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  Deciding she was tired of being placed second to a cigar craving, Nicky went around to his side of the desk and helped him look, striking tobacco on her first try. “Here you go, Smithy.” She handed him the smelly cigar and walked back around the desk to plop herself in a chair.

  “Thanks, Nick,” he mumbled, pulling some matches out of his pocket. “Now, where was I? Oh yes, the lunch date. Then, the next thing I know, you’re calling in asking for time off, your voice all shaky.”

  “It was not,” she snapped, crossing her arms. “You were the one who suggested I take some time off.”

  “Will you let me finish?” He raised his hands in defense.

  Nicky rolled her eyes. “Okay, go on.”

  “Meanwhile, I’m going over all the evidence that you brought in here. And while it was enough to convince the guy’s mother, I couldn’t help but have my suspicions. So I look in the red file, which, by the way, you obviously didn’t read very thoroughly…”

  She was about to protest, but Smith shook his head. “Now, let me finish! You see, my preliminary investigation revealed a close relationship between Matt and his sister, something you must have overlooked in your haste to get to Mr. Dark Eyes.”

  She stared at him while her mouth fell open.

  “Oh yes, it’s all in the file. What’s her name?”

  “Kate.”

  Smith snapped his fingers. “That’s it. Seems she’d only just moved to New York, and, according to a recent telephone bill I was able to obtain, they call each other regularly. So I figure that explains the phone call you taped. As for that lousy excuse for an undergarment…”

  Nicky smiled. A tough guy like Smith just couldn’t bring himself to say the word. “Teddy. You mean the teddy,” she said, stretching out every letter and then sitting back to watch him squirm.

  “Yes, well…” he grumbled, shaking his head. “Anyway, I had it assessed. Turns out the darn thing is over ten years old. And apparently never worn.”

  Her eyes widened. “What?” Nicky frowned. “So, in other words, you figured out Matt was faking this mystery woman the whole time.”

  Smith puffed knowingly on his cigar. “Yes—and no. See, I did conclude there wasn’t any woman in Matt’s life, given my final analysis of the situation. But then, suddenly, there was a woman after all. And she was right under our very nose. Or, should I say my very nose?” he said, glaring straight into her eyes.

  Nicky felt her warm cheeks giving her away. “Okay, chief, I see what you’re saying,” she said with a small smile, getting up out of her chair and wandering slowly over to the window.

  Outside the sun was already hot, beating down on the sidewalk just below the window. It reminded her of the beaches she’d planned on visiting. Well, gone was that dream, along with another one that was far more painful.

  “You’re right, Smithy,” she continued, “almost one hundred percent. You’re even right about me making some work for myself. I took those shots last night and came here afterward to develop them. Then I called the chief editor of the Independent Courier. The man was so elated with the photos, he offered me a job on the spot.”

  “Why Nicky, that’s grand! Just what you’ve always wanted!” Smith bellowed, getting up from his chair to give her a congratulatory hug.

  Smith was right. She should be happy. This was what she’d been longing for, and now she had it. A promising position as a photojournalist. She no longer had to work her way up from ground level at some two-bit paper. Best of all, she’d done it all on her own, without Matt’s help. Wasn’t that proof enough she didn’t need him? That she could make it on her own?

  “So, what is it I got wrong?” Smith’s voice had dropped to a soft, sympathetic pitch. “From my calculations, I figure I’m still missing a couple of percentage points somewhere.”

  Nicky drew in a long breath and let it out in the form of a defeated sigh. “I’m not the woman in Matt’s life, Smithy,” she said, turning around to face his expectant eyes. “Oh, I was for a while there. But then it all fell apart. Let’s just say I’ve concluded it isn’t wise to fall in…”

  But she couldn’t say the word. Her failed relationship with Matt was just one more case proving that love—if it existed at all—simply did not work. Like Smith told her once, compatibility was the key, not love. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been able to let it rest there. No, she had to reach higher, even though she didn’t know if she really believed in what she was reaching for.

  Smith extinguished his cigar and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Nick. Really I am.”

  “Me too, chief.” She started walking away, shoving her hands into the front pockets of her jean shorts. Then her hand felt something, making her turn back. “Oh, I forgot. Here you go,” she said, pulling out her set of work keys. “I guess I won’t be needing access to the office or the darkroom from now on.”

  Smith reached out to take the key chain, but instead he closed her hand around it. “Why don’t you just keep those, Nicky? Then you can come and visit whenever the inclination strikes. You never know, you might get the urge to break up some more mergers after hours.” He smiled, blinking back what looked remarkably like tears to her. “I’m going to miss you, Nick.”

  They were tears. Well, Smithy had a sentimental side after all, just like she’d always suspected. She only wished he hadn’t chosen right now to reveal it to her, because it made her want to cry too.

  Nicky swallowed back the lump in her throat as Smith stretched an arm across her shoulders and led her out into the main office area. It was a strange feeling to be leaving. She’d always thought this would be one of the happiest days of her life. Instead, it was one of the saddest—right up there with the day she lost her father.

  As they strode silently towards the door leading to the street, Nicky realized that was partly why she felt so broken up. She was saying goodbye to the man who, in many ways, had replaced her father. At the same time, she knew if this was the only loss she had to deal with, she might be managing better. But saying goodbye to Smithy coupled with losing Matt was almost too much. Good thing she didn’t have to start at the newspaper right away. She was to report to the chief editor in a week’s time.

  When she finally turned to go, Nicky realized she had painted things a little too black. Like Smith kept saying, he would be around. She could visit, often if she liked. And she would.

  But stepping into the street where couples were strolling arm in arm, enjoying the summer sun, she knew she didn’t have the same consolation about Matt. He could have taken back what he’d insinuated. He could have apologized.

  But she hadn’t given him that chance. She’d turned and walked away.

  Nicky’s footsteps fell heavily as she made her way through the busy midmorning streets towards her apartment. All she wanted to do was hit the pillow and forget about her heartache for a while. Turning onto her street, she dug through her purse for her other key chain and stumbled up to the door.

  As she brought her key up to the lock, she heard footsteps fast approaching. They stopped right behind her.

  She turned around. Looking down at her was Matt. He stood there just as frozen in time as she was. Then, without a word, he reached around her and placed his right hand over the lock. “I won’t let you in. Not until you hear me out.”

  She didn’t avert her eyes. She didn’t even blink as he forged on.

  “I’m sorry, Nicky. I was insanely jealous last night. You were right on all counts. I treated you like a commodity, asking you to marry me when all I was offering in exchange were things…” He shifted, dropping his hand from the lock. “Well, now I want to make it up to you. What you did last night—the way you saved the company—it was amazing.”

  Her heart thrummed with joy. “How did you know it was me?”

  “I called my editor-in-chief, and he told me about this wonderful woman who is wasted working as a private eye. A gorgeous redhead, I think he said.”

  She smiled.

  “And
now that you’ve saved the company, I was wondering if you can find it in your heart to save—us.”

  She felt something rupture deep inside her. That word had gone right through her. Us. Such a small word, considering the great potential it represented.

  The next thing she knew, Matt was holding her hand, his grip so tight, she was sure she’d never be able to free herself, even if she tried. He snared her gaze in the same way, forcing her to take in every word of what he had to say.

  “Nicky, listen to me. I know you no longer require my help to get that job. I talked with my editor just a few minutes ago. You’ve earned it yourself. Which means you don’t need anything from me. But Nicky, I need you. And I know, I just know, that you need me too.”

  His eyes brightened as he let go of her hand and cupped her face in his palms. “Nicky, you mean more to me than any amount of money, more than Lindenfield and the company—more than anything. It took last night to make me see that. Now I’m not offering you anything, except me.”

  A sound like a whimper escaped her lips.

  “I know you feel the same way,” he continued. “I love you, Nicky.”

  There it was, that word. That four-letter word that could shatter her life again, that could and was sending tears down her face and over Matt’s fingers in one continuous stream. She let out a sob, and then she threw her arms around his neck. “I love you too, Matt. I do.”

  He crushed her against him, and then laughed softly. “That’s good. Now, will you say those same words on the last day of the month?”

  She pulled away just enough to look up into his shining eyes. “Why?”

  “Because that’s the day we’re getting married.”

  Nicky melted against him as a smile blossomed on her lips and in every cell of her body. “I won’t have to sign anything?” she asked, already knowing the answer, but wanting to hear it anyway.

  “Just the marriage license,” he said, pulling her closer.

  She drank up that thought. “I think I can manage that.”

  “Oh, there’s just one other thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  Matt hooked his thumb under her chin, raising her worried gaze. “Well, as you may recall, I made you breakfast once upon a time. And, you see, I haven’t eaten a thing yet today. So since your kitchen is so close, I was wondering if you would mind…”

  She laughed as she pulled away from him to once again bring her key up to the lock. “Say no more. And, while you’re here, you might as well stay for lunch, and dinner, and maybe even another breakfast. Then maybe we’ll be even,” she teased, opening the door and taking his hand.

  “Not if I can help it.” His voice dipped more deeply, leaving reverberations in the form of goose bumps trailing along the skin of her arms as she pulled him up the stairs two at a time.

  She’d barely managed to shut her door before he was against her. He pushed her back up flush against the inside wall of her foyer as his mouth reached for hers with the same zeal as the night before. But instead of anger, she sensed there was love—a very deep, passionate love—in his kiss. Breaking the kiss, he pulled down her shorts and panties while she worked open the button-fly of his jeans and pushed down his boxers.

  She felt his erection come alive in her hands as he tried to pull up her top. She raised her arms in surrender, allowing him to yank the tank over her head, sending her hair falling down over her naked skin. Then he unhooked her bra and threw the wisp of lingerie over his shoulder before reaching for her nipples. They were already erect before he touched him, but his fingers pinching the skin made them grow even harder.

  Aching for more contact, she splayed his hands over her breasts until he was holding their bobbing weight, drawing each one in turn towards his hot mouth. She let out a cry as he suckled and nibbled her, first one nipple then the other. She was so aroused that she wrapped her arms around his neck and jumped against him, her legs wrapping around his taut buttocks in an attempt to hold herself against him.

  His hands propped up her buttocks and he cradled her against him the same way he had done the previous night, her thighs balanced perfectly on either side of him as he pushed her back against the foyer wall.

  But this time, instead of letting him take the lead, she reached down and guided his shaft towards her wet opening as he let her sink down onto him. His erection slipped into her slowly, torturously, until the coarse hair of his pubis met hers and he groaned gratefully.

  At last he was inside her again, and she too sighed with relief. Even the night before, in all of his fury and irrationality, she had wanted him. Even though she’d known he was having sex with her out of anger, forcing himself upon her as if to teach her a lesson, even then she hadn’t been able to push him away.

  But now it was right. Now she could let herself want him. She could let herself love him as he sank into her again and again. And as his movements grew stronger, his thrusts harder, she clung to him with every muscle she had, her vagina gripping him just as tightly, trying not to let him go.

  Gradually, he increased the rhythm of his stroking, causing her to slip slightly out of his grip. Leaning lower against the wall now, she soon discovered this new angle was to her advantage. With him riding her low, his pelvis made contact with her clitoris, sending her spinning toward a plateau of pleasure that left her teetering against him.

  “Is this what you want, Nicky?” he murmured in the hot space between her hair and her neck.

  She felt his words stir her deep inside. “Yes, Matt. Oh yes, please.”

  He withdrew from her and plunger harder. The friction of his penis rubbing along the ridged walls and contracted muscles of her vagina sent vibrations of pleasure all the way down her swinging legs, her floating feet. He began to thrust with greater abandon, the rhythm of his strokes increasing as his hands clutched the undersides of her buttocks, holding her up flush against the wall. Gravity brought him in touch with her clitoris again and again as his phallus filled her, opening her and arousing her completely.

  With her arms wound tight around his broad shoulders that were now slick with the heat of their lovemaking, she held on and he drove into her once more, sending her to a plateau of indescribable pleasure that she knew would lead the way to orgasm. Then, suddenly, she felt his grip on her grow stronger as he carried her away from the wall into the center of the room.

  She was still floating in her own vortex of ascending bliss as he lifted her up and let her fall against him once more, releasing his own climax. She felt him jolt inside of her, his orgasm so strong that it brought on her own. With him holding her up in the air, she felt as if she were suddenly flying into space, as if she were weightless and splendid as a shooting star.

  She was still panting when she opened her eyes a moment later and looked down at his eyes that appeared sated and happy as they gazed up at her.

  “You’re welcome,” he murmured.

  “Did I actually say please?” she asked, laughing at herself as she swung her legs and tried her best to hit him in the buttocks with her feet. “But seriously, thanks Matt.”

  “For what?” he asked, still laughing as he held her against him.

  “Thanks for not letting go,” she said.

  He shook his head, and instead of his usual impetuous grin, he gave her a small, meaningful smile. “Never.”

  Epilogue

  The last day of July dawned sunny and warm, the sky a perfect baby blue. Nicky had never felt like this before. So happy, so elated, with only a slight nervousness rippling through her. She knew she shouldn’t be worried. Matt had organized everything, including the honeymoon. But all he would tell her about their little getaway was that he’d arranged some time off for her from the newspaper.

  Nicky smiled to herself. It did help to know the owner of Anderson Press, after all. Matt had also made arrangements for the wedding ceremony and the dinner that followed. His efficient organizing had left her with nothing to worry about. Except what to wear, of course.
r />   She sighed happily as she straightened the folds of her simple, but elegant wedding dress. Once she’d told her mother the big news, Libby had dropped everything to come shopping with her daughter. In fact, she’d been even more excited about it than Nicky.

  Then there was her best friend Carol, who’d also insisted on helping choose the gown. To Nicky’s surprise, Carol had returned from her vacation with news of her own. She’d met someone on her trip, and was bringing him along to the ceremony. Good luck comes in threes, Nicky thought. I wonder… But she couldn’t imagine anyone else in her life who could possibly fall in love.

  A knock came on the door as she took one last look in the guestroom mirror. “Come in,” she called.

  The door opened slowly. It was Matt’s mother, a smile lighting up her face. “Oh my dear, you do look lovely,” she said, and Nicky could tell she meant it.

  Thinking back to the first time she’d met Mrs. Anderson, Nicky couldn’t help but compare the woman’s scrutinizing stare then to the soft smile she wore today. Yes, Matt’s mother had certainly come to accept her new daughter-in-law. It had just taken a little time. Of course, the revealing photographs that had saved the family business didn’t hurt either. And when Eleanor found out she’d actually hired Nicky in the first place, she couldn’t stop laughing.

  “Excuse me, may I come in?” another voice called from the open door.

  Nicky turned to see the man she’d chosen to walk her down the aisle. The man who would give her away. “Smithy!”

  Mrs. Anderson graciously excused herself, giving Nicky a moment alone with her old boss.

  “I can’t believe my eyes, Nick,” he said, beaming.

  “What do you mean by that?” She wanted to cross her arms, as she normally did, but somehow that didn’t seem appropriate today. Instead, she picked up the bouquet of flowers from Matt’s garden that had been prepared for her.