nodded, and she added, “There’s wine and beer in the fridge. Help yourself.”
“Thanks. Can I get you anything?”
“Um, wine, please. The glasses are in the cupboard beside the microwave.”
She could hear Matt opening and pouring the wine as she rummaged for something to change into. Yoga pants and a baby tee were easiest to find in the rubble, but slightly revealing. She debated for a moment, but she couldn’t bring herself to appear in front of a muffin like Matt in battered jeans or ratty sweats. Vanity won out over practicality, and she returned to the living room, twisting her hair up into a ponytail as she went.
When Matt’s eyes widened appreciatively at her outfit, she had a momentary surge of girl power. He’d removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, and Ella hoped that meant he planned to stay for a little while. She really was enjoying his company, and the ego boost wasn’t bad, either. He offered her one of the glasses with a smile.
“Thanks.” She sipped at the Merlot before setting it aside, and kneeled on the floor next to some boxes to strap tape across their tops. In a conspiratorial tone she asked, “If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell Mel or Brian?”
Matt joined her on the floor. “Of course.”
“I hate this china.” She laughed. “Mel fell in love with it at first sight and registered for every piece they made. I didn’t have the heart to tell her it was the ugliest thing I’d ever seen.” She pulled out one of the overly colorful and flowery plates to show him. “What do you think?”
“Yikes. I can’t believe Brian agreed to this.” He took the plate from her hand, and his hand brushed hers. Again her senses jumped to red alert. Had the touch been accidental or intentional?
“As far as I know.” She frowned in mock dismay. “It’s sad. Melanie has such good taste in everything else.” He passed the ugly china back to her before leaning back against the couch and loosening his tie. Another good sign he plans to stay for a while.
“I promise your secret is safe with me. I just hope Mel never invites me to a fancy dinner party. I don’t know if I can eat off that and keep it down.”
Ella also leaned back against the couch. “Unless she calls in a caterer for the event, you have nothing to fear in that arena. I love her, but Mel is a lousy cook. About the only things she can make are scrambled eggs and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The last thing that girl needed was dishes.”
“Uh-oh, better watch out. I may tell on you.”
“That’s an empty threat. God knows I’ve told her the same thing hundreds of times. I think one of the reasons she lived with me was because I could cook. I’ve tried to teach her over the years, but she’s just a bit hopeless in the kitchen.”
Matt tugged his tie the rest of the way off and placed it behind him on the couch. As he leaned forward, those chocolate eyes captured hers. “And you? What are you a bit hopeless at?”
Suddenly, the air felt thick, and her voice didn’t seem to work very well. She cleared her throat and tried for a light, flirtatious tone. “A lady never admits her shortcomings.”
“Come on. Tell me.” His voice dropped, and Ella’s temperature rose several degrees.
She swallowed hard around the knot in her throat. “That’s a rather personal question, don’t you think?”
He reached out to touch a lock of hair that had escaped her ponytail and trailed down the side of her face. Curling it around his finger, he said, “I don’t think so. We all have small things we’re just hopeless at. Me, I can’t get my TiVo to stop taping Brady Bunch reruns. It’s ridiculous.”
The mood shifted the moment Matt touched her. Light flirtation was over. This was serious stuff. Ella tried to ignore his hand as he tucked the wayward strand behind her ear, but couldn’t. He was stroking her earlobe, for heaven’s sake. A shiver ran down her spine, and she couldn’t stop herself from leaning, just slightly, into his hand.
“You, Ella, are beautiful, smart, and can single-handedly organize large weddings.” He brushed her bangs back off her face. His hand slid down so that he cupped her cheek. His eyes locked with hers. “That’s impressive.”
He was so close Ella could feel his breath and the warmth radiating off his body. His voice and the gentleness of his hand hypnotized her. He had called her beautiful. This unbelievably gorgeous man had called her beautiful. Her mouth went dry, and she swallowed hard—again—but still couldn’t get her voice above a whisper. “I’d say you were the impressive one.”
To illustrate her point, she laid one hand on Matt’s broad shoulder, slid it down to where his biceps bulged under his shirt and squeezed the hard muscle. She had meant to simply emphasize his size, but, at her touch, Matt’s breath caught, and his hand reflexively curled around the nape of her neck to pull her closer to him.
“Glad to hear it,” Matt whispered, and then his lips met hers. His first touch was gentle, almost hesitant, barely catching her bottom lip, but Ella leaned in to him. That small encouragement seemed to be all he needed, because his second kiss wasn’t at all hesitant. His mouth moved over hers, forcefully seeking, and she put her arms around his neck. When her lips parted, Matt’s tongue swept inside, sending bolts of pure desire to Ella’s core.
She’d never felt anything like this before, the undiluted sensation of total lust that sent her senses spinning and chased all rational thought out of her head. All she knew was what she felt: the soft thickness of his hair as she held his head to keep him from moving away, the pressure of his body as he lowered her back onto the floor, the hardness of his body as he lay down next to her and pulled her firmly against him.
Bliss.
He was huge, solid muscle all over; she could feel the movement of the bunched muscles of his back and chest under her hands and the hard pressure of his thighs as his legs entwined with hers. His hands roamed restlessly down her back and over the curve of her hip as his lips moved across her jawline and down her neck to her shoulder. Heat rushed to each place his lips touched, causing her to shiver when his mouth moved away and air cooled the moisture left behind. As Matt’s hand finally slid up to gently cup her breast, she gasped and arched into him.
It was the gasp that focused Matt’s attention. His response to Ella amazed him and left him shaken. He’d wanted to taste her all evening, but he hadn’t been prepared for the desire that had slammed through him the moment her tongue touched his. He hadn’t been able to focus on anything but the feel of her since then. He wanted to touch her everywhere, all at once, and his hands slid across her body, learning her. But her gasp had snapped his attention back to Ella’s face. It was his turn to catch his breath.
Ella’s head was thrown back, her eyes closed. A flush spread across her cheeks, and she was breathing shallowly through her mouth. He now knew what lust looked like and was shocked by the same feeling rocketing through him. Carefully he squeezed the breast nestled in his hand, and he was rewarded when her teeth caught her lower lip in response.
She wasn’t wearing a bra beneath her thin T-shirt, and her nipples were hard against the fabric. Caressing the soft curve of her, he leaned down to take her nipple between his lips, sucking her through the soft cotton. She arched again, this time more forcefully, as if electricity had shot through her. Her fingers tangled in his hair, holding him against her breast and encouraging him as the tip of his tongue flicked against the hard nub. His hand came up to cover her other breast, kneading gently as he brought his thigh up between her legs to press against her.
Tugging on his head, Ella brought his mouth up to hers and kissed him as she moved restlessly against his thigh. Her tongue wrestled with his, and her hands pulled insistently at his shirt, tugging it out of the waistband of his slacks, and moving beneath to explore his skin.
The feel of her rocking against him was too arousing, and Matt slowly slid his thigh away from her. Something like a whimper escaped Ella at the loss, but was replaced with a sigh as his hand slid down to where his thigh had recently been. He could feel the heat of her through the thin pants she was wearing. With the heel of his hand, he pressed in hard, wringing a moan of pleasure from her lips.
The phone rang, jarring them both with the interruption.
Ella’s eyes flew open, and he watched as the world came back into focus and reality forced the haze from her vision. Matt cursed and dropped his forehead to rest on hers. His own vision clearing, he met her gaze. Ella was stiff and still beneath him, and the location of his hand seemed wildly inappropriate all of a sudden. Her eyes were wide, filled with an emotion he couldn’t identify. Whatever it was, it sure as hell wasn’t passion.
Another loud ring, and he whispered, “Ignore it.” He heard the machine pick up, then Melanie’s voice filled the room.
“El? It’s me. Pick up if you’re there.” Even he could hear the tears in her voice. Something was wrong.
The sound of Melanie’s tears galvanized Ella into action. Scrambling, she managed to slide out from under him, and hurried across the room to grab the phone. “Mel, I’m here. What’s wrong? Is everything okay?”
Ella had her back to him, but when her shoulders dropped with relief, he knew that whatever had Melanie calling home from her honeymoon in tears couldn’t be too disastrous. He sat up and dragged a hand through his hair, feeling the spikes created by Ella’s hands. Uncomfortable, he adjusted himself, and with a deep shuddering breath, he tried to bring his overheated body under control. Grabbing his glass of wine from earlier, he drank deeply and tried to decipher what was going on from only one side of a conversation.
“Yeah, I’m fine…Mel, what’s wrong?…Because you’re on your honeymoon…Well, where’s Brian?…Are you sure everything’s okay?…Are you drunk?” A long pause. “I’m going to miss you, too, but…You’re on your honeymoon. Mel? Calm down, sweetie. Mel? Melanie! Fine. Look, let me talk to Brian.” Another long pause. “Brian! What’s going on?…Okay…Uh-huh…Well, don’t let her do that. You’re on your honeymoon, for God’s sake. Go out, have fun, have sex or something, and just tell her to call me once she gets back home…Uh-huh…All right, then, talk to you later.”
Ella hung up the phone, but she didn’t turn around. He could tell by the way she squared her shoulders that she wouldn’t be coming back to where they’d left off. His body protested the thought, every nerve screaming for him to drag her back under him. He hadn’t been this worked up with no release in sight since high school.
The next time Melanie hit him up for concert tickets, he would take great pleasure in turning her down.
With the phone in its cradle, Ella knew she’d have to turn and face Matt. Keep it light. Don’t make yourself look dumb.
She slapped a smile on her face and turned. With a small shrug, she explained the odd phone call. “Mel really shouldn’t drink. She gets all maudlin and weepy. Brian left the room to get ice, and she calls me to tell me how much she’s going to miss not living with me.” She tried a small laugh, but it was a bit forced sounding and she knew it. “Brian was kind of shocked when he returned and found her weeping on the telephone…” She couldn’t meet Matt’s eyes, and her words trailed off into uncomfortable silence. Belatedly she realized her very disheveled state and began adjusting her clothes and pushing her hair back into its ponytail.
She had to be insane, making out with Matt like she was some hormone-crazed teenager. She barely knew him, yet if the phone hadn’t rung when it did, she knew she’d be naked and in bed with him by now. Even if it would be a mistake to sleep with one of Brian’s friends, the thought wasn’t an unpleasant one. In fact, the thought was more than a bit tempting.
She had to be crazy to even consider it.
Somehow, though, she just couldn’t bring herself to feel as crazy as she thought she should. In her entire life, she’d never had an honest-to-goodness, no-strings-attached, one-night stand, but Matt definitely would have been a grand choice for a first time—even with the possible repercussions.
It had been a bad idea, and she should thank Melanie for her unwitting save. She’d be better off in the long run without this complication.
The silence was deafening and growing longer and more uncomfortable by the minute as the easiness they’d enjoyed all evening evaporated. Ella wasn’t sure how to get it back—and she wasn’t even sure if she should try, all things considered—but she needed to say something. But what?
Matt cleared his throat, breaking the silence, and Ella jumped. “Ella, I, um…” He paused, and she finally got the nerve up to look at him. He was as disheveled as she, his shirt half-unbuttoned and untucked where she had been desperate to touch his skin, his hair rumpled from her hands. She noticed him staring at her chest. Looking down, she saw the damp spot where his mouth had closed over her nipple, and she hurriedly crossed her arms across her breasts.
He cleared his throat again, as if speaking was difficult. “I guess I should go. I’ll just, um, call you tomorrow, and come by and pick up those presents.”
“Okay.” What on earth was she supposed to say? He seemed as uncomfortable as she was, but his willingness to bolt for the door was slightly offensive to her ego. As she walked down the stairs to show him out, she found herself cursing Melanie’s bad timing. Earlier she had been caught up in the moment, spontaneously taking advantage of the situation. Now she actually had to think about what she was doing, and she was tired of always thinking rather than doing. The whole situation was frustrating as hell.
Hand on the doorknob, Matt paused and turned to her. She stood on the second step, making her eye level with him for the first, nonhorizontal time. “You were great tonight.”
“Excuse me?”
He hurried ahead. “At dinner, I mean. Not that you weren’t great under—I mean after—um. Damn.” He took a deep breath. “I’m really making a mess of this. What I mean is that I had a great time tonight.”
Somehow his discomfiture alleviated a bit of her own. “Me, too.” She smiled, a genuine one this time.
“Good night.” He leaned in to kiss her, and Ella met him halfway, expecting a quick, perfunctory kiss. Instead he kissed her long and hard—not with the all-consuming passion she had felt earlier, but still filled with a longing that was unbelievably erotic. She kissed him back, and he lifted her off her feet, crushing her against him.
Minutes—or possibly hours, she had no sense of anything when Matt kissed her—later, her back against the wall of the entryway, Matt finally broke the kiss and lowered her onto her feet. Thankfully, he didn’t let her go, because her legs were too shaky from the kiss to hold her upright. He held her loosely and rested his chin on top of her head.
“Wow.” He took a deep breath and released it noisily. “Okay, I’m going to go now. I really don’t want to, but I should.”
From her position, head nestled in his chest, she could feel his heart pounding against her cheek, and there was no mistaking the feel of his erection pressing into her. She knew that those weren’t just polite, empty words.
“Then don’t.”