by Addison Cole
MATT’S HAND SLID down Mira’s back, splaying across the width of her waist. The melody of the guitars and the sounds of young voices played around them like their own private serenade. He hadn’t danced in years, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d told a woman he couldn’t think of anyplace he’d rather be than with her, much less meant it. But there was something about Mira—no, that wasn’t right. Just as he’d found last summer, and during all their interactions in between, there were many things about her that were reeling him in. As her enticingly soft body molded to his hard frame, he knew he was skirting a dangerous line. A line he desperately wanted to cross, but she hadn’t taken the bait to any of his innuendos. Maybe she wasn’t ready to cross that line with a man who might only be in town for three months.
They danced long after the song ended, with the wind at their backs and the gentle sounds of waves sweeping up the shore. Their bodies swayed sensually. Her embrace was enticingly right. When they stopped dancing, they gazed into each other’s eyes, and a handful of silent messages passed between them. He saw her nervousness and her hunger.
His eyes moved slowly over her high cheekbones and the bow of her perfect, kissable lips. “You’re so beautiful.”
Her cheeks turned that rosy shade of pink he liked so much, and she shifted her eyes away, but not before he saw the lust brewing in them. He wanted to taste her positivity, to devour the passion feeding the hunger in her eyes, but he knew he shouldn’t push too hard. His stay here was only temporary, and she was his father’s employee.
When that reminder didn’t take away the urge to lean down and kiss her, he took his thoughts one step further, because above all else, despite this impulsive night, Matt was a careful thinker. He wasn’t a player like some of his brothers were before they’d settled down. In fact, he was just the opposite. Matt was selective about the women he was intimate with because he rarely did anything without his heart coming into play. Knowing Mira hadn’t been dating confirmed what he’d suspected. She lived her life in the same vein.
“Mira.” Her beautiful hazel eyes were full of hope and desire. He took her hand and her fingers curled around his. He couldn’t resist flattening his hand on her lower back, bringing all her lush curves tighter against him again.
She blinked up at him, her long, dark lashes sweeping over her cheeks. She nibbled her lower lip, and that simple act made her look sensual and innocent at once. The world around them disappeared in those magical seconds that preceded a first kiss. He felt their thighs brush and her chest lift against his with each anticipatory breath. They were both into this, ready, willing, and oh so able.
He nuzzled her neck, inhaling the scent of sinful promises. Desire swam in her eyes as her fingers pressed into his skin, but his mind wouldn’t stop ticking off the ramifications of a night of passion with Mira. One night of being with this incredible woman would never be enough. She deserved more than a few pieces of chocolate and landing in bed beneath him. This wasn’t even a proper date.
Gritting his teeth against what he really wanted, he forced himself to take a step back.
“How about that ghost tour?”
Chapter Three
WHEN THE GHOST tour began, Mira was sure it was all a hoax. Malena, their tour guide, a pretty redhead cloaked in a black hooded cape with red lining, gave out glow-stick bracelets to ward off evil spirits. Mira and Matt shared a few laughs over the neon jewelry. As their group of eighteen ghost seekers walked down Commercial Street, Malena described ghosts of sea captains, fishermen, and residents who supposedly continued to roam the streets of Provincetown. Mira wasn’t frightened at all. At least not of ghosts. The incessant pounding of her heart caused by the tall, handsome man holding her hand, who smelled like musk and something she’d like to run her tongue all over, however, was a whole different story.
She’d wanted to kiss him so badly on the beach, but she’d also been flat-out, heart-stopping petrified. It had been years since she’d kissed a man in the way she wanted to kiss Matt. Not to mention that every time they were together her mind went directly to sex. She’d already envisioned them having sex in his car, on the beach, and embarrassingly, on the steps of Shop Therapy in the center of Provincetown. Gah! That was crazy, because like kissing, she also hadn’t had sex in too many years to count. She’d probably forgotten how to do it with anything other than her battery-operated boyfriend. Was there a wrong way to have sex? She might have to take her friend Serena up on her offer to sex her up. Serena would be thrilled. She’d only been bugging her about it for the last few years, and right now Mira felt about a million miles behind the dating eight ball.
They followed Malena out of town and up a steep, desolate road that looked like it led directly into the night sky as she told an eerie story about a sea captain who was beheaded on this very street in the eighteen hundreds. Their only light was the lantern Malena carried at least twenty feet ahead of them and the silly glow-stick bracelets bobbing behind her like she was the pied piper. When she finished telling the story, silence fell over the group. The higher they climbed, the creepier the night became. The air felt like breath ghosting over Mira’s skin.
Matt tucked her beneath his arm. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” Her voice came out shaky, and he must have noticed, because he tightened his grip around her. Her skin was beginning to crawl with the idea of a headless ghost wandering around them.
When they reached the cemetery at the top of the hill, there was a collective gasp. A sea of cracked and crooked headstones was surrounded by sparse trees branching out against the night sky like skeletons swaying in the breeze. They reminded Mira of old black-and-white cartoons where trees wrapped gnarled branches around people as they passed by. A shiver ran down her spine with the thought, and she snuggled closer to Matt.
“We suggest you spread out and take pictures wherever you feel the presence of a spirit,” Malena said. “If you’re lucky, your pictures will reveal orbs that aren’t visible to the naked eye. The quieter you are, the more focused you’ll be, so take your time, and take a partner with you if you startle easily.”
“That’s our cue, sunshine.” Matt guided her away from the crowd.
“Do you believe in this stuff?” She had one arm around Matt’s waist, the other pressed against his stomach. She would have climbed him like a mountain and hung on for dear life if she weren’t afraid of exactly what that would do to her very lonely girl parts.
“Spirits? Sure. Look how magnificent human beings are. I’d hate to think all this greatness simply ends after we die.”
She looked up at him as they walked beside a row of headstones. “I figured as a professor you’d be more, I don’t know, grounded than that.”
“You mean stodgy?” He tugged her closer.
“No,” she insisted. “More scientific, maybe.”
“I’m plenty scientific.” He reached into his pocket and withdrew his cell phone. “Let’s get a few pictures and see about those orbs.” He held the phone up, with the camera facing them.
“A picture of us?”
He grinned and clicked off a few shots. “To start.”
They walked deeper into the cemetery, stopping beside a large tree with moss snaking up the trunk.
“Look,” Mira whispered, pointing to mist rising from the ground around an old, unreadable headstone. “Get a picture!”
Matt took the picture, and she walked closer to the headstone, still clinging to him like a security blanket. She crouched to get a better look, bringing him down with her.
“Why is there mist only on this one?” she asked, looking around at the other headstones.
Matt moved away and frigid air engulfed her as he took a picture of her huddled there on the ground amid the mist.
“Get back over here!” She darted to her feet and wrapped herself around him again. “Something happened. As soon as you walked away the air turned cold.”
“You missed my body heat.” He shifted so she was pressed agai
nst his chest and thighs.
She laughed to cover up her agreement. “It was different. Ghostly.”
“My body has been known to evoke otherworldly experiences.”
Even in the darkness she could see the wicked look in his eyes. Her mind immediately sprinted down a naughty path.
This was not good.
It was marvelous.
Marvelously hot.
A marvelously hot fantasy that was never going to happen because she wasn’t about to risk Hagen’s heart—or her own. Or her job. She banged her head on his chest and groaned, trying to reel her dirty thoughts back into submission. Submission? Oh yeah, she’d submit to him.
Hushed whispers filtered into her foggy brain. Other people from the tour were just a few feet away, and here she was having an erotic fantasy about the man who wasn’t even her official date. She realized she was practically panting and clinging to his biceps. And he was looking at her like he knew exactly what she was thinking.
She forced herself to step away on wobbly legs.
Matt scrolled through his phone. “Sunshine? I think you’re going to want to see this.”
He held his phone out, and Mira looked at the picture of her crouched beside the headstone. Mist floated up from the ground like ghostly arms reaching for several startling visible orbs floating around Mira.
The hair on the back of her neck stood on end and goose bumps chased up her arms. “Matt!” she whispered urgently, pushing the phone away as she wrapped her arms around Matt’s middle, then pulling the phone into view again. “I don’t want to see it, but I have to.”
Matt chuckled and rubbed his hands soothingly along her back. “They can’t hurt you.”
“How do you know? Maybe they can. Maybe they’ll follow us home and watch us.” She rambled, too nervous to stop, conjuring up all sorts of awful thoughts about ghosts and evil spirits, until Matt shoved his phone in his pocket and pressed his hands to her face, silencing her with a serious stare.
“How do you know they’re bad? My mother and your father are gone. Couldn’t the orbs be their spirits? Or maybe they’re not spirits at all, but a symptom of the weather.”
“Uh-huh,” she mumbled.
They moved silently through the cemetery, awareness and heat twined with the eeriness of the evening, leaving Mira in a heightened state of hot, bothered, and frightened. The rustling of the leaves sounded like feet shuffling on pavement. Every noise brought her closer to Matt. He was eating up her clinginess, whispering scary stories to make her hold him even tighter. By the time Malena gathered the group for the walk back, Mira was a trembling mess of lust and ghostly thoughts—lust was winning by a mile.
As the group headed out of the cemetery, Matt pulled her against his chest. She felt his heart stomping out the same frantic beat as hers. She fisted her hands in his shirt, her mind reeling with questions. What would it be like to kiss you? A simple press of our lips or a full-on tongue-lashing? Messy or proper? Sensual or tentative? Would you hold me against you as you are now or lay me back and take full control?
What am I doing?
No kissing. Kissing would lead to sex.
But she really missed having sex. She was starved for sex, and just thinking about Matt scratching that itch made her want him even more.
But he was only here for three months, which was great. Much longer than any other visit, but what would happen after that time? She loved their friendship and didn’t want to have any regrets. Tonight had been unbelievable, and she’d treasure it forever, but once she kissed him? Once she felt all the power behind him? How would she ever keep from wanting more? And really, what more could there be? Three months of fantastic sex?
She needed a shock collar or something to zap her back into her responsible motherlike brain because three months of fantastic sex was sounding really good.
She forced herself to release his shirt, and he pressed his hands over hers, keeping them flat on his chest. His eyes blazed through her with an intensity that made her whole body shudder.
Kiss me.
She closed her eyes and all the fear of ghosts and spirits disappeared. Her mind wandered to the dark places she was struggling against, and the rivaling, practical thoughts came rushing in. What if they kissed? What if they did have sex? Then what? Where could that possibly lead? This was another reason she didn’t date. She was a planner. She had to be to keep up with her and Hagen’s schedules.
Oh geez. What am I doing?
She opened her eyes and drew in a deep breath. She might not be able to hold on to the romantic notions of being swept off her feet by a man who adored her, like she had when she was younger, but she could still hold out for a man who would actually be there for more than a few weeks.
It took all her willpower, but she pushed past the wild, unfamiliar desires wreaking havoc with her brain and said, “We should go.”
She turned away, instantly filling with regret for putting space between them. Gulping cool air into her lungs, she hurried toward the group.
Then Matt was beside her, tugging her against him again, protecting her from unseen threats—and maybe from her own head.
MATT WAS A lot of things—a careful thinker, a loyal brother, a studious professor—but he wasn’t a taker. Until now. Until Mira. He wanted to take—her kisses, her body, her sweet, sexy laugh—and he wanted to shatter the tug-of-war lingering in her eyes. He was barely aware of the group as they came to Commercial Street and the group disbanded. He had one thing on his mind and one thing only, getting Mira alone.
The devil on his shoulder told him to take, take, take, but the voice of reason he lived by reminded him of all the reasons he needed to go slowly with her. The opposing voices were enough to make a man lose his mind.
By the time they reached the car, he was sick of thinking. He turned toward Mira and placed his hands on her rounded hips. Perfect. Their eyes locked, and he stepped forward, pinning her against the car with his body. His hand slid up her side, grazing the side of her breast. Her breathing hitched, and the sexy sound sent his hips pressing forward. It had been a long time since he’d wanted a woman so voraciously.
“Tell me to back off and I will,” he said.
Her lips parted, but no words came. She wrapped her arms around his waist and her tongue swept over her lips. Man, he was so tied up in her he felt the heat of her tongue all over his body. He touched her cheek. Her skin was soft and warm, and when his thumb brushed over her slick lower lip, her breath left her lungs.
He lowered his face, pressed a kiss beside her ear, and whispered, “I’m only here for three months. I can’t make any promises.”
Her hands tightened around him. “I know.”
He kissed her jaw, her neck, and felt her swallow hard. The whimpering sound she made brought his eyes to hers. A sensuous tether formed between them, luring him closer.
“I’ve wanted you since I first set eyes on you last summer in that pretty pink dress smeared with Hagen’s sticky fingerprints.” He brushed his lips over her smiling mouth. “Tell me to stop and I will,” he repeated more urgently, giving her a chance to do what he wasn’t strong enough to.
She lifted her chin, meeting his gaze like a timid bird wanting to find its wings. Oh yeah, sunshine. I’ll help you find those wings.
“One kiss,” he promised, though he feared it was a lie.
His mouth descended toward hers—
“Matt!”
He froze at the sound of his sister’s voice. Mira snapped upright, bumping into his chest with an oomph.
Scanning the lot, he saw Sky and her fiancé, Sawyer, jogging toward them. Cursing under his breath, he squeezed Mira’s arm in apology for the intrusion and took a step back. Sky and Sawyer lived above Sky’s tattoo parlor minutes from where the ghost tour disbanded, but it was after midnight, and he hadn’t even considered that they might run into them.
“Matt!” Sky was his youngest sibling and only sister. Her skirt nearly dragged along the ground as she ap
proached, her eyes moving curiously between them. “Mira? Hey, how are you?” She hugged Mira, who looked like she’d been caught naked. “What are you guys doing here? Matt, what happened to your cheek?”
He’d forgotten about the darn cut. “It’s nothing.”
Sawyer slapped Matt on the back with a knowing wink. “Having a good night?”
It was about to get even better.
“Yeah, we’re…” He glanced at Mira and put a hand on her back, hoping to settle her nerves. “Celebrating. Tonight’s Hagen’s first slumber party, which means Mira has no curfew.”
“Really?” Sky’s eyes widened. Her long dark hair and ever-present smile reminded Matt of their mother. Sky liked to stick her nose into her brothers’ personal lives, which was pesty, but she meant well. Sky loved to see people happy. That was her thing.
“Great, then you guys can come with us.” Sky linked her arm with Mira’s and began walking toward Commercial Street. “We’re going dancing. Once a month Sawyer and I stay out all night just because we can. What a coincidence that you guys are up here, too.”
Mira looked over her shoulder at Matt with so much longing in her eyes he felt it in his bones. He’d already shown their hand, so they couldn’t really pretend they had to get home. He mouthed, Sorry, and she mouthed, It’s fine, and flashed her sunny smile.
Sawyer sidled up to Matt as they headed toward the nightclub. “You and Mira?” he asked quietly. “I had no idea you two were…”
“We weren’t.” But we are. We so are.
Chapter Four
