Matt joined her on the bed, his fingers working at the buttons on her dress. “I should feel bad, taking you away from a friend of mine. It’s against the guy code.”
She spread her hands against the hard planes of his chest, sighing as the energy from him flowed through her fingertips. “I only went out with Ross because I promised Mel I would.”
“Remind me to kill Melanie the next time I see her.”
She laughed at the heat in his voice. “No need. I don’t think Ross will ask me out a second time. It’s hard to date when you’re in love with someone else.” She gasped as his fingers tightened over the bare skin of her hip and pulled her closer to him.
“Glad to hear it.”
“Even if I am bad-tempered and frustrating?”
Matt grinned. “Yep.”
“Then I’m all yours.”
He groaned as her hand moved lower and his lips found the side of her neck. “Good.”
His slow exploration of her skin with his hands and mouth set her on fire, but Matt wouldn’t be hurried. She moved restlessly against him until he circled her wrists with one hand and pinned them over her head. With one heavy thigh draped over her, she was unable to move. Matt’s eyes bored into hers. “Tell me again.”
“I love you, I love you, I love you.”
To her immense pleasure, Matt showed her how much he appreciated her words.
EPILOGUE
“AND I’m saying, you can’t take it to Gillian for the show.” Matt turned mulish and placed himself between her and the canvas, which made it very difficult for Ella to put Fling in its crate.
“Are you kidding me? Did you not see the sale estimate she recommended? Plus she says it’s going to be a highlight of the show.”
“Choose one of the others instead. This one’s mine.”
“We don’t have time for this.” She tried to maneuver around him, but he stood like a brick wall between her and Fling. She tried a shove. “Move. Fling is going in the show.”
They should have been on the road an hour ago, but Matt had a knack for distracting her. Gillian needed the canvases in Atlanta by tomorrow morning to start setting the March show.
It had taken Matt three weeks to talk her into going part-time—only three days a week—at SoftWerx, which he called an eternity but felt like warp speed to her. It had given her more time to paint, finishing Fling and starting work on another. He’d also talked her into usually spending the other four days a week in Atlanta, making her such a frequent visitor to the Pensacola airport in the past two months that she and the ticket agents and security guards were on a first-name basis now.
Now, after pushing her so hard to paint and to let Gillian sign her for this show, he’d decided to dig his heels in about not putting this particular painting on display. She should have declined his offer to come help her crate the canvases and drive her to Atlanta.
“It’s my painting, and I say it’s going.”
“Then I’ll buy it from you.”
“Be serious.”
“I am. Name your price.”
Truth be told, she didn’t want to actually sell Fling—and she’d told Gillian that already—but she did want it in the show. Matt didn’t know that yet, and his obstinate attitude rankled her into not telling him.
The other thing Matt didn’t know was that she’d finally decided to move to Atlanta after the show opened in mid-March. Her bosses had agreed to let her telecommute, so she could keep her SoftWerx security blanket, as Matt called it, for the time being. Matt seemed to understand her inability to let go all at once, so while he’d offered to be her personal patron of the arts so she could paint full-time, he didn’t push too hard too soon.
Which was just another reason she loved him. Even if she still wanted to strangle him on occasion. Like now.
“I’m not selling you this painting.”
Instead of launching a counterattack, Matt shifted course. “How about a trade instead?” The corners of his mouth twitched, daring her to accept.
“A trade? I’m intrigued.”
“I’ll trade this,” he said, pulling a small black box from his pocket, “for that.”
Her heart skipped a beat as he opened the box and a diamond winked at her. It was too soon. It was too much.
It was perfect.
“Well, Ella? What do you say?” Matt’s grin crinkled the corners of his eyes as he held the box out to her.
“It’s beautiful.” And, as crazy as it sounded, she wanted to accept the ring and everything that might come with it. Maybe she could get that happily-ever-after thing herself.
“That’s not what I asked.”
You haven’t actually asked me anything. But two could play that game. “I’m going to show Fling—but I never planned to sell it. And I won’t trade for it, either. It’s yours—after the show. No strings attached.”
Matt pulled her close. “Oh, there are strings. Lots of them. And the first is that you’ll need to give it a new name. We were never just a fling.”
“I beg to differ. We were supposed to be a fling—in fact, it was your bright plan to start with, remember?”
“So even the best-laid plans work out differently than expected. Come on, Ella,” he coaxed with a smile. “Do you want to get married?”
“Is that an offer or just a request for information?”
“This time it’s definitely an offer.”
She smiled and held out her hand. “Finally, the right guy asks me.”
Matt wrapped her in an embrace that guaranteed they’d be at least another hour late getting on the road.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3117-1
THE SECRET MISTRESS ARRANGEMENT
First North American Publication 2009.
Copyright © 2009 by Kimberly Kerr.
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