9

The sharp sound of something breaking apart instantly startled him awake. He blinked for several seconds until his eyes adjusted to the darkness. It took him another few moments to remember where he was. When his foggy mind began to clear he instantly became alert. Lana.

He shot off the couch and crept around the corner. He squinted his eyes against the brightness of the light from the hallway, but was grateful for it because it gave him a clear path to the stairs that led up to the second floor where she slept.

The creaking of a door startled him, and he bounded up the stairs, two at a time, his fear for Lana dogging his steps. When he reached the second floor he struggled to once again adjust to the darkness. But as soon as he did, he saw from the corner of his eyes a shadowy figure moving slowly. With silent steps he crept in that direction.

His sneakers dug into the plush carpet, muffling each step he took, as he silently stalked the figure moving away from him. He frowned. He

didn’t know which of the four rooms upstairs was Lana’s but he

wondered if the intruder was someone he knew and if he was headed straight to her bedroom. He quickened his pace until he stood within a foot of the intruder.

Lunging forward, he tackled him to the ground at the same time the intruder spun around. Matt’s eyes widened when he realized his error, but it was already too late.

*

“Ahhhh,” Lana cried as she tumbled beneath the weight of a heavy object and her back crashed to the floor. Terror instantly gripped her and she lashed out with her fists. She landed several blows before she realized the muffled voice calling her name was familiar.

“Matthew?”

There was a low grumble and then the heavy weight rolled off her. She dragged a deep breath of air into her lungs, since most of it had been knocked out of her when she fell, and then stood to her feet to flip the light on in the hallway.

“Ohmigod,” she cried when she saw that Matthew now stood on his feet, clutching a small purple bruise just beneath his right eye. “Are you alright?”

He winced slightly as he nodded. “I’ll be fine. Are you alright? I heard a noise.”

“Yeah, me too, but I think maybe the wind just knocked over a flower pot or something.” She drew closer to him and reached up to remove his hand from his face. She hissed when she saw the bruise was now darker and had started to swell. “I’m really sorry. I thought you were an intruder. Here, let me get you some ice for that,” she said, ushering him down the stairs toward the kitchen.

He sat down on a barstool on the other side of her breakfast counter while she wrapped some ice cubes in a towel.

“How’s your back?” he asked when she came around to press the ice pack against his face. “Ah.” He instantly jerked away when it touched his skin.

“I’m so sorry.” She said, her lips bowing into a deep frown. “And my back is fine. Thank you.” She pressed the ice pack against his skin again, this time her actions were gentler and he didn’t flinch. He lifted his hand and curled it around hers, holding the ice against his eye.

At the touch of his fingers against her skin, her gaze snapped to his face, as a sharp current of electricity passed between them, sending sizzling heat spreading across her body. She slowly registered that she stood there in a white satin night gown that molded to every curve of her body. As if reading her mind, his gaze dipped lower to linger on her now stiff nipples, before straying lower, igniting a simmering fire within her as he openly devoured her with his gaze.

She tried to pull away, but couldn’t when he wrapped his arm around her waist and dragged her between his legs.

“Matthew?” she gasped breathlessly.

A devilish look twinkled in his eyes, but it did not hide the lust that burned like a fire in his blue gaze.

Her heart pumped wildly in her chest and she sucked in a breath to try to still her now trembling body. He pried the ice pack from her boneless fingers and placed it on the counter top. Before she knew what he was doing he stood to his feet, gripped the back of her head and lowered his mouth to her parted lips.

Her eyes widened and she stared at him for several shocked moments before she too let her eyes drift shut. With nothing left to do but focus on his kiss she wrapped her arms behind his neck and melted against him.

He groaned into her mouth, at the same time he slipped his tongue between her lips. Electricity sizzled down her spine and she tangled her hands into his hair, gripping him closer.

Warning bells dinged in her head telling her this was all kinds of wrong, but she ignored them as her body hummed to life. Heat pooled at the center of her core as she felt the sticky wetness begin to seep from inside her.

A low moan escaped her lips and she deepened the kiss to intertwine her tongue with his. Heated radiated off his chiseled body to inflame her skin and she swore she would go up in flames right there.

God, she wanted him. She hadn’t even realized how much until now. Yet when she felt the press of his engorged length against her belly, she experienced a moment’s hesitation. The realization of where this was headed was like a bucket of cold water being thrown over her head.

Despite the protests of her aching body, she slid her hands from his neck and wrenched her mouth from his.

He stood there wide eyed and panting, his face flushed. He looked wild, untamed, a virile man in his prime, and she knew that’s what made him so dangerous.

“W—we better get to bed. I mean n—not together. You, know.

Separately,” she stammered out nervously. Lana wanted to smack herself. She sounded like a dumb teenage girl experiencing her first crush. And she felt even more foolish when Matthew stared down at her with a knowing grin.

With his arm still locked around her waist, he pulled her closer and slid the thumb of his free hand across her full bottom lip. Against her will, her body shuddered and she nearly melted from embarrassment when his grin grew wider.

“I make you nervous, don’t I?”

He did, but she wasn’t going to admit that to him. She was a grown woman. Even though he was almost thirty, to her, he was barely legal.

How would it look to admit that a kid, practically half her age, made her

nervous?”

“No, of course not,” she blurted out quickly, just a little too quickly. “You’re lying,” he said softly and to prove his point he slid his

thumb across her upper lip this time, and as if on cue she shivered again.

“Your attraction to me makes you nervous.” He dipped his head to her neck, brushing his lips against her skin, before snagging the spaghetti strap of her gown with his teeth, to drag it until it fell from her shoulder,

revealing the upper swell of her right breast. “To be honest, you make me nervous too, but in a good way.”

A shocked gasp escaped her lips at the same time he traced a path of kisses along her neck all the way down to the top of her breast.