With or Without You (4 page)

Matt glanced at the menu but was more interested in watching Tessa. Candlelight played with the highlights in her hair in the dimly lit restaurant. The waiter took their order and by the time the appetizer arrived, Tessa had a beautiful glow in her cheeks from the champagne. Her effervescent laugh caused a stirring deep inside.

Matt couldn’t remember the last time the world had simply drifted away. Twenty years ago she’d enchanted him and tonight she’d done the same. Only now he wasn’t a teenage boy who didn’t know how to treat a lady. And Tessa was every inch a woman.

Their meal arrived. Matt had the filet mignon and Tessa had the salmon. Her eyes went from her plate to his. “Yours looks delicious.”

The meat cut like butter. “Have a bite.” He held the fork out to her.

Tessa leaned toward him and parted her lips. Pink and tempting, her tongue curled around the morsel of food as her lips closed over the fork. “Mmm. Good.” She chewed, swallowed and sipped more of her champagne.

If she asked for another bite he’d never finish the meal. His cock throbbed behind the fly of his slacks. Every move she made played with his libido. Maybe his memory was toying with his emotions. Each thought breathed new life into forgotten images.

“What did you think when Brianna called the show?”

Tessa paused with a bite poised to go into her mouth. She set her fork back on her plate and picked up her champagne glass. She smiled as she put her lips to the rim and drank. After setting down her empty glass, she laughed nervously. Meeting his eyes, she took a bite of salmon.

“This is perfect. Would you like a bite?” She held out her fork. The salmon jiggled on the end.

Matt steadied her hand with his and guided the food to his mouth. “Delicious,” he said then released her.

He could tell she didn’t want to discuss the show. “Tessa? Are we ever going to talk about how we came to be sharing this incredible meal?”

She set her fork on her plate and folded her hands in her lap.

“A few months ago Brianna sent a letter to the show.” Tessa grimaced. “She told them that I still looked like I did in high school.” She chuckled. “And aside from a few wrinkles and a couple of pounds, she was right. Same hair style, same clothes—” she scrunched up her face, “—basically, same life.”

Matt refilled their champagne flutes while she continued with the explanation.

“A couple days ago the show called and informed me that I’d been selected for a high school reunion makeover. I didn’t know about the rest.”

That still didn’t explain his involvement. One night did not equate to a lover’s reunion. “How does my name come into the story?”

“Okay,” she blurted. “I might’ve embellished our involvement.” She took a hearty swallow of champagne. “I mean, I
did
embellish our involvement.”

“I guessed that much.”

“Matt, you had to have known I had a crush on you. I thought about that night…a lot. When Brianna asked about my high school years, I took the best boyfriend memory I had and made it a relationship.”

“Boyfriend?”

“Boy
friend
. You have a teenage daughter.”

He nodded. “She’s fifteen.”

“Then you should know exactly what I’m talking about.” She pointed at him with the wine glass. “You might not remember, but I certainly do. High school sucks. Brianna was going through a hard time. Boys are important to a young girl. I didn’t have many stories to help her, so I lied.” She grew quiet, picked up her fork and flaked the fish on her plate. “Everyone lies sometimes,” she whispered. “When they don’t see any alternative.”

“I’m not upset, Tessa. I wish we had known each other better in high school.” In the corner a man tickled the ivory keys. “I’d like to change that now. Would you like to dance?” Matt stood and offered his hand. She glanced up, eyes heavy with emotion. Hesitantly, she slipped trembling fingers into his.

Matt smiled and pulled her to her feet. “The next time I meet your daughter, I’ll thank her.” He led Tessa onto the small dance floor situated in the center of a cluster of tables. “Because of her I’m getting the chance to know an incredible, intelligent—” his eyes raked down her body, savoring each curve and contour, “—desirable woman.” He pulled her into his arms. “Something special happened that night.” He swayed his hips and turned a slow circle to the music. “I think something special is happening tonight.”

She laced her fingers behind his neck. “We were kids then.”

“Thank God we aren’t anymore.” His hands drifted lower, over the swell of her hips.

“Yes, but we’re smarter.” Sway. Step. Sway. Step. Their bodies aligned to nestle her softness to his hardness. “Matt, I’m not feeling smart. I’m feeling the champagne.”

She had to be feeling his cock. To him, it felt like a brick between them. The silk of her dress, the sweet scent of her perfume, and the heat from her body fused together in an intensive, reckless want to take her to his room to continue the dance with less clothing.

The song came to an end and he escorted her back to the table. “Coffee?”

Tessa shook her head. “I’ve had a lovely day, enjoyable dinner, but I think it’s time to say goodnight.”

Matt glanced at his watch. “The night is still young.”

“My flight home is early.”

Matt didn’t want the evening to end. They left the restaurant and went to the bank of elevators. “Would you like to come to my room for a nightcap?” They stepped through the doors and Matt pressed the button to their floor.

Tessa leaned against the wall of the elevator as it descended to the twenty-second floor. “I’ve had enough to drink.”

“Then I’ll just walk you to your room.” The elevator bell dinged and the doors opened. “It was nice of the hotel to put us on the same floor.” And only a few rooms apart.

They reached her room first. “Well, I guess this is goodnight. It was nice to see you again…even unexpectedly.”

“Are you sure I can’t interest you in that drink? I don’t want the date to end.” Something told him to grab this second chance and hold tight.

“I don’t either, but Matt, I’m not going to sleep with you.” She chuckled when he put his hand over his heart.

“You wound me. That thought hadn’t crossed my mind.”

She furrowed her brows. “Really? Because throughout dinner it’s all I could think about.” She rose to her toes and kissed him sweetly. “But we both know it’d only be for tonight and we’ve already done that.”

Flutters filled her stomach when he didn’t let her pull away. Instead he backed her against the hallway wall and plundered her mouth in savage need. He ground his erection into her hot, swollen mound. She moaned and fisted her hands in his shirt. She should stop this onslaught of passionate heat, but she couldn’t. It consumed her, controlled her, and made her want more.

“I don’t want to say goodbye,” he whispered near her ear. “But I will.” He let her go.

She sucked in air. Her heart pounded in her chest, in her ears, and in the deepest depths of her pussy, clenching in want and dripping wet. Was she a complete fool if she let him walk away?

“I guess I’ll go to my room and thumb through the old yearbook.”

“You brought the yearbook?”

“Yes. The show wouldn’t tell me who the mystery woman was, so I brought it along.” He touched her cheek. “I never imagined my secret reunion would be you. Not after how I treated you.”

“You didn’t do anything.”

“Exactly. I should’ve. I can’t believe I was such a shit.”

“You had a girlfriend.”

“I didn’t have a girlfriend…not technically. Heather and I had broken up that night. We stayed friends but never got back together.”

“Oh Matt, not because of what happened between us?”

“Absolutely not. We’d fought before you asked for a ride home. Although I can’t say having a girlfriend would’ve changed what happened between us. Had I known you were interested, I would’ve made a move during biology.”

“Really? Well, we still had an agreement.”

“We did?” He propped a shoulder against the wall.

She obviously remembered the night in much finer detail than he. “In the morning, before you left, we agreed not to tell anyone. I thought it was because you had Heather. I know I didn’t want a reputation that I was easy. Matt, I’d gone to the prom with someone else.”

“We both had.” They stared at each other, transported back to that night.

“I’d like to see the yearbook. I could come to your room just for a minute.” She looked at her room door. “Brianna is probably asleep.”

She knew exactly what would happen if she went to his hotel room. Yes, she wanted him. Sensations akin to panic weaved through her thoughts. She didn’t know if the pressure on her heart and the tightness coiling in her stomach were fear if she said no, or worse, if she said yes and followed him down the hall.

“Great.” He smiled and the pressure in her chest eased but her pulse spiked.

“I can’t remember the last time I saw our yearbook,” she said as they walked to his room. “I lost mine years ago when I had to move around a lot.”

“You raised Brianna on your own, put yourself through school, but you haven’t talked about Brianna’s father.”

“He-he wasn’t around. He isn’t a part of her life.”

“Ah.”

He might think he had it figured out, but she hoped to hell he didn’t. One more reason she shouldn’t be standing next to him at his hotel room door while he shoved the keycard into the slot. The lock buzzed and clicked. Matt opened the door for her.

Maid service had turned down his bed and left the desk light on. His room had the same layout as hers except instead of two queens, he had one king-sized bed.

“I left the yearbook on top of the armoire.” Matt stood at the closet and removed his suit coat. After hanging it, he loosened the knot of his tie. “I’ll be out in a minute.” He went into the bathroom and closed the door.

Tessa stood at the window overlooking the city. What in the hell was she doing? He’d asked about Brianna’s father. She shouldn’t be taking this chance, in this room with him, to reminisce their high school years.

She went to the armoire for the yearbook. Next to it was a bottle of cologne. She looked back at the bathroom door. Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, she worried what Matt would think if he came out of the bathroom and found her in his stuff.

Deciding to risk getting caught, she lifted the bottle, uncapped the top and brought it to her nose. Her eyes closed as the scent weaved through her senses. She read the name on the bottle then quickly capped it and returned it to the spot she’d found it.

The bathroom door opened and she swiped the yearbook from the dresser.

“Did you find your picture?”

She turned to him with the yearbook clutched to her chest. “I haven’t looked.”

He sat on the bed and patted the space next to him. “Bring it over.”

Sit on the bed…with him? Indecision pulled at her. Sit next to him and possibly end up lying on her back with her legs wrapped around a man she’d fantasized about for two decades, or stand in the middle of the room like an idiot.

Tessa sat on the bed, leaving a foot of mattress between them. Then she cracked the spine of the book.

“I’ll scoot over so we can look together.” The bed dipped when he closed the space. Heat from his trouser-clad thigh burned through her dress and into her flesh.

“You had a lot of friends.” Names and messages covered the front inside pages.

“Acquaintances.” He lifted his eyes to hers. “Most of them, anyway.”

They read the inscriptions and laughed at a few. “Most likely to succeed, most likely to become president—your friends had a lot of faith in you.” She turned a glossy page. “Even Principal Healy signed your yearbook.”

Matt wagged his brows. “I was valedictorian too.”

“You should go to the reunion. So many people would love to see you.”

He took the book from her hands then flipped through the pages until he turned to the senior pictures. “There you are.” His hand stilled. A moment of silence stretched between them. “God, you were beautiful.”

The reverence in his tone nearly made her weep.

“You still are.” He threaded his fingers through the hair over her ears. “In a wholly different way.”

Damn, but if he didn’t stop showering her with compliments she’d lose her heart along with the will that had deserted her the moment he walked on the stage of the television show.

“I signed your yearbook.” She took it from his lap and flipped to the last page. “Here.” She pointed to the passage.

“Someday, if I ever have kids, I’m going to warn my daughter about boys like you.” He glanced up at her. “You drew a smiling face by your name.”

She shrugged. “It was supposed to be a joke.”

“So did you?”

“Warn my daughter about guys like you?” She laughed and shook her head. “I think we’ve already hashed through what I told my daughter about you.”

“That we were lovers.”

“Yes,” she said on a breath.

Matt closed the book and dropped it on the floor. “We were.”

“But only for one night.”

He stared into her eyes. “We can change that.”

Chapter Four

Tessa didn’t hesitate when he pulled her into his arms. Lips brushed lips. She moaned and opened her mouth. Tongues slid against one another in velvety strokes. Shifting his head, he took the kiss deeper. Tessa clutched his shirt.

Heat from his palm warmed her arm as his fingers toyed with the strap over her shoulder. She arched her back, inviting a more intimate touch. Matt growled, left her mouth and trailed moist kisses along her jaw. His tongue stroked the pulse point in her neck.

“You smell so good.” He flicked her earlobe then gently nibbled the shell of her ear.

Tessa placed her hands on the sculpted sinew of Matt’s thighs and leaned into him. “You feel
so good
.” She moved her hand, reveling in the feel of him beneath her fingers.

They kissed again and her mouth opened for his passionate exploration. Her heart raced in frenzied anticipation. She wanted this, needed him. Finally his hand cupped her breast.

“Oh.” She arched, pressing her pebbled nipple into his palm. Her fingers dug into his thighs as she gripped his leg. Tingles chased down her spine and into her sex. Matt’s other hand slid around to the zipper on the back of her dress. Cool air touched her skin, contrasting with the heat of his knuckles as they grazed her spine.