He swore again as she arched back, presenting herself to him as she worked his jeans down and freed him from his boxers.
“God, Dash,” she said, her hands on him as he made it his mission to taste every inch of her he could reach.
He moved a hand between them and could feel her, hot and ready. When he brushed a finger across her barely-there underwear and heard her moan, he let out a throaty chuckle. She drew back to look at him and nearly took his breath away. Her dark hair was draped over her bare shoulders, the tips curling around her breasts. Her mouth was swollen from their kisses, and her eyes, thankfully, looked as needy as his.
“Something funny?” she asked, still stroking him.
“Condoms are going to magically appear, is all,” he said with a smile. She looked confused and stopped moving her hand, which was probably a good thing.
With his right hand, he reached forward and, after a few botched attempts, managed to get the glove compartment open and pull out a box of condoms. He held them up and her expression turned to one of amused curiosity.
“I bought them the first day I met you. Unopened, see,” he said, showing her the sealed sides of the box.
“Let me guess,” she smiled and leaned forward, nuzzling his ear and neck and giving him the space he needed. “You were a boy scout?”
“Are you complaining?” he asked as he opened a condom packet and began rolling one on.
Matty raised herself up and met his gaze. “Not in the least,” she replied as she sank down on him.
Air flew out of his lungs as her heat surrounded him. Tangling one hand in her hair and gripping the other firmly around her waist, he let her pick the pace but held her at just the right angle. She moved up and down, taking him deep inside her as she sank against him. The slow rhythm let Dash feel every centimeter of her as she covered him, feeling every part of him inside her.
Given how quickly things had heated up physically between them, this deliberate, sensual tempo gave his mind time to catch up and appreciate what was happening. He knew how it would end for both of them, and so, as she moved over him, he let his mind absorb the fact that he was with Matty. That she was as greedy for him as he was for her. That, despite his earlier misgivings and doubts, she wanted this as much as he did. It was a heady sensation and made the physical aspects, the act, of what they were doing that much more powerful.
She quickened her pace just a touch and let her head fall back as she spoke his name and other small, pleading words; he gave her neck a little nip then leaned back and savored her urgency. And then there was that heart-stopping moment when her body locked around him and she cried out, driving herself down on him. He curled his body up to meet her, feel every bit of her. And only when he was sure she had finished, he lowered his hips a few inches, gripped her waist with both hands, and drove himself up into his own release.
Spent, Dash let his hips sink back down and Matty fell forward against his chest. As her head rested on his shoulder and his hands lay limp against her hips, they gasped for air in the truck’s warm cab. And Dash knew exactly why sex was nicknamed “the little death.”
After a few minutes, when they were both breathing if not normally, then regularly, he reached up and brushed some hair away from her face. She pulled back just enough to see him, then offered a small smile.
He didn’t have any words and neither, it seemed, did she. So he pulled her back to him and gave her a soft, sweet kiss before resting his forehead against hers. They stayed like that for another few moments until the sound of Anderson’s back door slamming shut brought them both back to a sudden reality.
Matty shrank against him, as if to hide herself in case anyone looked toward the truck.
“It’s dark where we’re parked and there are lights by the door. Whoever it is isn’t going to be able to see into the truck unless they walk right up to it,” he said.
“Maybe,” she said. “But have you noticed the windows?”
He glanced around, then chuckled. They’d gone and fogged up all the windows. “And teenagers think they have all the fun,” he said.
She smiled and then let out a little sigh of relief when whoever it was who’d come out went back inside. She pulled away from Dash and looked around.
“Here are some perfect examples of the differences between real sex and fictional sex. Now that we’re done, you’re going to have to figure out how to clean up without a bathroom nearby. And I’m going to be sore tomorrow from the door handle digging into my leg and the steering wheel at my back. Not that I’m complaining,” she added, leaning back in for a deep kiss, pressing her body against his.
When they ended the kiss she pushed off of him, managing to get herself untangled and into the passenger seat without too much trouble.
“Just to be clear,” he said, reaching for the paper towels he always kept in his truck. “We aren’t done.” As efficiently as he could in his car and with Matty watching, he cleaned himself up then turned to her. She hadn’t taken her eyes off him.
“Your place or mine?” he asked.
She smiled. “Mine. It’s closer.”
CHAPTER 9
MATTY ROLLED OVER TO FIND Dash sitting on the bed, dressed and tying his shoes. “That time already?” she asked, squinting in the morning sun.
“Hmm,” he said, turning toward her. Picking up her still-bandaged arm, he examined it then placed a kiss on her inner elbow. “How does this feel?”
“It’s fine,” she said with a lazy morning smile.
“You’re taking care of it, though?”
She gave him a look then rolled over and buried her face in the pillow.
“Matty?”
“Yes,” she grumbled, her voice muffled. “I’m taking care of it.”
“Good.”
His hand spread across her bare back and she felt his lips press against the skin between her shoulder blades. Then they were at her ear.
“I’ll talk to you later?”
She smiled into the pillow and moved ever so slightly against him. “Count on it.”
Dash was still chuckling when he left the room. From her position in the bed, Matty heard him feed the dogs and let them out. Good man. A few minutes later, he called Bob back in and she heard Isis join them in the kitchen. A few more minutes passed and her little slice of Hudson Valley was silent, the sound of Dash’s truck having faded away.
Fortunately, the memories of the night before had not faded away and she stretched and luxuriated in the satiated feeling. She thought about getting up and showering but realized Dash had inspired her—in more ways than one. She slipped into a robe, popped downstairs, and grabbed her laptop. She paused for a moment when she spotted Brad’s computer on one of the shelves. She frowned, thinking it had been one shelf higher the last time she’d noticed it. But then, not being certain and not wanting to lose her focus, she turned and headed back to bed.
And there she stayed, for several hours, writing the scene that would never be in her book. But at the end, when she hit save, she knew her characters would be the better for it. Their connection was solid in her mind now and she knew the rest of their story would come to her much easier.
With a smile, she closed her laptop and looked at the clock. She hadn’t showered or even brushed her teeth, let alone bothered with breakfast or coffee. And it was close to two o’clock. With a shake of her head, she jumped into the shower and cleaned herself up then headed downstairs to eat and take care of the neglected animals.
Thankfully, it wasn’t too hot and the rabbits had plenty of water. She let the chickens out, collected some eggs, and made a mental note to ask Dash about the pancake breakfast, since she now had over two-dozen eggs and had only been in town for a week. After spending some time futzing in the garden, pulling weeds and watering, she collected some lettuce and herbs, along with some tomatoes and peas, and made her way back inside.
Realizing she hadn’t called her mom in a few days, she picked up the phone and dialed.
&n
bsp; “Mama,” Matty said when her mom answered.
“Matty, Mija, how are you?”
“I’m fine, Mama. I just wanted to call and say hello.”
“And check in, in case Charlotte calls me. This is so I can tell her you called.”
Matty laughed. “And maybe that, too. How are you?”
“I am fine. It is hot down here, as it always is this time of year. But everything is well. Everyone is well. How is that place?”
She could tell that her mother was trying hard to be fair to Brad. He had no more created the situation they’d all found themselves in than Matty did. But even so, she tempered her answer and told her mother only that it was fine. She didn’t say anything about the cool, clean breezes or the beautiful sight of a storm making its way across the valley. Or the fresh vegetables from the garden. Or Dash.
She didn’t like keeping things from her mother, but for right or for wrong, she felt as if she would be betraying her mom if she revealed just how much, even in such a short time, she had grown to like the Hudson Valley. That’s not to say that she was going to pick up and move here, but she could understand why Brad had chosen this area. It was different than the society world he’d grown up in—still beautifully northeastern and historic like Greenwich, but quieter and more peaceful.
And so she kept these parts of her experience to herself, not wanting to hurt her mother in any way. Instead, she talked about her book and the progress she was making, they talked about the opening of a new modern art museum that her mother was helping with, and they caught up on their DC friends and neighbors.
When she hung up, Matty took a glass of iced tea out to the patio, called Bob down from his bed upstairs, and sent him out to do his business under her watchful eye. He had several more days to go in the bandage and cone, and while he bumped into things and occasionally looked confused as to why he wasn’t fitting into places the way he normally did, in typical Lab fashion, he seemed to take everything in stride.
She was smiling, watching his attempts to sniff around when his nose wouldn’t touch the ground when something caught her eye. Glancing toward the small table on the patio, she frowned. Something was lying in the middle of the table that she was certain was not there when she’d cleaned the patio area the afternoon after Bob’s incident.
Taking a few steps closer, she cocked her head to get a better look. And her stomach lurched. Instinct kicked in and her eyes scoured the hill behind the house and the driveway for signs of anything, or anyone, out of place. Finding nothing, but still feeling entirely creeped out, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed Dash.
“And how was your day?” he asked when he picked up the phone.
His voice sounded very male and she had no doubt he was remembering the night before, but her mind was now elsewhere. “Uh, good.” She paused, not sure how to proceed.
“Matty, is everything okay?” he asked. The satisfaction she’d heard in his voice had been replaced by concern.
“I don’t know. Did you notice anything on the patio table last night when we came in?”
He gave a short bark of laughter. “You’re kidding, right?”
She had to give him that, it’s not like she’d noticed anything, other than him, either. “Okay, well, I just found something on the table and, um, I’m not sure what to make of it or when it might have come to be here.”
“What is it?” he asked.
She paused again and took one more look at it. A wave of nausea washed over her. “I’m not completely sure, but I think it’s Bob’s toe.”
***
Dash’s mind went blank for a moment, then jumped into gear as his heart crawled into his throat. It wouldn’t have been unusual to find Bob’s toe out in the field he’d been in when it was separated from his foot, but to find it on the table on the patio couldn’t be a good thing.
“Can you bring it to me?” he asked.
“Uh, sure,” she answered.
“Take a plastic bag, turn it inside out and pick it up using the bag. Then flip it closed and seal it.”
“Like evidence or something?”
“Like something,” he muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing. I’m almost done for the day, can you bring it down here?” he asked.
“Sure. I’m done doing what I need to do. I can be there in a few minutes.”
They hung up and Dash sat for a moment, staring blankly at the paperwork in front of him. He didn’t know what Matty’s find meant, but it was just too weird to ignore. So he picked up the phone and called Ian.
“I don’t know that it’s anything,” Dash said after telling Ian what Matty had found.
“Yeah, I don’t either. But it is strange, I’ll grant you that. Are you planning to take a look at it?” Ian asked.
“I was, unless you don’t want me to.”
“No, go ahead,” Ian said. “I’d be interested in your thoughts and I know you’ll handle it carefully. I’m just about to leave Riverside and head home. Why don’t I stop by on my way and we can take it from there.”
Dash agreed to Ian’s plan and, after ending the conversation, forced his mind to focus on the paperwork in front of him so that when Matty arrived he’d be done for the day. Except for dealing with the toe.
He finished reviewing the last of the monthly accounting sheets just as the bell on the clinic door rang. He’d locked up after closing so went to open the door for her. He couldn’t help the smile that crept onto his face when he saw her standing there, hair down, in a sundress and flip-flops.
“Now that’s a way to say hi,” she said, stepping inside. Without a thought, his arms came around her and pulled her against him for a long kiss.
“And that’s even better,” she said when he drew back to look down at her. “Not to spoil the mood or anything, but I have this for you,” she said, holding up a paper bag. “It’s in a Ziploc bag inside this but I didn’t like looking at it so I put it in the second bag.”
He could hardly fault her for that. Taking her to have a seat in his office, he proceeded down to one of the exam rooms that had a microscope. Using a small pair of forceps, Dash retrieved the toe and placed it in a thin, glass container. Before looking at it under the scope, he held it up to examine with his naked eyes.
He couldn’t say for certain that it was Bob’s, but he’d bet the farm it was—same color fur, same size, and with the same kind of incision along the skin and bone. Not liking what he was seeing, he placed it under the microscope.
And he liked what he saw there even less. Based on what he could tell from the toe and what he remembered of Bob’s paw, the cut looked like it was made with a thin, knife-like blade, not glass. He wouldn’t wish an injury on any animal, but he had hoped to find something on the toe to indicate that it had been an accidental slice caused by glass left over from some long-ago house. He sat back and sighed. He was glad Ian was coming by. Like Matty, Dash didn’t know what it meant, but even the possibility of someone out there mutilating animals wasn’t one he liked to contemplate.
“Dash?” Matty walked into the room. “Is everything okay?”
He rolled his chair away from the desk. “It’s what I thought it would be.”
She eyed him for a minute then came forward and placed her arms around his neck. “That’s an answer that doesn’t really answer the question, isn’t it? Is it Bob’s toe? And if it is, how did it get back to my patio? Could one of the other dogs have brought it? Or one of the cats?”
He looked up at her and nodded but said nothing. He didn’t want to give her any more reason to be concerned, but any answers he might have would do just that. She eyed him again as he brushed a strand of hair from her face, then she lowered herself onto his lap, dropping her purse at his side.
“Did you have a good day?” she asked, feathering kisses along his neck.
He slipped one hand onto her thigh and held her waist with the other. “It’s definitely getting better,” he responded, grateful
she’d changed the subject but knowing she’d likely done so because she knew she wouldn’t like the answers if she continued to press him.
He felt her smile against his skin and pulled her closer. Tilting his head back, he maneuvered his mouth to hers and, just like the night before, his body went from zero to sixty in about two seconds. Wrapping his arms around her, he stood, lifting her with him, and walked the two steps to the exam table. She jumped when her bare legs touched the cool tabletop, but the protest was short lived when he pulled her to the edge and pressed himself against her.
***
Matty let her head fall back as he trailed his lips along her collar bone, nudging the top of her dress down as he went. He tugged the straps down her shoulders far enough to trap her arms and expose her breasts to him. Gently, he pushed her back onto the table. She arched her back against the cold metal but he kept one hand on her belly, holding her in place, as he began unbuttoning his pants with the other. She would like to think she hadn’t planned for this to happen, but taking a lesson from Dash, she had grabbed a couple of condoms to carry in her purse before she’d left the house. If their first time had been in his car in a public parking lot, clearly inhibition wasn’t going to be a problem.
The hand on her belly drifted down and Dash’s fingers found the edge of her underwear. Slowly, he slid them off and touched her softly as he took himself in his other hand.
“Close your eyes, Matty,” he ordered, and after a moment she complied, focusing her senses on his touch and the sounds they were making.
He pulled her hips to the edge of the table and draped her thighs over the side. She sucked in a breath and arched into him as he slid a finger inside her then slowly drew it out.
“Condoms, Dash. In my purse,” she managed to say, keeping her eyes closed, as she’d been told.
She heard him let out a quiet chuckle as he withdrew his finger from her and moved his hand back to her belly. Immediately she felt the loss of his intimacy but her anticipation ratcheted up when she heard the sound of him searching inside her purse, then the muted ripping noise of a little foil packet being torn open. Moments later, she felt the tip of him replace his finger and she was more than ready.
These Sorrows We See Page 11