'I'm Matthew Duval-Adams. Who are you?'
Her eyes widened and she looked at him apprehensively. His name had clearly registered.
'What are you…? Where's Ella? Why isn't she here? She's supposed to be doing all this!' She waved her hand around.
Ah! This must be the chef sister. Hmm, nothing like her sister in either looks or personality. But then he hadn't really expected someone who dumped her sister in the proverbial to be very nice.
'You must be her sister. Nice of you to show up.' Matt was unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. 'What's your name?'
'What's it to you? I've come to see Ella. I thought she might need a hand.'
Matt gave a forced laugh.
'Oh, that's priceless. What did you hope to find? Ella run ragged with nothing ready with…' Matt glanced at his watch, '… another fifteen minutes to go before the guests arrive?' He could see from the emotions flashing across her face that she had hoped to find just that scenario.
'Sorry to disappoint, but as you can see everything is under control.'
'I still want to see Ella. I want my money. Where is she?'
'Hmm, money. Now then,' he reached into his trouser pocket, 'I found your receipt for the food. Terrible quality by the way. I'll pay you for what we used. You can take back what we didn't use.' Matt gave her the marked receipt along with the money he'd decided she was due.
'What! You can't be serious! This leaves me out of pocket. I want the rest.' She glared at him in defiance.
'You should have thought about that when you dumped it all on Ella. You buy sub-standard food - some of which was out of date by the way - and then expect your sister to do all the hard work while you sit back and reap the financial reward? I don't think so.'
Her scowl deepened. 'That woman always lands on her feet. It's not fair!' She seemed to forget for a moment that Matt was still there. He couldn't fail but catch the venom in her voice.
She pushed past him and went through to the hall. For a moment Matt caught a look of such longing on her face as she surveyed the scene before her - an attractive hall, with a substantial and stunning display of fine food.
Matt almost felt for her. She looked as if she would love to be able to produce that level of quality. Perhaps there was hope for her yet.
The look turned smug as she sniggered. Matt followed her gaze. Ella had arrived and was standing at the piano. Her hair was in a soft bun but you couldn't mistake the colour. It would seem that chef sister had been in on that fashion escapade. Two strikes at causing Ella embarrassment in one twenty four hour period. She really did have nasty scheming sisters.
The gaze turned to hatred as she continued to watch Ella. Matt had had enough.
'Right. Time to go. I'm in charge here. This is my kitchen and my event and you're not welcome. Out. Now.' With that, he grabbed her arm and hauled her outside.
'Turn up anywhere near here for the rest of the evening and I will have to assume you're here to cause trouble. I won't hesitate to call the police in. Understand?'
Chef sister glared at Matt. Her look of hatred transferring itself to him. She stormed off to her car and left.
Way to go Matt. How to make friends. Not!
*
Matt made it to the piano with seconds to spare. His fingers hit the keys at the same time as the first guests arrived.
'Here, sit beside me. You look beautiful by the way.'
Ella blushed at his compliment as she sat down. She'd made her way to the piano subconsciously - almost forgetting she wasn't going to be playing it. With no spare seats at the tables, staying beside Matt suited her fine.
'How was the ceremony?'
'It was good. Penny looks lovely. I came here while they were taking the photos outside the church in case I needed to do anything.'
'Guess who else turned up in case she was needed?'
Ella gave him a puzzled look. 'Who?'
'Your sister.'
'Bianca?'
'If she's the chef sister, then yes, Bianca. She wasn't exactly hot on manners.'
'What did she want?'
'Oh, from the little she said and her facial expressions - an expressive face is about the only thing she shares with you by the way - she was hoping you'd fallen flat on your face. She was also looking for her money.'
'Did you….'
'I paid her and turfed her out. After she'd had a good snigger at your hair. You really need to dump those sisters of yours Ella, they're only out to get you.'
'And what would you know about it Matt? They're my sisters!'
'So? If my sisters behaved like that they'd be grounded, even though they are adults.'
'Well bully for you. We're not all macho cave men!' Matt had the discourtesy to laugh which just made Ella even madder.
'I'm sorry. Look, I don't want to argue with you, or get you mad. I'm just concerned, that's all.'
'Hmmph. Fine. But you needn't be. I know how to handle my sisters.'
Matt gave her a questioning look as if to say he didn't believe her. Ella wasn't sure she believed it herself anymore either. Their behaviour was getting worse. But it was her problem not Matt's.
She lost herself in the music, mesmerised by Matt's hands flowing across the keys. He had the most beautiful long fingers. She started to fantasise again about what those fingers would feel like caressing her body. An involuntary sigh escaped her lips. She felt herself getting hotter as she succumbed to her fantasy.
'I hope whatever you're thinking includes me.' Matt whispered softly in her ear. 'You're turning me on sweetheart and now is not a good time.'
Ella felt the warm caress of his words against her ear and came to with a start. She turned to look at him and felt the colour rise up through her neck all the way to her hairline. 'I…' She cleared her throat and tried again. 'I was just lost in the music.'
'Yeah, sure you were.' Matt held her gaze, pure unadulterated lust shone from him. 'I know where I'd like to lose myself. We'd make our own music Ella.'
Ella couldn't help but roll her eyes. She wasn't sure if he'd meant to, but he'd cured her embarrassment and cooled the tension. 'That is so corny Matt. Is that one of your chat up lines?'
'I don't know, I don't usually need chat up lines.'
'I just bet you don't.'
'I don't think I need them with you either, do I Ella?'
And just like that, the throbbing, sexual awareness was back.
'Ella! Thank you, thank you, thank you! It looks amazing. You've made my day. I couldn't have asked for anything better.'
Ella turned to her friend. 'Hello Penny.' She stood to give her a hug. 'Congratulations! The service was really lovely. You don't need to thank me by the way - it was Matt here who did it all.'
Penny looked across at him. 'Oh, thank you so much. You've no idea what this means to me.'
Called away, she floated off as quickly as she'd arrived beside them.
'Another satisfied customer I think.' Matt smiled at the bride's retreating figure.
*
Matt stretched and flexed his back and shoulders as he tried to remove the kinks caused by sitting at the piano for over two hours - longer than Ella had thought it would be. It had been the most enjoyable time he'd spent at the piano for a long time and that was all down to the fact that Ella had been beside him. They'd talked about everything and nothing as he'd moved from one tune to the next. He didn't even know what he'd played. He'd just been acutely aware of her. He wanted nothing more than to take her somewhere more private and explore her lush body but his own body had a different need at that very moment that he could no longer ignore.
'Come on, let's go to the kitchen and see if there's any food left. I don't know about you but I've pretty much forgotten to eat today - I'm starving!'
'Mmm, that was delicious!' Ella sat back and put her hand on her stomach. She was now well and truly replete.
They'd just enjoyed their own private picnic. Matt's staff had kept a selection of everything for
them and set it all up in a small room that looked like it was normally used as an office.
Matt finished off his drink and agreed with her. 'Not bad given what we had to work with and the time we had.'
'Not bad? You know exactly how good that food was Matthew Adams.'
He grinned at her. 'Yeah, I do. I was just trying to be modest.'
Ella shook her head at him. 'You're incorrigible.'
His eyes twinkled at her. 'So I'm told. But you might be able to reform me. Wanna try?'
Ella blushed again. Suddenly the atmosphere was thick with desire. All it took was a look and Ella was lost.
Matt leaned towards her. 'Then again, maybe I should take you down with me.' His lips met hers, cutting off any reply she may have made. The kiss felt soft against her mouth. The tip of his tongue skimmed her parched lips. She could feel her breathing increase and hear the beat of her heart thumping in her head as she welcomed the taste of him.
Matt had been craving this all afternoon. Sitting beside him at the piano, her perfume had mesmerised him. His senses had been assaulted with the way her dress embraced her lush curves giving a teasing glimpse of the swell of her breasts. Breasts he ached to taste and touch. Her face, with its subtle makeup and surrounded by wisps of her hair, had filled his vision. He tamped down his animalistic desire to rip the dress from her body and take her across the table.
Without breaking contact he wheeled his chair away from the table and pulled her onto his lap in one swift move. He fought to keep the kiss slow, to keep it gentle. She'd retreated before, for a reason he had yet to discover and he didn't want to scare her off again.
Ella loved the feel of his lips on hers. Fireworks seemed to go off in her head every time he touched her. She moved her hand up to the back of his head and ran her fingers through his short hair. Her tongue reached out, boldly exploring.
Matt needed no further encouragement. He deepened the kiss, meeting her stroke for stroke with his tongue. Every kiss, every sweep of his tongue with hers, heightened her arousal. She'd never experienced this before - the heady need to be taken, the burning need to feel him fill her. This potent desire between herself and Matt masked her dark memories of sex.
She clung to him as the kiss became harder, more urgent, her breathing turning harsh and uneven with each thrust of his tongue.
She felt the slide of his hand up her body as it moved from cradling her hip to rest at the side of her breast. His fingers caressed the bare skin exposed by the low cut of the dress under her arm. They stroked the side swell of her breast. Heat pooled at her core as her nipples tightened in anticipation of his further caress.
Breathing deeply, Matt broke the kiss. His lips travelled across her face where he gently bit her earlobe before trailing a line of sensual kisses down her neck. She shuddered as he reached the small hollow at the base of her throat. High on her own erotic arousal she threw her head back to give him access to her body. She felt the whisper like touch of his lips across the swell of her breasts as his fingers sought her hardened nipple through the silkiness of her dress.
She moaned as she felt a liquid heat pool at the juncture of her thighs. She shifted her body to seek relief from the mounting tension and felt his hard erection nudging her through the soft folds of her dress.
Matt groaned as he stilled her. 'You're killing me here Ella,' he managed to gasp as he took a deep breath. 'I haven't come in my pants since I was a teenager lusting after my first date. Feeling your body rub against mine is making me so hard, so close.' He studied her face, her eyes heavy with her own arousal, her hair all mussed up. 'I want to bring you to orgasm Ella. I want to sink myself into you until we both scream our release.' He took her mouth again with a hard, drugging kiss that had Ella breathing heavily against him with near-fulfilled release.
A knock at the door had them both jump apart. Only Matt's strong hold prevented Ella from falling from his lap.
His chef called through the door. 'We're done here Matt. See you Monday.' His footsteps echoed on the tiled floor as he walked away.
Ella pulled away from Matt's embrace and stood up. 'Sweet heaven Matt! I never even heard his footsteps. How could I not have done? We were nearly caught. There's a wedding going on!' She put her head in her hands at the shame of being caught making out. Her thoughts threw her back to the shame she'd felt as a child when one of her mother's boyfriends had sought her out.
'I don't do this! What was I thinking?' She groaned. That was the problem. It was hard to think when Matt was anywhere near.
Matt stood and brought her into his embrace. She struggled to move away but he held her tight.
'Shhh. The door's locked and no-one would have walked in anyway. I asked them to just shout out when they were finished.' He placed a gentle kiss on the top of her hair.
Ella looked up at him. His heart sank. Apart from slightly swollen lips, all traces of the passion they'd shared were gone. She'd shut herself away again behind her barrier.
'Ella, please, don't shut down. We did nothing wrong. I admit the timing could be better but we want each other. You can't deny that.'
Ella pulled away and this time he let her go. Without a word she started clearing away the plates. Matt sighed and gave her a hand.
As he saw her to her car he tried one more time to get through to her. 'You'll talk to me eventually Ella. I'm not going to let this drop. I've never wanted a woman more than I want you. I'm sorry if that scares you in some way, but it's mutual. I'd stake my career on that.'
The look of fear mixed with longing confused him. He pulled her to him and gave her one last, long, hard kiss before he let her go. He whispered in her ear. 'Something to remember me by Ella.' He opened her car door and helped her inside.
'Remember what I said about Prince Azzam. He's a terrible flirt but he won't make a hit on you unless he believes it's mutual. Other than that he doesn't understand 'no'. He only invites the best and keeps on and on until he gets the best. When he calls again, you're safe to accept. It'll be a great gig for you.'
Ella gave him a blank look.
'Prince Azzam? From the Principality of Quinaard? You told me at the piano he'd been phoning you for the last couple of weeks to go and play for his summer banquet at his royal palace. You should accept the invite.'
'Oh. Yeah.' Ella shook her head. 'Maybe. I'll see.'
Chapter 5
Ella woke with a start, breathing heavily. Her body was caught up in the quilt as if she'd been struggling to get away. But then she had - in her dreams. It had been years since her sleep had been disturbed by that episode in her past. She glanced across at her bedside clock - five a.m.
She'd been asleep for seven hours yet she felt drained and restless. Unable to get back to sleep, she got up and made herself a hot drink.
Sitting in an armchair, sipping her tea, her thoughts crowded her, confused her. Recent thoughts of yesterday mingled with old memories of when she was fourteen. Memories that had haunted her for years but that she had thought were firmly buried. She tried to push them away, back where they couldn't distress her.
Ella had no idea how she'd got home last night. One minute she was getting in the car outside the hall and the next she was home. Half an hour had passed in-between. She hated being paralysed by her past.
Matt was right - the desire was mutual but it didn't take much to snuff hers out, for it to be replaced by the sordid, dirty feelings she'd carried around with her for twelve years. Feelings so strong she'd never wanted contact with a man. Until Friday. Until Matt.
He'd been her hidden fantasy for years. And she had fantasised about him - how it would feel to be held in the circle of his arms, to have his hands explore her body, awakening her, arousing her. It had seemed a safe fantasy - she'd never expected to meet him. Even when she'd renewed her friendship with his sisters she'd naively believed their paths would never cross - she'd completely underestimated how close the Duval-Adams family were and that as a result they were likely to meet each other's fri
ends.
The reality of Matt went beyond her wildest imaginings! She'd been as into the kiss as he had been. The feel of his lips and tongue as he'd ravished her mouth had been ecstasy. His fingers caressing her breast had nearly sent her into orbit.
She felt her cheeks redden now as she remembered every caress, every touch. She felt embarrassed at how she had responded. It was cold comfort to know that she was even capable of responding.
That knock on the door! It had brought her crashing down. Reality had slammed into her and the sordid memories of her past - of a man pawing her - had killed the beauty of their heated embrace.
She shuddered and tightened her robe. Those old thoughts refused to clear.
Her mother had flirted with men and floundered from one relationship to the next for as long as Ella could remember. Her and her sisters all had different fathers. Ella's father had apparently not been interested in her and Bianca's father had left before she'd been born, but they'd all lived with the pub landlord father of Kelly, her fashion student sister. That had been a reasonably happy time for them all until he'd died of a premature heart attack and they'd been left homeless.
It was from then on her mother had prostituted herself to keep a roof over their heads. Having Ella at boarding school had suited her mother - it had been one less mouth to feed for much of the year, and it had shielded Ella from some of the sordid nature their lives had plummeted to.
Being the eldest, and with a six and seven year age gap between her and her sisters, it had been Ella the men had leered at, particularly once she'd hit puberty. She'd always tried to be out of the way whenever one called to pick up her mother but one of them had let them move in with him for a while. That had been the blackest time of her childhood. During her school summer holiday he'd made a point of getting home early on days her mother was out. There had been no warning - and despite how rough and unsavoury he'd looked, no leering. She'd arrived from school on the Friday and spent an innocuous weekend in his presence. So it had been a shock, on the Monday, when he'd turfed her sisters out of their shared room and forced himself on her. That holiday had gone on forever as he'd persistently raped her. If she hadn't been in the room he'd gone looking for her and dragged her home. He'd threatened to throw them all out on the street if she ever said anything to her mother or anyone else.
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