by Addison Cole
DRINKS, MUSIC, AND a visual feast of seduction had been on tap since they’d arrived at the dimly lit nightclub, and Mira was mesmerized by all of it. Sweaty couples slithered against each other like mating snakes, groping and kissing with reckless abandon on the crowded dance floor. Mira had never watched porn, not one minute of it, but this had to be similar. It felt erotic and dark. She felt voyeuristic, but she couldn’t look away from the openmouthed kisses and sexual possession before her, and it made her want deep in her core. She hadn’t been dancing in forever, but tonight the music pulsed beneath her skin, alcohol warmed her blood, and the sexually charged atmosphere chipped away at her inhibitions. Sky and Sawyer had been on the dance floor for what seemed like hours, their bodies moving like they were made for each other. Embarrassingly, Mira envisioned their sensuality moving to the bedroom, like she read about in romance novels late at night after Hagen was asleep.
She wasn’t usually a naughty thinker, but Matt unearthed those feelings in her, more so tonight than ever before. She blamed it on the aura of sex and lust and all things taboo going on around her. Matt slid a hand around her waist and pressed his mouth beside her ear, speaking just loud enough to be heard above the music. “Dance with me, sexy girl.”
She hadn’t felt sexy in years. She couldn’t even remember if she’d shaved her legs that morning. Her life was so full of practicality it was a wonder she didn’t have the days of the week embroidered in her underwear. But the way Matt’s hand moved over her ribs in long, languid strokes and the seductive look in his eyes erased those worries. She let him lead her through the crowd until it swallowed them whole and she lost sight of Sky and Sawyer. The scent of testosterone and sex hung in the air. The heat was oppressive, making the bumping and grinding around her feel even more libidinous.
Matt kept a hand possessively around her, holding her against him as his hips moved with the smooth and powerful mastery of a man who had way more sexual experience than she had. His dark eyes held her captive, lulling her into a heightened state of arousal. Her body tightened with awareness and she began to move without any cognitive thought. She couldn’t think, could only feel—and feel she did. His hips brushed against hers, and his hands moved beneath the back of her top, hot and strong against her flesh. Her fingers played over his muscular pecs, and in her mind she saw her mouth on his skin, tasting his salty sweat, feeling his muscles jump beneath her tongue. Her hands traveled up his shoulders, around his neck, then down his strong arms. She closed her eyes, reveling in his touch as his hands swam up her shoulder blades, then slid down to the low-riding waist of her shorts, then back up again. She felt the heat of his piercing stare through her closed lids. When she opened her eyes she felt braver, bolder, and slid her hands into the back pockets of his jeans, bringing them even closer together. Oh yeah, this is so much better.
Matt moaned beside her ear. Heat pooled inside her. Beside them, two women were making out. It was a beautiful, thrilling sight, and she must be really far gone, because she was surprised at how much it revved her up. Matt turned her in his arms. His hands slid up and down her body. She had a momentary thought about this not being how a mother should act. They weren’t even technically on a date, but having Matt’s hands on her, feeling the effect she had on him, was too good to pass up.
Maybe it was the music, the environment, or maybe she’d just reached her breaking point, but this was it. She wanted him, for a night, for a week, for three months. She’d take whatever she could get and deal with the aftermath later. Tonight she wasn’t just a mother. She was a woman.
She raised her hands over her head like she’d seen Serena do when it was just the two of them goofing around, and her body took over. Her hips swayed, her chest and shoulders writhed sensually, and her thoughts spun away. Then Matt’s hot mouth was on her shoulder, kissing and tasting, making deep, guttural sounds that sent thrills thrumming through her. His hands splayed over her stomach, pressing her back against his powerful chest, and he slicked his tongue over the shell of her ear. She closed her eyes, arching her neck to the side and giving him better access. He didn’t waste a second, and sealed his mouth over the sensitive skin where her neck met her shoulder, sucking the strength right out of her knees. As if he felt her stability fail, he tightened his arms around her.
“I’ve got you,” he said, and pressed another kiss beside her ear.
He turned her toward him, and her hands instinctively wound around his neck.
“You’re crazy sexy, sunshine. You’re killing me.”
“There you go calling me sexy again and making my stomach flip. I haven’t felt sexy in years.”
He leaned in so close she could practically taste him. “Trust me, sunshine. There’s all kinds of sexy going on with you. The kind of sexy that makes a smart man go dumb.”
He brushed the backs of his fingers down her cheek, and her entire body tingled with anticipation. Her skin was hot, her breathing ragged. Nameless people bumped into her on all sides and she didn’t care. She was here, with the man she wanted, the man her son adored. The man she wanted to be taken by.
She had no idea how long they danced, gazing hungrily into each other’s eyes, making silent promises for more, but when Sky tapped her shoulder, she was drunk with desire.
“Come on. We’re heading out to watch the sunrise,” Sky shouted.
Sunrise? Her brain—and panic—kicked into gear. They must have been there for hours. She wasn’t ready for their night to end. How could it be morning already?
“What time do you need to get Hagen?” Matt asked.
Could he be any more wonderful? Even with all the heat smoldering between them, he was thinking of her son. “Ten. His friend’s mom is bringing him home after they go out to breakfast. I’d like to watch the sunrise. I haven’t done that since Hagen was a baby and I’d watch it through the window while I rocked him back to sleep.”
Matt lowered his mouth beside her ear and said, “Anything you want, sunshine. But one day soon it’ll be me who’s tending to you as the sun rises, and it won’t be to lull you back to sleep.”
With a protective hand on her back, and a promise that made her knees weak, they made their way outside.
THREADS OF ORANGE and yellow crept over the horizon like mist rising from the bay. Colorful reflections danced off the endless water. From their perch on the cool sand, it looked like the bay spilled off the far reaches of the earth. Matt wished this night with Mira could be endless. She was nestled against his side fast asleep. She’d barely made it ten minutes out of the club, and he didn’t have the heart to wake her.
Sawyer tapped his shoulder and nodded at Sky, in a similar position as Mira, also sleeping.
“Guess their men aren’t very interesting after all,” Sawyer joked.
Matt wanted to be Mira’s man, although he knew that would be tricky considering his life was in New Jersey and hers was here. But people’s lives changed. Who knew what would happen a week from now, much less a few months. Sawyer had been a professional boxer when he and Sky had fallen in love, and a head injury had led him to retire. Now he coached and wrote poetry with his father, and he seemed happy with his new and different lifestyle, and gloriously happy with Sky. Each of Matt’s siblings had fallen in love over the past few years, opening Matt’s eyes to what he was missing out on. He wanted what his siblings had, what his parents had enjoyed. Although he’d been growing tired of teaching, he wasn’t sure he could handle leaving it behind. The sabbatical was a test.
“I should’ve taken her home hours ago. I know she’s not used to being out this late.” Matt touched Mira’s cheek, feeling selfish for wanting to spend every possible second with her.
“So, when did this happen?” Sawyer asked. “Sky was ready to grill you two, but when she said you just got to town, I convinced her to give you a day or two.”
“Thanks. I’m sure she’ll grill me tomorrow.” Matt smiled at the thought of his sister wanting all the juicy details. Heck, he wanted to make juicy details.
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“The showerhead at the cottage broke and I went down to my father’s shop to get a new one.” He touched the cut on his cheek. “Mira was there working, trying to keep herself distracted from worrying about Hagen.”
Matt paused, thinking about how his entire outlook had changed when he’d found Mira at the hardware store. A frustrating night that had begun with breaking up a fight had ended with the woman he thought he’d never have enough time to give what she needed and deserved asleep on his shoulder. Life worked in mysterious ways.
“Do you think it’s possible to carry a torch for someone for months and not realize how hot it burned?”
“If you mean you and Mira,” Sawyer said, “we all thought you’d hook up last summer.”
“I had too much on my plate to put her in that situation. I’ve had too much on my plate for far too long.” He shifted his eyes to the beautiful woman breathing softly beside him. “I had a hard time pushing thoughts of her away when I went back to Princeton, but I thought I’d done a pretty good job of it.” He shook his head. “Boy was I ever wrong. The minute I saw her, all my feelings rushed forward like I’d opened the dam gates. I swear, her voice does funky things to my stomach, and that smile? Man, Sawyer, her smile…It’s not logical, but when we were out tonight, I wanted to claim her.” As his feelings poured out, he knew the night had affected him much more strongly than he’d even imagined. This was a very touchy-feely conversation for Matt to be having with another man.
“Nothing about relationships is logical.” Sawyer glanced at Sky. “Look at me and Sky. We met on a fluke when I came in for a tattoo. I swear we fell in love in the first three hours we spent together, and it’s only gotten stronger since. That’s what love is. It changes everything you thought you knew about yourself. One look at Hunter should tell you everything you need to know.”
Hunter, Matt’s older brother, had been the biggest player of them all. Before falling in love with Jana, Hunter had been with a different woman every night of the week—until he wasn’t. And then there was only Jana. In a few weeks Hunter and Jana, Grayson and Parker, and Sawyer and Sky would be married, and soon, starting families, chasing their futures with the people they loved, while Matt chased clarity and tried to figure out if going back to teaching meant chasing the wrong future.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Matt said. “But I was never that way with women. My mistress was academics.”
“Mine was boxing. Now I’ve got only one mistress.” Sawyer glanced at Sky and said, “I’m the luckiest guy on earth, Matt. In eight short weeks, she’ll be my wife.”
Matt didn’t know much about Hagen’s father, but as Sawyer talked about becoming Sky’s husband and eventually starting a family, and went on to describe how his relationship with his father, who had Parkinson’s, had changed since they began writing together, Matt wondered what had happened. Had Mira ever been married? All it would take was one conversation with Sky to get all the facts, but Sky wasn’t the one he wanted to talk to. He wanted to hear Mira’s story from Mira. He wanted to look into her eyes and feel what she felt. He wanted to know what she’d been through to become the strong woman and mother she was. On the heels of that thought came thoughts of his father. He bound them together with Mira’s earlier comment about the store having trouble competing with larger businesses and tucked them away to revisit soon. Tonight—this morning—was his and Mira’s.
An hour later, Matt and Mira pulled into Bayside Resort, the resort community her brothers owned. It was larger than Seaside, which had only a handful of cottages that had been owned by the same families for generations, a small recreation center, and a pool. Bayside Resort had at least three times as many cottages of varying sizes, a restaurant, pool, tennis courts, a recreation center, and gorgeous views of Cape Cod Bay.
“This is great. I’d heard your brothers were fixing it up.” Matt’s oldest brother, Pete, owned a cottage at Seaside and a house on the bay just down the beach from Bayside Resort.
“Drake and Rick bought it with their friend Dean Masters. They’re all working hard to make it beautiful again.”
As Matt drove through the community, he took in the renovations being done to the recreation center, the pool, tennis courts, and lush gardens throughout.
“They’re making headway. The gardens are gorgeous.”
“That’s all Dean. He’s got a gift for foliage. Follow the gravel road around the rec center.” Mira pointed and yawned. “I’m sorry. I’m so embarrassed about falling asleep.”
He reached for her hand across the console. “Don’t be. It gave me a chance to strip you down and take dirty pictures, which Sawyer and I posted on one of those racy websites.”
She laughed and swatted his arm. “That’s not very appropriate coming from a professor.”
“I told you I’m not—”
“A professor for the next three months. I know. But that doesn’t give you free rein to turn into a teenager.”
He couldn’t resist waggling his brows and teasing her again. “You know what they say about teenage boys. They can go all night.”
She laughed. “When you went on sabbatical, did you leave your adult brain behind?”
He was beginning to wonder that himself. Mira had that effect on him, making him feel freer, younger, more playful than he had in a very long time.
As he pulled up to her cottage, he said, “You’re right. Sorry. I haven’t slept in…” He looked at the clock on the dashboard. “Almost two full days.”
“Seriously?”
“I had a lot of packing to do, and then I was lucky enough to spend an amazing night with this really sexy woman.” He parked the car in front of her adorable cottage. Yellow shutters and flower boxes billowing with colorful blooms beneath each window accented weathered-gray cedar siding. The small yard was well kept, with typical Cape Cod sand and grass in the front and pockets of pretty gardens. It was easy to imagine Mira and Hagen strolling through the community to the pool, or hanging out down at the bay. He felt an unfamiliar longing to share in those moments.
Matt came around the car and helped her out. “Nice cottage.”
“Thanks. It has a great view of the water.” She yawned again. “I’m sorry. I’m usually in bed by nine thirty.”
“You should have told me. I would have totally been up for that.”
“Matt,” she whispered.
She nibbled on her lower lip, and it cut straight to his heart. Sometime over the evening he realized that coming home had as much to do with Mira as it did with his family. He didn’t want to rush her or make her feel uncomfortable, but he wanted her, and he wasn’t about to pretend he didn’t.
He slid his hand beneath her hair and massaged her shoulder, loving the moan it incited.
“It’s almost eight. There’s no way you’ll be awake enough to hang out with Hagen. He’ll probably want to talk about his first overnight adventure in exorbitant detail. Why don’t you take a nap and I’ll hang out here and write on the deck, spend time with Hagen, and then after you wake up, we can go get your car.”
She unlocked the front door, and he followed her inside.
“I can’t do that.” She yawned again, her eyes wide with embarrassment.
“You can, and you will.” He took in her cozy wine-colored sofa and colorful accent pillows, which matched the floral curtains. A wooden rocking chair sat beside the window with a paperback on the cushion. The coffee table was home to a laptop and two binders, as well as several National Geographic magazines, a book titled Boat Building 101, and a stack of Boxcar mysteries. Hagen. The kitchen was outfitted with white cabinets with yellow handles, matching her sunny disposition. The whole cottage felt very feminine. Very Mira.
“Matt, you need to sleep as much as I do.” She yawned again, and he couldn’t resist pulling her into his arms.
“Is that an invitation?”
“Not when Hagen’s going to be here soon.”
“Oh, the possibilities you’ve just left open.
” Her cheeks flushed, and he added, “Really, sunshine. I usually make do with only a few hours’ sleep. Go take a nap. I’ll go home and crash for the afternoon after we get your car.”
“But I can take a nap while Hagen plays.”
“He’s going to be excited about his night out, and I’d like to see him anyway. I missed him these last few weeks, too.” He was looking forward to hearing about Hagen’s first sleepover. He’d lived with updates via texts for long enough. This was so much better.
“Really?” Mira asked tentatively. “He’ll be over the moon. He adores you, but you’ve already gone above and beyond what a good friend should do. You’ve given me a night I’ll never forget.”
“Then let me give you more.” He cradled her beautiful face in his hands. His entire body flamed with anticipation. “We never got our one kiss, and a kiss good night seems fitting, even if it’s in the morning.”
“Yes,” she whispered breathlessly.
His heart sprinted toward the finish line, but he was in no hurry to take his first taste, a taste he’d remember forever. He brushed his thumb over her lower lip, and her needful sounds made everything sizzle—the air around them, the surface of his skin, and deeper. He followed the curve of her lips with his tongue as he’d been dying to do all night, and she closed her eyes. That’s it, baby. Give yourself over to me. He kissed the corner of her mouth, then the center of her upper lip, savoring every second as her breathing hitched and her fingers pressed into his sides. The anticipation was killing him, but he had to take a moment to look at her face, free from all worry, her soft, smooth skin flushed with desire. She was stunning, and when he closed his eyes tonight, this was the picture he’d remember. Mira, surrendering to their passion. She made a whimpering noise in the back of her throat, sending spikes of heat down his spine, and he couldn’t wait another second. He kissed her softly at first, allowing their mouths to adjust, their tongues to find their way to that slow, drugging stride. He wanted this kiss to fill her dreams, to stay with her until she woke, and to tug at her throughout her days. He wanted this kiss to be the beginning of many, many more.
