I met him on the landing. He was waiting for me. He jiggled a package of microwave popcorn. “I was trying to save you the trouble of having to go home to get more.” Then he looked pointedly at my hands and saw that the only thing I carried was the condo key.
This was so embarrassing. How did I explain this? It was pretty obvious what I had been doing and why. I didn’t know what to say, so I just shrugged my shoulders.
He laughed but he didn’t say a word, he just took the key from my hand and opened the door and motioned me in. Was he used to this kind of thing? Did women always rush around making themselves presentable when he was around?
Then I managed to scare myself. Did he often usher strange women into rooms so he could take advantage of the situation? Did he think he was that good-looking? Was that a smug expression he was trying to hide? This was so humiliating. I should have just pinned a sign on my chest, “Available and Eager.” I heard the door click closed behind us. What was I doing? I didn’t know this man!
“Uh, I can take it from here, you don’t need to come in.” I reached for the popcorn package he was holding. He pulled it up, higher than I would have been able to reach without a step stool.
“No, no, you go rewind your movie, I’ll make the popcorn, I know where everything is. It’s the least I can do since I caused you to spill yours,” he said with a raised eyebrow and a wicked, mocking smile.
Ohhh, I had his number, he was baiting me. He had the satisfaction of my knowing that he knew that I was attracted to him. “Fine,” I said as I walked over, picked up the remote and pressed rewind. Then I picked up my glass, drank the dregs that remained and turned to go into the kitchen for more. He was there at my elbow with the bottle ready to refill it. His eyes met mine and I could have sworn I saw the most mischievous twinkle before they became smoky and intense with heat.
I had to force myself to look at my glass to break the contact. His eyes followed mine and he poured the richlooking Merlot very, very slowly. He had very nice hands, tanned with long tapering fingers, the knuckles lightly dusted with blonde hair, his fingernails clean and evenly cut. I could easily visualize them stroking a woman’s leg as he worked his way up her thigh. His words jerked me out of my reverie.
“Popcorn, wine, Ladyhawke, and a facial, aren’t you supposed to do this kind of thing with other women?”
“I don’t really know that many women here. Even though I’ve lived here for almost five years, I’ve been in mourning most of that time. I do have two really good friends, but they’re out of town.”
“Mourning?”
“Yes, my husband died shortly after we moved here. He had a heart attack on the golf course, not too far from here really.” I waved out the back window to the Maples Golf Course and to the fairways and tee boxes that could be seen from there.
“I’m so sorry.”
“It’s taken me a long time to get over the shock. I’m just now getting out and seeing people again, getting back to my routine, playing some golf.”
“I love Ladyhawke. I can never see it enough times, would you allow me to sit here and watch it with you?” His smile was so genuine that I found it hard to refuse him.
“Uh, sure, that is if you’re not expected someplace
else.”
“Folsum has his monkey now, he doesn’t need me. Let me get the popcorn.”
“Get yourself some wine, too,” I called.
“I already did,” he stated matter-of-factly.
I had just seated myself on the sofa so I had to turn in my seat and look over my shoulder to see the full glass sitting on the counter. I met his gaze as he turned from the microwave and smiled, “I didn’t think you went to all that trouble,” he picked up the wine glass and used it to indicate my new state of dress, “for nothing. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I read that as a sign of interest.”
I covered my face with my hand and shook my head back and forth. He chuckled as he came around to the sofa, picked up the remote and took a sip of wine. “Mmm, great wine.” His eyes searched out mine, “You could’ve come back here in that pink bikini and I wouldn’t have minded even a little bit.”
I gasped as he hit the play button and the musical score introducing the movie began.
He replaced the remote on the coffee table, picked up the bowl of popcorn and settled it in my lap before leaning over to whisper in my ear, “Had I known you were a widow then, nothing would have kept me from coming over to join you in that hot tub.”
I turned my head, my eyes wide, to meet his, which were now crinkled with laughter. He lifted his hand, took my chin between his thumb and fingers and faced me front, “Watch the movie, the beginning is the best part.”
Chapter Six
Momma and Her Prayers We sat in silence as Navarre spun his Isabeau in the sun-dappled cathedral. The happiness that radiated from the couple made Matt smile. When the ending credits began, he turned to me and took my hand in his. His eyes searched mine and I slowly smiled.
“What?” I asked, as clearly, he was trying to ask me something.
“What must it be like to love someone that way? Have you ever felt like that, been that happy?”
“Yes,” I whispered. “Until Stephen died I was that happy.”
His eyes looked out over the top of my head to something in the distance and he murmured, “I haven’t. I’ve never been fortunate enough to have anything come even close to that.” His eyes came back to capture mine. His hand moved to my throat and his thumb ran back and forth on my jaw. “Does that only happen once to somebody?”
I closed my eyes and shrugged, unnerved by his touch but not enough to move away from it. I blinked and sighed. “My mother doesn’t seem to think so. She’s on a mission to see a happily-ever-after ending for me again. I promised to cooperate and work with her on it.”
“Cooperate?”
“I promised to start dating. In fact I promised to go on six dates before July 20th—her birthday.”
He smiled then arched a brow at me. “You could count this as a date.”
I hesitated. Just what was he up to? “I suppose I could . . . But why would I?”
In a voice husky and smooth like premium bourbon he whispered, “If it’s a date I want the goodnight kiss that comes with it.”
He certainly was confident, I thought, almost arrogant in fact. But I didn’t care how big his ego was at that moment because I wanted him to kiss me more than I wanted to breathe.
He focused his eyes on mine and I saw the flash of heat before they sparked with passion. It was all I could do to keep from melting into the sofa as he took me in his arms and lowered his head to mine. Warm lips that tasted of butter and wine touched mine and my heart raced making my chest tight. I closed my eyes so I could savor his kiss and moaned when he took it deeper.
As his lips lingered over mine he exerted more pressure until I opened for him and allowed his tongue inside. His groan signaled his pleasure and he invaded. I felt him pressing me back into the cushions while his tongue circled mine and stroked inside my lips. He courted my tongue until I joined the dance and breached his lips. He gasped and desire spiked in me. I felt my body flush with want. His hand left my waist and moved to caress my cheek. He tilted my head back and took advantage of the angle to go even deeper, moaning with delight when I turned with him and greedily accepted the change in position.
I felt his other hand slide behind my shoulders as he lowered me onto the sofa. We’d had one amazing kiss but now here I was sliding toward horizontal with his hard body covering mine. I told myself this was going too fast, that I was allowing him liberties I shouldn’t, but I didn’t want to end this. I was feeling again, and it felt wonderful. God, it had been so long since a man had touched me like this. I wanted to experience every sensation I could.
We ended up prone on the sofa, his knee insinuating itself between my thighs, his other hand roving and finding its way under the hem of my sweater. He was moving quickly but I couldn’t fault him, he was
a man taking whatever advantage a woman would give. I knew I should call a halt to this, but I didn’t want to. I simply did not want to. This was every woman’s fantasy, and I didn’t know if I’d ever get this chance again. This man and his attentions were feeding a long dormant hunger. By his touch he was telling me I was desirable, it was a heady feeling and I had no desire to shut it down.
The tingling feeling in my lips was feeding my pulse. Amessage was going out as each lap of his tongue sent wave after wave of sensation coursing through my body. I was thoroughly enjoying this man’s touch. His subtle and then not so subtle caresses were building little fires everywhere, dampening my core in the process. My stomach muscles tensed when I felt his fingers graze my belly and I knew he felt the tightening when he let them linger and go idle. His hand had stopped but his mouth continued its thorough assault, weakening my resolve. I wanted this man’s touch so badly that it scared me. It had been so long since a man had caressed me, held me, kissed me. When his hand stroked up my side and his open palm cupped a breast, I keened. My nipple throbbed and ruched tight as it begged for the attention it knew would be coming. I heard his heavy breathing and looked up into his slumberous eyes. Before I knew what he was about, he had my sweater over my head and out of the corner of my eye I saw it flung high into the air.
I turned my head and blinking as if in a stupor I broke away and managed to sit up into the corner of the sofa. I watched his eyes lower to my chest and as he discovered the area he had just uncovered, I saw pleasure light his face. His tongue slowly snaked out to wet his bottom lip. Desire, hot and bold, was in his eyes, it remained even as they widened and he grinned with obvious delight.
“Lord almighty, you are a vision.”
I looked down at myself and saw my full breasts overflowing, ready to fall out of my dramatically plunging bra. So eager were my breasts to be touched, I could feel them plumping even more. My nipples pebbled under his thorough examination straining against the lace cups. His hand rose and his fingertips stroked the upper swells and I sobbed. I actually sobbed. His thumb slid down to rub a sensitive nipple through the lace and I jerked from the intense, jolting sensation.
I looked into his face and abruptly a moment of sanity returned for us both. “How do I stop this runaway train when I want so desperately to enjoy the ride over the cliff?” I asked. My hand went out to feather his cheek, “But I don’t know you well enough to do this. Believe me, I want to though. I think I even need to. But I just can’t right now.”
“I understand. I want you so much now that I couldn’t do you justice anyway.” His fingers lingered, stroking the swells and outlining the shadows in my cleavage. “You don’t know how hard I am willing my lips to stay away from your breasts. If I don’t leave right now, I’m afraid I will lose the battle. But I definitely want a rain check. In fact, I’m not leaving here without one. The next time I take your shirt off I want a whole day and a whole night to play.”
His eyes played over me again, he was scorching me with steely gray glints as he flagrantly examined me. Then his face lifted and eyes banked with desire met mine. He leaned forward and brushed his lips over mine, “You are magnificent.”
He pulled away, smiled back at me, and then leaned in again. With strong arms braced on the back of the sofa, he took a punishing kiss before lifting off of me and getting up off the sofa. The next thing I knew my sweater was being tossed onto my chest.
“Walk me to the door and let’s talk about our second date.”
I pulled my sweater over my head and lifted my hair out from the neck. My curly mop was thoroughly mussed now and in an effort to tame it I ran my hands through it to fluff it.
“You’re beautiful, you don’t need to improve on a thing. Trust me, it’s harder walking out on you now than you can possibly imagine. You mentioned earlier that you golf.”
“I do. But I’m out of practice. I play with two of my friends. We hardly ever keep score because we’re so bad at it.”
“Would you meet me anyway, play a quick nine with me before I have a match? Say Wednesday at nine?”
“Well . . .”
“C’mon. It’s only golf, and it’ll count as another date for your mom.”
“You know I really don’t know anything about you.”
“You can learn more about somebody by playing golf with them than by sleeping with them.”
I thought about that for a moment. The sleeping with him part sounded a lot more fun. “Okay, I’m game. Which course?”
“Can you meet me at the Jones Byrd Clubhouse at 8:30? We’ll hit a few balls and be ready to tee off at nine.”
“All right. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. I wasn’t very good to begin with; not playing very often over the past few years hasn’t helped matters.”
He walked over and stroked my cheek, “Sweetheart, if there was ever anybody I wouldn’t mind spending time in the woods with, it’s you.” He kissed me lightly on the nose then opened the door and left.
I flopped backward onto the sofa and stared at the ceiling fan wishing I had thought to turn it on. I was hot and bothered, and sublimely turned on. I took a few minutes to regroup. As I cleaned up Maryann and Bill’s condo I found myself licking my lips and smiling. Okay, Momma, you did good, real good. I can’t begin to tell you how good.
Chapter Seven
Friends, You Just Can’t Have Too Many Early the next morning I called Tessa and Viv and we arranged to have an impromptu lunch at the Pink Palace pool. I ran up to Sunset Gourmet and asked Jo if she would put a few salads and sandwiches together while I browsed and sipped on a skinny latte. I was eager to see my friends, and to tell them about the strange coincidence of meeting Matt that seemed so dreamlike now. Of course, I wasn’t about to fill them in on everything said and done, just the comical part of how I’d looked, the fact that I’d seen him twice before, and that he had asked me to meet him for a round of golf on Wednesday.
The pool was practically deserted, there was just one lady reading on the opposite side when we arrived, so we felt free to giggle and guffaw at my major faux pas.
“So what’s he look like?” Viv asked. “Pretty dreamy really, he seems worldly if you know what I mean. Yet he is very easy to talk to.”
“No, I mean tall, dark, etc.?”
“Tall. Not dark, well he has a tan of course. His hair is sandy brown with light streaks of blonde and grey, it’s thick and curls at the ends.”
“He’s not one of those long-haired, pony-tailed types is he?” asked Tessa.
“No, his hair is short, curling just below his ears. And his eyes, wow his eyes. They’re flinty, a steely blue-gray color, very bright, and very expressive.”
“And, uh, the rest of him?” asked Viv. “Is he built?”
I sat back and my mind flitted back to the day I had seen him running in skimpy shorts. “Yeah, he’s definitely built.”
Collectively we all sighed, each in our own little world. Then Viv, always the curious one, piped up, “So surely you’ve had your first kiss, do tell.”
“Viv, that’s privileged!”
“I’m going to needle it out of you, piece by piece, so you might as well give, were you surprised or were you ready for it?”
“I think I’ve been ready for it for a few years now,” I joked. “But yeah, I was surprised. I’d only known him for the length of the movie, and we’d hardly talked at all.” I closed my eyes and remembered the feel of his lips on mine. “I guess it seemed appropriate at the time, what with Isabeau and Navarre twirling and kissing and that wonderful music stirring up the blood.”
“You do know that the soundtrack for that movie was panned and hailed as one of the worst soundtracks ever, don’t you?” Tessa interjected with a teasing smile.
“I agree it’s no West Side Story, but I love that music!” I defended.
“Back to the kiss,” Viv prompted.
“Oh yeah. Okay, this is all you’re getting: it was long and very, very nice. Lots of lip action wit
h some very deep Frenching going on. It was quite amazing actually, he’s a very good kisser.”
“And . . . it led to other things? It did, didn’t it?”
“All I’m saying is that I was vertical when the kiss started and horizontal when it ended. Now leave some things sacred, will ya?”
Both women squealed, Tessa placed her palm flat on her chest and emitted a drawn-out moan while Viv fanned her face with a fistful of napkins. But I wasn’t about to be fodder for their curious libidos any longer. I hopped up, stripped off my shorts and jumped into the pool. It was a cooling off I desperately needed as I was overheated by not just the sun, but by my escalating pulse just remembering what it was like being under Matt’s long, hard body on that sofa.
I swam underwater for a few laps, enjoying the feel of the cool water passing over my body. When I surfaced Tessa and Viv were cleaning up the mess and packing things away.
“We leaving?” I asked as I walked out of the pool on the shallow end.
“Yeah, I have to go to Rose’s for some plants. Arlene said she’d help me plant them tomorrow if I got them today,” Tessa said.
“And I have to go grocery shopping, I promised to make something for the church bake sale. What are you going to do for the rest of the day?” Viv asked.
“I thought I’d ride my bike around Oyster Bay. It’s a beautiful day, not too hot, not too humid, and I don’t want to waste it being inside.”
“It’s dangerous riding on Shoreline Drive, Cat, be very careful.”
“There really isn’t a safe place to ride, but I’m always careful, and I always wear my helmet.”
“Good girl,” Viv said as she patted me on the shoulder, “but next time we get together, I’d rather hear that you’re not being quite so good, if’n you know what I mean.” She gave me a wink and kissed my cheek.
The Widows of Sea Trail (The Widows of Sea Trail Trilogy) Page 5