Fuck.
She thought I was ashamed of her. When her eyes met mine, all the distress that I had seen in them had turned into that same spunk that had attracted me to her in the first place. God, I loved the fire inside this woman. The fire that told the world she wasn’t going to take shit from anyone.
“What the hell would make you think that?” Oh, crap. I knew why. “Wait, is this because I didn’t tell the paparazzi about you just now?”
“Well…yeah…I guess. I mean, logically, I get why you didn’t tell them. I really do. I just wasn’t prepared for the way it made me feel when you didn’t.”
“Hey, come here.” I trailed my fingertips down her jaw and cupped the side of her face. Her eyes darkened as she leaned her cheek into my hand, and, Jesus, that did things to me. I couldn’t fucking wait to get her home. But first, she needed to know why I said—or didn’t say—what I did to the reporters.
“Nobody will ever compare to you, do you hear me? Nobody even comes close. And I meant it when I said you’re not going to be a secret. The only thing I wanted to do back there was tell those assholes that you’re my girl. That I fucking love you and that we’re together. But it’s important that we do it our way. And I promise, we’re not going to have to wait long. This shit’s getting cleared up today.”
I pulled her into my arms and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Please believe me, Chloe. The last thing I ever want to do is hurt you.”
“I do,” she said. Looking up at me with her arms hugging my waist, she added, “I do, Matt. I believe in you. I believe in us.”
~~~
~Chloe~
Matt had his phone out, initiating the call before we even reached my car. As we approached it, I clicked the car remote to unlock the doors, its electronic chirp echoing throughout the cavernous structure. With Matt’s phone to his ear, waiting for his call to be answered, we walked in silence except for the sound of our footsteps on concrete and the low whistle of the damp spring breeze that chilled me to the bone.
I had no idea who he was calling. A producer of the show? Dalton Davis himself? Nor did I have a clue how he would clear up this mess. As I slid into the driver’s seat, he got in on the passenger’s side, and I got my answer.
“Ava,” Matt said into his phone as we sat down and closed our doors. “Hey. We need to talk.”
I started the car, a pang of jealously slicing through my heart at the sound of her name on his lips. I knew my reaction was irrational. I trusted Matt, completely. Given my experience on both sides of betrayal, however, being suspicious came naturally to me.
As I made a mental note to work harder on my trust issues, Matt made the task easy for me by noticing my tension, taking my hand, and placing two soft kisses on my knuckles. When I looked into his eyes and saw nothing but respect and adoration, all my apprehension melted away.
Without looking away from me, he said to Ava, “Remember that girl I told you about? Yeah, the gorgeous one with the pink hair.” He playfully lifted a strand of my now completely blonde hair, and cocked a brow at me. I guess he didn’t approve of the more conservative look I was going for. I rolled my eyes and swatted him away so I could back out of the parking spot. “Yeah. We talked. It turns out she couldn’t resist the man-candy—” through my peripheral vision, I caught him taking his left pec muscle in his palm to give it a spirited squeeze “—that is Matt Langston.”
The burst of laughter that erupted from my lips echoed the raucous laugh that I could hear through his phone, followed by words from Ava that I couldn’t make out.
“Yeah,” he continued in a more serious tone, his heated gaze taking on a tenderness that melted my heart. “I love her. More than anything. I know you’ve been waiting to clear the air with your dad. Now is the time… Look, I’m sorry to put you on the spot like this, but I promised my girl the media would know the truth. And it has to be today.”
He reached over and squeezed my knee, letting his hand drift up my leg so his thumb could rub slow circles along my inner thigh. I squirmed in my seat and he grinned as he added, “It’s either that or I’m shouting it from the rooftops. And I may do that anyway.”
Chapter Twelve
~Chloe~
It started in the car.
After he ended the call with Ava, Matt ditched his phone by tossing it carelessly over his shoulder onto the back seat, then made it his mission to distract me all the way to his place.
As we cruised up Lincoln Avenue, Matt’s warm hand cruised up the inseam of my jeans, squeezing and kneading in all the right spots, making my knees weak and my heartbeat frantic. When I stopped at a red light, he leaned in and pressed his lips to my neck, tongue tasting and teeth tenderly nipping. Goosebumps erupted on my skin but just as I turned my head to kiss him back, the light turned green. Stupid light. I stole a kiss anyway, keeping the car at a standstill, ignoring the friendly double-beep from the car behind me.
Taking his cheeks in my hands, his short stubble prickling my palms, I pulled his face to mine, a hungry moan slipping from my throat as our tongues slid together in a vigorous rendezvous. Only when the horn behind us let out a less-than-friendly, fierce blare did Matt force us to stop. Resting his forehead against mine, he said in a low gravelly voice that brimmed with longing, “Patience, baby. We’re almost there.”
The rest of the ride was more of the same as I tried to concentrate on the road while he overwhelmed my senses. His hands caressed my curves while his lips continued to trail my neck, tasting a small sample of what was to come. The moment we pulled into his driveway, I put the car in park, unbuckling my seatbelt as I killed the engine. We crashed into each other, sinking into a kiss so lush, so steeped in lust and affection that there was no way we would be able to keep our clothes on until we got inside his house. Somehow, instead of opening my door and getting out, I ended up on his side of the car, straddling him as we made out like horny teenagers.
“God, I want you,” I vaguely heard myself whisper as my palm slipped under his shirt and caressed the silky, hot skin of his abdomen. “I need you now. It’s been so fucking long.”
The pads of my fingers trailed lower, under the waistline of his jeans, and lower still until my fingertips slipped beneath his boxer briefs. He let out a growl and mumbled something that sounded like, “Not here,” just before he opened the passenger door. I was momentarily disoriented, gasping at the blast of cool air against my overheated skin.
“Then where do you suggest?” I asked, still straddling him, my voice throatier than I expected it to be.
One corner of his mouth angled upward, though his eyes remained heavy-lidded with arousal. “Exactly where we left off. Now, out.”
I followed him to the side door of his house, impatiently waiting as he found his key in his pocket and unlocked the door. Holding it open for me, he said gallantly, “After you.”
I could feel his eyes on me as I crossed the threshold and entered the kitchen, hanging my coat on a hook by the door. Despite Matt having been gone for the last three months, his house was impeccably clean. Not a speck of dust anywhere. Even the air smelled fresh. I briefly considered teasing him about his compulsive tidiness and how he must’ve hired someone to keep his place spotless while he was away, but I didn’t give a single fuck about that. All I cared about now was being with him. Feeling his hands on me. Touching him and letting him touch me.
“Right there, Chloe. Stop,” his deep voice commanded from behind me.
Right here? What was so special about the middle of his kitchen? I turned around to face him, giving him an amused, questioning look. His eyes shifted to my right, and I couldn’t help but smile.
The refrigerator.
“Remember, Chloe?” he said as he slowly prowled toward me, his eyes smoldering, his body taut with barely restrained sexual heat. “Our last morning together was cut short, as I recall. So I’ve spent the last three months thinking about what would’ve happened—” He stopped in front of me and cupped my face, his fingers at
the base of my skull, his thumb stroking my cheek. He pressed his body against mine until my back was against the fridge. “—right here—if that doorbell hadn’t rung.”
“Now’s our chance to find out,” I invited, watching him carefully. His jaw clenched and unclenched, the primal look in his eyes stoking the flames of my desire for him.
I stood on my toes to get close enough to press my lips to his. Lacing my fingers into his belt loops, I tugged him even closer and he responded in kind, his hands gripping my ass, a soft hum slipping from his throat as he kneaded my flesh. He deepened the kiss and bent his knees just enough to slowly grind into me.
“Now, where were we…?” he murmured against my lips as he slipped his hands under my shirt, resting his warm palms on my waist for only a moment before sliding them up my sides. He pulled back as he began to lift my shirt, his grin reminding me that this was exactly where we had left off. My body reacted in the same delicious way as before, my skin burning with anticipation, heart beating wildly in my ears. This time, though, nothing was going to stop him from taking what belonged to him.
He lifted my shirt higher and higher until I had to raise my arms high above my head. With the shirt in a heap on the floor, we reveled in the stillness as we caught our breath and got lost in each other’s eyes.
~Matt~
How the hell did I get this lucky?
I could barely wait another second to bury myself inside her and stay there all fucking day. The only problem? I couldn’t get our elevator conversation out of my mind.
I won’t be anyone’s second best.
It crushed me to think she had a single doubt in her mind about how I felt about her. Because I fucking loved this girl.
And she had to know that I loved more than just her body. I needed to tell her in a way that would make her believe me. As my fingers rested on her shoulders and hooked under her bra straps, slowly bringing them down her arms, I said, “You need to know something.”
“I don’t want to know anything,” she mumbled as she unfastened my jeans and starting tugging them down. “I just want you inside me.”
Fuck.
Attempting with all my damn might to keep solid control, I let out a strained chuckle, “What did I tell you about patience?”
“I don’t have much of that.” She smiled, hooking her thumbs in the waistline of my pants and shifting them down my hips, freeing me. She didn’t waste a second before taking hold of me, gently stroking, and thoroughly proving her point.
Shit. That felt amazing.
“I’d say I’m working on it,” she continued. “But that would be a lie. I don’t want to be patient anymore, Matt. I just want you.”
Ah, Christ.
“Hold up, just let me say this,” I cupped her cheeks, fighting the urge to surrender to the chemistry raging between us and just be consumed by her touch, a battle I was about to lose. “I. Love. You. And you might not one hundred percent believe that yet, but I promise you, I’m going to make it my life’s work to make you understand exactly how much you mean to me.”
Oh, God. The way she was looking at me with those beautiful blue eyes. Her fucking soft skin. Her hands on me. I needed this girl, now. “But let’s save that for later. Right now? I’m going to give you what you want, Chloe. Fuck talking. I’m going to show you.”
~Chloe~
“Yes,” I breathed, fully aware of how desperate I sounded, yet not caring at all. I was desperate for him. And I wanted him to know it. “I want you to show me, Matt. Please show me.”
With a moan, he slid my bra straps down my arms and yanked my bra down to my waist, cupping my breasts. He stroked and squeezed them, circling his tongue around first one nipple, then the next, delivering a bite tender enough to shoot straight to my core, yet sharp enough to cause my skin to tingle and my throat to let out a tiny whimper.
“I fucking love the sounds you make,” he muttered, his hands slipping down my sides. “I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of that voice.”
“So make me use it,” I urged.
That must’ve been the last bit of encouragement he needed because not more than a second later he yanked my leggings and panties down together in one swift movement, the material resting mid-thigh. He turned me around, pressing my breasts against the cool fridge, his body against my back.
“You want me to make you scream again,” he whispered in my ear, his fingers finding their way between my legs from behind. “Don’t you.”
“Yeah,” I panted, unable to disguise my impatience. “I do.”
He gently circled my slick entrance with his fingertip, groaning when he discovered exactly how much I wanted to scream for him.
“Fuck,” he rasped, gliding that finger inside me with deliberate restraint. “You’re so wet for me.”
“You do that to me, Matt,” I breathed, my chest heaving and my core throbbing with need. “Stop teasing me. Please. Give me what I need.”
He removed his fingers, leaving me disappointed from the loss and yet excited for what I knew was coming next. I pressed my forehead against the stainless steel, instinctively holding my breath as I waited. I didn’t have to wait long. He rested one hand on my hip while carefully guiding himself into me with the other, all the while planting warm, soft kisses along my shoulder and my neck. The sensation of his hard length fully seated inside me sent a surge of delicious heat through my body and a drew a prolonged moan from my lips.
“You’re so warm inside, Chlo,” he whispered into my ear. “I fucking love how you feel.”
He caressed my breast, lifting it and softly circling my nipple with his thumb. With his other arm wrapped tight around me, he stepped away from the fridge and brought my back to his chest, burying himself deeper inside me, stretching me, filling me. My palm reached behind me and found its way to the back of his neck as he circled his tongue behind my earlobe and gave it gentle bite. Only now did it occur to me that he hadn’t taken his t-shirt off…and that I liked how he had let his buzz cut grow out just enough for me to give his hair a nice tug, which I did. I briefly considered asking him to remove the shirt so I could feel his skin against me, but I was too preoccupied with the way he was touching me to speak. And I wanted his cock to stay right where it was.
His other hand moved from my waist to just below my bellybutton, slowly traveling lower and lower until his fingers met my clit in a perfectly pressured caress as he steadily thrust in and out of me, setting every inch on my skin on fire.
I could barely contain myself as I arched and shifted restlessly in his arms, moaning like a banshee, incoherent words of encouragement and pleasure pouring from my lips. I felt like I was flying and falling all at once. I needed to hold on to something or I’d surely crash.
“I’ve got you, Chlo,” Matt assured me, reading me like only he could. Taking my wrists, bringing them in front of us, he bent me over slightly and rested my hands on the countertop beside the refrigerator, where I could keep a steady balance. “Keep your hands here. Don’t move them, no matter what.”
He grasped my hips from behind, lifting them up slightly, just enough for him to hit my sweet spot each time he pressed into me. He began to move faster, driving into me more forcefully but retreating slowly, each heavy thrust pushing my breaths out in harsh gasps. He continued that way, powerful and yet gentle, a delectable combination that overwhelmed us both in the most gratifying way, until it simply became too much…until slow was no longer an option.
Together, we let go, surrendering to the pleasure we had only ever found with each other. Our bodies moved instinctively together, driving each other on until an orgasm sharper than I’d ever felt before tore through me, clenching every muscle in my body, ripping a prolonged, guttural moan from his throat.
That’s when he went deep and held himself there, his firm body covering my back like a blanket as he held me tight, pulsing inside me, eliciting a powerful aftershock that shuddered through my body, leaving me exquisitely and utterly satiated. He roared a
final time as he sank into me again and again, drawing out every last thrum of pleasure from his climax.
My muscles which had been tense and rigid only seconds ago began to go limp. I crossed my forearms on the countertop and rested my head there. Matt placed soft kisses on my back and shoulders, still moving slowly and subtly within me. I never wanted him to stop.
“God, I needed that,” I thought aloud.
He chuckled, his hands still caressing my skin. “Mmm. Me, too.”
“I know you said you were going to take your time,” I continued as he gently slid out of me and turned me around to face him. I couldn’t help but smile at the satisfied, heavy-lidded look on his face as he pulled me into his arms. I smiled because I felt the same way…entirely content in a way I’d never thought possible. “But I’m so fucking glad you didn’t.”
“Who says we’re done? That was just Round One, Chlo. We’re just getting started.”
“Oh, yeah?” I tried not to sound as eager as I felt.
“Oh, yeah,” he grinned.
“Okay,” I conceded. As if he had to persuade me. “I’m in. So, what happens in Round Two?”
“Oh, that’s simple,” he replied. “You. Me. Bath. Now.”
CHAPTER Thirteen
~Chloe~
We spent the entire day at his house—fucking, sleeping, talking, teasing…making love. Every word, every touch, every embrace was a way of catching up on the time we had lost and, more importantly, set the groundwork for our new, uncharted future together. We cherished every moment of the day because even though we planned to be together moving forward, we knew our time—for now—was limited. Matt would be going back to Vegas soon to finish filming the current season of American Muscle. And I’d be here.
We talked a lot about how we’d make the long-distance thing work. He had three more months to go on his contract and I had no idea what he would want to do when it ended. Renew his contract for another season? Stay in Vegas? Come home? It wouldn’t be easy, but maybe understanding that up front would make a difference.
The Fragile Line: The Complete Series Box Set: Parts One, Two, & Three Page 29
