Erica"Is he okay?" Jonathan asked me as he leaned back in his chair. The gangly artist was exactly what one would expect of an art dealer. His shirt was every color of the rainbow and his dark hair was slicked back. His wife was cute, but lost to a game on her phone. It was almost comical, at least it was before Matt got a wild look in his eyes and bolted for the door.Maybe I'd overstepped my boundaries."I think so. Let me go check on him." I got up and walked through the restaurant searching for him. Worry wrapped in fear danced through my stomach as I reached the front door. What was I going to do if he'd left me there?"Hey. I'm right here." He turned to face me as the wind picked up from the water and blew his blond hair about."You okay?" I walked toward him, wanting to reach out and touch him, but knowing that it was probably better that I didn't."Yeah. I just felt a little overwhelmed. I've wanted to share my art my whole life, but it needed to be on my terms, you know?""O
Erica"The woman is right." Jonathan moved back as his wife rejoined us. "And I think the same could be said about me. I love to share my art, but people are quick to take advantage of anything they can. Show it to those that will appreciate it most, and then when you're well-known and wealthy... show it to everyone who will look.""I like that." Matt nodded and offered me his arm. "You ready?""One more thing." Jonathan lifted his finger. "What are your plans on moving up here to join us versus staying in Dallas?""I haven't decided yet." Matt's eyes shifted back toward me. "It's still up in the air. This pretty woman right here is trying to talk me into coming to work for her at my father's firm.""Oh, interesting." Jonathan tilted his head to the side and studied me. "Please do tell me that you're involved in the advertising for McKenzie and Bryant. I love their slogan so much. It was done by a world-class artist.""Erica did that for us." Matt ran his hand down my back, resting hi
Matt"All right, so show me how to make the delicious brownies, and promise me that they're completely calorie free. I'm trying to watch my girlish figure." I shook my head like I had flowing hair and enjoyed the sly smile on her face far more than I should have."Let's just go on a run tomorrow morning and we'll be set." She bent over to pull a pan from under the cabinet, giving me a great view of her rear."You should go change. Get out of your work clothes and put on something comfortable." I moved up to the counter and took the pan from her. "Tell me what to do and I'll get the dessert going.""You haven't changed yet." Her eyes moved across me, leaving me to feel more exposed than I thought possible. My need to run was driving through me at breakneck speed, but the promise of having a little bit of fun with someone I'd fantasized as mine wasn't going to let me take one step in the opposite direction. I was stuck. Time to own it."I'll change in a minute. Go do what I told you to
MattI didn't answer, nor did I take my eyes off the picture."You're not going to relent, are you?" She reached out and brushed her finger across it."No. I wish I could." I moved behind her and ran my hands over her shoulders. It was dangerous to even touch her, but I wanted to hear the story, yearned to know that there was something more than she was presenting to everyone else. She was a woman's woman. The kind of girl who decided she was going to rule the world and fucking did it."I dated the same guy from sixth grade through my senior year of college. I figured we were going to be together forever. The night he called things off was the most painful and yet freeing night of my life. I'd grown comfortable in my relationship with him. There was no passion there and I was suffocating.""But to be rejected by him left you angry?" I pressed my chest to her back and pulled her closer as I breathed in softly."Yes. I thought my heart was going to bleed out that night. I've never cried
EricaThe night before ended too soon, but after the long day, dinner, wine and dessert, my head started to pound. I tried to play it off for a while as Matt and I finished eating dessert, but I had to excuse myself and get to bed shortly after we cleaned up. Whether we would have slept together was a mystery, but one probably best untapped. I would want more than a night of passion, and he was probably like every rich guy I'd ever met.Love 'em and leave 'em was the theme. I wanted to think that Matt could be different, but I'd never seen him in a relationship. Not once since meeting him. There was something to be said about that. No way in hell a hot guy like him wasn't sleeping around if nothing else.My phone woke me the next morning, and damn if I didn't have a remnant of my migraine still messing with me."What?" I grumbled into the phone. Only a few people were stupid enough to call me on Saturday morning before nine, and of course it was the one I hated to hear from most. My b
Erica"No, I'll go with you unless it's a private visit and you need some time to yourself with her.""No, I'd love for you to go. I'll warn you ahead of time that she doesn't care much for me.""What? That sounds crazy. Who wouldn't wanna be around you?" He scoffed."My mother. She prefers my brother, Daniel, who's a lawyer here in Seattle. She thinks art is stupid and doesn't like the fact that I followed my dreams in some capacity.""What were your dreams?" He stood up and moved up behind me, standing a little closer than I would consider comfortable for friends."To do what you're doing. To paint and have my art hanging on the wall in a major gallery." I glanced over my shoulder as he breathed in deeply."Those look so good."I glanced down at the eggs and then to my breasts. "What looks good?"He chuckled. "The eggs look good. You look incredible, but you know that already."I turned to face him as he moved toward the cabinet and pulled down two plates."Why do you assume that I
MattI snuck glances at her as she talked about work and the new project she was working on for my father. Something about being around her made me feel fifteen again. She was alive and full of so much passion that it bubbled up around the edges of her persona. I wanted to reach over and run my hand up her thigh, but the subtle touches earlier that day combined with the kiss the night before were probably more than enough.She knew how I felt about it. The question I'd posed was a serious one. What was I willing to do about all of it? Moving to Seattle seemed the right answer in so many ways, but being away from Damon, and Dad, from Sophia and Bethany? That sounded like hell. All I would have is Erica.She was more than enough, and yet if things didn't work out between us, I would have to pick up and move back to Dallas. Something about admitting that failure left me not wanting to jump too quickly. I could feign that the move was more about working closer to Jonathan or being a part
MattI stopped behind Erica and slipped my hands into my pockets to keep from reaching out to touch her again.She glanced back at me with an uneasy expression. "Thanks again for coming with me.""Of course." I followed her into the apartment-like place. An older woman with a perfect blond bob haircut glanced up from reading a Time magazine and nodded at me and Erica."Is your brother out of town?" The woman's tone was flat and filled with condemnation. I ached for Erica without having to hear more than her mother's greeting. My father had been nothing but overly loving my whole life. I wasn't sure I would know how to deal with one of my parents not wanting anything to do with me, or wanting me to be something different than I was."Yes, Mom. This is my boyfriend, Matthew." She moved to the side as I walked up and extended my hand to the older woman.She shook my hand, but didn't address me. "Why do you wear skirts like that? They make you look frumpy. You have a handsome young man's