Had To Be You (41 page)

She narrowed her gaze in playful reproach, but placed both hands firmly on his broad shoulders to push him back, easily straddling his lap in the small berth. Knees pressing into the mattress, their mouths met in passionate need. The kiss intensified in heat, his tongue dueling erotically with hers, and she broke away on a breathy gasp as she was lifted by the sudden rise of his wanting hips.

Matt used the moment to tear the rest of the blanket away from his lap, tugging it out from between their bodies to reveal how hard he was. She lowered her hand, grazing the heel of her palm against the velvety head as she wrapped her fingers around the thick shaft to stroke him. Burying a soft growl deep in his throat, he reached up to grasp the back of her long hair in his fist, and hungrily crushed her mouth back to his.

Then his mouth was moving lower; warm, moist lips on her neck, soft kisses grazing her collarbone before his tongue slowly flicked across the peak of her nipple. Her eyes closed, trembling fingers sifting through his short cropped hair as he took it in his mouth, his tongue curling around the tight bud, teasing. Her hand clutched at his muscular neck, his murmur of desire a husky whisper against her skin, making her quiver and melt with longing.

She rocked her hips forward, the tip of his rigid length pressing firmly into the wet heat of her arousal. Matt groaned softly against her skin as she dipped her hips to barely envelope the thick head. He was nearly dizzy, aching with desperation as she repeated the action, taking him in briefly and barely inside. Pressing one last soft kiss to her breast, Matt lifted his eyes back to hers, the blue nearly black with need.

Slowly, she sank down until he stretched and filled her, the pulsing taking on a singular focus. His large hands moved to cup her bottom, lifting her then lowering her, pressing her hips hard to his. Rory arched her head back on a moan, the steady pressure increasing the exquisite ache, every nerve taut with thrilling anticipation.

He whispered her name and her head fell forward to meet his eyes, hand flat against the solid wall of his chest, lost in the flow of sensation as they found their rhythm. Matt watched her as she moved on him, gazing deeply as if trying to drink her in, burn every inch of her into his memory. The beating of his heart match the throbbing of her pulse, her body tightening around him on the rock and thrust of her hips, all senses inundated.

His grip tightened, fingers digging into her flesh as she rotated a deliciously torturous circle, his hips flexing up to meet her. His mouth caught her moan, trapping it beneath the languid crush of his tongue before he began to increase the pace and force of his upward strokes, pushing deeper, nearly mindless with need on the precipice of ecstasy. Crying out, her entire body shook with the tremors of sweet release. Matt pulled her in to kiss her passionately as he followed, his hips jerking up several times in succession before he buried himself deep.

Her body slumped to crush her breasts to his chest, skin flush to skin, heat to heat, arms draped over his shoulders. He nuzzled her neck, trailing soft kisses over her skin while his hands tenderly caressed her smooth back, joined so completely that it felt like nothing could ever come between them.

“I don’t know what else I have to do to make you believe in me,” he whispered. “But I’ll do it, if you just tell me what that is. You want me to tell you about other girls? Then I’ll tell you this. None of them were you. None of them made me feel like I do when I’m with you. And that’s always going to be the difference. That’s all you have to know, or remember.”

He pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“I’ve always loved you, Rory, and I always will. I’ll gladly devote the rest of my whole life to making you happy—if you’ll just do one thing for me.”

“What?” she asked.

“Let me.”

***

Matt emerged from his bathroom, tugging a clean shirt over his head. Glancing out the wide windows that overlooked the street below and harbor beyond, he could see breaks of morning blue through the fog.

Making his way up the stairs to his loft bedroom, he paused when he reached the top. His smile had been in place since waking, but it spread out a little further as his eyes drifted over her. She was still asleep, her long sunlit hair pooling around her bare shoulders to spread out across his pillow, her tanned, lithe body only partially draped in his sheets.

He considered not disturbing her, but then, much like a kid on Christmas morning, couldn’t resist going over to the bed. Easing down to sit on the edge, he reached over to brush the hair back off her face, caressing her shoulder with just the tips of his fingers.

“Rory?”

She murmured into his pillow without opening her eyes.

“I’m going to go get us some coffee. Do you want anything else? Bagel? Muffin?”

Snuggling deeper into the pillow, her response was lost in the folds of cotton.

“What was that?” He smiled in amusement, placing one hand down to lean closer. “What do you want?”

She slowly rolled over with a sigh, stretching her arms above her head, the blue sheet slipping down over the swell of one of her perfect breasts to reveal the rosy bud standing out against a creamy alabaster mound. The pale triangle was a contrast to the rest of her skin, now bronzed to a smooth golden tan.

His hungry gaze raked over her, stirring his desire, as did her response.

“I said I want
you.
”

Matt bowed his head to brush his lips over hers, traveling down to the hollow of her throat, trailing even lower to place warm, wet kisses between the sweet valley of her breasts. She murmured contentedly, lifting her hand to thread her fingers through his short hair.

Gradually, between kisses, she moved to sit upright, the sheets falling completely away from her naked body. Reaching for the hem of his shirt, she eagerly ran the palms of her hand flat over the muscles in his abdomen and chest to push it up, only breaking away from his mouth long enough to tug it off over his head.

Matt brought his hands up to cup her face, caressing her cheek with a tender sweep of his thumb. Then his mouth was on hers, hot tongues softly entangled, as he gathered her up in his strong embrace to lay her back down.

Moaning softly into her mouth as her tongue ran over his, he buried his hands in her hair, reveling in the feel of her. 
They rolled, sinking back into the warmth and softness of his rumpled bedcovers. Her long legs wrapped around him, toned thighs pressed tight to his hips as she arched up off the bed to crush her soft, round breasts against his solid chest, and his hand glided down the smooth slope of her back to curve around her tight bottom, bodies moving, molding, melting together.

Her fingertips edged down inside the waistband of his athletic shorts, pushing at them. Matt inwardly cursed the fact he’d ever bothered to get dressed at all, as he lost several precious seconds of heated contact in order to shove them down and off with his boxers.

They had spent the better part of the last two days in bed, and still he couldn’t get enough.

Coming back to her incredible body, he hooked her legs back over his hips and surged forward to enter her in a single thrust, urgent and immediate. He felt her breath catch on a muted gasp, and his eyes closed on a soft groan, nearly overwhelmed by all her heat and perfection. Lifting her off the bed slightly, slowly he eased back to slide deep again, then again, and she took all of him.

Her fingernails sank into the muscles of his back as he lowered his mouth to her breast, and then she was clutching desperately at his arms as his tongue traced the pulse points in her neck. She rocked her hips back into his, her moans softly building with the rise and fall of their bodies.

Heat swept through him as they climbed higher, senses lost to a dizzying rush. She felt so good, sweet and hot, tight and wet. Matt loved to be inside her, and only knew how to love her with everything inside of him. He circled his hips to stroke into her so deep, meeting need and desire with a pure rush of heat.

He easily found that sweet spot, following the map of her body he knew by heart, and she tightened around him in spasms of rapture. Her muted cries broke the still and quiet of the summer morning as his last few thrusts sent them hurtling towards the edge of ecstasy.

He kissed her, soft and slow, as they came together, hard and fast. Rory’s arms encircled his neck as her legs locked at his waist, holding him so close, holding him right there, as the waves of her orgasm trembled through her and he pulsed so deep.

Matt finally collapsed into her arms before easing away, rolling to land on his back in the messy tangle of sheets, his chest rising and falling with the low rumble of a supremely satisfied groan.

Beside him, her whispered gasp trembled past her lips. “Oh God…”

“Again, my name is Matt,” he said between rapid breaths, touching a hand to his chest. “You kept getting confused about that last night, too.”

Rory went still, and then grabbed the closest pillow to try to whack him with it. He laughed, ducking out of the way and trying to grasp her arms lightly to block the assault.

Blowing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes, she laughed triumphantly to finally land a direct hit.

“Ha!”

“Oh, you think you’re funny?”

He leaned in to kiss her breathless again, resting his hand on her toned and taut abdomen, just below the perfect, soft swell of her breast.

“No, you think you’re funny,” she said, placing her hand on top of his to lace her fingers through. “I know I am.”

Smiling, he bowed his head to capture another kiss, and was glad to simply dismiss the distant ring of his cell phone. It finally stopped, only to be followed almost immediately by the ringing of his apartment phone, which he was equally as happy to ignore.

The machine finally picked up, and then a muffled voice drifted out from the prolonged beep.

“Matt? Hello? Anyone there? It’s Jerry. I just got here to open up for the day and seem to have run into a little problem. Hello?”

Reluctantly breaking away from her soft lips, he eased out of bed to mutter under his breath. He roughly grabbed the phone from its base.

“What?”

“Oh, you’re there.” Jerry let out a low whistle on the other end of the line, a sound of relief. “Someone left two full trash bags in the kitchen last night, so I went to toss ‘em in the dumpster out back and forgot to prop the door open.”

“And?” he replied distractedly, raking his hand through his dark hair, his mind other places—like right back in bed with an extremely hot and very naked Rory.

“I’m locked out! I’m the only one down here.”

Matt dropped his head with a weary groan as he reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“You’re telling me you don’t have a key on you?”

“No, it’s back inside. I walked in and saw the trash and put my keys and wallet down on the counter and—”

“All right, all right,” he cut him off in exasperation. “I’ll be down in ten minutes. Yep. Bye.”

He hung up the phone with another sigh, turning to see Rory sitting up, her tousled hair spilling down her back as she pulled the covers up to her chest, cheeks still flushed pink, those beautiful aquamarine eyes shining in the morning light.

“What’s going on? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I just gotta run down there.” Matt shook his head, finding his wrinkled shorts and discarded t-shirt at the foot of his bed. “Jerry, in all his brilliance, locked himself out.”

He turned away to grab a set of keys off the top of his dresser before coming over to lean down and kiss her forehead, his lips lingering there just a moment.

“You want me to bring back coffee?”

The corner of her mouth tilted up as her voice softened with promise. “I already told you what I want.”

“You’re going to be the death of me, you know that?” He grinned before descending the stairs from the loft.

He would, however, die a very happy and contented man.

Closing his apartment door behind him, he couldn’t stop smiling, bypassing the last couple of steps to jump to the landing below in a sudden burst of joyful energy. Turning the corner out onto the sidewalk, he jangled the set of keys in his hand as he walked, bowing his head to hum a soft tune under his breath.

Glancing up, he suddenly slowed to a stop, his face falling. “Amanda.”

She offered a tentative half smile. “Hi, Matt.”

It took him another moment to comprehend this was actually her standing in front of him on the sidewalk, in a skirt and white sleeveless blouse, her dark hair neatly swept up off her neck.

“I’ve been debating for the past two days whether to do this, to come by to see you,” she said. “And then I got here and I’ve been debating for the past twenty minutes or so whether to actually go up and knock on your door.”

Matt slowly lowered his eyes to the ground, a sickening feeling of dread settling in the pit of his stomach to consider if that had actually occurred.

“I had to make up an excuse when I was leaving my house this morning,” she continued, letting a small, sad laugh as she sniffed delicately. “If anyone in my family knew I was coming to see you? Well, I think they’d disown me.”

He had no idea what to say to that.

“But I couldn’t help it.” Amanda met his gaze, her voice shrinking. “I missed you.”

Matt winced inwardly. He felt so bad that he said the only thing he could, trying to make her feel better, without really considering whether he meant it or not.

“I missed you, too.”

“Really?” Something in her face brightened as she took a couple of steps closer, becoming somewhat more animated. “Because it all seems so strange now, you know—like that wasn’t really us, but two other people that day. There really were a lot of good things about our relationship, you know?”

He nodded, responding only to the slightly desperate edge in her words.