The #1 Bestsellers Collection 2011

by Catherine Mann

  He pumped Lana’s hand. “My dear, thank you so much for returning my wallet.”

  Lana smiled. “It was my pleasure, Mr. Taran.”

  “I’d like to give you a reward.”

  She waved that aside. “No, but thank you for offering.”

  “No, thank you.” His smile encompassed the others then he walked away.

  “See, I told you she was nice,” Sara said, but Lana was aware of Matt watching her with an odd look in his eyes.

  She ignored him and actually began to relax and enjoy herself as she talked about kids with Sara, watched Justin joke with Matt about being a new father, and generally had a good time over two glasses of wine.

  An hour later she felt warm and even pleasant toward Matt and he even seemed to be more relaxed around her.

  He really was a heartbreaker, she mused, peeking beneath her lashes at him, caught out with a knowing look that glinted on the verge of hot. Yet suddenly she didn’t seem to care. The wine was making her feel good.

  “I think it’s time we let these two lovebirds go home to bed, Justin,” Sara said, then yawned delicately. “Besides, I need my beauty sleep.”

  The words made Lana wince. Was she really looking like a lovesick idiot? Or was Sara seeing more than there was?

  Definitely.

  She wasn’t in love with Matt. She wanted him, certainly. He made her ache for him physically, but that had nothing to do with affection.

  Everyone agreed to meet up soon, then Matt put his hand on her elbow as he walked her back to their car.

  Thankfully the night air kept her head clear.

  “You handed in that wallet,” he said, once they were in the car, his eyes inscrutable.

  “It was the right thing to do.”

  “You weren’t tempted to keep it?”

  She met his eyes without flinching. “No.”

  She hadn’t handed in the wallet to get his approval, but it would have been nice for him to acknowledge her honesty.

  “No one would have known,” he pointed out.

  “I would have known.”

  He studied her and an odd expression flickered across his face before he turned away to start the engine. “My friends really like you.”

  “And that surprises you?”

  “Not at all. You’re very charming.”

  So was he.

  Except with her.

  “I gather you’re happy with my performance tonight, then?” she said with an underlying note of sarcasm.

  “Performance?”

  “They think we’re happily married.”

  He glanced at her only briefly. “It’ll do.”

  She sighed with frustration and left him to concentrate on the driving. It didn’t matter what she did, his opinion of her wasn’t going to change. He wanted to think bad of her and he would continue on that path.

  So why on earth had she been worried about spending the night alone in the house with him? He’d kissed her in his office to punish her, not because he’d had an overpowering need to feel her lips beneath his.

  Not the way she did his.

  All at once he cast her a sideways glance, and his gaze dropped to her mouth and darkened. “Don’t,” he growled, before returning to the road.

  Startled, she felt her thoughts fumbling to catch up to him. Then she realized. Until that moment she hadn’t been aware of touching her mouth with her fingertips, remembering him there.

  The mouth that he had kissed.

  Heavens.

  Had she given herself away?

  The tension was palpable for the rest of the journey, but Lana didn’t know how to disperse it. The two of them seemed to create a sexual energy together that was multiplied by the confines of the car.

  It made her skittish and eager to get home so she could hide in her room.

  Yes, hide.

  Somewhere that she wouldn’t be tempted to make love to him. She was a coward and she could admit it.

  They arrived home shortly after, but he surprised her by parking the car near the front door and not in the garage. Was he going out again?

  To another woman?

  She felt a moment’s squeezing pain. Wasn’t it unrealistic of her to believe he could remain celibate? It wasn’t as if they had a love match. He was a virile man.

  She avoided his eyes until they were inside.

  “Lana?”

  The intensity in his voice trapped her where she stood.

  “Look at me, Lana.”

  Her heart bumped her ribs into action. She swung toward the kitchen. “Coffee. Do you want—”

  “You.” He caught her by the waist and smoothly put her up against the wall. “That’s what I want.”

  She swallowed hard. “Matt, in the car, if you think I was—”

  “Oh, you were.” His eyes zeroed down to her mouth. “You were thinking of our kiss.”

  She shook her head, unable to speak, unable to deny it with words.

  “Yes, you were,” he murmured huskily.

  She could feel the heat of his hands, attacking her defenses, trying to climb the barrier she’d fought hard to maintain.

  She had to find her voice. “It wasn’t a come-on.”

  “No, it was a turn-on.” He began to nuzzle her neck.

  Oh Lord.

  She gave a shaky breath. “We’re more than this, Matt.”

  He stopped nuzzling and leaned back, the look in his eyes pure passion. “Are we?”

  It was honesty at its most basic.

  He wanted her and she wanted him and that’s what this was all about. It was what they’d been about the first time they’d made love, and nothing had changed between them on that front.

  Did she really want to deny either of them the pleasure?

  Worse, if she did, would he go find another warm body?

  Would he walk out that door and leave her alone tonight? And then she would go to her bed and sleep alone and there would be no Matt to take her over the edge into fulfillment. No Matt to ease this profound hunger inside her. She didn’t think her body could handle that right now. She was ripe for making love, no matter how much she wanted to refute that.

  Her small purse slipped from her hand and fell to the carpet with a soft clink. “Oh God, I want you, Matt,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck.

  His eyes flared with a triumph that normally would have her retracting her statement, yet this time it did nothing but thrill her.

  She wanted him so badly.

  He took her mouth in a fierce, hungry kiss and she parted her lips in full capitulation and kissed him back, rejoicing in his tongue slipping inside to devour her softness.

  She moaned and he replied with a sound of satisfaction deep in his throat, his hands tightening on her waist as he pressed her up against the wall, leaving her with no illusion that he was fully aroused.

  But his touch merely fueled the ache deep inside her, and she moaned again.

  A deep, heartfelt moan.

  She soon matched him stroke for stroke as a hypnotic blend of sensuality and seduction tantalized her senses.

  His taste was heady.

  He smelled … intoxicating.

  He began showering kisses on her eyelids, down her cheek, along her chin, returning to her mouth time and time again, demanding a response she freely gave.

  His hand closed possessively over her breast and a whimper escaped her throat as he explored the sensitive flesh through the material, teasing her, rubbing his thumb over her nipple. Could he feel the hammering of her heart? she wondered as a river of anticipation raced through her veins.

  Soon it wasn’t enough.

  For either of them.

  He swung her up in his arms and started down the hallway with her, twice stopping to kiss her boneless, turning her into a melting puddle of need by the time they reached his bedroom.

  She registered a fleeting glimpse of the room decorated in olive and black before he was back to kissing her, carrying her over towa
rd the bed, but not laying her down on it.

  He stood her on her feet and in the catch of a breath, he unzipped her dress and pushed it down to the floor, along with her panties and silk stockings. Her shoes were somehow missing, so she must have already kicked them off along the way. He straightened and undid her lacy bra and tossed it aside.

  Time came to an instant standstill.

  She was naked.

  Fully naked.

  She realized he’d never seen her like this before.

  His eyes drank her up and he made a guttural sound as he reached for her.

  And time started ticking again.

  They had to have each other.

  Soon she tingled under his fingertips, making her ache in secret places that craved the heat of his arousal. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, her need shocking her.

  Suddenly she couldn’t wait a moment more to have Matt inside her. Giddily she pushed aside the flaps of his jacket and started to unbutton his shirt. Where his tie had gone she didn’t know.

  She must have been too slow because he groaned and stepped back, not to strip off his clothes as she thought, but to undo his trousers and free himself.

  She gasped; then need kicked in and with her response matching his own urgency, she reached out to explore the hard lines of him.

  “Stop,” he growled as he reached down to the bedside drawer where he took out a condom.

  She was about to say that she was on contraceptives to help with her monthly cycle, but she was suddenly … consciously … mesmerized by him rolling the condom on himself.

  The words escaped her.

  Then he was leaning her up against the bedroom wall and maneuvering her body. She felt his erection at the tip of her entrance, felt him ease her onto him.

  He slowly thrust upward and slid fully inside.

  “Matt!” she cried out, gripping his shoulders, her eyes widening as her body adjusted to him.

  A dark flush spread across his cheeks. “You feel so good.”

  “You, too,” she gasped.

  He lifted her and with a groan drove himself into her again, this time more firmly.

  Their bodies locked and her senses spun.

  She pressed a kiss against the hard cords in his neck. “Take me, Matt. Take me please.”

  “Where?” he muttered.

  “Anywhere. As long as it’s with you.”

  He began to thrust in and out, causing a pure and explosive pleasure within her. Before too long her body started to vibrate in ripples, radiating outward and pulling everything in its path back within her, including this man inside.

  The center of her being became a whirlpool of sensation, flooding her with desire. She came with a rush as it sucked her into its incredible and mind-blowing depths.

  A minisecond later, Matt followed her into the sensual vortex.

  Seven

  Matt shuddered to an awesome climax as Lana’s body clenched around him, holding him tight, not letting go until she’d taken everything from him.

  Finally he caught his breath and his head cleared—and he shuddered for a very different reason. This woman had her grip on him in more ways than one.

  He gave her a hard kiss, withdrew from her to lay her down on the bed.

  What the hell had he done? he asked himself as he strode from the room to the bathroom. He stood at the bathroom mirror. Making love to her just now had been so good. So bloody good he’d wanted her again almost immediately.

  Dammit, he’d been caught in a snare of his own device.

  And all because of that kiss in his office the other day.

  And because of that wallet tonight.

  And because in the car she’d caressed her mouth with her fingertips. Seeing her do that had sent him over the edge.

  It hadn’t helped that he hadn’t been with a woman for weeks now. Nor had he ever had a more sensual relationship with a woman without actually having sex with her.

  He wouldn’t be caught out again.

  She could hand in as many wallets as she liked and it still wouldn’t matter. She could walk around in that sexy nightgown and he still wouldn’t let her tempt him.

  She could even parade naked in front of him.

  He grimaced. Well, maybe not naked. He was a man, after all. He had his limits.

  And he’d reached his limit tonight.

  He would have to stop this right here.

  He went back into the bedroom and stopped at the sight of her. Her short blond hair was tousled around her beautiful face, and she’d thrown her dress on but hadn’t done up the zipper, the material falling away and leaving a smooth shoulder. In one hand she held her lacy bra and as she straightened with her panties in the other hand, he caught a glimpse of bare cheek.

  Desire licked at his insides.

  He swallowed hard. “I’m sorry, Lana, but this was a mistake.”

  She colored a little. “A … mistake?”

  His lips formed a hard line. “I don’t want you getting the wrong idea about this. It happened, but it’s not going to happen again. It’ll just get too complicated otherwise.”

  Something shifted in her expression. “Fine.”

  Her comment brought him up short.

  He scowled. “It is?”

  Her lips twisted. “Matt, you can forgive yourself for wanting someone you despise.”

  He felt a punch to his gut. “I don’t despise you.”

  “Don’t you? Funny, I thought you did.”

  “Lana, look—”

  “Matt, really, I understand. We’d both had a few drinks tonight and—”

  “One. That’s all I had.”

  She blinked. “One?”

  “I don’t drink over the limit and drive.”

  She crinkled her nose. “Okay, so I had a couple of drinks and let down my guard. Seems to be my modus operandi. But at least we don’t have to worry about a pregnancy this time.”

  The words jarred him. “That’s something, I suppose.”

  Her chin angled with pride. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to go to my room and get some sleep. I need to get up early and go pick up Megan.”

  She was taking it so well.

  Too well?

  “We’ll pick up Megan,” he insisted as she passed him by.

  She inclined her head and he let her go, one part of him amazed that for the first time he was letting a woman walk away from his bed while he still wanted more of her.

  That’s the way it had to be.

  With Lana it was a necessity.

  There was always a price to pay for happiness, Lana reminded herself as she sat on her bed and pressed her fingers to her temples.

  And she’d just paid it.

  Heavens, had she really made love with Matt again? Really melted at his touch? Had she really reached out and touched him like that?

  Oh yeah.

  It hadn’t been quite as fast as the last time they’d made love in the office. Back then there had been no time for more than quick touches and furtive glances. No time for savoring each other. He’d thrust inside her before she’d known it and she’d welcomed him, joining him in a long, simultaneous climax. It had been the most incredible feeling she’d ever experienced.

  Tonight had been just as incredible.

  More so.

  A mistake, he’d called it.

  She winced. Yes, it had been a mistake. She’d reached that conclusion herself the moment he’d left her alone and sanity had returned. Oh, there’d been no doubt he’d wanted her and she’d wanted him and it had been enough at the time.

  But now she had to wonder about the true reason behind it all. Had it merely been masculine pride? His friends had liked her and he’d said others would expect they’d have a physical relationship.

  Or perhaps she’d been a convenience more than anything? She’d been unwittingly available when he’d wanted a woman.

  Any woman.

  Maybe her handing in the wallet had convinced him for a short time
that she wasn’t capable of stealing? And afterward reality had hit him with a thud and he was back to believing the worst of her again.

  And now his guard was truly up.

  Except the reality was that she hadn’t expected anything more.

  And he had no need to be on guard.

  They’d merely been a man and woman in the wrong place at the right time. That’s how she’d look at it. No need to get worked up about it all, right? She’d simply be grateful Matt wasn’t feeling guilty and wanting to rectify the situation by insisting their marriage become permanent.

  Thank God he hadn’t.

  Flinging aside her thoughts, she put on her nightgown, slid beneath the covers and turned off the light. And she’d try not to go over their lovemaking in minute detail. From now on she’d try and forget it ever happened.

  Tomorrow they’d both move forward like mature adults.

  Thankfully Lana was kept busy over the weekend. They both slept late in their separate beds, so that by the time they went to pick up Megan it was almost noon and Isabel insisted they stay for lunch.

  Lana felt uncomfortable with Isabel’s and Cesare’s eyes on them, even guilty. If she and Matt had been on friendlier terms, she’d jokingly confess she felt like a teenager who’d had sex with her boyfriend and was trying not to let her parents know it.

  As it was, they acted civil to each other until it was time to go home. She fully expected him to go out that evening, but to her surprise he went to the study. It was as if he was showing her he could be around her without making love to her again.

  Or perhaps he was trying to show himself.

  And that made her wonder, especially when she caught him watching her at odd times, his eyes darkening before he’d blank them out, as if a dial were turning on without his permission and he had to turn it off deliberately.

  Unfortunately for her, she couldn’t stop her thoughts from turning to their lovemaking. If only she could turn that part of her mind off, perhaps she could get some peace. If only Matt didn’t affect her, she might have a chance at it. Truth to tell, she was dismayed at the way her body continued to want him again. It was as if there were still lively little sparks of desire floating in the air between them, in spite of her best efforts to put them out.

  Her only consolation was that both of them were fighting this thing. She knew for sure that Matt wouldn’t attempt to make love to her again.