The Fragile Line: Part Three (The Fine Line #4)

by Alicia Kobishop

  ~Matt~

  How the hell did I get this lucky?

  I could barely wait another second to immerse myself in her and stay there all fucking day. The only problem? I couldn’t get our elevator conversation out of my mind.

  I won’t be anyone’s second best.

  It crushed me to think she had a single doubt in her mind about how I felt about her. Because I fucking love this girl.

  And she had to know that I loved more than just her body. I needed to tell her in a way that would make her believe me. As my fingers rested on her shoulders and hooked under her bra straps, slowly bringing them down her arms, I said, “You need to know something.”

  “I don’t want to know something,” she mumbled, staring at me through dilated eyes, as she unbuttoned my jeans and unzipped the zipper. “I just want you inside me.”

  Fuck.

  Attempting with all my damn might to keep solid control, I let out a soft chuckle, “What did I tell you about patience?”

  “I don’t have much of that.” She smiled, hooking her thumbs in the waistline of my pants and shifting them down my hips, freeing me. She didn’t waste a second before taking hold of me, gently stroking, and thoroughly proving her point.

  Shit. That feels amazing.

  “I’d say I’m working on it,” she continued. “But that would be a lie. I don’t want to be patient anymore, Matt. I just want you.”

  Oh Christ.

  “Just let me say this,” I cupped her cheeks, fighting the urge to be consumed by her touch, a battle I was about to lose. “I. Love. You. And you might not one-hundred percent believe that yet, but I promise you, I’m going to tell you in a way that will make you understand exactly how much you mean to me.” Oh God. Her hands. The way she was looking at me with those beautiful blue eyes. Her fucking soft skin. I needed this girl, now. “But let’s save that for later. Right now? I’m going to give you what you want, Chloe. Fuck talking. I’m going to show you.”

  ~Chloe~

  “Yes,” I breathed, fully aware of how desperate I sounded, yet not caring at all. I was desperate for him. And I wanted him to know it. “I want you to show me, Matt. Please show me.”

  With a moan, he yanked my bra down to my waist and cupped my breasts, squeezing them, circling his tongue around one nipple, then the next, delivering a bite tender enough to shoot straight to my core, yet sharp enough to cause my skin to tingle and my voice to let out a tiny whimper.

  “I fucking love your sounds, Chloe,” he muttered, his hands slipping down my sides. “I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of that voice.”

  “So make me use it,” I urged.

  That must’ve been the last bit of encouragement he needed because not more than a second later he yanked my leggings and panties down together in one swift movement, the material resting mid-thigh. Then, he turned me around, pressing my breasts against the cool fridge and his body against my back.

  “You want me to make you scream again,” he whispered in my ear, his fingers finding their way between my legs from behind, “Don’t you.”

  “Yeah,” I panted, unable to disguise my impatience. “I do.”

  He gently circled my entrance with the pad of his finger, finding out exactly how much I wanted that very thing.

  “Fuck,” he said, gliding that finger inside me with deliberate restraint. “You’re so wet.”

  “You do that to me, Matt,” I breathed, my chest heaving and body throbbing. “Stop teasing me. Please. Give me what I need.”

  He removed his hands, leaving me disappointed from the loss and excited for what would come next. With my forehead against the stainless steel, he rested one hand on my hip while carefully guiding himself into me with the other, planting warm, soft kisses from my shoulder to my neck, sending a surge throughout my body and a sigh through my lips.

  “You’re so warm, Chlo,” he whispered into my ear. “I fucking love how you feel.”

  He cupped my breast with one hand, lifting it up and pinching my nipple as he pulled me off the fridge and brought my back to his chest, burying himself deeper into me, stretching me, filling me. My palm reached behind me and found its way to the back of his neck as he circled his tongue behind my earlobe and gave it gentle bite. Only now did it occur to me that he hadn’t taken his t-shirt off. I briefly considered asking him to remove it, so that I could feel his skin against me, but I was too preoccupied with the way he was touching me to speak.

  His other hand moved from my hip to just below my belly button, slowly travelling lower and lower until his fingers met my clit in a perfectly pressured motion as he steadily glided in and out of me, setting every inch on my skin on fire.

  I could barely contain myself. I felt like I was flying and falling all at once. I needed to hold on to something or I’d surely crash.

  “I’ve got you, Chlo,” Matt assured, reading me like only he could. Taking my wrists, bringing them in front of us, he bent me over slightly and rested my hands on the countertop beside the refrigerator, where I could keep a steady balance. “Keep your hands here.”

  Then he took my hips from behind, lifting them up slightly, just enough for him to hit the sweet spot each and every time he pressed into me. Once he knew I was stable, he began to move faster, sinking into me more forcefully, retreating slowly, the weight and depth of his body pushing my breaths out in a harsh oomph with each heavy thrust. He continued that way, powerful and gentle, a delectable combination that overwhelmed us both in the most gratifying way, until we were on the brink of losing it…until slow was no longer an option.

  Together, we let go of all control and allowed ourselves to surrender to the moment. Surrender to each other. Our bodies were on auto-pilot, instinctively moving in unison, until an orgasm sharper than I’d ever felt before tore through every cell in my body, clenching every muscle, provoking not a scream, but a guttural moan to hum from my throat.

  That’s when he went deep and held himself there, his firm body covering my back like a blanket as he held me tight, pulsating inside of me, eliciting an aftershock powerful enough to shutter through my body, and blissful enough to leave me exquisitely and utterly satiated. He let out a restrained groan as he sunk into me again and again, finishing his own release.

  My muscles, tense and rigid only seconds ago, began to go limp. I crossed my forearms on the countertop and rested my head on them, while Matt placed soft kisses on my back and shoulders, still moving within me, but in a much more lethargic, post-coital, way that made me feel like I was dreaming. I never wanted him to stop.

  “God, I needed that,” I thought aloud.

  He chuckled, his hands lazily caressing my skin, “Me too.”

  “I know you said you were going to take your time,” I continued as he gently slid out of me and turned me around to face him. I couldn’t help but smile at the satisfied look on his face as he pulled me into an embrace. I felt the same thing…entirely content in a way I never thought would be possible. “But I’m so fucking glad you didn’t.”

  “Who said we were done?” he looked at me and cocked his head. “That was just the first round, Chlo. We’re just getting started.”

  “Oh really.” I stated more than asked, trying not to sound as eager as I felt. “You want more?”

  “Oh yeah,” he grinned.

  “Okay,” I conceded. As if he had to persuade me even a little. “I’m in. Are you going to tell me what you want to do?”

  “M-Hmm,” he replied simply. “You. Me. Bath. Now.”

  CHAPTER Thirteen

  ~Chloe~

  We spent the entire day in his house—fucking, talking, teasing. Making love. Each word we spoke, every touch we exchanged, every embrace we shared was a way of catching up on the time we had lost and more importantly, set the groundwork for our new uncharted future together. We cherished every moment of the day because even though we planned to be together moving forward, we knew our time—for now—was limited. He’d be going back to Vegas soon to finish filmin
g the season of American Muscle.

  We talked a lot about that. About how we’d make the long-distance thing work. He had three more months to go on his contract, and I had no idea what he would want to do when it ended. Renew it to film another season? Stay in Vegas? Come home?

  “You could come with me,” he offered.

  I sat on the edge of his bed, attempting to get dressed so that I could go work my shift at Luciano’s tonight. Matt had other plans. Just before I hooked my bra, he reached around my waist and pulled me back onto the bed.

  ““Don't go," he insisted as he pulled me unto his bare chest and buried his face in my neck, nuzzling his nose against my skin just enough to force a laugh out of me. "Call in sick. I'm not done with you yet."

  "Me neither," I agreed, still smiling. Unable to force myself away from him, I succumbed to his embrace, “We need more time. I’m not ready to leave yet. But I’m not sure my body can take much more today. Not that I don’t want to. I’m just not sure I can and—”

  “I’d be totally fine just lying in bed with you all night,” he interjected. “Watch some movies. Maybe find a Netflix show to binge on.”

  I let out a groan, “Oh God, that sounds perfect. I want to. I mean, really want to. But I just can't call in sick today. We're short staffed and I'm covering for someone. Which means there's no one to cover for me. It wouldn't be right..."

  “Don’t worry, Chloe,” he assured, giving in. “I understand.”

  He watched me as I finished getting dressed, unanswered questions lingering in the air.

  You could come with me.

  Our day had been perfect. Neither of us wanted to face reality yet. But if we wanted this to work, if we wanted a future, we’d have to face our struggles head-on. And this—our being apart again—would be a struggle. But not one that we couldn’t overcome.

  “Do you really want me to come with you? To Vegas?” I asked.

  “Fuck yeah. I would love that. You could live with me. With what I make from the show, you wouldn’t even have to work.”

  My face scrunched up in offense. “You are not paying for me, Matt. I’m not that girl.”

  His jaw clenched the moment he recognized what he was offering. “I’m sorry. You’re right. And I love you for that. Look, I know I’m probably jumping the gun by asking you to leave with me. But honestly, I can’t stand the thought of being so far away from you for three more months. You don’t have to live with me. You don’t even have to take my money. But will you consider living in the same town as me? There are plenty of jobs out there, especially in the restaurant business…with your experience, you’d easily get a job in some ritzy, high class joint and probably only have to work a few shifts a week after tips. I just want you close to me. Don’t you want that?”

  He had mentioned his long hours earlier, which basically allowed him time to sleep and not much else. And as much as I wanted to be close to him, all I could picture was sitting in a living room somewhere, with nothing to do except wait for him to come home, resenting him more and more with each minute that passed. I had a life here. A new life that I finally felt good about.

  “Of course I do,” I said softly. “But…What would I do there? I mean, while you’re filming. I just worry that moving too fast will put too much pressure on us. And we’ve got time, right? Maybe we don’t have to figure it all out today. All I know is that I love you. And I want to be with you more than anything. But I also want to make us last. I don’t ever want us to burn out. Besides, things are just starting to fall into place for me here. I just moved in with Carrie and I can’t leave her in the dust like that. Not ever. She doesn’t deserve it. I finally have someone to call a friend, and her daughter is just as amazing as she is.” I sighed, burying myself in his hold. “I’m not saying I’ll never leave this town, because if it means being with you, I’ll do just about anything. I just think we should be smart about it.”

  When I gazed up and saw the contradictory look of sadness and understanding on his face, I realized that it matched how I felt about the situation. He laid back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling in thought. After a pause, he turned to face me and said, “I love you too.”

  “What are your plans…I mean when your contract ends. Will you do another season if they ask you to?”

  “Nah,” he smiled. “It’s been an experience, and I’m glad I did it. But I’d rather eat balls than stay on the show. Too much fucking drama for me. I don’t like the kind of attention that comes with it. The paps make my skin crawl, and the sooner I can get them off my back, the better. And, yeah, I’ll miss the shop, but I miss my life here more. I miss my brothers. Addie.” Kissing me on the forehead, he added, “You.”

  His grin was contagious. “Really? So does that mean—”

  “It means, I’m coming home when the contract ends. I decided on it weeks ago, and now, with you—with us, you know—happening. Let’s just say being here with you, like this, only confirms that I made the right choice. I just wish we didn’t have to be apart for three more months.”

  “Me too. I see Skype sex in our future. Lots and lots of Skype sex.”

  “Damn,” he chuckled. “I was looking forward to phone sex, but I like your idea a hell of a lot better.”

  He pulled me into a kiss that made my heart race even after the hours that we had already spent together today. The more intense our kiss became, the more I wanted to give in to his request that I skip work. Luckily—or maybe unfortunately—his phone distracted us from the bedside table, alerting us of an incoming text.

  “I should get that,” he groaned in objection, reluctantly pulling away from me to grab his phone. “It could be the news we’re waiting for.”

  I sighed as he checked his text, the tingling of his kiss lingering on my lips.

  “It’s from Ava,” he said, extending his phone so we could both see the text.

  Ava: I just recorded a Facebook Live video with a public statement. The truth is out! You’re off the hook. ;)

  Ava: And Matt…Thank you. For everything.

  Another text came through with a link. Matt clicked on it, taking us to Ava’s video.

  She sat in an office chair, behind a desk in a small room, a burgundy wall behind her with framed photos of brightly colored classic cars on either side of her head. Even though the lighting was shit, she looked stunning. Her shiny black hair fell in waves down her chest, a side-swept bang resting just above her eyes. Leaning in with her forearms on the desk, fingers interlinked, she began to speak.

  “I’ve never done a live video like this before, but I figured it would be the fastest way to get the truth to you. You’ve all come to believe that the mystery man I’ve been seen with in the last few months is Matt Langston. But nothing could be further from the truth. Matt and I have become good friends since meeting at the beginning of the year, but we are nothing more, nothing less. It’s true that we care about each other, as friends do, but not in the way you may think. He’s a brother to me in every sense except in blood, and I am a sister to him. That’s it.”

  The video comments exploded in an array of conflicting remarks that were there and gone so fast that I could barely read them.

  0: 21 Nooooo! But you’re so good together!

  0:23 I knew it.

  0:24 Woohoo! Matt is back on the market! He’s all mine bitches!

  0:27 Nobody cares. Go home.

  Ava continued, “The man who I have come to love is someone else. And as my relationship with that man progressed, it became more and more—” she turned her head to the side and smiled. Was someone in the room with her? “—complicated.”

  Turning back to the camera, she resumed, “I have deeply fallen for this person whom you’ve pegged as a mystery man, and he has fallen for me. There are reasons I we have kept our relationship under the radar. Soon, you’ll know what those reasons are. You’ll know why I kept him a secret from my family and from the world, but first, you need to know that the one person who I could confide
in from the very beginning of my so called secret relationship, was Matt.”

  Remarks about Matt came streaming in, mostly fans showing their love, with an occasional troll saying something obscene.

  Ava sighed, “Matt helped me through an incredibly difficult time and in a moment of weakness, he was there to console me, and embrace me. That very embrace, the hug between me and Matt that was photographed and shared over fifty-two million times on Facebook alone, the one that caused people to assume we were an official couple, was simply Matt being nothing more than a friend.

  Yet, from that picture, it was assumed that Matt and I were in love. And together, Matt and I made a conscious choice not to deny that assumption. Knowing that I wasn’t ready to share the truth about my real relationship with the world, or my family, my good friend Matt agreed to go along with my plan to keep up that very façade. To protect me. To protect my family. To protect our business.

  I take full responsibility for that. It was my idea, not Matt’s. And please know that my intentions were never to hurt anyone. Not my family. Not Matt. And not the man I love. Unfortunately, by lying to everyone, that is all I have done. And I am so sorry for that.

  After revealing the truth to our families and close friends just this morning, and receiving nothing but support from them, we’ve realized that because they love us, they’ll accept us. And we hope that you, our fans and followers, will accept us, too. So, I guess the only thing to do is to introduce you to the man I love.”