9781631050275TheirPerfectMatchMarshNC Page 10

  “You mean the value of fear? Absolutely. It can even keep us alive under certain conditions.” He watched as she gulped down her drink and then took the empty glass and lingerie box away and set both on an end table. When he straightened up again, Molly lifted both hands to his chest, tucking her fingers under the butter-soft flaps of his leather jacket. Zane’s thumb brushed her cheek and glided over her lower lip, then moved lower, strumming the top button of her blouse. Though he never actually touched her neck, the effect was the same. Heat gathered between her breasts and tentacled slowly through her, making her pulsate with awareness. The pressure of his body increased against hers, stoking her need until it had leapt from a slow burn to a feverish blaze.

  She was about to combust when his mouth crashed down on hers and she sank, breathless, into his embrace. The moment her lips parted, Zane’s tongue curled around hers and suckled gently. Urgent hands roamed up her back, then drifted down to cup the swell of her backside. While Zane’s kiss deepened, Molly coasted along on the powerful current that sealed them together and savored the crisp masculine scent that flooded her senses.

  The strength of his hunger mingled with her pent-up desire to create a force that rivaled gravity. Seduced by the rocking movements of his hips and tongue against hers, Molly leaned so deeply into him that for a moment she lost all consciousness of where his body ended and hers began. A rush of raw, wet heat swept away the last of her inhibitions. A soft moan escaped her throat when she felt desire strain the zipper of his jeans.

  “I’ve never met anyone like you, Molly.” His lips hovered only inches above hers, so close she could feel the light rasp of the stubble that smudged his upper lip.

  Molly blinked up at him, her mind a kaleidoscope of flame-colored glitter. “I don’t think I know many men like you, either.” Her voice was strained, husky. If she hadn’t been so turned on, the raw need she heard in it would have embarrassed her.

  Zane raised the hem of her skirt an inch or so and skimmed a palm along the silky surface of her hose-covered thigh. Gradually, he traced the raised line of her panty. His fingers stopped just shy of her throbbing center. She imagined, just for a second, how much more intense his caresses would feel against the sheerness of the lingerie in the box.

  “Tell me what you want me to do to you.” His husky voice rumbled against her skin. “I want to hear you say the words. Details.”

  “Why?” She paused, suddenly uncomfortable. Sensing the change in her mood, he stepped back and let his hands drop.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Why would you ask me to do that? Can’t you guess what I want…need? You took me this far and now you’re humiliating me.”

  Zane raised both brows in surprise. “Why is it humiliating to talk about your desires?”

  “I…I don’t know. That kind of thing seems somehow…private.”

  “It shouldn’t be private from me. I want to share every moment, every sensation.” He frowned. “Is this about Todd?”

  “Todd!” This time she drew back in shock. “What has Todd got to do with this?”

  “I suspected there was something between you two once. Did he hurt you that badly? Because I’m not him, you know.”

  She averted her face, suddenly finding herself unable to look into those intense gray eyes. They seemed to see far too deeply into her, as though Zane were trying to read her thoughts. “You make it sound like this is some kind of…I don’t know, test or something. And I graduated from college a long time ago.”

  “I didn’t mean for it to be intimidating. I just want to know where you stand…where I stand. I want to know what would please you most. And then I want to do it for you.”

  Her cheeks burned as hot as other, less visible parts of her. “I…I want you to kiss me. Touch me. Everywhere. Is that what you want to hear?”

  “Actually, yes. It is.” He came closer again. His arms slid back around her. His hands slowly moved up her sides and came to rest on either side of her breasts. “Molly, why do you find it so hard to believe that I’m attracted to you?”

  “Because that’s generally not the way my life has worked up until now. Things like this just don’t happen to me. My attractions to people are generally one-sided. They don’t work out.”

  “Not in this case. What you’re feeling is the same thing I’m feeling, I’m pretty sure.”

  “I’m…I’m glad to hear that. I think.” Her body was on fire. Molly sensed that the slightest movement of his hands, still encircling her breasts, would have sent her straight over the edge. “I want to make sure everything’s…you know…all right between us before we get into something we can’t handle.”

  “Do you want to know what I want?” He leaned closer, grumbling the words into her ear. “I want to undress you. Slowly, bit by bit, savoring every inch of your body. Then I want you to lie still and let me look at you for as long as I want to. As long as it takes to convince you that you’re a beautiful woman worthy of a man’s desire.”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “All right. Let me start. If you want me to stop, just tell me, and I swear I will.”

  He took off his own jacket and tossed it on the sofa as he led her into his bedroom. Molly barely had time to note that the room was clean, sparsely furnished, and undeniably masculine. Brown and blue colors dominated, with no decorations aside from a few nautical-themed prints on the walls. Then they were on the bed and she didn’t have any further interest in the room itself. She wanted to focus only on Zane.

  Slowly he eased off her shoes, then her jacket, then started in on her blouse buttons. His lips followed, trailing down her neck and shoulder as each was slowly bared by his tugging fingers. Molly didn’t think she’d ever felt anything so intense when he eased away the straps of her bra. Her dark nipples stood straight up as though they were two fingers beckoning him closer. His breath caressed them and she longed for him to take them into his mouth as much as she feared it.

  He didn’t tug down the cups though. Instead, he moved to her skirt and undid the side hook and zipper. The skirt dropped away easily, leaving her only in hose and her bra. Slowly, the hose came down.

  He eased her onto her back and crawled alongside her as his hand slid down her sweat-dampened stomach. Her breath quickened and her muscles trembled under his light touch.

  His fingers dipped into the moistening curls below the waistband of her panties. Molly gasped with arousal as he slid them lower and settled them so that they put pressure against her throbbing center. Meanwhile, his lips eased her bra cups away and nuzzled her erect nipples.

  “Zane,” she whispered, her throat dry and her voice hoarse. Her own hand moved toward his zipper.

  “Not yet. Remember, I get to look at you all I want.”

  She was shaking much harder now as he stripped off the last two garments and gazed down at her nakedness with undisguised longing. Then, gingerly, he guided her hand to the front of his pants. She could feel his hard bulge pressing against the fly of his jeans. Together they jerked it open and pushed the jeans down his hips. His shirt followed them to the floor a moment later.

  His tongue teased her first, tracing her hot contours until she drew close to her peak. Heat flowed through her, pooling in her center, but just then he pulled away to leave her gasping with desire.

  “Zane….” she murmured while he resettled himself between her still-open legs. She heard the crinkle of a foil wrapper as he sheathed himself in a condom. Molly threw back her shoulders and arched backward as she scooted down and fitted herself around his erection. Flames licked at her center when, at last, he slid inside her.

  Strong and efficient, just as Molly suspected he was in most areas of life, Zane rocked and bucked his hips until the tremors took control of her body and flung, moaning and wailing, over the edge of self-control. As the flames consumed her, she had a vague sense of him crying out too. The two of them sailed through open air together and then came spiraling toward earth like two meteors collided in s
pace. Soon they collapsed together, bathed in sweat and shivering with the aftershocks of their explosive mutual climax.

  Sleepily she curled up on his chest, her fingers nestled in the crisp mat of hair that swirled around his well-defined pecs. Zane smoothed her hair down around her ears, slid an arm under her shoulders, and cuddled her close. She listened to the soft thud of his heart, beating only inches from hers.

  “You’re right, you know,” she said after a few moments. “About Todd. We were together for four years—through most of college. At the end of my senior year, just when I thought things were about to get permanent between us, I introduced him to a new friend of mine from Biology class. A white girl. Two weeks later, he left me for her. That was how I discovered a talent for matchmaking…and a serious problem in the romance department.”

  “Wow,” Zane said a bit groggily. “That’s rough. Looks like you stayed friends with him, though.”

  “It took a while. They broke up eventually, and he started calling me again. I’d lost my other friend by then, mostly because of some rather unkind things I said to her—I didn’t want to lose him, too. I accepted his apology, but I never considered taking him back. I decided I was better off alone after that, at least for the foreseeable future.”

  “Do you still feel that way now?”

  Molly laughed against his chest. “I’m beginning to have second thoughts all of a sudden.”

  “Sleep,” he whispered, tightening his arms around her. “You’re safe here.”

  “You know, we never got around to trying out that lingerie.”

  “Actually, I was hoping we could save that for tomorrow. Any chance you can call in sick?”

  “I’m the boss at Lovelines, silly. I don’t have to make up a story to take a day off. What am I going to do…fire myself?”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” he said. “Then we could both walk away from that whole mess. I’m no longer your client, and you’re no longer my matchmaker. A clean slate. Start fresh.”

  She’d expected him to laugh too, but Molly frowned at the hint of seriousness in his tone. She wasn’t even sure why it unnerved her the way it did.

  Eventually she chalked it up to exhaustion and emotional overload on both their parts. She found herself surprised how easy it was to close her eyes and drift off to sleep beside him. Much to her surprise, she really did feel safe there.

  * * * *

  When he woke early the next morning, he kissed the smooth curve of Molly’s back until she murmured and shifted happily in her sleep.

  Zane rolled out of bed, showered, and pulled on a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants before he padded out to the kitchen. He decided to fix her something really nice for breakfast, after which he planned to remind her to call Brenda and tell her she’d be out for the day. Humming, he got out two plates and two mugs.

  He’d just measured out the coffee beans and emptied them into the grinder when a sharp knock sounded on his apartment door.

  “What the—” Zane glanced at the bedroom door to make sure he’d closed it, then hurried to answer it. He didn’t want whoever it was to disturb Molly—especially not when he cracked open the door and found his brother standing there.

  Alaric looked like he was on his way to a country-club breakfast, with his gold mane carefully coiffed above the nested collars of his pinstriped shirt and blue blazer. His eggshell linen pants were pressed to razor creases.

  Zane gaped at him. “What the hell are you doing here at this hour?”

  “I hadn’t heard from you in a while, so I thought I’d better come by in person.” Alaric’s face registered surprise, then overt disapproval at his brother’s disheveled state. “I…ah…thought you’d be up and dressed by now.”

  “I just got out of the shower.” In his annoyance, Zane raised his voice, but then he remembered Molly. “You’ll have to come back later. Call first.”

  He started to close the door, but Alaric’s gaze had already lighted on the two plates and two cups on the counter. Understanding spread across his face.

  “I understand now. You’ve got company. That explains your attire.”

  “Great work, Sherlock. Now if you don’t mind….”

  “And if you don’t mind, I have a few questions for you. I’m entitled to ask, considering my money enrolled you in Lovelines in the first place. I assume that’s how you set up this little tryst in the first place.”

  “I’d be happy to talk to you, Alaric, but not right now!” Zane spoke through clenched teeth. He threw a backward glance over his shoulder, desperately hoping that his will power could stop Molly from emerging through that door. How would he explain Alaric’s presence? She’d hate his guts if she spotted her former client here before he’d had a chance to explain.

  Alaric raised his gold brows. “I understand. Apparently you’re having much better luck in the dating arena than I did. And that’s what I want to talk to you about. What have you found out so far?”

  “Nothing. I mean, I’ve done what you said and I’ve come up dry. Molly’s not behind it, though. I’m convinced of that.”

  “I’m glad you’re so confident. Now see if you can explain this?” Alaric took out a folded credit card statement. Zane blinked at it, then whistled. “Those aren’t my charges!”

  “Exactly. This is the gold credit card I procured specifically to pay your expenses with the dating agency. I’ve been monitoring it carefully, as you should have been doing.”

  Zane blinked down at the sheet, astonished. A few small purchases online—testing the waters, perhaps, preceded a large cash advance from an ATM in the city. He had no idea how they had determined the PIN number.

  “Isn’t the company tracing these?”

  “Of course I called and had everything flagged,” Alaric said in an annoyed tone, as though offended that Zane would even suggest such a thing. “But still! Lovelines is the only place that card was ever used. Someone there took the number down or cloned it, obviously.”

  A sick feeling clutched Zane’s stomach as he scanned the sheet yet again, hoping to find some mistake that would exonerate Molly. “These first few purchases were made online. I’ll check them out as soon as I can.”

  “As soon as you can get rid of your date you mean.” Alaric waved off Zane’s glare.

  “Look, Alaric, I told you already—I’ll go where the evidence takes me. I won’t just pull the trigger because you’re standing behind me breathing down my neck. If I bring an accusation, I plan to have evidence on my side.”

  “I don’t know what more you could want!” Alaric exploded. “You’ve already uncovered plenty of motive, means, and opportunity.” He pointed at the receipt in Zane’s hand. “Now I bring you written proof, and it still isn’t enough!”

  “This was shipped to a P.O. Box. It could have been sent to anyone.”

  “If you ask me, they’re all in on it! Maybe we should just go to the cops and turn the whole operation in—let them sort it out. Obviously you aren’t too keen on doing it yourself. I have to ask myself why.”

  “And I have to ask myself why you’re so impatient all of a sudden. It’s not like they’ve left you broke and homeless.” As Zane stared at Alaric’s reddening cheeks and almost feverish eyes, a startling realization dawned on him. “Wait a minute. This isn’t about the money you lost at all, is it? It’s what I suspected right from the beginning—it’s because they couldn’t find you a mate. You really got your hopes up over this dating thing, didn’t you? That’s why it drives you nuts to think that Molly and I—” He stopped, aware that he’d almost said too much. “Well, you know what I’m saying. Just come clean with me, Alaric. I’m your brother, after all.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Zane. The dating service was an experiment, and nothing more. I’m not cut out for a relationship, any more than you are. Both of us carry way too much baggage for that.” Pivoting on his expensive heel, he started down the hall. “I’m giving you a few more days, Zane. Then I’m going to the cops,” he said
as he stormed away. “Let your new friend answer their questions instead of ours. I suspect they’ll be far less impressed with her answers than you seem to be.” He paused. “And don’t lose that bill. We might need it later, for evidence.”

  “I won’t.” Luckily, Alaric had said nothing about crumpling it in frustration as he closed an angry fist around it.

  Molly was up soon, emerging from his bedroom wrapped in a blanket. In spite of everything, he still wanted to pull it off her and drag her back to the bed. But he stood rooted to the kitchen floor, his hands feeling as numb and useless as his heart.

  “I need to get ready for work,” she said. “I’ll have to swing home and get some new clothes or everyone will wonder why I’m wearing the same thing two days in a row. I’ll be putting up with winks and innuendo all day…even though it would be totally worth it.”

  Her mood seemed buoyant and upbeat. Zane hated himself for being the one who was about to destroy it.

  “Call them up and tell them you’re not coming in—at least, not yet. We need to talk for a while.”

  When her face changed, Zane felt a knife twist in his chest.

  “Uh-oh.”

  He wanted to clasp her to him, comfort her and kiss away her insecurities one by one. However, he knew that once he said what he had to, he’d be lucky if she ever agreed to be in the same room with him again.

  Still, lying to the woman he was now pretty sure he loved—what torture could be worse?

  “Let me shower first,” she said in a resigned tone. “Then we can talk all you want.”

  He pointed the way to the bathroom. “Help yourself. Meanwhile, I’ll make us some coffee and eggs.”

  The moments ticked by painfully until she emerged again. Zane busied himself with their breakfasts, but all the joy had gone out of the task by then. Luckily, he managed to cook everything without burning it and set the meal out on the table in a reasonably appealing way. When Molly did come out of his room again, fragrant with soap and dressed, he pushed back the fresh desire building in him and took a seat opposite her at the small table.