Exposed Page 16

  It was a pleasure to watch Matt set to work, searching through the basket for glasses, plates, and cutlery. As usual, he was the perfect host, cutting bread and cheese for her, offering her strawberries and chocolate for dessert, and keeping her glass filled with dry red wine. It was a feast not only for the taste buds, but for all the senses.

  “So, Nicky…” Matt’s voice had become languorous as he lay across from her on the blanket, leaning on his bent elbow. He looked unbelievably handsome reclining there in his jeans and T-shirt, the dappled sunlight playing over his lightly tanned forehead and shiny dark hair.

  “Yes Matt,” she murmured, as if she was dreaming. Maybe she was.

  “There is one more thing I should tell you. Or should I call it a confession?”

  “What?” She felt herself waking up. “But, I already know everything, don’t I?” Quickly, she tried to think back over the case.

  “You see, Nicky, I led you down more than one garden path.”

  The garden reference brought back memories, recalling how skillfully he had pleasured her there. How quickly he had brought her to orgasm.

  “What do you mean?” She put down her wineglass and looked into his steady eyes.

  “Well, you see, I’ve explained nearly everything. There’s just one minor detail about my situation that you still don’t know.”

  What detail had she failed to notice? It couldn’t be anything important, otherwise she’d have come across it in her investigation. But then again, Matt had taken her unaware more than once. She swallowed hard. “What detail is that?”

  She watched his Adam’s apple fall and rise again as he swallowed. “It’s just that I… I don’t actually have a friend yet.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Sorry, I guess I’m not making myself very clear.” He paused for what seemed like an eternity, his unblinking eyes delving into hers. “Nicky, there is no woman friend in my life—except you.”

  “You lied about that, too?” she said, half-angry and half-amazed as she scrambled to her feet. “So there’s no one? No fiancée or girlfriend or female friend?”

  “I’m really sorry, Nicky,” he replied in a pleading tone. “It was just the situation. I knew if I told you the truth from the beginning there would be no reason for you to stay. So I stretched the truth a little.”

  She shook her head in disbelief. “More than just a little,” she growled.

  “But don’t forget,” he added in a softer voice. “You also lied to me.”

  It was true. She couldn’t even remember how many times she’d fibbed over the past week.

  “Well, what do you think? Will you forgive me?” he asked, his dark brows arching plaintively.

  “Maybe. I’ll have to think about it,” she mumbled, sinking back down onto the blanket.

  Nicky couldn’t make sense of her annoyance. Logic told her she should actually feel better now, rather than worse. Hadn’t he finally clarified the whole situation for her? Didn’t he just admit his mistakes, tell her why he had made them, and ask for her forgiveness? In fact, his lie had been aimed solely at keeping her near him.

  She turned to look at the water glittering in the sunlight, wondering where this left her.

  Matt cleared his throat. “Can I go on now?”

  She turned back to him. “You mean there’s more?”

  He gave her such a solemn look, it made her breath stop in her lungs. “Well, not any more lies, if that’s what you mean.”

  She shifted her legs beneath her, bracing herself. “What then?”

  Sitting up, he edged closer to her and reached across the blanket to take her hand. A voice inside told her to pull away, but it was too late. He was already holding her palm tightly in his hands.

  “A proposition. An assignment, I guess you could call it. You see, I happened to overhear what your boss said about no more work. Well, I can give you some.” She stared at him, dumbfounded. What work could he possibly have for her?

  When she didn’t reply, he continued. “I need you to be my friend.”

  She hesitated. “I already am, I suppose,” she replied slowly.

  “No. I mean I need you to be the friend I spoke of before. Will you agree to marry me? I know it’s a little rushed, and not nearly as romantic as I’d have liked it to be, which is why I’d rather you think of it as a temporary contract rather than a lifetime commitment. To start with at least.”

  She glared at him, stunned into silence. A business proposal, not a marriage proposal.

  “In exchange, I’ll give you whatever you want or need. A new job, a new car, travel money,” he shrugged. “Anything. Please, Nicky, this means a lot to me.”

  She closed her eyes against the thundering of her heart, trying to get her thoughts straight.

  “What do you say?” he prodded.

  She opened her eyes and looked into his, wondering how many women would love to be in her shoes right now. But in actual fact, there was little magic in the offer. It was a kind of contract, that’s all.

  Yes, a contract, that’s what he was offering. Her signature in exchange for whatever she wanted…

  A new job flashed in her mind. A chance to sign on as a photojournalist for a top-notch newspaper like the Independent Courier, doing the kind of work she’d always dreamed of. But that really wasn’t what she wanted. Right now there was only one thing that could make her happy. She wanted him—just Matt, without the red tape.

  “So, what exactly is in it for me?” she asked.

  “Like I said, Nicky, anything you want. You can have a position at the paper. And, from the looks of things, you could use a new car.” She waited for him to say something about what they might have together, but he didn’t.

  There was a large, gaping hole where her heart had been. “I’ll think it over,” she finally mumbled.

  “Thank you, Nicky,” he replied, letting go of her hand and standing up. “You won’t be sorry, I promise you that.” He reached out to help her up.

  “I only said I’d think about it,” she protested, pulling her hand away from his once she was on her feet again. She averted her gaze, dusting off her shorts.

  “That’s enough for me, at least for now.”

  She quietly helped him pack up the blanket and basket and walked with him to the car. All the while she felt as if she were being pulled apart from the inside.

  Other than giving Matt directions to her apartment, Nicky was quiet during the drive back. There was so much going on inside her head that she couldn’t have kept up her end of a conversation. She noticed Matt didn’t offer any words either, until he pulled up to her door.

  “Well, Nicky, it’s been splendid, as usual,” he said, pulling into the parking lot, switching off the engine, and turning to face her. Then he did something she didn’t expect. Leaning across the short distance between them, he brushed her cheek with his lips.

  She could feel the roughness of his midday stubble while his firm, moist mouth caressed her skin, leaving the hot outlines of a kiss lingering on her cheek. She felt the fire spread to her other cheek and rise to the very roots of her hair, making her head swim.

  He was like a drug, she thought. A drug that had taken her over. A drug to which she was addicted. And though she wanted nothing more than to have sex with him, she turned away toward the door, trying to concentrate on getting out of the car. But by then the tremors had already made their way downward, pausing around her pelvis before flowing liquid warmth downward. Her jean shorts suddenly felt too tight, too hot, the cotton between her legs moist with arousal.

  She placed her hand on the door handle. But just then she felt his hair against her shoulder, his unshaven face rough against the smooth skin of her upper chest. He was leaning against her, his face tucked into the crook of her neck. She could feel him breathing her in, could feel his own breath warm on her skin so close, so dangerously close, to her swelling breasts.

  “Touch me, Nicky,” she heard him whisper. “Touch me.” He place
d his palm on her bare knee and shifted it slowly up her thigh.

  She looked straight ahead through the windshield at the parking lot. It was broad daylight, and though they were surrounded by cars, anyone might walk by at any moment. Her landlord might see her, or some of the other residents in her building. Then what? They could call the police. She could get kicked out for indecent exposure.

  But the throbbing ache between her legs pulled her attention back to Matt and what he was doing to her, his hands caressing her bare legs, his fingers slipping under her shorts and stroking the soft skin on the inside of her thighs.

  Slowly, painstakingly, he was unraveling her, nerve by nerve.

  As she turned back to him, he caught her lips with his own, his tongue pressing into her reluctant mouth, urging her to open to him. Her heart drummed uncontrollably in her chest as she finally acquiesced, knowing her attraction to him was too strong to heed the distant warning in her head. A warning that told of the trouble she might get into for having sex in a public place, as well as the more urgent admonition, telling of yet another impending heartache.

  Matt deepened the kiss, and for a moment, Nicky forgot that someone might see them. Then she pulled away and glanced through the passenger seat window. A man was walking past and nodded to her with a curious smile as he shifted a bag of groceries from one hand to the other. From the look on his face, she knew he’d seen what they were doing. He knew, and he didn’t mind—he might even secretly like what he saw. Meanwhile, Matt’s tongue was deep in her left ear, licking her and raising her temperature with his hot, wine-scented breath. His tongue tickled her, then made her shudder from head to toe with desire.

  Nicky stiffened and waited for the man to pass by before turning back to Matt. “Not here,” she whispered. “Let’s go upstairs to my apartment, where it’s private.”

  But he was already unleashing his belt. “Too late, Nicky,” he replied softly but with an insistent undertone. “Don’t worry, in a minute you’ll forget where you are.”

  She shivered with the seriousness of that promise and responded by taking his face in her hands and kissing him, her mouth sinking into his. He welcomed her lips with unbridled passion, opening them wide while penetrating with his probing tongue.

  Then he broke the kiss and dipped his head lower. He lifted the bottom of her loose shirt and ducked his head underneath, rising toward her bra. With his teeth, he pulled the lace away from her left breast, freeing her nipple.

  She gasped at the strong reaction in her body as he suckled her under her clothes, flaring the fire that was threatening to spread out of control.

  “Touch me Nicky,” Matt reiterated in a throaty whisper, a whisper uttered with her nipple still in his mouth. “Please.”

  She took one more look through the windshield and, not seeing anyone, she reached across and began fiddling with the button-fly of his jeans. It was extremely tight against the warm bulk of his erect penis. Meanwhile, he worked on her shorts, unzipping them and sliding his hand beneath her panties.

  Her breath quickened as his fingers came into contact with her wet genital hair, with the slick folds of her labia. She gasped in response, arched her back, and threw her head against the headrest.

  He withdrew his mouth from her breast to focus on her ready mound while she slipped her hand under his boxers and around his erect phallus. The muscles inside her vagina pulsed in response to the feel of his firm erection that filled her hand. She remembered how good he had felt inside her as she began moving her palm up and down over the smooth, soft skin that covered the rock-hard shaft, her breathing growing more and more shallow as he shifted closer to her, moaning deeply with the pleasure she was bringing him.

  Then she felt his fingers delving deeper between her legs. He slid through her labia, touching her clitoris as he passed, then slid down further, all the way into her wet opening, and further. With his index finger, he slipped inside her, reaching immediately for her G-spot.

  She’d never believed the place existed until Matt hit upon what felt like a bundle of nerve endings on the inside wall of her vagina. Nicky gasped as a sudden rush of pleasure flooded her. “Yes—yes. Don’t stop,” she moaned, opening her legs wider and urging him on while she continued to grasp his protruding phallus in her hand.

  Matt obediently complied, circling the spot with his index finger while, with his other hand, he moved between fondling her breasts and caressing her clitoris. Meanwhile, she continued to shift her hand up and down over his growing erection, harder, faster.

  “That’s it, Nicky. Mmm, so good,” he breathed.

  Their mutual stroking gradually increased in intensity as if they were engaged in a synchronized sexual dance. With Matt rubbing her G-spot and her clitoris at the same time, Nicky felt high, high as a kite. And now, knowing someone might be watching them only served to bring her higher, making her even more excited.

  Just as Nicky felt herself coming, Matt groaned with the beginnings of his own orgasm. She clenched her hand around his penis in a vise-like grip and moved it up and down over the long rod, faster than ever. Feeling he was about to burst spurred on her own response, increasing her appetite for release.

  Finally, she felt herself climbing, felt herself wanting to come against Matt’s delving fingers, to make him feel her orgasm.

  “Yes, Nicky. I’m coming. I’m coming,” he said loud enough for any passerby to hear.

  His announcement thrilled her, excited her beyond any previous level. And just as he cried out, she felt herself coming too, felt the bliss of surmounting the peak of her desire. Her clitoris felt like it was going to burst with pleasure, and instantly she felt her vagina contracting, surrounding and holding Matt within her. She felt herself spinning round and round in a vortex of extreme gratification, felt her body pulsing against Matt’s hand, wet with the warm juices of her fulfillment.

  At the same time, she felt her hand grow wet with Matt’s simultaneous release. Both of them were throbbing with exquisite gratification as they threw their heads back against the seats, his chest heaving, her breasts rising and falling, making her nipples chafe against the constraints of her bra and her shirt.

  When their breathing finally began to slow, Matt withdrew his hand from her panties and helped her zip up her shorts before turning back to his own disheveled state.

  As she looked through the windshield at the outside world, Nicky felt her face glowing from the inside with the residual heat of her orgasm. She’d never done anything so risky before.

  “Don’t let what just happened sway your decision one way or the other,” Matt said with an easy grin as he tucked his fingers under her chin and turned her face to his. “I know it was wonderful, but don’t let that affect what it is you really want.”

  Nicky frowned, pulling her chin free of his hand. “Right,” she said sarcastically, looking away. So, all business once more. Well, she could play that game too. “Don’t flatter yourself, Romeo. It wasn’t that good,” she lied. She wanted him, and he knew that now, only too well. “I was just letting you catch up, as you call it.”

  “I see.”

  “Call it a public service,” she quipped.

  “Hmm. Well, I guess it couldn’t get much more public than this,” he mused, looking around at the car park. “So you didn’t really want to?” he queried with mock surprise in his voice.

  “Of course not.” Nicky knew her face had taken on a crimson hue. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and stepped outside. She tried not to show how shaky she felt.

  “So, I’ll pick you up on Friday night,” Matt said, leaning across the seat. “How does eight o’clock sound?”

  Holding onto the open door, Nicky peered in at him. “What? What are you talking about?”

  “Just a little family get-together. My mother wants to meet you. And my sister Kate, plus a few other relatives. You know, standard procedure.”

  She continued to stare in earnest at his lighthearted smile, unable to believe what he was su
ggesting.

  “Don’t worry about it, they’ll love you.” Then he reached across the empty seat and placed his hand on the passenger door handle, forcing her to withdraw so he could close it. He pulled the door shut, then clicked a switch to roll down the window, but only just enough for her to hear him.

  “See you on Friday, then,” he said evenly, nodding as the window slid back up. Then the shiny black Mercedes-Benz cruised down the street, disappearing around the corner.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Nicky pulled a face as she stood in front of her bedroom mirror in her underwear, her wet hair coiled up inside a towel on the top of her head. She was holding a dress against her for what had to be the tenth time that evening. No, not this frilly thing. Maybe the simple black one would be better…

  Damn Matt anyway. She hadn’t even given a definitive yes to his proposal, for God’s sake. No, it wasn’t even a real proposal. Proposition was more like it. And now here she was, getting dressed up for his family. There was only one consolation to be found in any of this. If the night turned out to be a disaster, she could still come back to him with a definitive no.

  She turned around to read the time on her clock radio. Matt would be here in less than twenty minutes and she wasn’t even dressed yet. And it wasn’t as if she hadn’t had enough time. After their lunch on Wednesday, she hadn’t been able to think of anything except Matt’s offer—and the amazing sex they’d shared in his car. So she had called Smith and taken him up on those extra days off.

  What she’d ended up doing the rest of the week was shopping. At first it was merely a distraction, something to do to get her mind off things and put her life in perspective. She didn’t expect to start looking for something to wear to the Anderson family get-together. But that’s what happened. She had wandered through the stores and clothes racks, and ended up buying more outfits than she could rightly afford.