by Rhonda Shaw
She needed to stop and she needed her head checked, obviously, but the restaurant was only a block away and she refused to turn back now. She’d might as well get a decent meal from her pains. No more after this evening, however. She promised herself. Tonight was the last time. She’d ask when he planned to leave for Arizona and gently inform him this get-together was the final one. She appreciated the dinners and conversations they’d had, enjoyed spending time with him, but her work was piling up, which she couldn’t ignore any longer. Matt would understand. Even if he didn’t, the madness ended here.
Shannon entered through the front doors of the busy, trendy restaurant and had to shove her way past the patrons who milled around waiting for a table. She spotted Matt leaning an elbow on the long bar, smiling in conversation with a beautiful strawberry-blonde bartender. Jealousy surged through her when the girl gave her hair a flirty flip and brushing his arm with her fingers as she laughed at whatever he’d said. Shannon had no claim on him, but the resentment stung nonetheless, especially considering her already frazzled and haggard state after a long day.
She took a deep breath and strolled over, putting on her most dazzling smile when he turned his head.
“Hi! Sorry, I’m late.”
Matt pushed off the bar as his blue eyes twinkled at her and a big grin broke out. “Hey, no problem. I’m glad you could make it.” He pointed at his drink. “What can I get you?”
“Oh, a glass of Chardonnay would be perfect,” Shannon said to the bartender. The woman appeared crestfallen by Shannon’s appearance, and Shannon took that as a small victory, albeit meaningless and insignificant. The triumph was purely personal.
While she waited for her drink, Shannon let out a breath. “I hiked it from the office. My feet are ice and my face is frozen.”
“What? Why didn’t you call me? I could have come and picked you up in a cab or something.” Matt stepped back and his eyebrows shot up when he spotted the thin, tall heels on her feet. “You hiked it in those? You’re lucky you didn’t break an ankle.”
Shannon waved him off. “Oh, it’s fine. I needed to blow off the residual stress from my meeting that went longer than I’d planned. Sorry again.” She nodded thanks to the bartender when a full glass appeared in front of her.
“No problem. I was able to pass the time.”
“Yes, I see that.” She’d meant to sound teasing, but even she recognized the slight edge to her voice and she cringed.
Matt frowned, hearing the sharpness too. “What does that mean?”
“Nothing. It meant nothing. Sorry, still destressing obviously.” She smiled, took a healthy sip of her wine and hoped he bought the act.
He studied her before giving her a small grin. “Okay, if you say so.”
“I do. So, what did you do today?”
He shrugged and cleared his throat. “Oh, not much.” He turned, facing her and the front of the restaurant. “I spent some time…”
Matt paused for a second before dread washed down his face. When he muttered, “Oh, fuck,” Shannon spun around to identify what had caught his attention, expecting to find a gorgeous, tiny ex-girlfriend eyeing him with hatred. Instead, all she found was a group of people congregating by the door with no one appearing to notice them, but then a man, standing head and shoulders over everyone, spotted Matt and a big grin broke out over his face as he headed toward them.
Matt swore again under his breath and she frowned, wondering what the problem was. “Matt?” she asked.
He dropped his head with a small smile of resignation, but didn’t answer as the guy approached.
“What the fuck are you doing here, my man?” The stranger slapped a huge paw on Matt’s shoulder and held out the other.
Matt grinned as he shook the hand he offered. The man stood almost as tall as Matt did, with short buzzed blond hair, and even with the winter jacket he wore, his physique screamed athlete. “Just passing through town,” Matt replied.
The stranger’s gray eyes flitted over Shannon before returning to Matt. “Why didn’t you let me know? We could have trained together at that place I was telling you about.”
Training? The word caught Shannon’s ear. He was here to train with someone, at least that was what he’d told her.
She missed Matt’s reply, since he mostly stammered, but she didn’t miss when the other man said, “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your lovely friend?”
Shannon observed in fascination as an interesting shade of red worked up Matt’s face, and wondered just who this guy was and why his appearance had thrown Matt out of sorts. He paused, avoiding eye contact with her, before taking another deep breath. “Uh, yeah. Shannon, this is Dusty Reynolds. Dust, this is Shannon Morrison.”
The name made her start, but Shannon quickly recovered and smiled as Dusty’s large hand swallowed up hers. “It’s nice to meet you, Dusty.”
She glanced out of the corner of her eye while Dusty returned the sentiments and saw Matt studying her, most likely trying to read her reaction. She had no idea why he’d lied about coming to town to train with Dusty or why Matt would even be playing a stupid game such as this, but she didn’t like it. Her life had enough complications that she didn’t need to be wasting her time with a liar, and about something so stupid.
Shannon remained quiet with a pleasant smile plastered in place while Matt and Dusty finished catching up, and gave Dusty’s hand another shake as he left. When they were alone again, she eyed Matt coolly.
“So,” she started. “He’s the one you said you were coming to train with?”
“Yep. That’s him,” Matt said, unable to stand still and fighting an embarrassed smile.
“He didn’t seem to even know you were here, yet you’d told me you’d gone to a couple of sessions with him.”
Matt finally caught on to her anger and leaned toward her, his eyes pleading. “Please don’t be mad. It isn’t what you think.”
“I honestly don’t know what to think, but what I do know is I’ve spent a couple of weeks getting further and further behind at work in order to spend time with a guy who lied to me about something that seems pretty ridiculous to lie about. I don’t have time for games, even though I have no idea why we would even be playing them.”
He hung his head and studied the floor, clearly at a loss for words. Since he wasn’t quick with a response, most likely formulating another lie, she let out a huff. “I’m out of here. This is stupid and I’m too busy for this BS.”
Turning on her heels, Shannon grabbed her jacket off the back of the bar stool and tugged her arms into the sleeves, making her way back out of the restaurant. Hitting the sidewalk, she started to hail a cab when someone caught her arm.
“Shannon, wait! Let me explain, please.” Matt turned her around to face him.
She put her hand on her hip as she waited, but said nothing.
“Ask me why I lied,” he told her.
“Matt.” She closed her eyes willing for patience. She was tired and hungry, and in no mood for this. “We’ve already established that you have—”
“Ask me,” he insisted.
“Fine. Why did you lie?”
“Because I knew if I told you the real reason I came here, you would…I don’t know, freak out or tell me it was a waste of time.”
Shannon frowned. “Why would I freak out? Are you involved in something shady? God, this is the last thing I need. This is so stupid! I don’t have time for this,” she grounded out as she turned, looking for an available cab again.
“I came here for you, okay?” Matt declared as he pulled her toward him, his eyes insisting and adamant. “I came here with the sole intention of seeing you. I wanted to spend time with you and I didn’t want you to freak out if you knew I’d made a trip to Chicago just to see you, which I did. So, I made up the stuff about training.”
Her breath caught in her throat. That wasn’t what she’d expected him to say. She must have misunderstood. “Wait, what? You came here to see me?”<
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“Yes.”
Her brain struggled to find sense in the whirlwind and put the pieces together. If he’d specifically come for her, then why did he act only as a friend? This had to be the weirdest pursuit ever by a guy. “You came here because of me,” she repeated, not really for him to answer but more to help her comprehension. “As in, you’re attracted to me?”
The look of concern on his face lifted as he gave a small chuckle. “Well, yeah. I thought that was obvious.”
“Obvious?” she exclaimed. “Aside from what happened at the wedding, nothing about this has been obvious. It’s been mixed messages left and right,” she said as she walked away a couple of steps, trying to rid of the loud buzzing in her ears. “I can’t even process this.”
Shannon shook her head. The cold air helped to clear the confusion, but her mind was still going a mile a minute trying to put everything together. She whirled back to him. “But you haven’t even done or said anything! I don’t get it.”
He gave her a shy grin. “Yeah, I wasn’t quite sure how you felt about me. Plus, there’s that whole thing about your work…”
“You seriously don’t know?”
He frowned. “Don’t know what?”
His blue eyes were so bright and his handsome face so full of worry that she didn’t even stop to think, didn’t care she was in public with thousands of people walking around them. She did what she’d being telling herself she shouldn’t. She launched herself at him…again. She would think about the consequences, figure everything out later. She was going for it. She was doing this…with him.
Matt caught her and held her tight against him as her mouth collided with his. His lips were soft and warm under hers, and, after a few seconds, he moaned and opened to her, his hands sinking into her hair. He tasted like the whiskey he’d been drinking, and she warmed all the way down to her toes when his tongue curled with hers.
They remained locked together, neither wanting to pull away and dampen the fire erupting between them. A few people snickered as they stepped around them, a couple even muttered, “Get a room,” but she didn’t care.
When Matt broke the kiss, he kept her close in his arms.
“Come back to my hotel?” he asked in a soft voice.
There was no question. She was going to break one of her own rules and enjoy a wonderful night with a sinfully gorgeous man. Since her personal life was on hold for the most part, she deserved this one night, and there’d be no regrets.
She nodded.
Chapter 9
Throwing money at the driver, not caring he’d given the man an extremely healthy tip, Matt jumped out of the cab under the porte cochere, grabbing Shannon’s hand in his and pulling her toward the lobby.
He couldn’t believe how everything had all played out. When he’d seen Dust walk through the restaurant doors, he hadn’t known whether to laugh or hide. Even with Shannon’s repeated insistence about having no time for anything but work, something refused to let him throw in the towel. He continued to ask her out, and she continued to say yes, which gave him confidence in his decision to persevere, yet the opportunity for full disclosure still eluded him.
It certainly wasn’t how he would have scripted it and there were moments when he feared she’d deck him before rushing off into the night, but he’d been able to get her to listen. And her reaction after she’d gotten past her initial anger at him…he still couldn’t get the picture out of his mind of her throwing herself at him. Now they were heading up to his room and he was anxious to get them both naked.
They beelined toward the elevator, their rapid footsteps loud against the marble floor, where they waited in impatient silence. The doors opened at last, but they had to pause as another couple emerged. Once the coast was clear, Matt pulled her in and hammered at the button to close the doors before anyone else stepped in. The elevator closed with a hushed thud and he yanked Shannon against him, unable to wait any longer. Her arms went around his neck while his hands grabbed her hips through her jacket and held her tight. His mouth moved hungrily over hers, urging the kiss deeper and deeper. With the wall at her back, he pressed himself against her and groaned in appreciation. She was the perfect height.
“I’ve wanted to get my hands on you again so badly that now that I can, I don’t know where to start,” he murmured.
“I don’t care,” Shannon said as her mouth sought out his. “Just touch me. Anywhere.”
He gave a quick grin before his lips found her neck. “Oh, don’t worry. I will.”
The elevator stopped and the doors opened behind them. Matt walked them out, loving the intense look of desire in her eyes. He was going to enjoy making her scream.
Matt held the door for her and she brushed by, walking down the narrow hallway as she pulled off her jacket, her footsteps muffled by the thick charcoal carpeting. Shannon’s gaze darted around, taking in the quiet elegance of the room and the marble fireplace surrounded by black leather chairs. “A fireplace? I didn’t know they had those in hotel rooms.”
“Then you haven’t been staying in the right places.” He tugged off his coat and tossed it on the couch. “Be right back.” He stepped into the bedroom behind him before returning a second later.
Shannon placed her purse on the loveseat, looking everywhere but at him. He couldn’t tell if she was nervous, and told himself to go slow, just in case, but that was probably going to be nearly impossible. When her gaze finally landed on him, the deep blue of her eyes notched up his hunger for her even more and he swore at that point he would do anything for her, give her anything. All she had to do was ask.
Shannon gave him a lazy smile and that was his opening. Matt reached out and cupped the nape of her neck, pulling her lips to his. He tried to take things nice and easy, his tongue teasing and toying with hers. But soon he urged up the pace, stealing breath-taking, drugging kisses from her like he needed them to breathe before backing off and fighting against the hot need pulsing through him, insisting he take her hard and fast. He couldn’t have their first time together be a sprint to the finish line, even if his body was demanding just that.
Matt loved it when she had a wall at her back, pressing the entire length of her body against his, so he walked her backward. As he leaned into her, placing his palms flat on either side of her head, Shannon mewled into his mouth, and the sound nearly broke him.
He stopped and broke off the kiss. Taking a deep breath, he grappled to reign himself in, battling against the strong desire coursing through his blood warring at his fight for control. “I…I need a minute…”
“What’s wrong?” Shannon asked and the worry was clear in her voice, most likely concerned he was now having second thoughts.
Matt stepped back enough in order to make eye contact with her. “No, no,” he said quickly. “It’s not that. God, it’s not that. Please don’t think it.”
“Then what is it?”
“I just…I need to catch my breath,” he told her. “I’ve wanted you for so goddamn long that I’m afraid I can’t be gentle…or slow.”
“I don’t need you to be gentle. I just need you to touch me. Now. Please, Matt.”
Any control he had snapped at her words. Matt had to touch her and he had to touch her everywhere. As his lips crashed back down on hers, his hands slid down her shoulders and made quick work on the buttons of her cream suit blazer. He jerked the jacket down, but not all the way off, locking Shannon’s arms against her body. His fingers returned to tug at the small faux pearl buttons on her blush silk shirt, fighting the urge to rip the fragile fabric away while his mouth never left hers, continuing its almost punishing possession. When her blouse opened, Matt lost himself in the vision of her breasts swaddled in the silky cup of her bra. His mouth watered as he shoved the fabric down and sucked on the tight peak before rolling the bud with his tongue.
Shannon threw her head back and moaned, ratcheting up his need even more. Hot, heady desire surged, demanding he sink himself deep into her and take
what he wanted, but he needed to be patient. He had to hear her scream his name before anything else.
She tugged at her jacket, trying to free her arms, but they remained trapped. Matt was inclined to leave her confined for the moment since once her hands fell on him, it was going to be over. Shannon jerked again before giving up with another throaty moan he felt deep in his gut.
His hands moved to her hips before reaching around to unzip her skirt. He let it fall to the floor and stepped back to take in the sight of her. She stood on long, shaky legs in nothing but her soft pink bra and matching bikini bottoms, with her arms locked at her side by her blazer and her back arched, offering her breasts out to him. Her cheeks and lips were the same blush color, her eyes smoldering, and her hair a messy tumble over her shoulders. At the end of her mile-long toned legs, she still had on her beige pumps with a gold toe, and Matt had never seen anything so sexy in his life.
“Jesus Christ, you’re beautiful,” Matt rasped before diving in again and claiming her mouth. His hands reached around to squeeze her behind as they ground against one another.
“Matt, help me out here,” Shannon murmured.
He shook his head, his lips never leaving hers. “Not yet.”
They kissed with reckless abandon and soon it was clear that reasoning was slipping away from them both. Shannon squirmed, trying desperately to wrap her legs around him. Needing skin-on-skin contact, Matt grabbed the neck of his sweater, shirt and T-shirt and yanked them all off in one tug over his head, before pulling her back to him.
His hands wound their way down again and yanked her panties aside. He skimmed through her slick folds, causing her to pant and him to clench his jaw at how wet she was. Matt took in a deep breath, the sharp scent of her want filling his nose, as he slid two fingers into her. Her eyes went blind and her mouth opened with a silent plea as she moved against his hand.