Love and Other Surprises (17 page)

Matt readjusted the ice pack and lifted an eyebrow. “Uh-huh. And I suppose jamming your toe in a water outlet seemed like a good way to do that?”

“It was an accident,” To her chagrin, Ali’s voice cracked. “I suppose you find this all very amusing.”

Matt’s smile faded as he met her eyes. “Hey, I didn’t mean to make fun of you. I’m sorry.” His voice was sincere, his brown eyes warm. “I was just trying to lighten up the situation.”

The last thing she’d expected from him was sensitivity; the second-to-last thing was an apology. She squirmed under the towel, unsure how to respond. “It’s okay,” she finally muttered. “I appreciate your help.”

Matt returned his attention to her toe. “Why don’t we see about getting this little guy free?”

He removed the ice pack, reached for the bubble bath and gently worked a generous amount of the slippery liquid around her foot. “Okay. Let your foot go completely limp. I’m going to try to work your toe out.”

Clutching the towel, Ali leaned back, closed her eyes and tried to relax. It wasn’t easy; she was far too aware of her state of undress, the sensuous setting and Matt’s fingers on her feet.

His touch was surprisingly gentle-—so gentle that Ali was startled when her toe suddenly slid out.

“Free at last,” he said with a grin. He held her foot between his hands and studied her toe intently. “It’s kind of red, but I think it’s okay. How does it feel?”

Ali wiggled it cautiously. “A little tender, but otherwise it’s fine.”

Matt rubbed her toes. “This little piggy went to plumbing school, this little piggy stayed home…”

Ali splashed water at him, causing him to duck. “Having fun?”she asked.

“As a matter of fact, I am.” He wiped the water off his face and ran his eyes across her. They lingered on her chest, causing Ali to tighten her grip on the towel. “It’s not every day I get to rescue a beautiful damsel in distress—especially one who’s completely naked, dripping wet and completely at my mercy.”

Beautiful… naked… mercy.
The teasing words hit Ali like waves, rocking her to the core. A shiver ran through her, a shiver of trepidation and anticipation and excitement.

“Thanks for the help. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get out,” she said.

Matt sat back on his beds and grinned at her. “By all means. Don’t let me stop you.”

“You need to leave the room,” she told him pointedly.

“How do I know you won’t get something else stuck the minute I turn my back?”

“I promise to call you if I do.”

Matt rose to his feet. “All kidding aside,” he said, his smile changing to a somber expression, “you better let me help you out. A bathtub full of soap is a dangerous place to experiment with putting weight on an injured foot, and you don’t have the greatest track record when it comes to luck.”

Ali rearranged the wet towel over herself as best she could. “If you think I’m going to stand up stark naked in front of you, you need to think again,” she said stiffly.

“I’ll close my eyes,” Matt said. He turned and rummaged in the linen closet opposite the tub. Withdrawing an enormous pink towel, he unfolded it and draped it over his arm. “I’ll even turn out the light.”

He reached over and flipped the switch, plunging the room back into candlelit intimacy. “I won’t touch you. I’ll just hold out my hands, and you can use them to steady yourself. You need something to hang onto.”

Ali flexed her foot. The toe throbbed and her arch had a painful cramp—no doubt the result of having been suspended in such an awkward position for so long.

Matt was probably right, Ali thought reluctantly. “Do you promise to keep your eyes closed?”

Matt held up two fingers. “Scout’s honor.”

“How do I know you were ever a Scout?” she queried suspiciously.

“You’ll just have to trust me.”

The sensuous strains of a steamy love ballad reverberated in the small room. A tremor chased through Ali. She chose to attribute it the increasingly chilly temperature of the water.

Whatever it took, she had to get out of that bathtub. And it looked like it was going to take Matt’s help.

Ali swallowed hard. “All right,” she relented. “Close your eyes.”

Matt stepped up to the tub and extended his hands. Satisfied that his eyes were shut, Ali clutched the wet towel with one hand and grabbed his arm with the other. She couldn’t stand this way, she realized; she would have to drop the towel.

She tentatively reached out her other hand and clutched his steely forearm. Her throat constricted at the fed of his brawny muscle. Hesitantly, she pulled herself out of the water and to her feet.

She took a deep breath, stepped out of the tub… and lurched against his chest.

His arm encircled her, his hand resting on her bare back just above her buttocks. She froze, not daring to back away for fear of exposing herself. His chest was hard and warm, and she could feel his heart pound beneath the smooth cotton of his shirt.

He somehow arranged the dry towel around her back. Her skin tingled with a new, heightened sensitivity as he gently dried her, sliding the terry cloth across her shoulder blades, past her waist and down her hips. She was acutely aware that the front of her, the part pressed against his shirt and faded jeans, was as naked as the day she was born. The knowledge both thrilled and terrified her.

Ali looked up at him in the flickering candlelight. His eyes were open now, open and dark and hungry. She felt his arms tighten around her and a deep ache began to throb within her.

“You’re trembling,” he whispered. “Are you cold?”

She was too hot to feel cold. Ali wordlessly shook her head.

His eyes searched hers in the candlelight. Her arms stretched up around his neck, answering his unspoken question, and the next thing she knew, his mouth covered hers.

His lips brushed hers gently, then retreated and advanced again, finally settling firmly on her mouth in a demanding kiss. He pulled back and nibbled her bottom lip, then fully claimed her mouth once more, this time ravishing it with his tongue. The kiss sent her spiraling into a blurred world of sweet, hot yearning. Her fingers ran along the muscled cords of his neck, across the steely ridge of his shoulder, down the solid planes of his back. She arched against him, wanting more.

“Ali, honey,” he breathed, his fingers threading in her hair.

He wound his other arm around her and deepened the kiss. The world narrowed to nothing but Matt, to nothing but the hard warmth of his body, the delicious slide of his lips, the intoxicating scent that was his alone. She moved against him, mindless of where they were and what she wasn’t wearing.

She was gasping for breath when he abruptly set her from him.

“I’d better go,” he said in a husky voice.

Her hand fell from his shoulder as he bent and retrieved the towel from the floor. As if from a distance, her passion-fogged senses registered surprise that it had fallen. She stood motionless, dazed by desire, as he gently wrapped it around her.

“Under the circumstances, I think I’d better sleep in my car tonight.” His voice was a thick, ragged growl.

The candles flickered as he opened and closed the bathroom door. Ali stood still long minutes after he’d gone, her head swimming, her heart aching, her toe forgotten.

Chapter Ten

Hattie furrowed her brow as she entered Matt’s office early Monday morning. “You don’t look so good. Are you coming down with something?”

“I’m fine,” Matt muttered, running a hand down his face as he looked up from the paperwork on his desk. “Just a little beat, that’s all.”

The older woman cast a keen eye over him as she gathered up the papers from his outbox. “Most folks rest on the weekend. Judging from the amount of paperwork here, you spent at least half of it at the office.” She shot him a disapproving look. “All work and no play is no good for anyone. You need more of a personal life, Matt.”

Matt eyed her in exasperation and bit back a sharp retort. “I’m doing just fine, thank you.” Pretending to return his attention to the papers on his desk, he adopted a businesslike tone. “I’d like to see the updated completion schedule as soon as possible.”

“I’ll take care of it.” Hattie hesitated at the door. “Can I bring you an aspirin or anything?”

“No. I told you I’m fine,” he snapped.

“If this is fine, I’d hate to see you on a bad day.” Hattie shook her head as she closed the door behind her.

Matt pushed back his chair and sighed. The truth was, he felt terrible. It was no wonder—he’d hardly slept all weekend. He’d spent Saturday night in his car in Ali’s driveway, fighting the urge to march back into her house, pull her into his arms and pick up where he’d left off. He’d lain awake till dawn and had pulled a muscle in his neck trying to stretch out in his car.

He’d spent the whole next day at the office trying to distract himself with work, taking twice as long as usual to accomplish anything because his thoughts kept turning to Ali. He’d gone on a six-mile run last evening, but despite his best efforts to exhaust himself, he’d spent the entire night tossing and turning, haunted by thoughts of her. He’d picked up the phone to call her half a dozen times, only to put it back in its cradle.

Matt massaged his temple, where a dull ache was gaining momentum. Maybe he’d lost his mind. Why else would he have crushed her to him like that and kissed her until he couldn’t see straight?

While she was stark naked, yet!

And why else was he behaving like a besotted schoolboy with a first crush, unable to think about anything but Ali’s laugh and Ali’s face and Ali’s luscious, lovely curves?

The thought sent a fresh ripple of desire coursing through his body. Jamming his hands into his pockets, he strode to the window and gazed out at the sun-dappled woods. Tender leaves were sprouting from gray oak branches and tight blossoms were unfurling on the redbud trees. The scenery was green and hopeful and it quickened something inside him, some part he’d thought was dead and buried.

If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was lovesick.

The thought made him scowl. He just had a bad a case of spring fever, that was all, and he was projecting his feelings onto Ali.

The woman was a mass of contradictions. How could one person be so endearing and so aggravating at the same time? There were times when she seemed to embody every fantasy he’d ever had. Visions flashed through his mind—Ali dancing at the wedding, looking like an angel in that frilly pink dress; Ali perched on the ladder, smiling down at him; Ali gazing up at him, her eyes dark with desire, her lips moist and parted and begging to be kissed.

Matt gnawed his lower lip. Of course, there was also Ali the human whirlwind—creating one bizarre incident after another, disrupting his business, knocking the breath out of him, literally and figuratively. Tornado Ali was wreaking havoc with his life.

What kind of future could a man have with a woman like that?

What kind of future could he have without her?
Matt muttered an oath and turned away from the window. Despite all logic and reason, he wanted her to the point of distraction. He had half a mind to throw caution to the wind, follow his urges and sort it all out later.

Matt’s thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door. “Come in,” he called gruffly.

Speak of the devil.
Ali stood in the doorway, wearing some kind of Indian motif skirt that fell to almost to her ankles. Her hair was pulled back from her face and silver Indian-style earrings sparkled at her ears. Another woman might look silly in that getup, but Ali looked stylish and artsy and fresh.

His heart turned over. With the slightest provocation, he’d pull her into his arms and kiss her halfway into tomorrow.

She stood framed in the doorway for a moment, hesitating, then closed the door behind her. “I think we should talk,” she said.

Matt strode to his desk, trying to act like his heart wasn’t pounding like a roofing carpenter’s hammer, and stood behind his chair. “What about?”

“About what happened Saturday.”

Matt swallowed hard. Had she been replaying it in her mind like he had? Had it affected her like it had affected him? Were her insides quivering like a pieœ of wood under a buzzsaw, longing to take up where they’d left off? He was shocked at how desperately he hoped it was so.

“What about it?” he asked, his voice a shade deeper than usual.

Ali crossed the room and seated herself primly on the edge of an armchair across from his desk. “I don’t want it to make things awkward between us.” She folded her hands in her lap and gazed down at them. “It was an unusual situation and we both reacted unusually to its… unusualness. I think we should forget about it and put it behind us and just consider it an unfortunate incident.” She finished the statement in a rush, as if she were hurrying through a rehearsed speech, then glanced up at him from beneath her lashes.

Matt abruptly turned back to the window. He felt like she’d just walloped him in the stomach, but he’d be darned if he let her know it.

“An unfortunate incident.” She made kissing him sound as enjoyable as a root canal. Matt narrowed his eyes as he stared out the window and was glad when anger started to mercifully flow through him, at least partially filling the hole her words had just blasted.

She was absolutely right, of course. The best thing to do was forget about it. Getting involved with her would be completely irrational, and rational behavior was the guiding principle of his life. He’d had a terrible lapse in judgment. He knew better than to even think of a relationship with anyone as erratic and unpredictable as Ali.

She wished it had never happened, did she? Well, that went double for him!

“It was nothing,” he retorted. His hand cut through the air in a dismissive gesture. “It’s already forgotten.” Matt strode to his desk and seated himself behind it, picking up a stack of papers. “It’s never a good idea to mix business and pleasure anyway.”

“No, it’s not. And we’re just too different.”

“Like oil and water,” he agreed.

From the corner of his eye, he thought he saw her posture droop. He couldn’t be sure, because she immediately pulled her shoulders back and raised her head. Her earrings jingled faintly as she lifted her chin. “Fine. I’m glad you agree.” She rose to her feet, her voice brisk and businesslike. “The samples I was waiting on arrived over the weekend. When you get time, I’d like to show you the boards.”