Part 8 (1/2)

It took the sudden realisation that someone was opening her car door to jerk her back to real awareness of the fact that she was parked on a very lonely stretch of road, that it was dark and well past midnight, and that she was completely on her own.

However, no sooner had a series of panicky thoughts started to flood her mind than she realised that the person opening the door was Matt.

”I saw you'd stopped and thought you might be having car trouble,” he explained tersely.

It was too late to make any attempt to hide her tears from him. The swiftly comprehensive glance he had given her in the light flooding the car as he'd opened the door must have revealed her tear-stained face quite clearly.

”The car's fine, thanks,” she told him.

”It's him, isn't it the boyfriend?” he demanded almost roughly.

”I.

heard you telling Christine that it was all over between you. ”

He stood up, closing her driver's door before she could say anything.

For a few seconds she thought he had gone, and then she realised he had simply walked around the car and was now opening the pa.s.senger door and getting in.

While she stared at him, torn between the agonising pleasure of having him there and the realisation of how dangerous to her this kind of intimacy was, she heard him saying huskily, ”I know you'll have heard this already, but he really isn't worth it. The man must be a fool if he doesn't realise...”

He thought she was crying because of Gordon. Automatically Nicola turned to him to deny it, but he was sitting far too close to her in the small confines of her compact car and, as she turned her head, he raised his hand, his fingers warm and hard as they slid against her face, his thumb brus.h.i.+ng away the damp traces of her tears.

”He isn't worth it,” he told her again.

She started to tremble, heat flooding her. Her skin was burning where he was touching it. She had a wild impulse to turn her head and let her lips explore the hand that cupped her face. She trembled again.

”Nicki, don't...”

She had no awareness of either of them moving, but one or both of them must have done because suddenly there was no distance between them at all. Matt's free arm was holding her against him, while his hand slid into her hair, the touch of his fingers against her scalp almost-almost tender, she recognised dazedly.

She looked up at him, mutely searching his face, not really understanding what was motivating his intimacy with, and concern for, her.

Shadows cloaked his features. All she could see was the dark glitter of his eyes, the male outline of his mouth as he turned his head towards her.

Her heart jerked painfully inside her chest. She discovered that, having focused on his mouth, she could not bring herself to look away.

Her throat had gone dry, her lungs seemed incapable of drawing in enough air, her lips parted, a million tiny, aching pulses beating through her body.

”Nicki...”

His voice was rough, its timbre making her s.h.i.+ver as though he had' actually touched her skin, caressing its most sensitive points.

When his lips first touched hers, it was no more than a whisper of sensation, a soft brus.h.i.+ng of flesh on flesh, but it sensitised her so much that she trembled bodily.

Immediately Matt made a soft sound of rea.s.surance against her mouth.

His tongue stroked her lips, and instinctively she felt herself trying to get even closer to him. Her arms were wrapped around t1”11' although she had no real awareness of hov^ ” ^llad So1there.

The slow stroll of his tongue against her lip8 was dangerously erotic' making her ache fcrr something more intimate. Her muscles clenched fiercely as her $snsesreacted to her mind's imagery of how tt^1 Y^ed-for intimacy would make her feel. Matt wasn't we^S a jacket, and beneath her fingertips she co^ feel the hard PAY of his muscles.

Overwhelmed by her own physical responsiveness to him, she ^aressed his back and then his shoulders, mmdIe^Y ^”g her emotions and desires take contr<71 ^=”” her=”” this=”” must=”” be=”” s^as=”” she=”” had=”” done=”” before,=”” surely,=”” otherwise=”” t^=”” would(i=”” her=”” hands,=”” her=”” entire=”” body,=”” yearn=”” for=”” silo11=”” ”=””>

When Matt's ^”th left hers to caress her throat she made 9 sma11' keening sound of distress, her body tr^^e with urgency, an ache of need coiling tai^ ^” ugh her.

She must have s^ his ”'” ”e, although she bad no knowledge of bAS done so, because almost immediately his n^0” ” '” etumed to hers and he was kissing her ^of as he had done before-gently and explor^^y--1'”I wi an ^vaaa-cy that made her bodY arch and her mouth open 10 eager invitation.

She felt the shU^^ that convulsed him, her own body registering it and reacting in an aftershock of small tremors. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were pressed hard against his body and had started to ache almost unbearably, not from the pressure of their embrace but from a far more private, primitive and sensual cause.

She wanted his hands on her body, she recognised, and not just his hands. She closed her eyes, s.h.i.+vering, drenched by the hot tide of need that rocked through her.

Outside, beyond the intimate darkness of the car, a horn blared, tyres squealing in protest as one car overtook another, the noise shocking her into abruptly focusing on what she was doing.

As he felt her tense. Matt let her go, his voice low and slightly rough as he apologised.

”I'm sorry. I never meant...1 didn't intend...”

This time, the burning sensation under her skin was caused not by desire but by embarra.s.sment, the embarra.s.sment of knowing what Matt was telling her.

”Look, why don't you leave your car here and let me drive you home?”

he continued.

”You're upset and--' ” I'm perfectly capable of driving,” she told him brittly. She wasn't and she knew it, but she felt as though if she had to spend any more time with him she would shatter like a piece of overstressed gla.s.s.

She still wasn't sure quite what had happened wrapped around him, although she had no real awareness of how they had got there.

The slow stroke of his tongue against her lips was dangerously erotic, making her ache for something more intimate. Her muscles clenched fiercely as her senses reacted to her mind's imagery of how that yearned-for intimacy would make her feel.

Matt wasn't wearing a jacket, and beneath her fingertips she could feel the hard play of his muscles.

Overwhelmed by her own physical responsiveness to him, she caressed his back and then his shoulders, mindlessly letting her emotions and desires take control of her.

This must be something she had done before, surely, otherwise how would her hands, her entire body, yearn for such intimacy?

When Matt's mouth left hers to caress her throat she made a small, keening sound of distress, her body trembling with urgency, an ache of need coiling tautly through her.

She must have said his name, although she had no knowledge of having done so, because almost immediately his mouth returned to hers and he was kissing her not as he had done before-gently and exploratively--but with an intimacy that made her body arch and her mouth open in eager invitation.

She felt the shudder that convulsed him, her own body registering it and reacting in an aftershock of small tremors. Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were pressed hard against his body and had started to ache almost unbearably, not from the pressure of their embrace but from a far more private, primitive and sensual cause.

She wanted his hands on her body, she recognised, and not just his hands. She closed her eyes, s.h.i.+vering, drenched by the hot tide of need that rocked through her.

Outside, beyond the intimate darkness of the car, a horn blared, tyres squealing in protest as one car overtook another, the noise shocking her into abruptly focusing on what she was doing.

As he felt her tense. Matt let her go, his voice low and slightly rough as he apologised.