How? Why? A million questions began to race through her mind, but there was no way she could get her voice to work.
There he stood, in all his sexy-rock-star glory, and she had to force herself not to react like a groupie, flinging herself at him or asking him to sign her bra.
He looked just as good as he always did—six-feet-plus of lean muscle, his sandy-brown hair in sexy disarray, and mossy-green eyes she could stare into all day long. Another quick glance at him and she noticed the dark circles under those eyes and how exhausted he looked. And yet Matt somehow still managed to look better than any man she had ever seen.
Dammit.
How was it possible that ripped, faded denim and a T-shirt looked better on him than a suit on a GQ model?
“Viv?” Aaron asked, concern lacing his tone. “Are you okay? You look a little…”
Sick? Horrified? Vivienne could only imagine. It had been two years since she had seen and kissed Matt, and she had secretly hoped she’d never have to see him again. After security had escorted her from the arena that fateful night, she had stood in the parking lot and asked herself just what in the world she had done. Going to see Matt on a whim was one thing. Kissing him as if her life depended on it was quite another.
And now he was here.
Standing five feet away and looking at her like… What the hell is that expression on his face? she wondered. It wasn’t a smile; it wasn’t a scowl. It was more like he was trying to figure out who she was.
Son of a bitch! Was it possible he didn’t even remember her? Kissing her? Seriously?
Forget about feeling sick or horrified. Now she was just mad! “Hey, Matt,” she said coolly. “Nice to see you.” Not.
Matt nodded and walked down the two steps onto the porch. “You too, Viv. How’ve you been?”
She hated mindless chitchat. “Good. I’m good,” she said and then turned back to her brother. “Shall we eat?” Without waiting for either man, she walked around the table and took her seat. When she was ready to start serving, she looked up at both of them, surprised that neither had sat down. “Well?”
Aaron stammered an apology and took a seat to her left while Matt took the chair to her right. They each took turns helping themselves to the variety of dishes, and it wasn’t until they had taken a few bites that Aaron asked, “Aren’t you curious why Matt’s here?”
Vivienne looked at him as if he were crazy. “To visit?”
Rolling his eyes, Aaron grunted. “Seriously? Have you been living under a rock? When was the last time Matt came back home for a visit?”
Twelve years, three months, and six days.
But who’s counting?
She shrugged and glanced at Matt before answering. “No idea.”
Her brother and Matt exchanged looks before Matt spoke. “So I’m sure you heard about my Broadway disaster,” he began.
“Yes. Contrary to my brother’s earlier question, I haven’t been living under a rock,” Vivienne replied.
Matt nodded. “Yeah, well…things were getting a little out of hand, and I needed to leave the city and find someplace to go for a while to…you know…lie low.”
She couldn’t help the snort that came out, and she immediately put her hand over her mouth. “Sorry,” she mumbled and then straightened. “But come on…seriously? Lie low? Isn’t that just a bit dramatic?”
“The press has been relentless,” Matt continued. “I couldn’t leave my apartment without being harassed. Then the rumors started flying about how the band was a bunch of frauds too. So while my PR team is doing damage control, everyone thought it would be best for me to be out of sight.”
“For how long?” Vivienne asked.
“About a month.”
She looked over at Aaron. “But…you’re leaving for London in a few days.”
He nodded. “I know. Matt’s going to stay here. It’s private, and no one would think to look for him here in North Carolina. It’s been well documented that he never comes back to his hometown.”
“This is crazy,” she said. “Why would you wait to bring him here when you’re going to be gone? What is he supposed to do with himself if you’re not here?”
Matt cleared his throat, and both Forresters turned to look at him. “I believe I can answer that for myself,” he said with a grin. “Aaron’s made sure the house is stocked, so I shouldn’t need to go into town or leave the property for anything. While I’m here, I’m going to work on writing some new music and just…relax.”
“Don’t you have houses all over the world?” she asked. “Wouldn’t it have been more convenient to go to one of them?”
“Viv…” Aaron warned.
“It’s okay,” Matt said, his eyes never leaving Vivienne’s. “In fact, I don’t have houses all over the world. Whenever we toured, I stayed in hotels. And, as your brother pointed out, this is more private than anyplace else. No one knows I’m here.”
“How can you be so sure? You mentioned how relentless the press was being. How can you be sure no one saw you fly in here?”
“He didn’t fly,” Aaron responded. “I flew up to New York, rented a car, and we left in the middle of the night. No one saw us leave.”
“Right,” she said sarcastically. “Because no one’s awake in the middle of the night in the city that never sleeps. Even you can’t be that gullible.”
“I left my place during the day and went to my agent’s office. He sent a decoy back to my apartment, and I stayed at the office until Aaron showed up. We went out the delivery exit and drove through the night.”
She looked between the two of them with disbelief. “All of this over a failed Broadway show?”
“I know it seems extreme—”
“Ya think?” she cried and then turned to her brother. “So while you’re over in London, I’m supposed to move in here and deal with paparazzi climbing the trees to get a glimpse of Matty Reed? No, thank you!”
“It’s not going to be like that if—”
“If what?” she demanded. “If I move all of my furniture by myself? You know I’ve got movers coming onto the property, Aaron! If this is supposed to be so hush-hush, what am I supposed to do while I’m moving in?”
“Wait,” Matt said. “You’re moving in here?”
Vivienne glared at him. “Into the guesthouse. I just finished the renovations and I’m moving in next week.”
“I still don’t see a problem, Viv,” Aaron said. “No one’s going to go near the house—this house—only yours. Matt will make sure he stays out of sight, and as soon as the movers are gone, you set the security system up again. No big deal.”
She supposed he had a point and forced herself to relax. After all, the movers wouldn’t have any reason to be in Aaron’s house, and once she was moved in, it would… Her stomach gave a funny little kick. After she moved in, it would just be her and Matt on the property.
“Maybe I’ll wait to move in until you get back. I’d feel better about the whole thing if you were here too,” she told Aaron, her gaze never leaving her plate.
It was crazy, she realized while eating, to think that someone like Matt Reed would even remember her or their impulsive kiss. Hell, they’d barely had any interactions with one another when they were younger because of their age difference. And now he was part of one of the biggest rock bands in the world. He probably had women kissing him all the time—she was just one of the masses.
Unfortunately, that just depressed her even more.
And on top of that, Vivienne hated that just sitting next to him was enough to make her want to move closer and kiss him again. Yikes. Not a good sign. Who knew what she’d do if left to her own devices? There was no way she was going to take that risk. It would be better if she didn’t let herself be alone with Matt. So she’d wait until Aaron was back and then, even if Matt was still staying there, she’
d have the safety net of her brother being around to stop her from doing something crazy.
The night she had gone to see Matt had been the biggest risk she had ever taken. Vivienne had used every contact and connection she had to get a ticket to the show and then to get backstage with a press pass. Spotting Riley had been pure luck. Having grown up in the same town as the Shaughnessys and knowing Riley and Aaron had been friends in school, she used it to her advantage when she’d spotted him. She had been beyond relieved when he’d remembered her and even helped her get past security and see Matt.
That had been as far as she had let herself plan—getting backstage and saying hi to Matt. No way had she imagined that within minutes of being in the same room as him that he’d kiss her.
Liar, liar, liar!
Okay, maybe in her wildest fantasy, it had happened that way. But how often did fantasies come to life?
What would have happened if they hadn’t gotten interrupted? Lord, she could only imagine. Reverting back to her fantasy version, they would have continued to kiss and then Matt would have whisked her back to his luxurious hotel room and made love to her all night long.
Which would have made this meeting even more awkward than it already was—especially if he still didn’t remember her.
Vivienne held no illusions—she would have had one night with the legendary Matty Reed, and then he would have left to move on to the next stop on the tour, and she wouldn’t have seen him again.
Until now.
The buzz of excitement from her promotion earlier was gone. With a sigh, she pushed her food around on her plate. She chanced a look at her brother and saw he was watching her intently. “What?” she asked.
“We’re supposed to be celebrating, and I feel like I kind of ruined your night.”
Bingo! Rather than make him feel bad—after all, he had no idea why exactly she was suddenly so quiet—she decided to try to turn it all around. “You didn’t, Aaron. Really. I just never expected this turn of events. I know how important it is for Matt to have his privacy and I don’t want to be the one to jeopardize it. I can wait a couple of weeks to move. I’m sure my landlord won’t mind.”
Aaron reached out and covered one of her hands with his. “Viv, it’s not necessary. I don’t leave until Monday—that gives us five days to get things done. I’ll make all the arrangements, and we’ll move you in this weekend. This way it will all be done with me here, so you won’t have anything to worry about.”
Her eyes went wide. “What? I mean… Um… No! I don’t want you to do that. I’m…I’m not ready. I still have more packing to do and I know you have a lot to do before your trip. I don’t want you wasting your time on me. I can wait. Really.”
He chuckled. “I know how anxious you are to move in, Viv. You hated having to wait as long as you have. All the work is done, so why continue to wait? Why inconvenience your landlord and pay to stay for a few more weeks when you don’t have to?”
Why indeed? She swallowed hard and tried to come up with a reasonable excuse, but none came to her.
Dammit.
“And I know you—you have been packing for months. It wouldn’t be hard for you to power through and pack up the rest of your stuff. And, if you wanted to, we could start moving stuff over now. I have the pickup in the garage, and we could start bringing boxes over tonight if you want.” He smiled at her. “Come on. You know you want to.”
She did. She really did. This house had been a labor of love, and the thought of moving in had been consuming her for weeks. If it weren’t for the fact that she wanted it to be perfect, she would have moved in during the renovations. The thought of all the dust and how much she would have to clean up her belongings afterward had convinced her to wait.
Now the only thing standing between her and her beautiful new home was her own silly insecurity and Matt Reed.
“I don’t know, Aaron. You know I hate rushing.”
He rolled his eyes and laughed. “You are extremely organized; you can’t tell me you don’t have a to-do list sitting on your kitchen counter with everything you have to pack noted and the order in which you want it packed listed. All you have to do is start packing those things up a little sooner. It’s not going to be difficult.” He cut her off when she started to argue. “Plus, by doing it this way, we can move a couple of boxes a night, and Matt and I will even help you unpack as you go, so when the big stuff gets here, you won’t have to deal with the little stuff. Right, Matt?” He looked over at his friend for approval.
“Absolutely,” Matt said, smiling at Vivienne. “It will give me something to do.”
She almost snorted at the absurdity of it all. Matt Reed was going to help her move into her house and be useful? Somehow she doubted it. He probably hired people to unpack his suitcase.
“I can see you’re doubting me,” Matt said, as if reading her thoughts. “I’ll admit it’s been a while since I had to move or do anything like this, but I’m not a complete moron.” He winked. “You tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”
Now there was a statement to make her overactive imagination go wild. Only it had nothing to do with moving boxes and unpacking, and everything to do with them kissing and being alone and continuing the fantasy of years ago.
“Come on, Viv,” Aaron said, instantly bringing her back to the present. “We’ll finish up our dinner, and you and I will go over and pick up the first load of boxes. What do you say?”
There wasn’t a good reason not to. She was going to have to suck it up and be a big girl and do the only thing she could—let Matt and Aaron help her move into the guesthouse and then, once her brother was gone, do everything she could to avoid the one and only Matt Reed.
Chapter 2
Matt paced back and forth in Aaron’s living room, his mind spinning.
Vivienne Forrester was stunning.
And somewhat familiar.
The first thing that went through his mind when he’d seen her earlier was that he’d seen her somewhere before. Then he kicked himself because of course he’d seen her before—he and Aaron had been friends since elementary school, so they’d practically grown up together. But the longer they’d sat together over dinner, the more Matt couldn’t shake the feeling he’d seen her someplace recently.
Or somewhat recently.
It was possible they might have crossed paths at some point while he was touring, but for the life of him, he couldn’t pinpoint where. And no matter how many hints he’d dropped, Vivienne hadn’t seemed too anxious to fill in the blanks or mention the last time they’d seen one another. It was beyond maddening.
He continued to pace and began to wonder about this plan for him to stay at Aaron’s for the month. He’d been here for only a day and already he was getting antsy. The place wasn’t familiar, and Matt knew it wouldn’t be long before the walls started to close in on him. A month was a long time to have to stay in one place and not go out and socialize.
And then there was Vivienne.
She was going to be a distraction for sure. And it didn’t take a genius to realize that she not only wasn’t impressed with him and who he’d become, but she didn’t seem to like him very much either. It was going to make things difficult when she was the only person around for him to talk to. He was either going to have to confront her about why she didn’t like him, or he was going to have to turn on the charm and hope she’d eventually warm up to him.
Dangerous territory, dude, he admonished himself. There was no way he could possibly charm her without it turning to flirtation and him wanting something more. And it wasn’t just because he was a natural flirt or because it was his go-to response around a beautiful woman.
It was because it was Vivienne.
Those dark, exotic eyes drew him in like nothing he’d ever experienced before. If she were anyone else and it were any other circumstances, he would have certainly made a move
on her already. But it wasn’t the time, it certainly wasn’t the place, and he’d never disrespect Aaron—especially after he had taken Matt in and given him a place to stay when he quite literally had no place else to go. How shitty would he have to be to go and hit on the man’s sister right under his own roof?
So where did that leave Matt? With nowhere to go and nothing to do and no other distractions, how was he supposed to see Vivienne and hang out with her without wanting her?
“I guess there’s my project during my downtime,” he murmured.
He roamed to the kitchen and then the dining room. The house was impressive. Aaron had custom designed the place and had Riley Shaughnessy’s brother Aidan build it. If Matt were to ever take the leap into home ownership again, a place like this was definitely to his liking.
It was a sprawling ranch on five acres and everything inside was high-tech—from the remote-controlled window shades to the heated floors, everything was top-of-the-line and designed for convenience as far as Matt could tell. Aaron had always been a numbers man. He had graduated from Duke University in the top ten percent of his class in economics and finance, meaning it was a piece of cake for him to become a top investment banker. Matt had always been in awe of his friend’s financial skills and even sought out his help in managing his own investments and finances, so it was little wonder the house was damn near a masterpiece with every cutting-edge upgrade you could imagine. The room Aaron had set him up in could rival any luxury resort—king-size bed, a private bath, and a seventy-two-inch flat-screen TV. Staying there wasn’t going to be a hardship.
All of the amazing designs flowed as you stepped outside too—from the outdoor kitchen and sitting area with a fireplace to the pool, and then across the yard was Vivienne’s cottage. According to Aaron, the cottage had been his idea, but it had originally been intended for guests. When Vivienne had moved back to North Carolina two years ago, after living in Denver for several years, he’d given her the option of taking over the guesthouse. She had readily agreed but decided it needed a complete overhaul before she would move in.
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