4
Hayley
I hadn’t planned it. I had woken up the morning after I ended things with Spencer, still with no reply from Matt. I couldn’t stand not knowing if he was okay. I’d called his mom, bought a plane ticket, and headed to Los Angeles.
Now that Matt and I were walking hand in hand on the beach, I couldn’t help but wonder why we didn’t make more effort to hang out with each other. Although, if he was going to get all mad at me for not telling him about every guy I’d hooked up with, regardless of how serious it got, maybe it was for the best. I didn’t grill him about his love life. It was none of my business.
Plus, I knew the second he hooked up with the right woman, I would be a thing of the past. Not because he wouldn’t marry someone cool who would accept me as his friend but because that’s what happened with the single friends of married friends. Married friends got married and hung out with other married couples and had babies. It was the circle of life. And I didn’t know if I would ever be part of it. Matt and I saw so little of each other already that we’d grow apart, and I would eventually stop talking to him altogether.
It made me sad. I didn’t know what I would do without Matt in my life. No matter how short the time was together, his presence in my life was giant.
“You’re thinking a lot over there,” Matt said, bringing me back to him.
“Yeah, I was thinking about how time will change everything and nothing at all,” I replied.
“Hayles—” His phone rang obnoxiously from his back pocket.
Our hands parted and he answered his phone. “What’s up, Neil?”
Neil was one of his twelve siblings, one of the younger ones, though he had to be out of college now, since the triplets were sixteen. No doubt checking up on Matt.
“You’re coming home for Christmas? Mom is going to be thrilled.”
I watched Matt talk animatedly with his younger brother.
“I don’t see why that would be a problem. It’s not like they don’t have the space. We can put people up in a hotel if we have to. It’s going to be a big to-do. I invited Holly, Summer, and Tracy.” Pause. “Yeah, Derrick’s family.”
I was always jealous of Matt’s big boisterous family. There were a ton of them, and all would dive in front of a bullet to save each other. As much as I hated my own family, I loved his. In Beverly Hills, Matt didn’t care I was the star of some television show. His parents were Donna and Richard Wight and their fame far exceeded my own. My show ended blissfully right after I turned eighteen. It allowed me to quit the business and disappear, go to college, and create the opening for my parents to realize how much they despised each other.
Even as Matt talked to Neil, I could tell he wasn’t fully himself. Derrick’s death was weighing on him. As much as he wanted to hold strong and be the big brother for all his siblings, he needed to take care of himself. Since he wouldn’t, it would be up to me to do it. I didn’t want him to lose himself in all of it.
We headed back to his condo after a while. I spent my time curled up on the couch reading a book while Matt attended to business and answered the phone and emails. He was talking to family, clients, and friends who all wanted to talk about how horrible it was to hear about Derrick.
The thing I didn’t know was how he found out. Did he know Derrick was sick? But even as people engaged him to talk about what happened, he never said. He cleverly ducked out of the conversation and kept whoever was on the other line in the dark. If Matt couldn’t talk about it, it meant it was bad. And he was upset.
The thing was, I had no idea how to help him.
The next day was the wake. Matt was solemn and quiet for most of the morning as I expected him to be. I remained normal, trying not to make him feel weird or like he needed to entertain me or take care of me.
Once we got to the wake, Matt livened up. He was “on” and ready to take care of everyone there.
He handed me a beer from the cooler. I held on to it, but I had no intention of drinking. Matt had driven us there and he was already two beers in.
His expression reminded me of my father’s the day he and my mother got divorced. Matt knocked back the remainder of his second beer, tossed the bottle, and then popped open his third. He was dressed in black slacks, suit jacket, a black button-up, and a black tie. I used to think he looked hot in this black tank top he used to wear when he worked out. But now I never wanted to see him in black again.
The coach approached us. I’d never met him, but I’d watched enough games I knew who he was. He had unruly white hair that was probably permanently worried from stressful games. Coaches worked for the team, the owners, and the crowds. And none of them were forgiving. He was a fit man, shorter than most of his players. I wondered if he was a player once or always a coach.
“Matthew, it’s good to see you.” He held out his hand.
Matt shook his hand and managed a smile. “Can I ask you something, Coach?”
“Sure.”
“Why the fuck was Derrick playing,” he kept his tone dangerously low, “and not somewhere trying to fight the fucking tumor?”
The coach didn’t flinch. “It was how he wanted it. And he knew you wouldn’t accept it. He demanded that no one tell you. I told him it was a bad idea.”
Matt scoffed, “You wanted your championship.”
The coach’s dark eyes didn’t falter from Matt’s. “I did. But not at the expense of his life. He’d reached the end of treatment. He didn’t want to be benched. He went out exactly the way he wanted to.”
I stepped back. I didn’t want to interfere. Matt was pissed. He wanted to blame someone. and the coach was willing to be the fall guy.
Matt took a long pull from his beer. “Yeah, I guess he did do that.”
The coach clapped his hand onto Matt’s upper arm and gave him a good squeeze. “I’m glad you came tonight, son. The team’s glad you’re here. You’re practically one of us. I know you have a brother that wants to play for us someday, right?”
Matt’s expression softened. “Raph’s a great player at sixteen. He’s going to be the next…”
“He’s going to be the next Derrick Moyer,” I said.
Matt’s gaze met mine as if he’d forgotten I was there.
The coach smiled. “I don’t think we’ve met, young lady. Who might you be?”
“Coach Benson, this is Hayley Martin.”
I reached out and shook his extended hand. “Derrick and I had the pleasure of fighting over Matt as our best friend.”
The coach chuckled. “Did anyone ever win?”
“Honestly, dying gives him an unfair advantage. Now he’ll always be perfect.” I tried to keep the tone light, everything else was dark enough.
The coach chuckled. “Keep her around for a while, Matthew. She’ll keep you distracted.”
The coach moved toward another cluster of players.
Matt glanced over at me. “You know, you were one of the last things Derrick said to me.”
I blinked at him. “What do you mean?”
Just as Matt was going to spill, someone else came up and talked to him.
We were at the wake for about four hours. Matt had an entire six-pack at least and was definitely drunk. He didn’t want to feel any pain and I couldn’t blame him.
He slung his arm around my shoulders as we headed out to his truck. I swiped the keys away from him. “Derrick told me I should make love to you on a beach.”
I opened the passenger side of the truck and helped him in. The words were completely foreign to me coming out of Matt’s mouth. I didn’t know what to say. I closed the door and moved around to the driver’s side. Why would Derrick say that to him? Matt didn’t have a thing for me, did he? That would be ridiculous. He’d never shown any interest. At least, not since the last day we were neighbors. Even then, I was pretty sure he was just afraid of losing me.
I pulled myself up into the truck and started the engine.
“It’s probably too cold to make
love on Venice Beach but we could give it a shot.”
I started the truck. “Matt, what are you talking about? We need to get some Jameson in you. You’re acting nuts on beer.”
The Los Angeles traffic sucked. It always sucked no matter what time of day it was. And I was trapped in a confined space with someone who wouldn’t stop staring at my profile.
“Don’t you think it’s weird we’ve never hooked up?” The slow and direct tone was unnerving.
“No.” I didn’t dare chance a glance at him. My mouth went dry and my heart was throbbing in my throat. My face was hot.
“No? Even my own mother has asked me why we never became a couple.”
“She has not!” There was no way I could believe that.
The entire trip back to his condo was him spouting off all the people who thought we should be together. He went through his two parents. Twelve siblings. Three grandparents. One best friend. And three of the players at the wake.
I remained quiet. I should’ve had a beer or ten. Getting involved with Matthew would be a mistake. I loved him too much and his family was the closest thing I’d ever had to a real family. If it weren’t for the Wrights, I would be even more screwed up than I was right now.
“Maybe we should give it a shot.”
I should’ve had an entire bottle of Jameson. Was he serious? It had to be the alcohol and the devastation of losing his best friend. There was no way he wanted more from me than friendship.
He’d never even alluded to it.
I shut off the engine and climbed out of the truck. I didn’t even bother to wait for him. I kept moving toward the elevator in the parking garage. The scuffing sounds of him tripping along the flat cement left me rolling my eyes. I got into the elevator and punched the button. Matt stepped through the doors before they started to close.
“Are you running from me?” Matt moved right into my space.
“Not from you, just your craziness. Neither of us is in the right headspace for what you’re talking about. You’re too drunk and I’m too sober.” Being trapped in such a confined space made me itchy and uncomfortable.
Had I thought about me and Matt? Of course. I was only human, and I’d been asked by plenty of people too. My mom thought it was a brilliant match. But she thought marrying into money was smart, mostly because she’d never worked a day in her life. She wanted to be taken care of; she didn’t want to have to worry about rent getting paid.
But Matt and I were friends. We made great friends. Why would we ruin it with something that would inevitably fall apart?
The elevator doors opened, and I lurched forward into the foyer of his condo. I kept moving until I was able to close the door to my guest bedroom behind me, locking him out on the other side.
He didn’t knock on my door though. I heard his own door close a moment later. Oh, good. He’d probably recognized the craziness of the whole thing. Thank goodness!
After a very emotional funeral and celebration of life at the stadium, Matt and I took a taxi back to his condo and poured ourselves into his living room around midnight. We were both exhausted from the travel and emotional rollercoaster. Matt had seemed distant the last few days, but I didn’t want to push him. He’d been through enough. He shouldn’t be acting like himself and I didn’t want to make him act like anything. He needed to work through everything in whatever way made sense for him.
Matt poured us both a glass of whiskey. He handed me the glass and headed for the balcony. He opened the sliding glass door and stepped outside. I followed him.
We sat in silence staring up at the sky or down at the lights of Los Angeles. The sky and the earth almost mimicked each other, with sparkling lights that were far out of reach.
A dull ache settled into my stomach. I didn’t want to leave in the dark, early the next morning. I should’ve arranged to stay longer but without knowing if I was welcome in the first place, I didn’t want to push it. And now I wished I lived across the hall. He had to be in so much pain.
“Do you think you only get one chance with something?” he asked quietly.
I glanced at his profile, then turned my gaze back to the sky. “I don’t know. I guess it depends.”
“Hayles, I can’t get the idea out of my head that maybe we could be something more.” He turned to face me.
I would’ve sighed in frustration, but everything constricted inside me. “What’s better than what we have?” My voice was strained and husky.
He put his hand on my shoulder and pulled me around to face him. “A love like my parents. What better love story is there than Richard Wright and Donna Winters?” He cupped my face and his thumb caressed the rise of my cheek and back again, down the slope to move over my bottom lip. “Your mouth is the sexiest thing.” Like a dance move, he lifted my glass out of my hand, set it behind me and then stepped into me, pressing me back against the wall of the balcony.
Right there, that was the moment I should’ve put my hand on his chest and pushed him away from me, ending it before it could ever get started. Instead, my hands slid up his muscular arms to his shoulders. His hand cupping my face dove into the waves of my hair as he descended and lightly moved his mouth against mine.
I opened my eyes to find him staring down at me, waiting for a reaction. I didn’t know how to react. My body vibrated with desire, my mouth pursed for a real kiss, something earth-shattering and real. I pressed against him like my life depended on it.
Matt kissed me again and the zing went all the way to my core. I clenched at the instant need that pooled there. He growled into my mouth as our tongues met. Matt’s hard body pushed into me so roughly, it was impossible to ignore the hard cock pressed against my hip. Feeling how aroused he was made me wonder just how friendly we actually were. The way the kiss had my toes curling had me questioning everything.
Matt pulled back. “Do you want to stop?”
His words were like muffled noises in my head. It took me a moment to focus on what he said.
“Stop? I-I…no,” was all I could manage.
Matt responded to my admission by hauling me into his arms and carrying me through his place into his bedroom. He kicked the door shut behind him, engulfing us in utter darkness. He dropped me on the bed, and I giggled. Light blossomed in the corner of the room.
He pulled off his jacket, reached behind, and tugged his polo off like a sweaty gym shirt, discarding it onto his floor.
I’d seen Matt without a shirt several times. His muscular chest always got an appreciative appraisal from me, but I never looked too long or too well. Propped up on my elbows, I watched him like he was Shark Week. His muscles rippled and I fully appreciated how handsome and hot he was. He slipped out of his pants like a magician. And then he was standing in front of me in nothing but a red pair of boxer briefs that left very little to the imagination. What I felt against my hip was hardly an exaggeration of girth or length. The man was built in every way.
He climbed onto the bed and headed right for me. I’d dressed for comfort and the funeral and it certainly wasn’t my most appealing outfit, yet I felt as if I was wearing lingerie the way he eyed me. Matt plucked off my shoes and tossed them behind him. He made quick work of my black button-up. Once I was left in a pair of dress pants and a camisole, he ran his hand over my leg and up to the waistband, popped the button, and unzipped the pants. He reached the other side and with both hands tugged down my pants with ease and precision. This time, he kissed his way back up my legs, making me shiver.
I felt there should be some sort of awkwardness as Matthew Wright, my friend of nineteen years, kissed all the way to my panty line and gripped my inner thighs to spread me wide for him. But all I felt was desire, like a moonshot home run going higher and higher. He buried his head between my legs, pushing my panties out of his way. I bucked hard against his face as his tongue curled around my clit, instantly igniting me. My pussy clenched around nothing and I wished his cock was inside me.
“Matt, please,” I whined.
>
His fingers dug into my flesh a little harder and I swore I got wetter from his possessiveness of me. Where had this been all my life?
5
Matt
The longer I tasted her sweet pussy, the more I wanted. She gyrated against my mouth, begging me to make her come, but I wasn’t ready for her first climax to be over so quickly. I wanted to feel her come on my cock. On my mouth. Around my fingers. I wanted to have her in every way I could and then start all over. Hayley was the most amazing woman I’d ever been around, and I felt as if I’d been keeping her a secret from myself. Like if I somehow paid attention to how incredible she was, I’d be sorry.
Ever since Derrick had died and his words echoed in my head, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. The more I watched her and paid attention, I didn’t know how I wasn’t head over heels in love with her already. Or was I?
I pulled away and Hayley whimpered in protest. I ripped her panties off and tossed them over my shoulder, the snap of material causing her to jerk. I moved up her body and pressed my mouth to hers. “I want to feel you come on my cock first. I want to be buried inside you when you have your first orgasm with me.”
“Then hurry up and get inside me or I’m going to have it without you,” she growled.
I smirked. “Is someone feeling a little on edge?”
“Matthew, I’m so close.”
My full name on her lips was even more of a turn on. I yanked my boxers off and kicked them away. I moved between her legs and grabbed ahold of my dick, stroking it a couple of times as I looked down at her beautiful body. I positioned my cock, pushing between her slick lips, finding the entrance to her dripping core. Hayley groaned and her hips rocked up, trying to push onto me. I dropped forward, my arms caging her head as I gave one sharp thrust and I was buried deep inside her. Hayley groaned and wrapped her legs around my hips. She pulled herself down my cock until I almost popped out but then she thrust back again. We thrust together, pushing our bodies closer to the climax we danced around.
Seducing My Best Friend (The Wrights Book 2) Page 3
