Matthew finally found his voice. “So…you two are a…couple?” He could barely get the word out. His throat tightened, as though someone had slipped a noose around his neck and was in the process of choking the life out of him.
“Something like that,” Lewis replied.
Something like that? What the hell did he mean? Either they were or they weren’t.
“I’ve met your sister, Cassidy, too, when we double-dated with her and Antonio.”
Double-dated?
Matthew felt as though he was having an out-of-body experience and hovered above the scene in disbelief. When did Lorena start dating again? She should still be single. Enough time hadn’t passed since their relationship ended. How could she be involved with someone else already?
“Oh.” He looked at Lorena, who at the moment seemed to be fascinated by the pattern in the carpet. “I didn’t know that.”
“We should go,” she said to Lewis.
Lewis extended his hand to Matthew again. “Nice to finally meet you, Matt. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Matthew,” he corrected. He gripped the other man’s hand and gave it a hard pump.
“Right.” Lewis laughed easily. “Ready, sweetheart?”
If he calls her sweetheart one more time…
Lorena nodded, and they walked to the door. Matthew hesitated for a moment, and then he found himself in the awkward position of following them out. His eyes lowered to where Lewis’s hand remained right above Lorena’s sweet little tush, as if he had every right to touch her. He clenched his fist to keep from knocking it away.
Jealousy had its vicious talons wrapped around his throat. How far had they gone? Had he seen her naked? Had he made her cry out his name in the sexy, hoarse voice she used whenever she was overcome with pleasure?
They all rode down in the elevator. The two of them spoke to each other, and he stood quietly, bewildered, trying to figure out how this could have happened.
Outside, despite the late hour in the day, the heat from the sun still lingered. A Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet sat in front of the building with the top down, taking up two parking spaces. It looked as if it had just been delivered, brilliant and shining like a brand new ruby. Lorena and Lewis went to it, and Matthew continued to move, going through the motions even though he felt disoriented.
“I’ll talk to you in a couple of days, Matt,” Lorena said.
Their gazes met, and in her eyes, he thought he saw the same regret stealing through his body.
“Count on it.”
Her eyes widened a fraction before she got into the car.
As Matthew neared his own vehicle, the Porsche roared by him, moving way too fast in the parking lot.
“Show off,” he muttered. He stopped, watching it disappear as it dipped around the corner, out of sight.
He’d broken off the relationship, but he didn’t like seeing her with another man. He pulled his sunglasses from his pocket, slipped them on, and then ambled over to his vehicle.
No one knew the whole truth, not even his siblings, with whom he was very close. Everyone assumed it hadn’t bothered him a bit when he hurt Lorena. Smiling, happy-go-lucky Matthew wouldn’t let a small thing like a woman’s broken heart get in the way of a good time. Broken hearts littered his past. What was one more?
Jeez. Lorena had a new man.
The haze drifted away, and reality sank in, causing pain to rip through him.
No one knew he’d sat at home the weekend they broke up, hunched on the sofa, tossing back guilt-soothing gin and juice like medicine to ease his conscience about what he’d done to the woman he’d never felt he deserved in the first place.
He opened the door to his SUV in slow motion and sank onto the tan leather seats. He cranked up the air conditioner and closed his eyes, waiting for the temperature to lower as he rested the back of his head against the headrest.
In the past he hadn’t cared when women moved on. Most of the women he became involved with were one-night stands or short-term because he didn’t want a long-term relationship. When they moved on, it was a good thing. It meant they were over him, and he didn’t have to feel any guilt because they’d both gotten what they wanted.
The way he felt about Lorena dating was new. He’d rather get kicked in the nuts again, preferring that pain to the pain blanketing his body. He’d never felt anything like it, all the more damaging because he’d been completely blindsided.
Lorena has a new man.
He was too late.
Chapter Three
“Are you okay?” Lewis asked with concern in his eyes. “You seem distracted.”
“I’m fine,” Lorena replied. “I have a lot on my mind.”
They sat in a corner of the restaurant, eating Italian food.
“Because of Matthew Hawthorne,” Lewis stated in a flat voice.
Lorena lifted her glass and sipped her water. She didn’t want to hurt Lewis. “You’re wrong.”
“You’ve been acting strangely ever since I picked you up. I’ve never seen you like this. It has to be that Hawthorne guy. Which is why I don’t understand why you’re helping him.”
Lorena twirled linguine coated in a creamy Alfredo sauce around the tines of her fork. “I’m not doing it for free. He’s paying me, and it would be foolish of me to turn away business, even if it’s from my ex.”
She put the noodles in her mouth. This was one of her favorite restaurants, but she had to summon the effort to chew, as if learning to eat for the first time.
“I’m not so sure what you’re doing is a good idea.” Lewis sliced into his chicken parmesan. Without looking up, he inquired, “It’s not going to affect our relationship, is it?”
“Of course not. Why would it?”
“I was just wondering. You’ll have to be in constant contact with him, and he doesn’t act as if he’s completely over you, if you ask me.”
“Don’t be silly. I told you, he prefers short-term relationships, and he’s not the type to settle down. Besides, he cheated on me, and then he broke up with me, remember?”
“As long as he understands you’ve moved on.” Lewis reached across the table and placed his hand over hers. “I know you said you wanted to take things slow, but I care a lot about you, Lorena. I hope you know that. I’m not interested in seeing anyone else, and when you’re ready, I’m ready to take our relationship to the next level.”
It was unfair to compare them to each other, but his touch didn’t have the same impact as Matthew’s did. She didn’t get the same rush of excitement she’d felt when Matthew came in for the kiss. The stroke of his fingertip down the side of her face had been so light, the brush of a spiderweb would have carried more weight, yet he’d made her forget where she was for a while and long for a kiss she shouldn’t want.
Lewis looked good on paper. He had money from the allowance he received as a result of his father’s successful baseball career. He was well traveled and knowledgeable about business and investments. At times she thought him to be a bit showy, but it was a minor negative when compared to his other positive traits.
He spoke several languages, and as a former athlete, he viewed health and fitness with the same importance she did. He was tall and attractive, and ready to get married—downright perfect, in fact. She really couldn’t go wrong with him, and any woman would be lucky to have him shower attention on her.
So why couldn’t she stop thinking about Matthew?
Maybe because he’d been her first and only lover. Having been a tomboy most of her life, and growing up under the thumb of a protective father, she’d never had much interest in, or experience with, men.
As the only girl, she’d played sports with her father and brothers and was nothing like her more glamorous mother. Her mother was a former beauty queen. She’d been crowned Miss Puerto Rico, and her father loved to tell the story of how from the minute he saw her on television accepting the crown, he had decided right then and there to make her his wife. Over thirt
y years later, they were still happily married. She’d wanted a relationship like theirs, with the same level of love and passion. She’d found that level of intensity with Matthew, albeit one-sided, and now she wondered if she could ever enjoy a tepid relationship.
Of course she could. Passion was overrated. All the excitement she experienced with Matthew had gotten her nowhere. She needed stability and a trustworthy man who wanted the same things she did. Someone like Lewis. He wanted a long-term relationship, a wife, and children—none of which Matthew had been willing to offer. She couldn’t let his reentry into her life ruin her chances at a good, solid relationship.
She slipped her hand from beneath Lewis’s and threaded her fingers between his. “I do know how much you care about me. Please don’t worry about Matthew. He’s no threat to you.” She smiled.
Like Lewis’s father, Lorena’s father had been a professional baseball player. He and Juan Diaz never played on the same team, but they’d become friends. At some point, her protective father had decided she and Juan’s son made a good match, and both men arranged for their children to meet.
“You’re right. I’m acting like a fool.” Lewis grinned and gave his meal his attention once more. He launched into an explanation about the purchase of property in another state, but she barely heard him, her thoughts caught up in an unfair comparison between the two men.
Lewis was a bottle rocket. Matthew delivered full-blown fireworks that should be handled with caution to avoid getting burned. Because of that, he presented a danger to her heart and everything she thought she wanted from a man.
He should come with a warning. The sign should be in big, bold red block letters and say: HERE COMES TROUBLE.
****
Lorena was happy to get home and relax. She loved the work she did, but her home was her sanctuary. She had moved in last year, after her father gifted her the money for a large down payment, allowing her to finally move out of her parents’ home and have an affordable monthly mortgage.
When she entered her little two-bedroom house in trendy Decatur, she felt the stresses of the day fall away. Outside of Atlanta, the small city took up approximately four square miles. At least three days a week she went for a run, five miles round-trip. She passed by restaurants, a grocery store, art galleries, a farmer’s market, and clothing boutiques.
At the door, Lorena slipped off her heels and padded across the cool hardwood floor of the open great room leading into the dining area. She seldom sat at the table because she preferred to use the TV tray and prop her feet up on the coffee table to catch up on the news or watch sports on the big-screen television hanging on the wall. In one corner, a glass case displayed her running medals and trophies from competitions over the years.
She picked up the remote, and with the click of a button, the music of salsa legend Héctor Lavoe poured from the speakers of her stereo system. Twenty minutes later, comfortably dressed in a camisole top and men’s boxers, she munched on a late-night snack of her mother’s delicious beef empanadas she’d pilfered from her parents’ house the day before. At least she’d gotten her appetite back. No thanks to Matthew.
The brief moments of contact with him had reacquainted her with his heart-stopping grin—fashioned to make her forget her anger. But she didn’t want to, because then she’d forget why he was no good for her and why Lewis was the better choice.
It seemed she had been in love with Matthew forever. He’d never known, of course. She would have been mortified if he’d found out.
Her junior year in college, she and Cassidy met at an off-campus party when Cassidy was a freshman. They’d become good friends by sharing the woes of having three older brothers and no sisters, but they had very different personalities. Cassidy had an outgoing, bubbly personality and a girly style of dress. Lorena, on the other hand, had been more reserved and into sports. To her mother’s consternation, she often left the house without makeup and wearing only a comfortable pair of sweats and tennis shoes.
When she and Cassidy became roommates her senior year, she met Matthew for the first time. He and Cassidy’s oldest brother, Roarke, had come to help Cassidy move into the apartment. She fell for him right away. Even though he’d already graduated two years before, she knew him by his reputation on campus. Not only as a formidable football player, but also as a ladies’ man.
One would think the injury in his senior year would have slowed him down, but it didn’t. For every woman who abandoned him because the prospect of a professional football career had dried up, another waited to ease the pain of his lost dreams.
When Lorena finally met him the day of the move, he’d been as gregarious as she’d been told. His witty sense of humor kept them all—her, his siblings, and her brothers—laughing throughout the afternoon.
After that day, she looked forward to seeing him whenever he came around. At first it had been harmless enough, just a crush on her best friend’s brother. But then one night everything changed. Matthew agreed to let her and Cassidy stay in his spare bedroom while their apartment was being fumigated. They were supposed to arrive on Saturday morning, but since he’d given Cassidy the key earlier that day, they came over on Friday night.
Cassidy got called in to work for a few hours at her part-time job and jumped at the chance to make the extra money, which meant she left Lorena alone. Because of it, she saw Matthew in a situation that ripped her naiveté to shreds. If she hadn’t seen him, perhaps the feelings she’d had would have eventually died. Perhaps she wouldn’t have carried a torch for him for years and never given another man a chance.
If only she hadn’t seen what she saw that night…
****
Lorena yawned, her back against the pillows in the spare bedroom of Matthew’s townhouse apartment. She rubbed her drowsy eyes, unable to focus on the words in the textbook opened on her thighs. She hated biology and wished she hadn’t put off the class. Had she taken it her freshman or sophomore year, she wouldn’t be getting tortured now.
The sound of a door closing downstairs let her know Matthew had arrived home. He didn’t expect anyone to be there because they weren’t supposed to arrive until tomorrow. Cassidy had borrowed her car to go to work, so no car sat in the driveway. She intended to announce herself, but she decided against it when the peal of feminine laughter and Matthew’s earthy voice reached her ears. She held her breath, listening closely.
They trampled up the stairs, and the sound of their footsteps receded as they made their way to the other side of the house. She doubted he even noticed the light on under the door of this room.
Lorena pulled up her knees and pressed her face into her thighs. She didn’t want to be here. Not while he had another woman in his room. She wrapped her arms tightly around her legs and squeezed her eyes shut, trying desperately not to think about what they were doing.
Before long, soft moans came down the hall. At first she thought it was her imagination, but they got louder. She could hear them so clearly, she wondered if they had left the door open.
She slipped off the bed and cocked her head to listen. They were definitely having sex, and it was loud. She eased open the door and listened again, clearly hearing the sound of a woman. The wrenching cries continued unabated. Heart pounding, Lorena tiptoed down the hall, past the staircase, to the other end of the townhouse.
As she’d suspected, they hadn’t closed the door. It stood ajar, which explained why she could hear them so well. Moving quietly, she edged closer and peered inside the room, her mouth falling open at what she saw. She should be ashamed for her act of voyeurism, but she couldn’t look away.
An Asian woman lay with her wrists tethered to the iron bars of Matthew’s bed by handcuffs. Matthew braced on his arms above her. Her legs were spread wide, and he thrust between them with deep, long strokes. The powerful muscles of his back rippled with each movement.
If she didn’t know better, she’d think the woman was in pain, but she knew better. She knew those moans and the grimace
on her face were the sounds and image of a woman experiencing unbelievable pleasure.
He dipped his head to her breast, licking and sucking the nipple, making her cry out to the heavens. Rooted to the spot, Lorena couldn’t take her eyes off of them. Her own nipples hardened and swelled with arousal, aching for the same attention from Matthew’s mouth. A pulsing heat, something she’d never felt before, throbbed between her legs.
She should stop. She should walk away, because she was fully aroused watching them, wishing she could trade places with the other woman.
As she took one step back, a naked black woman joined them on the bed. Lorena’s eyes widened in shock. He had two women in there!
The new woman started to kiss Matthew’s back. Her hand stroked the length of his spine and over his buttocks. Rather than allow her to continue to distract him, he stopped his ministrations and grasped the back of her head. The woman beneath him whimpered her disapproval and tugged on her restraints.
Matthew kissed the black woman thoroughly, devouring her mouth. With his hands still entangled in her hair, he pulled her away. Lorena heard him say, “I’ll get you next. You need to wait your turn.”
Lorena inhaled sharply and stumbled backward before racing down the hall. Her legs barely carried her, they shook so badly. Safely in the other bedroom, she closed the door and fell across the bed, closing her eyes in an unsuccessful effort to shut out what she’d seen. Her face was flushed, and her body thrummed with hunger. More than ever before, she ached for him.
She was an inexperienced tomboy with a muscular body—not soft curves like those women. He’d never looked twice at her before. Why would he, when he could have seasoned, sensual women like those two?
The words he’d said made her envy them.
You need to wait your turn.
Later, after the women left and Cassidy returned, Matthew watched Lorena as the three of them sat around the table eating pizza. He knew now she’d been there the entire time, and he probably wondered if she’d heard him. She didn’t give anything away. She smiled and chatted as if her whole life hadn’t been thrown off-balance by what she’d seen.
Here Comes Trouble Page 3