‘It’s fine,’ I say. I kind of like it. ‘I’ve been called a lot worse.’
‘Me too, but that doesn’t make it right.’
‘Really, it’s OK.’
‘Take care and I’ll see you soon and thank you for coming.’
‘Thank you for inviting me.’
She leans over and hugs me and whispers in my ear, ‘I can fix it.’
‘You don’t have to do that,’ I whisper back.
‘It’s no trouble,’ she whispers. ‘You just say the word and it’s done.’
‘OK,’ I whisper back.
Laura releases her hold on me. ‘Get her back safely and no funny business. I like her.’
‘I like her too,’ says Matt.
I feel those butterflies fluttering in the depths of my soul. This is definitely how it starts. I remember that much. I watch him watching Laura make her way through the crowded bar towards the entrance out of the corner of my eye and try to predict his next move. Will he be in a hurry to ditch the bar now that we’re alone? Will he try to push his luck or act like the perfect gentleman, which would be a shame! He’s hot and now I’m thinking about it, I’m more than a little bothered and it’s all potentially very good – or very bad, if I play my cards right. What is happening to me? I feel like a bitch on heat and now all I can think about is sex.
Cool it down or you’ll blow everything! These are supposed to be calming words but they merely lead to images of compromising situations; me on my knees and the Heavenly Baker floating somewhere up in the clouds with the most blissful expression upon his face. Good grief! This has to stop right now.
‘You look like you’re having fun.’
Earth to Ava! Return from orbit!
‘Excuse me!’ He is looking right at me with those blue eyes that could happily send me to paradise. I feel the colour racing into my cheeks and pray he’s not that good a mind reader, though you don’t exactly have to be Einstein to work out where my mind has been wandering. ‘Can I tell you something?’ I say, my voice a husky whisper.
‘If you want to,’ replies Matt with a smile.
‘This is all a little bit surreal.’ I avoid his gaze and look out into the bar. ‘I don’t ever go places like this and I’m struggling to take it all in, really.’
‘Do you regret answering the call and coming up here to the Big City?’ he asks.
‘No, not at all,’ I reply with a shake of my head. ‘But I feel like a passenger.’
‘You’re really not a passenger,’ says the Heavenly Baker.
I lean a little closer to him. ‘You read about people having out-of-body experiences and that’s a little bit like how I feel right now. I want to capture the moment, just take a picture and frame it for posterity, because I think this is a good moment.’
‘So take a picture,’ replies Matt softly.
‘I can’t do that,’ I say, shaking my head again.
‘Of course you can,’ he insists.
‘No, I really can’t because then I’d be a super-fan and I’m really trying to keep some kind of composure here so you’ll think I have at least a degree of cool, despite the debacle of my one and only live television appearance.’
Matt shakes his head.
‘It was,’ I say. ‘It was awful, I’m sure.’
‘Would you like another drink?’ he asks.
‘Yes, that’s a good idea. Nicely avoided with the whole changing the subject; you know what you’re doing, don’t you?’
‘Can I get you another beer?’
‘Yes, please.’
‘Promise me that you’ll stay here,’ he says, and now there is an edge to his voice, an edge that wasn’t there before, which is odd.
‘OK,’ I say.
‘Good, because we need to talk.’ He rises from the couch.
‘You can let me down gently,’ I tell him. ‘It’s OK. I’m a big girl.’
‘No, you’re not,’ he says, looking back.
‘I meant age not weight,’ I clarify.
‘Good. Because if you give me any rubbish about being overweight or unhappy with your body then I’m going to get angry, so don’t go anywhere!’
I see the flash of anger in his eyes and now I really don’t know what to think. He’s annoyed and that must be my doing. That’s just brilliant, Ava! You’ve just ruined a perfect scenario and you don’t even know what you’ve done. I sit and stew and await the Heavenly Baker’s return. I play with my empty beer bottle. I peel the label off and watch the other drinkers who are trying not to watch me except we are all failing dismally. I pray he lets me down gently. I don’t like public scenes.
He places the beer down in front of me but this time sits down opposite me which I don’t like. Already he’s putting distance between us.
‘I’ve annoyed you, haven’t I?’ I say, chewing on my lip.
‘You have.’
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.’
‘Why do you think Laura invited you up this weekend?’
‘To check my suitability for the new Heavenly Baker baking contest, I presume?’
‘Yes. And do you know how we decided on the criteria for inviting potential contestants?’
‘No, but by the look in your eye you’re about to tell me.’
‘I am.’
‘OK.’
‘We researched bakeries all over the country. We did a lot of background research, then we contacted people to ask for their opinions about the products their local bakers were providing and the service, and do you know what your customers said about you?’
‘You’ve been looking into me?’
‘We looked into hundreds of bakeries. How else were we going to compile a list of contestants?’
‘I suppose that makes sense,’ I muse. When I look back he has his phone in his hand and is surfing the net. It’s really not a good sign.
‘A fantastic service coupled with truly exquisite cakes. Her cupcakes are the finest I have ever tasted. That quote is direct from a Mrs Ethel Baines.’
‘You spoke to Ethel?’
‘I did, and she was happy to talk all day about how a visit to Little Angels Bakery is the highlight of her week. And there are a lot more to go with that, so you can imagine I wanted to check out the competition.’
‘I’m not your competition,’ I say, shaking my head vigorously.
‘How can you say that? You have no competition in your area. Didn’t the local supermarket try to headhunt you to head up their bakery division?’
‘Yes.’
‘Not once.’
‘That’s true.’
‘How many times have they asked?’
‘A few times, I think.’
‘Does the number seven sound familiar?’
‘It might.’ I cringe. I really, truly don’t want to talk about this stuff.
‘Why can’t you see how amazing you are?’
‘You don’t know anything about me!’ I retort. ‘You’re not qualified to say that.’
‘I’m not. But I have it on good authority that you are and I’d really like to find out for myself.’
‘Oh!’
‘So yes, you annoy me when you put yourself down. Your screen test today was amazing. You weren’t expecting to go in front of a live television audience and you really didn’t have to.’
‘It would have been rude to say no. You did invite me, after all.’
‘And that, I think, might be the essence of you right there. You’ll go to any lengths to help people but you don’t help yourself. You had to rely on your friend to send your application in but it should have been you. You’re a natural in the kitchen.’
‘I feel safe there.’
‘Then promise me that you’ll enter the competition and you will believe you are good enough to win.’
‘I can’t promise that,’ I say.
‘Why can’t you?’
‘Because it’s too much pressure, but I will promise you that if you ask me to enter then I will do the j
ob to the best of my ability and that’s all you can really ask of me.’
‘It’s a deal,’ says the Heavenly Baker and I see that smile return and it really is a heart breaker. How many girls have succumbed to that smile – and do I really want to know?
‘Now, about that photo?’ he enquires.
‘I can’t ask.’
‘No, silly. I’m asking you.’ Holding out his phone, he snaps me sitting across the table holding up my beer. It feels like a moment in time that could be the start of something, like the tiny snowball that starts rolling in the snow and little by little momentum builds until you’re looking at an avalanche. I have to wonder whether being here now is the beginning of my own avalanche. He comes round the table and puts his arm around me as he snaps another picture and the heat coming off him is just like molten lava. I feel the butterflies and the smile slips easily onto my face.
Chapter Five
Breathless
This tension between us builds like a wave but eventually a wave breaks and the same must be true of us. I will it to happen. Every fibre of my being wants to know him in the most carnal of ways. I have never felt such an aching need as I feel right now here with this man. I am possessed. I can see these events unfolding between us, the way this evening must end, and yet I am powerless to change the course of events or even speed them up to their inevitable conclusion. Just breathe, Ava, and enjoy the ride!
He is wonderfully handsome and self-assured as he sets the Martini down in front of me and settles on the stool directly opposite me in the hotel bar. It is late and my hotel room is just a short elevator ride away yet, seemingly, he is in no hurry to allow the evening to reach its inevitable conclusion. It is inevitable. The way his eyes linger on mine and the way my heart speeds up whenever he touches me. He is understated and clearly not one for public displays of affection yet there have been moments already: sitting close in the bar surrounded by his people; the closeness of our bodies when he snapped us later in the bar; brushing a strand of rogue hair from my face as we watched the world pass us by from the confines of the speeding taxi. Yes, there have been moments and I know there will be more to follow. I feel it in my heart. It races just thinking about what must happen next.
‘Why can’t you see what everyone else can see?’ he asks, reaching for his bottle of beer.
‘I don’t follow.’
My eyes drift to those lips and I can’t help but wonder how they will feel kissing my neck, parting my thighs and kissing my most hidden secret.
‘You don’t think you’re good enough to take part in the contest but you are.’
‘That’s your opinion.’
‘It is, but it’s my show so I should know, shouldn’t I?’
‘One would hope so,’ I accept.
‘And yet you don’t. Why is that?’
‘I’m not very good with compliments, I guess?’ That is true and so is the burning in my crotch. I can’t tell if it’s the alcohol that’s got me feeling so twitchy or just him. Wrap me around your body. Bend me until I break. Fuck me until I melt! This is bad. I can’t see a way out of this situation which doesn’t end up with me naked and panting. If truth be told, I don’t want to see another way out. But what if he leaves me here hanging in the hotel bar? It is a bolt from the blue and it sends a shiver emanating the length of my body. What if he does that? I don’t think I can bear it. This yearning is like an addiction, and he is the cure or is he the antidote? Oh, I don’t know any more. I can’t focus and I can’t think straight. Let’s just get naked and see where that leads us.
‘I noticed. Let me guess, was it a childhood trauma or …?’
‘Let’s not get into it, Sigmund!’ I warn.
‘OK.’ Matt raises his hands in defeat.
Why is he waiting? Why doesn’t he take control the way I’m longing for him to? I’m here and I’m wanton and desperate. Yes, desperate to spread my legs and feel him drive deep inside me. Who is this filthy wench who has invaded my brain, I want to ask, and where have you been all my life?
‘Can I ask you a question?’ I can’t wait any longer. It is time for direct action. I reach for the olive and play with it, easing it between my lips and sucking on it – and now I have your full attention, Matt Richards, don’t I?
‘What’s on your mind?’
‘You’re on my mind, and I don’t know if it’s just the alcohol talking but there are things I really want to know.’
‘Ask away,’ Matt replies, reaching for his bottle again.
‘Why isn’t there a ring on your finger?’
‘Why isn’t there one on yours?’ he replies.
‘I asked first.’
‘That’s fair.’ He takes another swig.
‘You’re stalling.’
‘I am,’ he agrees. ‘Maybe I don’t believe in the institution of marriage.’
‘That’s an answer.’
‘But you don’t seem willing to accept it.’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘I can see it in your eyes, Ava, and they really are incredible. They’re not unlike looking into pools of molten chocolate.’
‘That’s more like I was expecting,’ I say, not able to prevent the grin from spreading.
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘You’re a ladykiller. I totally get it. I mean, you’re a good-looking guy and this bakery programme is the perfect vehicle for you to make a killing in the bedroom stakes but I’ve been really surprised by you all day long. No lines, no moves, until just then.’
‘You do have beautiful eyes.’
‘I know.’
‘What is this?’ exclaims Matt. ‘Let me make a note of this because –’ and he checks his watch ‘– at ten-oh-seven precisely, Ava Michaels accepted a compliment.’ He screws his eyes up. ‘What is your game exactly? You play the innocent but you’re far from it, aren’t you?’
‘I never said I was innocent,’ I reply, reaching for my martini glass and draining it. ‘I’ve just been waiting for you to ask the right questions.’ And now the game is on for sure! I see his eyes light up.
‘And here was me worrying about my moves, when you’ve got enough moves for the both of us.’
‘The question really is do you want to play?’
‘Do I want to play?’ he repeats, unable to stop that killer smile from creasing his lips.
‘Have you got the balls?’ I lick the taste of martini from my lips. It’s not subtle but it’s not meant to be.
‘Why don’t we find out?’ He empties the last of his beer bottle.
‘Why don’t we?’ I reply, and the heat coming off our bodies could kick-start nuclear reactors. Let the evening now truly begin!
The elevator doors chime closed and, like the bell at a boxing ring announcing the start of combat, the games commence. His lips burn to the touch, seeking out mine as his steely body presses me into the side wall of the elevator. The dam has been breached and all attempts at decency and order will be trampled into the dust. This is a fight for supremacy and survival. I find his lips and the strength of my own wanting leaves me gasping as I drive my tongue harder and harder into his mouth, feeling his tongue pressing back as the strength of his need for me grows and stiffens in his crotch. I feel him rigid, pressing into me, and his hard length is a very welcome distraction. My hand finds it, moulding to the shape of him against the barrier of his jeans. His lips find my neck and I let out a low moan as he presses himself into me. Three submissions and one glorious fuck is all I am looking for tonight.
His hand squeezes my breast through the fabric of my shirt and I feel my nipple react to his touch. His palm burns me and I feel the flesh of my areola start to sizzle. My hand closes on his hand as I suck the air through my teeth. The air is starting to heat up around us. Slipping my fingers through his, I guide his hand from my breast, placing it between my thighs so his palm cups my crotch. The heat of his touch devours me. I feel the buzz engulf me.
Buttons on my shirt pop open
, revealing wanton flesh and black lingerie. His mouth finds mine as our kisses channel our growing desire; harder, faster, longer, deeper, kiss upon kiss. There is no beginning and there is no end; only his lips upon mine and I never want them to stop. The feeling is heavenly and the itch in my crotch is a full-on fire. His palm massages the fabric of my jeans as we continue to trade kisses but he is a tease. Surely he knows what to do? Have I not shown him the way? Why does he play with me so when clearly I need more?
‘What are you waiting for?’ I moan through kiss-hungry lips.
He looks at me and I see the flames of longing and desire bubble and ignite in his eyes. Pressed against the elevator wall with my shirt unbuttoned, I am his for the taking. So take me! I beg silently. Don’t play games with me, not now when my desire is tattooed across my face so clearly for you to see.
The button on my jeans opens as he works it free with his thumb and finger. I feel the zip start to give and the pressure release is immediate. Pressing me further into the elevator wall, Matt kisses me harder, still nailing me to the wall with his rock-hard body, freeing up his hands to wriggle my jeans down my hips. His palm flattens against the crotch of my panties and I shiver with anticipation of what he is about to do. Invade me with your fingers. Tease me with your touch. Leave me gasping for release. Do it all. Do everything! I am greedy and needy for your touch.
His palm rests there, not moving, heat radiating off it and surging through me. I am wet for him. My sex aches for his attention. I press myself against his palm as if he needs further encouragement. He kisses me as his fingers breach the boundary of my panties and now we’re getting somewhere. Another kiss and another and now his fingers are starting to wander and it’s a struggle to concentrate on anything. Matt nuzzles my ear with his teeth and I sigh involuntarily.
‘Don’t go anywhere,’ he whispers playfully.
Where am I going to go, exactly? I ponder as he starts to work his way down my body and his finger massages my source of infinite pleasure. I bite my lips to stop myself from yelling out encouragement but the sensation of his rough digit on my delicate pearl is sending all the right signals buzzing through my brain. He slips his finger free, instantly replacing it with his thumb, and I am powerless to prevent the slide of my jeans down my thighs and lower still. My head feels woozy and I am thankful for the elevator wall to stop me floating away into the stratosphere.
Seduce: A Cariad Romance Three Book Bundle (Cariad Collections) Page 9