Here Comes Trouble (13 page)

“I guess so-called liars don’t care for you, either.”

The way he watched her, she felt some of his anger was directed at her. “I came by earlier tonight, and I saw you with him.” The words sounded like an accusation. “You brought him into the house,” he said tersely. “Did you sleep with him?”

“I don’t think—”

“Are you sleeping with him? Did you sleep with him tonight? Is that why you’re naked under there?” The words came out in quick succession.

“I’m not going to answer your questions. I don’t—”

He tossed the bag of ice to the floor and approached her. “Oh, you’re going to answer my questions. You’re going to answer every question I ask you, if for no other reason than I had to fight off two men who ambushed me because of you.”

Her eyes grew wide. “I didn’t cause you to get attacked. You did, by your own actions.”

“Did you sleep with him tonight?” He completely ignored her protests, coming closer, backing her against the counter. “I can smell your bubble bath. Did you have to clean up after you slept with him?”  

Lorena swallowed, reluctantly deciding to answer the question. “No.”

“Are you sleeping with him?”

She took a deep breath. “No.”

“Are you in love with him?”

“Okay, that’s enough. It’s none of your business—”

“Answer the question!”

“You will not bully me, Matthew Hawthorne!”

“Why won’t you answer the question?”

“Because it’s none of your business,” Lorena said. In desperation, she pointed in the general direction of the door. “Get out. I should have never let you in here. I had pity on you, but that was a mistake.” Her eyes darted around, looking for an escape from him, but he had her cornered, hemmed up between his rock-hard body and the kitchen counter.

“Answer me, Lorena. Are you in love with him?” He refused to budge, a fierce intensity filling his dark eyes.

“Get out. I said I don’t want you here.”

“Are you in love with him?”

“Stop badgering me!”

“Are you in love with him?”

“Stop it.” She was half pleading, half yelling.

“Are you in love with him?”

“Noooooo! No. Are you happy now? I’m not in love with him. I sent him away and told him I couldn’t see him anymore.”

“Because you still have feelings for me.” There was no smugness, only a statement of fact.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t summon even a smidgen of the feelings she had for Matthew for Lewis. It was unfair to keep leading him on when she had no more than a lukewarm reaction to his kisses and his embrace. She couldn’t imagine lying in bed with him, making love. She couldn’t imagine being so intimate with anyone else but Matthew.

She’d confessed her indiscretion to Lewis, and at first he’d said he’d forgive her. When she explained she could no longer continue to see him, the conversation turned ugly. Angry and humiliated, he’d lashed out.

“What are you thinking?” Lewis had asked. “If you think you have a chance with him, you’re wrong. He’s going to hurt you again. Men like him don’t settle down. When he breaks your heart, don’t bother calling me because I won’t answer. I’m not going to be your second choice, and I won’t be in a relationship with you knowing you’re wishing you could be with him.”

She’d let him rant and rave for several minutes because she’d realized he needed to get it off his chest. Because he was a good catch, he couldn’t understand why she no longer wanted to see him.

“You don’t have to respond,” Matthew said quietly, dragging her back into the present. “I already know.”

“I don’t have feelings for you,” Lorena lied. She had to protect her heart. “I don’t care about you.”

“Yes, you do. That’s why you’re afraid. I’m afraid, too—of how I feel about you. Isn’t it funny how our experiences determine how we react to relationships? You’re looking for a relationship like your parents have, and I’m looking to avoid one like my parents had. We have two different examples to guide us. Neither one of us wants to be vulnerable to pain caused by loving someone—pain that hurts so much it feels like you’re dying. It’s the worst pain in the world.”

The truth of his words swept over her in a rush. It hurt to remember his rejection of her and her love. She lowered her gaze to the floor. “Get away from me, Matt,” she said, her voice shaking, as the agony of longing filled her heart. “I mean it.”

“Give us another chance. Don’t fight it.” One blunt fingertip propped her chin up, forcing her to look at him.

He stepped closer. She knew what he wanted, and she was helpless to stop him. He dipped his head an inch, and when she didn’t move away, he lowered it all the way, touching his mouth to hers. From the moment their lips touched, desire soared through her—all encompassing, demanding she satisfy it.

Frightened, she pushed against his hard chest—an ineffective action. He didn’t move an inch. “No,” she said weakly.

“Don’t fight it,” he whispered again.

His thumb caressed her chin, and he plied her mouth with gentle kisses. His lips were warm and soft as they tasted hers. He was wearing her down, barreling through her defenses. If he were rough, maybe she’d have a chance because she could get angry and fight him, but she couldn’t fight against this tenderness.

“Don’t do this to me again.”

“I’m not going to hurt you. I promise.”

He grasped her slender wrists and pulled her close so she could feel the heat of his hard thighs against hers. “Don’t think about it,” he whispered. One of his hands slipped between them to brush her breast. She inhaled sharply, desire stinging her quivering nipples. “Let me make you feel good.” He lowered his head, shifting aside a thick swathe of her dark brown hair with his nose to gain access to her neck. She shook from the exquisite sensation of his mouth against her sensitive skin. Her fingers curled into the brawny muscles of his arms. “Let me suck your neck,” he whispered, then flicked his tongue along her jawline. “Suck those sweet nipples. Let me get at those toes.”

She moaned, because everything he mentioned she wanted him to do.

Their mouths met again, rubbing against each other before she pried hers apart to invite the entry of his velvet tongue. She moaned as he caressed her back, his hands molding her to him, sliding down past her waist to splay over the cheeks of her bottom, drawing her tighter, pressing her stomach into the hard ridge of his arousal. She filled with heated anticipation.

He lifted his head, about to speak, but she didn’t let him. His withdrawal evoked a low moan from her, and she followed him, getting up on tiptoe, tightening her arms around his neck, her lips clinging to him in a desperate clamor for more. Every muscle fiber strained toward him. With a groan, he matched her enthusiasm, his kiss turning blatantly possessive, reclaiming her as his and scrambling her brain.

“Mmm,” he finally managed. “So damn greedy.” His fingers delved into her silky hair and pulled her head back at an angle. “Are you going to let me make love to you tonight?” 

There was only one answer to give as he looked down at her with hooded eyes filled with a deep hunger that matched the out-of-control desire he’d released inside of her.

“Yes.”

Chapter Ten

In the bedroom, Matthew stripped off the white shirt, his sore body groaning under the movements because of the battering he’d withstood on the side of the road. None of it mattered, though, because he was back where he belonged.

They fully undressed and lowered onto the bed, their naked bodies searing together in a fiery embrace. Lorena smelled like roses from her recent bath. She opened her mouth to him, willing and eager to please. Her lush lips moved beneath his, making him grow harder at the sweet invitation in her kiss. His tongue entered, seeking the moistness of her mouth as it scraped across her teeth.

He ran his hands up her body, massaging her soft breasts with their hardened nipples for long moments before skimming across her tightly toned stomach. He loved how she felt—the dual softness and strength. Moving his hand lower, he dipped his fingers between her thighs to brush the wet flesh there.

The soft cry from her lips encouraged his touch, and he pushed two fingers inside of her to prime her for his entry.

Her teeth nipped at his neck, her tongue slid along his collarbone, and when she pressed her warm mouth to the rapid pulse in the hollow of his throat, he let out a groan and pushed her legs wide.

“Condom.”

The whispered reminder brought his actions to a screeching halt. He was so far gone he’d been ready to dive into her unrestricted. Matthew scrambled off the bed and retrieved a condom, but he didn’t return to the bed right away. 

Instead, he went to the dresser and pulled open one of the top drawers where she kept her scarves. He removed two of them and rejoined her. The handcuffs were at his apartment, so they’d have to improvise.

A smoldering heat darkened her eyes because she knew what he wanted. She stretched her arms above her head until they touched the iron bars of the bed in unspoken acceptance. He dropped the condom on the bedside table and quickly tied her wrists until she couldn’t move.

Propped up on his arms, he hovered over her and kissed her with a hunger that cut through him on a cellular level. He captured her gasps with his mouth, dipping his tongue between her tasty lips. She sucked him deeper into the warm depths of her mouth, making him groan helplessly, his kiss turning aggressive. He wanted to swallow her whole.

He kissed his way lower, tuned in to every movement, every whimper, and feasted on her soft breasts—breasts that belonged to him, that he would never let another man touch for as long as he lived. From this moment forward, he would be the only man to make love to her.

****

Lorena’s body ached everywhere. He gave her breasts his undivided attention, bidding the nipples to stand up with the slide of his tongue and tug of his mouth, his enthusiasm demonstrating how much he’d missed them. Being unable to move only heightened the sensations of everything he did to her. It felt so good she could only whimper her appreciation. With her eyes half closed, she lifted her body toward him with urgent desperation.  

She didn’t care. She wanted him—was filled with a need to be possessed by him. How could she have thought to lie down with someone else? No other man would do.

His dark head moved lower, traveling over the plane of her flat stomach. The muscles of his arms bulged as he kept himself suspended over her so he could continue in his task of giving her pleasure. He dipped his moist tongue in her navel before moving further south to the cluster of dark hair. Her thigh muscles quivered when his breath fanned her heated skin, and she gasped when he made contact with her swollen flesh. She shamelessly opened her legs so he could kiss the neatly trimmed curls and lick the nub nestled there. The teasing caress made her want to scream.

She felt the moist wriggle of his tongue as he thrust inside of her, scattering all coherent thought. She let out a cry of frustration when she moved to grab his head but couldn’t. She tried to close her legs, but he forced them to stay open, allowing his mouth to move unrestricted over her wet flesh. Fisting her hands, she struggled against her silken restraints as the flat of his tongue repeatedly rasped along her folds and clit. The constant stroking finally pushed her past her limits. With a hoarse cry, she came, her body shuddering through the climax as she drifted on a storm of ecstasy.

Hardly able to get her bearings, she begged for him to ease up, cried out his name, but Matthew never, ever stopped. No matter how much she begged, no matter how much she pleaded.