Almost Matched (Almost Bad Boys) (11 page)

The first bite confirms that this is one of the best dinners I’ve had in a while.
 

Colin lifts his eyebrows and cocks his head to the side, as if waiting for me to confess.
 

“Oh, man. This is really amazing,” I talk through a mouthful, covering my mouth with a linen napkin. Yes, he has linen napkins! I mentally scold myself for falling short in the culinary department.
 

“Good.” His lips twitch and he flashes a wicked smile.
 

I drink my wine. Our eyes meet and I can’t look away. His gaze is mesmerizing. Oh, no, I’m in trouble. I fiddle with my fork. My heart is beating way too fast. I notice how his chest muscles strain against the fabric of his black t-shirt. His bicep bulges and jumps as he lifts his glass. I have a questionable urge to run my hands over that arm and chest.
 

“Do you like roses?” he asks quietly, nodding to the vase with bouquet of dark-red roses positioned in the middle of the table.
 

“Yes. These are gorgeous.” I stand up and smell them.
 

“I wasn’t sure what flowers you like, and so I thought red roses are usually safe.” He smiles.
 

“Colin, you didn’t need to worry about that. Although I appreciate the thought.”

He shrugs a little and takes my hand in his. “I wanted to make this evening special.” His voice is low. Seductive?
 

Holy Mother of Sweet Jesus, I’m about to start hyperventilate. Heat stirs in my belly and lazily drenches all the way to my underwear. These bright-blue eyes half-hooded under his lids tell me exactly what’s on his mind. My own mind eagerly nods her approval. I look at his lips and immediately imagine them on mine, on my neck, along my collarbone. Oh, no, that doesn’t help me keep control.
 

He’s so close to me, and then he stands up, pulling me to my feet. “Come.”

What’s going on? I obey, keeping my eyes on Colin. He smiles and blows out the candles. We walk to the living room, where upbeat salsa music comes out from the stereo.
 

“Do you dance salsa?” He stands in front of me, holding my hands in his.
 

“Some.” I laugh and follow his lead.
 

Colin’s movements are fluid and sensual. He has an excellent sense of rhythm. I can’t stop beaming, while my eyes keep darting to his swaying to the beat hips. Wow, he can cook
and
he can dance.

He presses me to him and spins us around twice. I squeal and beseech my feet not to stumble. I’ve taken salsa lessons a few years ago, but I lack practice.
 

Colin turns us once again. He leads me to swirl on my own under his arm—once, twice, three times. I laugh and realize that it is not the wine that makes me happy and unconcerned. It is Colin.
 

The song ends, and he is enticingly close to me. He looks so endearing and sexy with his messy hair and eyes twinkling with mischief. Another song starts, but we are not dancing. Colin’s hand slides up to the back of my head, and then his lips are on mine. At first he kisses me softly, as if testing my reaction. But I’m not pulling away. I lean to him and return the kiss. His lips part, and I feel his tongue slide along my lower lip. It gently teases for a moment, and then my mouth is under his command, inviting and obeying. I melt into him.
 

My body, lead by Queen V-Jay-Jay, decides to betray my male-cautious resolve. Treason in full display. I have officially swooned over Colin. And by now I realize that Ali’s fuck buddy advice goes out of the window in a jiffy. I knew it was going to be just like this.
 

“What am I going to do with you,” he says, gently nibbling on my earlobe. His voice is low and seductive.
 

“What would you like to do?” I challenge. I know exactly what I’m willing him to do, and so does he. I lean away to look into those clear, blue eyes.
 

Colin takes my hand in his and leads me toward the staircase. “Let me show you the upstairs then.”

“Is that your pick-up line?” I feign suspicion.
 

“I think we are past the pick-up line stage.” He snorts, and then grins at me.
 

I can’t help it but laugh. He makes me feel carefree. I want to believe it’s a good thing.
 

We climb the stairs to his bedroom. The whole place is meticulous. I’ve never seen a guy’s house that looks as neat as Colin’s. Hell on wheels. The score list is growing rapidly: he can cook, dance, kiss, and keeps his place tidy. And I have a feeling he’s amazing in bed. Well, time to find out.

NINE

Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, and you’ll never walk alone.
 

Oscar Hammerstein II

“I can’t believe I’ve been dating Colin for two months,” I muse, turning my computer on.
 

“You finally found your perfect guy, girlfriend.” Ali smiles approvingly. “I’m very happy for you.”

“Thank you. You were right, he’s a keeper.”

“Ha! Told ya.” She smirks. “So are you sure you can take care of that website issue?”

“Yes. Stop pestering me. Go to your dental appointment.” I swat at the air in front of me in an universal gesture
scoot, shoo, go away.
“I will have Michael look into it. It normally takes one email for him to jump in and start working. That guy is a genius.”
 

“And we pay him a hefty sum too,” Ali adds.
 

“That too, but he’s worth every penny. I’m hopeless with anything technical.”

“Me too. Okay, I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” She waves to me and leaves.
 

My cell phone dings, announcing a new text message. I look at the screen. It’s Colin.

“Do you like them?” it reads.
 

I stare dumbfounded, not understanding what he’s referring to. Maybe he was texting someone else and by mistake sent this to me? But who? And about what? I eye the message suspiciously.
 

At that very moment I overhear Ellen, our receptionist, talking with someone. A few seconds later she’s knocking on my office door and enters. Or rather a humongous bouquet of red roses peppered with a white baby-breath flowers enters first, closely followed by Ellen.
 

“Wow!” I exclaim. “What’s that?”

“It’s for you!” Ellen squeaks excitedly. She places the arrangement on the small table in the corner of my office and turns to look at me. A huge smile splits her face. “They smell so good.”

I stand up and walk over to examine the attached card. I thank Ellen on her way out of my office. The card says, SIXTY ROSES FOR EACH OF THE MAGICAL SIXTY DAYS WITH YOU.

Ohmigod! There is nothing better than a guy who’s not afraid to show his romantic site. I grin like an idiot, burying my nose in the flowers. Yes, they do smell fantastic. I remember the text and rush to my desk. I tap the screen of my phone and write back, “They r absolutely magnificent. Just like u r”
 

His text arrives almost immediately. “I miss you terribly. Looking forward to Friday”

I type, “Me too xxoo”

This Friday we’re getting together with Caroline and her latest guy, Patrick. A double date is something I’ve never done before, and—frankly speaking—I’m not really excited about it. It’s just weird, but it was Caroline’s idea, and I want to make her happy. I know she likes Patrick a lot, and so I need to show my support. I’ve met him twice, and he seems like a really cool, down-to-earth guy. He’s a manager at some construction company in Seattle. I joked once that Caroline needs to have him wear his tool belt and absolutely nothing else for her. She said this is exactly what she’s planning for one of their dates at her place.
 

Colin is totally cool with going on that double date with them tomorrow. We are planning to have dinner and drinks and maybe catch a movie afterwards. I smile at the thought of spending time with my BFF and Colin, but push it out of my mind for now to concentrate on work.
 

Right before I leave for lunch, Colin texts me again. He’s close to Bellevue and wants to have a quick lunch with me. This is so unexpected, and I keep smiling all the way to Good Eats Guys on Bellevue Way. I park my car and see him walking briskly toward me. He yanks my door open and pulls me into a hug. Without saying a word, he kisses me passionately, as if his life depends on it. Wow.
 

“God, Natalie. I missed you,” he whispers against my hair, and then I feel the tip of his tongue slide over the edge of my ear.
 

“So I see.” I laugh.

His boyish grin melts my insides. He looks so young and careless; so hopelessly happy. Holy Mother of Sweet Jesus, I’m head-over-heels with this gorgeous man. I hug him fiercely and whisper, “I want you. Now.”

I hear him inhale sharply, and my pulse quickens. “I always want you,” he murmurs, piercing me with his stare. “Are you hungry?”

“Only for you.” What? That was my
other
mouth speaking.
 

“Good. But that will have to wait a bit. I have a meeting in an hour. Unless…” He wiggles his eyebrows and chuckles.

“Unless what?” I laugh.
 

“Unless we snatch a hotel room for a bit. But there is no way I’m gonna let you go in less than an hour.”

I sigh. “That sounds like a fun idea. But I have a conference call soon. I can’t blow it.”

“Sucks, right?” he teases.
 

I elbow him in the ribs.
 

“Ouch. What was that for?” He grabs me and spins me around.
 

I squeal like a schoolgirl. “Put me down. Hey, I will take a rain check.”

“Deal. Let’s grab a bite to eat. I’m starving.” Colin takes my hand, and we walk inside Good Eats Guys.
 

The place is packed, but the hostess tells us it should be no more than a ten minutes wait. A table becomes available sooner, and she takes us to the back of the restaurant. Colin holds my hand in his while we follow her. We sit in a booth, facing each other. The waitress appears almost immediately and takes our order—burgers with fries and diet Cokes.
 

I open my mouth to say something, but the look on Colin’s face stops me. His eyes are narrowed, and he glares somewhere over my left shoulder. I turn around to see a blond girl in a booth nearby, eating a salad by herself. She has the earphones in her ears and bobs her head probably to the music she’s listening to. There is an opened book in front of her, and she seems completely immersed in it.
 

“Who’s that?” I ask.
 

“Someone from my past,” he murmurs and averts his eyes from her. “Fuck,” he adds quietly.
 

“That bad, huh?”

He doesn’t answer for a few seconds. When he looks at me, his happy, carefree demeanor is gone. “She’s nobody. Just a friend of a friend.”

“Well, you looked as if you saw a bloody zombie.” I smirk.
 

“Let’s just say she brings some painful memories,” he says. His brows are drawn together, and a deep groove marks his smooth forehead.
 

I bite my tongue before I unleash some heavy-duty snark. “Do you want to go somewhere else? We still have time.”

“No. It’s okay.” He looks at the window. He seems lost in thought. I touch his hand, but he doesn’t seem to notice.
 

“Hey,” I say gently. “Talk to me.”

He gazes at me and a ghost of a smile touches his lips. I squeeze his hand.
 

Colin shakes his head as if to clear his heavy thoughts and sighs. “We all have some bad experiences, right? What’s in the past better stays in the past.” I think he tries to sound upbeat, but his face betrays him. There is so much pain etched in his handsome features that all I want to do is to hold him and tell him that I’m here to help, no matter what.
 

I don’t want to pry, but he is my boyfriend, and I feel that I have a right to know what just happened.
 
So I wait.