BEAUTY AND THE BEST MAN

by Maureen Child

  Damned if he didn’t find that exciting.

  “Hey,” Evan said, “I see Angelica over by that weird bird sculpture. I’ll catch you later, okay?”

  “Sure.” Matt didn’t even see his friend leave. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from Kayla.

  People wandered in and out of the line of vision locking Kayla and him together, but nothing could shatter the connection alive and sizzling between them.

  She felt it, too. He could see it in her eyes, in the firming of her luscious lips. Just as he could see that she wasn’t happy about what she was feeling. He had to bite back a satisfied smile. Good to know he wasn’t the only one being twisted into knots. Kayla wasn’t an easy woman to figure out.

  It was one of the things he liked best about her.

  Most of the women he’d been involved with over the years were all too simple to understand. They enjoyed being with him because he had access to the rich, the powerful, the famous. But Kayla was different. She looked at the world through eyes that searched out and found beauty in the most unlikely places. She wasn’t interested in society or the connections she could make through Matt.

  She’d wanted him. And that had thrown him. Hard. Because he’d felt the same about her. From the first moment he’d met her, Matt had known that she was going to be different. That she had the ability to cut through his defenses and bring him to his knees. Not a place he was used to finding himself.

  Memories raced through his mind, causing sensory overload. He remembered the arguments, the conversations, the incredible tension that had hummed through every moment that they’d spent together.

  Mostly, though, he remembered the one night they’d had together. The frenzied need that had fueled their desperate coupling. The out of control desire that had swept away every clear thought.

  Even recalling that night had his body going hard as stone and his brain fuzzing over until the only thing it could focus on was her. Nearly nine months away from her in a voluntary absence and she was as fresh in his mind as she had been the morning after their “encounter.”

  That’s why he’d left. Why he’d had to go and put half a country between them. Love was not part of his game plan. He was focused on his career and didn’t have the time—or the inclination—to deviate from the plan that had been guiding him since college.

  But damn he’d missed her.

  She lifted her chin, tossed her hair back from her face and started walking toward him. The crowd seemed to part for her, as if in a series of orchestrated moves. She was damn near electrifying. Her hair, her eyes, the curve of her hips and the way those hips swayed invitingly when she walked.

  Hell, everything about her screamed sexy, powerful woman—and that really did it for him in a big way.

  The hard tap of her heels against the marble floor sounded out like tiny gunshots, even over the noise of the surrounding crush of people. She never stopped. Never hesitated. Until she came to a stop right in front of him.

  Her perfume reached for him, flavoring every breath with the taste of her. He looked down into her eyes, saw them spark and flash and knew he was in deep trouble.

  “You’re here for the wedding.”

  Her voice was soft and cool with a thread of steel he remembered all too well. “Yeah.”

  “Then it’s back to L.A.?”

  “It’s where I live now, Kayla.”

  She nodded, folded her arms over her chest and glanced around the crowded room before looking back at him. “Evan dragged you here tonight, didn’t he?”

  “No,” he lied, and told himself that even if Evan hadn’t insisted he come, he wouldn’t have been able to stay away from her much longer. The pull of her was inexorable and something he was tired of fighting.

  “Right, because there’s nothing you like more than a good gallery showing,” Kayla said, her lips curving in a sardonic smile.

  Matt chuckled and realized that he’d missed this, too. The verbal sparring, the tension that simmered between them, just beneath the surface.

  “You caught me. My secret weakness.” It wasn’t a complete joke. Sure, he wouldn’t normally hang at an art gallery, but watching her with the patrons was something he would pay to see. She was so knowledgeable and her love for the art world shone in her eyes. What man wouldn’t be fascinated by her?

  “So, how’s California?”

  He cut off his straying thoughts—a man had to concentrate when talking with Kayla. “Crowded.”

  “You don’t love all the sunshine and the glamour?”

  “Sunshine gets old and I’m too busy working to be interested in the glamour.”

  “Uh-huh.” The toe of her shoe tapped against the marble floor. “And what is it you are interested in, Matt?”

  “You.”

  Three

  The single word escaped before he knew it and he saw the shock in her eyes before it was replaced by disbelief. But damn it, he’d said only the truth. She interested him. Enough so that he’d stayed away from Cheyenne rather than face what she could mean to him. Enough that standing here opposite her and not being able to touch her was torturous.

  “Don’t,” she muttered. “Just...don’t.”

  Great start, he told himself then spoke up quickly. “Look, Kayla, now that I’m in town—”

  “Been back a few days, right?”

  “Yeah.” He knew where she was going with this and he couldn’t blame her.

  “Still too busy to pick up a phone?”

  He wasn’t surprised. Kayla Prince wasn’t the shy, retiring type. She didn’t play games. With her, you always knew where you stood. Whether you wanted to or not. “You really want to do this here? Now?”

  As if suddenly remembering exactly where they were, she took a breath and nodded sharply. “You’re right. I don’t want to do this now. Actually, I don’t want to do this ever.”

  “Liar.”

  She flushed and her luscious mouth flattened into a tight, grim line. “You don’t have the right to expect anything from me.”

  “Didn’t say I did,” he told her quietly. “But we both know we have to talk about what happened.”

  “No, we don’t.” She shook her head and her long hair lifted and then settled over her shoulders again. “It’s over. Been over for nine months, Matt.”

  “Kayla—”

  She shook her head and stared up at him. “Don’t you find it just a little ironic?”

  “What?”

  “Nine months ago, you left without a word to me. And now you want to talk?”

  Irritated, he said, “Come on, Kayla.”

  “No,” she said, taking a step back as if she needed physical distance to maintain the emotional distance already shining in her eyes. “We’re in the same wedding. And that is all we share now, Matt. Let’s just get through the next weeks with as much dignity as we can, okay?”

  There was plenty he wanted to say and more he needed to say, but as he’d just pointed out himself, this wasn’t the time or the place.

  “Now,” she said, plastering her best professional smile on her face, “have some champagne, look around at what our artists have to offer and enjoy yourself.”

  Sure, he thought as he watched her walk through the crowd, charming men and women alike. He’d enjoy himself. While his body was tight and hard and it was taking every effort he could draw on to keep from tossing her over his shoulder and striding out into the night.

  * * *

  By the time they arrived at the club where the band Evan wanted to hear was playing, Kayla felt as if every nerve in her body was on red alert. She’d felt Matt watching her all night and that had completely thrown her off her game. She was supposed to do her best by the local artists and though the show had gone well overall, Kayla still felt a needle of guilt because s
he hadn’t been focused on her job. Instead, she’d spent hours battling to keep her mind from drifting to Matt as often as her gaze had.

  God, why did he have to look so good? He even had a tan from his time spent in California and that honey tone to his skin only made his green eyes gleam with an almost otherworldly glow.

  She’d managed to steer clear of him until they’d arrived here at the club. Now the four of them were clustered around a tiny table and Matt took any opportunity to let his leg brush against hers. With every single touch, she shivered, and she didn’t think Angie was buying her excuse of still feeling the outside cold. Because these shivers weren’t caused by the frigid temperatures, but by the heat only Matt could generate inside her.

  Darn it.

  They really hadn’t been able to talk much, thank heaven, because the band had been playing nonstop since the four of them arrived. But even as that thought drifted through her mind, the small blessing ended when the music suddenly stopped and the lead singer announced they would be taking a break. Silence crashed down on the room and was broken seconds later by the rise of laughter and conversation from the surrounding tables. Now was her chance to leave, Kayla thought, but before she could speak up, Angie did.

  “Evan and I are going to head home. I think we’ve heard enough, haven’t we?”

  Evan nodded. “Agreed. We’ll keep the band we already have booked.”

  Suspicious, Kayla looked at her friend in time to see her flash a secret smile at Evan. Just as she’d thought, Angie had set this all up as a way to force Kayla and Matt together again. Well, that wasn’t going to work.

  Kayla eagerly picked up her purse to leave, too, but her best friend stopped her. “Kayla, why don’t you and Matt stay on for a while? Maybe the band will get better.”

  “Oh,” she said, shaking her head, “I don’t think—”

  “We’ll be happy to,” Matt interrupted her, laying one hand on her forearm to hold her in place.

  She tried desperately to ignore the sizzle of heat that shot up her arm to burn in the center of her chest. One touch, Kayla thought. One touch from him and she was on fire. How was that fair? Hadn’t her body learned the hard lesson her brain had over the past nine months? That she couldn’t let herself care? That she couldn’t trust what she felt for him because he so clearly wasn’t interested?

  “That’s great.” Evan said, taking Angie’s hand. “We’ll see you guys later.”

  “Right.” Matt had already shifted his gaze from their friends to Kayla and she couldn’t hide from the intensity in his eyes.

  When they were alone again, Kayla picked up her glass of wine, took a long sip, and then set it down again before speaking. “Okay, why don’t you say whatever it is you have to say and get it over with.”

  Four

  “Good to see you again, too.”

  Kayla took a breath and huffed it out. “I think we’re past the whole ‘polite’ thing, don’t you?”

  “Fine.” He reached out, covered her hand with his and held on when she would have pulled away. “Let’s talk about that night.”

  She flushed, the heat inside her bursting into an inferno of fire that raced through her system like an out of control blaze. “I’d rather not.”

  “Too bad.”

  Her gaze snapped to his. His grip on her hand tightened further.

  “Let me go, Matt.” She said the words through gritted teeth.

  “If I do, you’ll run away.”

  “You’ve got that wrong, don’t you? You’re the one who ran all the way to California, remember.”

  He frowned. “I remember. Do you remember I was taking a promotion?”

  “I remember you not bothering to call before you left.”

  Not much he could say to that.

  “Besides,” she continued, “why would I run? You don’t scare me.”

  “Liar,” he whispered, a soft smile curving his mouth.

  Well that was enough to stiffen her spine and strengthen her weakening will. She wasn’t afraid of him, but she was afraid of what she felt for him. Naturally, admitting that to Matt was completely out of the question. She wouldn’t give him any more ammunition to use against her. She was still too vulnerable to him, whether she liked acknowledging it or not, and there was just no way that she was going to line up for more pain.

  He had flattened her when he left without a word. And the past nine months had been long and cold and lonely. She was done.

  All around them, couples sat at small tables, leaning toward each other, smiling, laughing, talking. Waitresses moved through the room serving up orders of bar food and drinks. The clink of glassware and the ripples of conversation became a white noise that hummed in the background.

  Kayla stared into Matt’s brilliant green eyes and resisted the urge to reach out and brush a lock of soft brown hair off his forehead.

  His fingers slid across her skin and she fought desperately to hold on to the control and the willpower she had developed over the past several months. It wasn’t easy.

  “I didn’t call.” The three words caught her attention and held it.

  “Yeah, that much I know,” she said shortly. The memory was thick and rich and so clear it could still jab at her heart, reawakening the ridiculous fantasies that had resulted from that one amazing night she and Matt had had together. The two months building up to it had been filled with tension, a delicious tugging and pulling between them that had finally exploded into a moment in time that still had the ability to wake her up in the middle of the night with a hunger that couldn’t be assuaged.

  “I was going to,” he was saying, and Kayla bristled.

  So much for memory lane. Mentally, she paved right over it.

  “Really? What stopped you? Abducted by aliens?”

  One corner of his mouth quirked. “Not exactly.”

  “What then? Broken dialing finger? Couldn’t find a phone?” Yes, she sounded bitchy. But for nine months, hurt and anger had been simmering inside her and it seemed that it had chosen now to boil over.

  “None of the above,” he said, keeping his voice low in spite of the surrounding clatter. Pushing one hand through his thick, dark hair, he fixed his gaze on hers and said simply, “It’s complicated.”

  “So complicated you couldn’t use the last nine months to come up with an explanation?”

  “Yeah,” he admitted. “Something like that.”

  Amazing that she could still feel disappointment. Pain. He wasn’t telling her anything new. Wasn’t even trying to explain away what had happened after their time together. And she wasn’t going to sit here pretending that it was okay with her.

  “Great.” She stood up again and this time he didn’t try to stop her. “Glad we got that all straightened out.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Home.” She glanced around, then shifted her gaze back to his. “No point in staying now, is there.” It wasn’t a question.

  “I suppose not,” he agreed and stood up. Fishing into his pocket, he drew out a folded stack of bills and peeled off two of them to toss onto the table. Then he took Kayla’s elbow and steered her toward the door before she could twist out of his grasp.

  Once outside in the cold, he let her go and she slipped into her coat. Wrapping the edges of it around her as if it were body armor, she said, “Goodbye, Matt.”

  “I’ll take you home.”

  Her heartbeat jittered. “You don’t have to. I have my car here.”

  “Fine. I’ll follow you.”

  “Not necessary.” She took a step past him.

  He moved to stand in front of her, blocking her way. “It is to me.”

  “Forgive me if I’m not really interested in what’s important to you.”

  “You can keep giving m
e grief or you can hear me out somewhere more private.” He stared into her eyes. “What’s it gonna be?”

  Kayla was torn. She wanted to know why he’d disappeared on her so abruptly after what she had considered the most magical, romantic, life-altering night of her life. But she also didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that she cared. But the longer she stared into his eyes, the more convinced she was that she’d never be able to get over the memory of him if she didn’t listen to him for some answers and find the closure—God, she hated that word—that she needed.

  “Fine. You can follow me home.”

  “You still live in the same place?”

  Her small, cottage-sized house on the outskirts of Cheyenne. “Yes.”

  “All right then. We’ll talk there.”

  Yippee.

  * * *

  What the hell was he supposed to say? On the short drive to Kayla’s house, Matt’s mind raced, jumping from one idea to another, never settling on one. There was no easy way to say that meeting her, going to bed with her, had jolted him out of his complacency.

  She was the reason he’d happily taken that promotion and moved to California—and more importantly, she was the reason that Cheyenne still haunted him. He hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind. Hadn’t been able to convince himself that she was just another woman. Just another passing blip on a radar that was so finely tuned he’d managed to avoid commitment for most of his life.

  And that was why she’d hit him as hard as she had. He was so used to cruising smoothly through his romantic encounters that when he slammed into Kayla, she’d knocked him off his feet. The first couple of months he’d known her, he’d worked to convince himself that there was nothing special there. That he was overreacting because she irritated him on so many levels. But that irritation was really just a form of sexual tension so taut it took his breath away. And once he’d had her under him, over him...once he’d been buried deep inside her damp heat, he hadn’t been able to lie to himself anymore. She was different. Special.