“I need to think about this.”
“Sure.”
“What if I say no?”
“Then we’ll be back where we started: me blackmailing you with black lacy panties behind the bar, a big beer launch, and inevitable sex in awkward places.” He shrugged. “You have forty-five minutes before we get to the wedding of the year. Is that long enough? I won’t interrupt your thoughts, I promise.”
True to his word, he didn’t utter a word as they sped through the Colorado landscape. Piper stared blankly out at the blur of ragged mountains, snow, pines, and rock. Her body wanted her to say yes to his proposal—heck, so did her brain if it meant she could avoid more events like the gallery opening—but she couldn’t bring herself to open her mouth and commit. None of this seemed right. Or maybe it all seemed too easy.
“We’re almost there.” His palm rested on her leg and a bolt of awareness rocketed straight between her thighs. “So, what’s your answer?”
Her heart felt too large for her chest as it pulsed with adrenaline. She had to say something. “Matt, I’m just not sure.”
He sighed and pressed a button on his armrest to activate the privacy screen between them and the driver. “Then I’m going to have to prove something to you.”
His arm snaked over her waist and, before she could protest, his mouth was down on hers, kissing her without restraint. She wriggled and squealed with protest for a second or two, held firm by the seat belt and by his other determined hand holding her jaw steady. But as his tongue probed and explored her mouth, she crumbled and melted into him like she always did. It was so unfair that her body refused to obey her brain and that hormones were so unbelievably potent, like a narcotic drug for which there was no effective antidote except orgasm. It was insane—just one touch from this man and she was like an animal in heat.
His hand slid up between her thighs and she felt his thumb press against her through the silk of her panties. Then he began to circle slowly. She arched her back, instinctively seeking more, either the length of his fingers inside her or the feel of him on her breasts. She couldn’t believe how responsive her body was to him. Just the flick of his finger and she was his. It felt wonderful…
He broke the kiss, but his lips were just inches from hers. “You see? It’s still there, this wildfire attraction, and it’s not going away unless we feed it and let it burn itself out.”
She moaned and closed her eyes as he continued to work between her legs. “Don’t…”
His finger moved under the elastic of her underwear. “Don’t stop? Or don’t do this?”
He slipped inside her slick heat and ran his finger up and down slowly until she began to pant and squirm against his hand. “Yes,” she gasped.
Her eyes flew open as he suddenly withdrew, leaving her feeling cold and frustrated. “What?”
“Sexual blackmail this time, Piper. No more orgasms until I get the answer I want.”
“Douchebag.”
He shrugged the insult off and arched a dark eyebrow at her. “Whatever label you put on it, we’re having that fling anyway. It’s unstoppable, so you might as well give in and agree. We’ll still call it quits after launch day on the fifteenth.”
She stared at him as he sucked his finger into his mouth. It hurt that he was so confident he’d have had enough of her by then, but…what was she thinking? It had always been about sex, just sex for both of them. Straight up. There was never going to be any future for them. They wanted different things. “Midnight on the fifteenth and it’s all over? And I don’t have to go to the beer launch if I don’t want to?”
“Nope.” He ran his hand through his hair. “But it’ll be a great party. Everyone who is anyone in the Passion Creek business world will be there if they can. I’d like to have you there if you have nothing else planned.”
She laughed bitterly as she pulled down her dress. “I have nothing planned, believe it or not.”
“So it’s a deal? And a date?”
“It’s a fine example of your control freakery all over again. You’re scheduling me and making crazy deals and I should resist you with my last breath. But okay, I’ll go to the party.”
His eyes brightened. “Only eight days left. Eight days of no-strings sex, whenever we want. You like sex with me, I like sex with you. You get to promote your business, I get laid, you get laid, and we’ll both be very happy.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“It is.” He adjusted his jacket as the car passed through the gates of the exclusive Bosco di Montagne Mountain Chateau, where the wedding was soon to take place. “And we’re here now, so let’s enjoy ourselves.”
Piper stepped out of the limo and smoothed down the pale aqua silk of her shift dress over her thighs. The wedding of the year and she’d never had so much couture collateral clinging to her body. She had discovered to her disgust that you really did get what you paid for—not only was her outfit stunning, it fit like a second skin, just a whisper of a garment on her body. It was gorgeous. And her hands were trembling. Even a car journey with Matt DeLeo turned out to be something much more than she could ever have anticipated.
“It’s colder than it looks out here.” She crossed her arms as she and Matt joined the shivering crowd of guests heading for the warmth of the wedding venue’s front desk. The bright medley of hats and dresses was like a sea of extra-large confetti bobbing up and down, with excited chatter and laughter bouncing off the still quietness of the banks of snow that surrounded the estate. This couldn’t be anything other than a wedding; it reeked of anxiety, oozed with joy, and rustled with designer labels.
“See what I meant about the clothes now?” he said. “There’s a lot of money here today.”
Her heart leaped as she caught a glimpse of Melanie’s head in the distance. She was busy greeting guests and ushering them into the fleet of horse-drawn sleighs that would take them to the wedding chapel. Piper smiled as she remembered her buddy’s excuse for not replying to her texts and emails on the night of the storm. At last Melanie seemed to be getting a taste of romance, and she sincerely hoped it would turn out well. It certainly stood a better chance than her own morally questionable, sex-fest, non-relationship with Matt DeLeo.
Half an hour later, everyone was settled in their beribboned seats, and a hush descended as the harpist began to play the bride up the aisle. The ceremony itself went off perfectly, a carefully choreographed occasion adorned with silver lanterns, church candles, and pink roses set against a natural backdrop of mountains and snow. The quaint chapel set deep in the foothills was almost magical, with guests still breathless and excited by their sleigh rides. It was the perfect choice for a wedding at the tail end of winter. The vows were made, the happy and impossibly handsome couple kissed, and Piper knew Melanie would still be nervous. She always was until the whole thing was over, but that was what made her so good at her job. A perfectionist down to the tiniest detail.