With Strings Attached (28 page)

Matt and Bella each got another beer and paused to talk to a group of people they both knew. “Hey, Jules,” Matt said, smiling at another of his neighbors. Jules was a photographer, both gorgeous and talented. She smiled back at him, her full lips curving in a sultry way that was sexy as hell. And yet, she was another girl who had kept him at “just friends” arm’s length. “How’s it going?”

“Not bad.”

“How’s business?”

“It’s okay.” She made a face. “I need inspiration. Have I ever asked you about posing for my nude photos?”

He laughed. “You know you have. And you know I’ve said no.”

She pouted, even though her eyes sparkled.

Another woman joined them. Her long spirally auburn curls were fiery in the light of the flaming torches. “You know Mairin?” Jules asked.

“He’s one of my clients,” Mairin said.

Matt grinned. “Hi, Mairin.”

Mairin was pretty, but kind of uptight and anal. Smart as hell, though, which he liked because his investments were pulling in good money even in the crappy economy. He didn’t know how she did it, but he appreciated it.

“Hi,” she said, sipping a drink. “We need to meet to go over your portfolio.”

“Yeah. Actually I wanted to talk to you about maybe getting some money out to…invest in something else.”

She frowned, her lips pursed around a tiny straw. “Like what?”

Matt hesitated. “We could talk about that at your office.”

“Sure. Next week?”

“Sounds good.”

“Let’s dance, Matt,” Bella said, taking his hand and giving a little tug. He smiled at Jules and Mairin as he let her lead him to the sand. Corey and Dylan had disappeared and a small rock materialized in his gut. Damn.

Bella was flirting with him, though he had no idea why. Didn’t she realize who he was? The guy who was too nice to flirt with, or go out with. She should be after Dylan or some other bad boy who didn’t shave and treated women like dirt.

Not that Dylan treated women like dirt. Although Matt had never known him to be in any kind of serious relationship. Other than Corey. What was that? Were they “friends with benefits” too?

He danced with Bella, shuffling his feet in the sand, swinging his arms a little to the music. He wasn’t big into dancing, but at least he had some sense of rhythm and could dance without embarrassing himself. He actually kinda liked slow dancing…with the right girl. Slow dancing was sexy, like foreplay…which made him think of Corey, naked and warm and in his bed.

Fuuuuuuuck.

He smiled determinedly at Bella who flashed her white teeth and shiny pink lips. She was really pretty attractive. But did absolutely nothing for him. But then, he’d known he wasn’t cut out for relationships since Lysett had dumped him. No surprise.

He danced a little more, mingled with some friends and shot the shit with some of the guys, talked about beer and baseball and the stock market, all the while searching for Corey and Dylan with his eyes. Finally they reappeared. Matt’s stomach tightened, taking in their appearance, half expecting them to look like they’d gone for a quickie in the car or something, but they looked normal, although both looked a little tense—Dylan’s mouth was tight, Corey’s eyes were narrow.

He made his way over to them and slung his arm around Dylan’s shoulder. “Where’d you guys disappear to?”

“Went for a little walk. We were…talking,” Dylan said.

Matt glanced at Corey, whose eyebrows were drawn down into a concerned slant. She met his eyes but he couldn’t read the expression in hers. “What’s going on?” he asked slowly.

Corey looked at Dylan, her teeth worrying her bottom lip. “Maybe you should ask him,” she said.

“What’s up, man?” Matt frowned. “Your foot still bothering you?”

“Nah. Foot’s good. I just…well, you know I said I was thinking of staying longer. We were talking about that.”

“Oh.”

Corey’s pretty mouth grew firm.

“But Corey was trying to talk me into going to France.”

“I was reminding you of everything you’ve worked for,” she said quietly. “I don’t understand why you don’t want to get back to the tour. It’s all you’ve wanted.”

“Yeah. Well. Priorities change.”

Their eyes met in a charged exchange. Matt’s stomach hurt.

“You’re not giving up your surfing career for me,” Corey said, glaring at him.

Matt started to think he might puke on the sand as they stared heatedly at each other. His gut churned and sweat beaded on his forehead despite the cool ocean breeze off the Pacific.

“Yeah, then fine,” Dylan said challengingly, planting his feet wider apart in the sand and lifting his chin. “Come with me.”

Chapter Nineteen

Corey gaped at Dylan. What the hell was wrong with him tonight? He’d been acting all possessive and affectionate to her, and he was talking crazy about not going back to surfing. And not just right now—ever. It was insane!

And then the crap icing on a shit cake—he was asking her to go with him. To France!

She’d kill for a chance to go to France, who wouldn’t? But this wasn’t right. Did he really think he was in love with her? Was that what this was about? But they’d both known there would be no strings attached in this relationship—that this was a short-term thing while he was there, but nothing more.

She cared about him. Of course she did. They’d gotten to know each other pretty well the last few weeks and they’d had a lot of fun together. She was going to miss him. A lot.

She stared at him.

Could she actually be thinking about his crazy offer?

“Well,” Matt said with a big grin. Shit, she’d almost forgotten he was there, she was so distracted. “There’s a surprise.”

Dylan didn’t look at him. Just kept looking at her. “Corey.”

“I’ll…uh…let you two talk,” Matt said, moving away. She glanced at him. His face looked funny, his eyes squinty, his jaw tight. She was still annoyed at him about what he’d done earlier and yet she hated this coolness, this strain between them. But right now, she was so blown away by Dylan’s invitation she couldn’t focus on that and she turned back to Dylan.

“Dylan. That’s crazy. You know I can’t leave here.”

“Why not? The bank financing didn’t come through. You’re busting your ass here. Come with me for a while and have some fun. Travel. See exotic places. Party.”

A hint of desperation edged his voice, and she shook her head in confusion. “But I have a business here,” she said quietly, moving closer to him and sliding her arms around his waist. “I have family—well, my mom. And friends.”

“Matt.”

She tipped her head back to look at his face in the light of a tiki torch. “Yes. He’s one of my friends.” She hoped.

His eyes narrowed. “You guys are more than friends.”

“You know we are,” she said patiently. “As are you and I.”

His lips pursed into what could have been a pout. “We have something special, Corey. You know it. I want you with me.”

Her heart sank at his statement. Was she going to break his heart by not going with him? Somehow she couldn’t accept that his feelings had gotten that deep, that intense, in the space of a few weeks when she thought they’d just been having fun. Dylan seemed so smooth, so elusive…not that he was superficial, but there was a sense that he didn’t truly let anyone inside, close to him, despite the physical closeness they’d shared, and it made her doubt that he could really have feelings for her. Her insides twisted themselves into knots and her heart tap-danced in her chest as she tried to figure out how to deal with this issue.

“You’re supposed to leave tomorrow,” she said. “I can’t pick up and leave that quickly.”

“I can wait a week. The competition doesn’t start for two weeks.”

“Would you practice here, then?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at hm. He didn’t meet her gaze.

“Sure.”

This all didn’t feel right. She didn’t want to hurt him. But she couldn’t leave. She could only imagine what Matt would think about that. Although why she was considering his feelings in this, she had no idea. But still, despite their earlier disagreement, he was a friend, to both of them, and if she and Dylan truly wanted to be together, she assumed Matt would be happy for them.

Goddamn him! What the hell was Matt thinking, leaving her like that to deal with this crisis all by herself? A shaft of pain sliced through her, so sharp and vicious it stole her breath and she almost bent over. Her fingers tightened on Dylan’s back.

What? Why had anger at Matt suddenly resurfaced so violently?

She knew this wasn’t about her earlier annoyance at how he’d interfered and talked to her father. This was about now, about him being there for her. He’d just walked away on hearing the news, so she and Dylan could talk about it. He should have stayed, damn him, to help her out.

Maybe she’d pushed him away one too many times. Refused his offer of help, told him she didn’t need him. And maybe he’d had enough of that.

She lifted a hand to her aching forehead and closed her eyes. Now she was losing it, first annoyed with him because he’d butted in and now annoyed with him because he wasn’t. What was
wrong
with her? A fierce ache filled her chest, her throat constricted painfully and she was suddenly looking at Dylan’s chest through a blur of tears. Her emotions were all over the place, wild and unidentifiable, confusing. She wanted to burst into tears, which was silly and feminine and weak. She tried to swallow past the lump lodged in her throat.

“Corey.” Dylan spoke softly. He lifted her chin. “You’re crying.”

“No, I’m not.”

He smiled sadly. “I guess that’s a no, huh?”

“Oh, Dylan.” Her voice broke on his name. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, babe. If you don’t feel the same way, there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“I do care about you,” she sobbed. “I do. I like you so much, and I want you to go and surf like crazy so the next time I see you, you’re a world champion.”

He chuckled and rocked her in his arms a little. “So you can say you did a world-champion surfer, huh?”

“No.” She drew back and looked at him, blinking wetly. “So
you
can say you are one.”

His own eyes darkened with emotion as they looked at each other, his arms still around her. “Corey. You’re so sweet. You’ve made my time here…well, unbelievable.”

“I’ve enjoyed spending time with you too.”

“I don’t want to leave you.”

She sucked on her bottom lip and studied his face. “Dylan. You have to go.”

He nodded. “I’m gonna find a bathroom. Be back in a minute.”

He disappeared into a crowd of people on the patio near the doors into Bella and Jaden’s beach house. Corey wiped her wet cheeks with her hands and swiped her fingertips beneath her eyes.

“Are you okay?”

She looked up to see Neve, Matt’s younger sister. “Oh, hi, Neve. Yeah, I’m okay.”

“You’re crying.”

“Yeah.” She sniffed but smiled. “Dylan’s leaving tomorrow. He asked me to go with him.”

“Whoa. Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Are you going to?”

“Of course not. That would be crazy.”

“So you two…hooked up while you were here?”

Corey looked at Matt’s sister and pressed her lips together, her stomach tightening. “Er…sort of.”

“I kind of thought you and Matt were…you know…together.”

Corey bent her head. Geez. What was she supposed to tell Matt’s sister? “Matt and I are just friends. He doesn’t want any kind of relationship. And neither do I.”

Neve studied her. “So you and Dylan just had a little fling thing while he was here?”

“Mmm. I guess.”

“That surprises me.”

“Why?”

“I always thought you and Matt made a good couple. I know you say you’re just friends, but I kind of always thought you might like him as more than a friend.”

Corey blinked at Neve. Did she know that she and Matt slept together? Had he told her about that? “Er…well…”

“So that’s why I’m kind of surprised that you and Dylan hooked up.”

“Well…” Corey knew she was stumbling over her words and sounding like an idiot, terrified that something was going to slip out that would reveal what the three of them had done together. This was Matt’s little sister, for God’s sake. Her heart tapped rapidly in her chest.

“So why were you crying? If you’re that upset he’s leaving, why don’t you go with him?”

Corey shook her head. “No. I don’t love him like that. I guess I was crying because I think I hurt him when I said no.”

“Oh.” Neve regarded her thoughtfully. “What did Matt think about you and Dylan?”

Her heart kicked up its rhythm again. “He…uh…was fine with it. Of course. Why wouldn’t he be?”

Neve smiled. “Are you sure he was fine with it?”

“I…I…well, you know, I really need another drink. How are you doing? Want another beer?”

“No, I’m good.”