And I didn’t back away.
Because I was Riley Mansfield tonight, not Riley Wolfe.
He broke the kiss, inhaled, and then trailed wet kisses over my cheek to my ear, where he softly nipped the lobe. I shuddered, his breath against the wetness an icy cold yet comfortably warm delight.
“I want you,” he said softly, pushing his erection against me once more.
I want you too.
The words hovered on my tongue, begging to be released.
“I…want you too.”
He growled into my ear and then pushed his tongue inside. Tingles shot through me, and my body couldn’t decide if it wanted to be warm or cold.
And I throbbed between my legs. That secret place that I never thought could feel anything again.
“I want to make love to you in the hot tub,” he rasped.
God. The hot tub. Naked. With Matt. In the hot tub.
“Then,” he continued, “I want to come inside and make love to you in bed. All. Night. Long.”
My nipples hardened, extending and yearning for his lips, teeth, tongue. Fingers, anything.
My body had never responded this way. Many times, I’d wondered if it actually could.
He moved from my ear, then, and met my gaze as he licked his swollen lips. “What do you want, Riley?”
A soft sigh escaped my throat. “I want all of that. All of it, Matt.”
“Thank God,” he rasped. “I couldn’t think of anything else while I was finishing dinner. Then, you left, and you didn’t look at me—”
I placed two fingers against his lips. “I didn’t want to interfere with your dinner. I was afraid if I looked at you…”
“Afraid of what?”
“I don’t know, exactly. I almost felt like I couldn’t control myself.”
He smiled. “Would that have been such a bad thing?”
“In the middle of a restaurant? Yeah.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’m here now. I’m here, and you’re here, and I’m going to explore every inch of you by morning.”
I closed my eyes and moaned. My body was responding in weird fluttery ways—ways I’d read about but never imagined.
Matt kissed my neck and then my bare shoulder. “Your skin is so beautiful. Like a pinkish-yellow rose.” He dropped a kiss between my breasts and then he slid the strap of my tank off one shoulder and then the other. Kisses and more kisses, all over my chest and the tops of my breasts.
My breath caught and wouldn’t let go. I wanted… Needed…
“Matt…”
“Hmm?” He nipped my shoulder.
“Undress me. Please.”
“My pleasure.” He pushed my tank down to my waist and over my hips. Then he unhooked my bra and I shimmied out of it. My breasts fell gently against my chest.
“Fuck. Beautiful,” he breathed.
I flipped off my sandals while he unbuttoned and unzipped my jeans.
A slice of fear—or was it apprehension?—threatened me, but I waved it away. I wanted this more than the fear that wanted to control me.
Derek Wolfe was dead.
He had no more control over me.
And damn it, that would be the last time I thought of Derek Wolfe while Matt undressed me.
He eased the denim over my hips and down my thighs until I stepped out of the jeans and they lay like a blue puddle at my feet.
Only my pink lace boy shorts lay between Matt and me.
He stared, looked me up and down as if I were a side of beef hanging in a butcher shop.
And I liked it.
My God, I liked it a lot.
“You look so sexy, Riley, in those panties,” he said. “I almost don’t want to take them off you.”
Good. I wanted them on. He could take them off when we got into a dark bedroom. But here? In the light? He’d see… He’d see my secret. I closed my eyes and whispered, “Please…”
“Please what.” His breath was hot against my neck.
“Please. Let me keep them on. I want to look sexy for you.”
“God,” he rasped. “You’re so beautiful. So damned beautiful.”
I opened my eyes and met his gaze. “I want to see you. Please, Matt.”
He smiled. “Undress me, then.”
Undress me, princess.
No!
Fucking no!
Not now. You will not ruin this beautiful moment for me!
I hurled the unwanted images from my mind.
I trailed my fingers over Matt’s broad shoulders. I wanted to see what was underneath his T-shirt, but something stopped me.
“Riley?”
I inhaled, gathering every sliver of courage I could find, and I slid my fingers down to the bottom of his T-shirt and inched it up.
His skin was so warm. So warm against my tingling fingers.
Slowly I moved it farther upward, concentrating on how much I desired him. And with each new inch of flesh I exposed, my heart beat faster.
His lighter skin contrasted with mine. I was tan, of course. Spray tanned. Part of the job.
Matt’s chest was nearly bare but for a few blond hairs scattered over his pectorals. His nipples were dark pink, and when I slid my finger over one, it hardened under my touch as he sucked in a breath.
I had power over him.
Power I never knew I could wield.
It was thrilling.
I pushed the T-shirt over his head, and he lifted his arms to help me along. Soon it joined my clothes on the floor.
He kicked off his sneakers.
Now only his jeans separated me from that part of him. The part that both scared and excited me.
It bulged, and I stared.
Though I knew it was my imagination, I saw it beating in time with my heart.
Faster, faster, faster…
Until finally Matt took the reins from me. He unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans and removed them.
And he was naked.
Naked before me.
I averted my eyes.
I was used to it, always averting my eyes, until he forced me to look. Forced me to touch…
“Riley.” Matt’s voice. “Look at me.”
I can’t. Just can’t.
Until finally, his warm fingers touched my chin.
“Please,” he said. “Look at me, Riley.”
Something in his voice made me obey, and I looked at him. Truly saw him. Indeed, truly saw any man for the first time.
His beauty astounded me. A god from Mt. Olympus couldn’t look better than Matteo Rossi. He took my hand, then, and led it to his cock. “Feel this. Feel me. Feel what you do to me.”
I gripped him, as if shaking his hand. He was warm and hard, yet his skin was like silk under my touch.
He closed his eyes and let out a low growl. “God, what you do to me. One touch from you is better than a homerun with anyone else. I swear to God.”
I dropped his cock.
He opened his eyes and tilted his head.
He was questioning something, and I knew exactly what it was.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Sorry for what? What’s going on, Riley?”
“I’m…frightened.” True words. The last time I had sex was with…
God, I couldn’t go there right now. I just couldn’t.
Matt reached toward me. “Baby?”
I forced myself not to cower backward.
He had hated it when I cowered. In his mind, I was supposed to want him as much as he wanted me. He never understood the two-way street of sex.