Close Your Eyes (57 page)

With one effortless move,
Matt
lifted her to sit on the wall, making sure
to
choose
the one even, smooth part of the brick wall. He sat next to her, close enough for his muscular thigh to touch her dress.

‘Remember this place?’ he asked, smiling. ‘I still remember our trips to pick the wild strawberries and the gooseberries. I usually ate half of
our harvest
and let
Ry
do all the work.’

‘
Yeah
, you used to be rather smart,
Matt
.
’
H
er brain
flooded
with pictures from the past.
‘
If
you’re smart now, you won’t stay around me. There is a party to go to and the buffet you advertised to the kids so convincingly.’

‘To hell with the party
.
’
H
e shrugged philosophically, his smile very mischievous. ‘
As
for the buffet
,
I had to say something to get rid of
their
little curious eyes, didn’t
I?
I could not do what I wanted to without scandalizing them and getting their parents on my back. I’ve done enough wild things to
count
for years of bad rep
utation
.’

His hand started its journey up her arm
. T
he slow, steady motion
drove
her crazy.

‘
What
scandalizing things did you have in mind,
Matt
?’
she
asked breathlessly, shivering as he reached the place where her shoulder met her neck
. His hand lingered
there with innocence that couldn’t be real.

‘
Something
like
this
,’ he whispered and leaned closer, his mouth coming to cover her lips in a slow kiss.

Her world exploded
. E
verything swept away as she kissed him back
. H
er lips
were
soft and hesitant against his.

‘
Don’t be afraid,
Meg
,
’
he
whispered again, his lips leaving hers for a second. ‘
Even
if I wanted
to,
this wall and our outfits make it practically impossible to go any further.’

She couldn’t help but burst out laughing,
and
her giggles
mixed
with his laughter, carefree and happy as he pulled her even closer.

‘
That’s
better,
’ he
said
. ‘I missed the sound of your laughter very much. Even though I ruined the moment, didn’t
I
?’

‘Not necessarily.’ She felt much braver now. He
was offering her so much and
asking
for
so little in return that she felt her doubts and second
thoughts
leave
. T
he burning wish to show him what he meant to her
replaced those feelings
.
She had n
o words, just actions.

She reached up
and pulled
his head
down
to hers. Their lips met halfway, shaping against each other and exploring as
their bodies
slid closer to melt into a passionate embrace.
Meg
’s
fingernails scratch
ed
against the hard surface of his chain mail
. T
he low metallic sound barely reach
ed
her ears.
S
he thought
him strong and invincible
, her own personal hero
,
ready to win any battle life would throw
their
way.

S
uddenly she was flying in the safe cradle of his arms as he swung them both to the other side of the wall, where soft knolls of grass welcomed them to the ground. Before she had any idea what
had
happened, she was lying surrounded by wild flowers
with
Matt
’s face looming over hers.

‘I kind of like
these
medieval techniques
.
’
H
is sweet breath wash
ed
over her face and
made
her
dizzy
. ‘
I’ve been told that people were quite brave in the olden days
and enjoyed
themselves even more than we do.’

His lips traveled along the line of her jaw to her ear
. H
is tongue tip
traced
the neat swirls of her ear before moving on to her temples. He must have felt the way her blood pounded in a swift, impatient staccato because she felt him smile, his lips stretching against her skin.

‘You smell like roses,’ he whispered
before his
thistledown kisses mov
ed
to her forehead.
Meg
closed her eyes as he continued, his nose skimming against her heated cheek. He paused again, his head lifting a bit as he said her name.

He took his time
. She lazily
enjoyed
his exploration.
She lifted h
er fingers to touch his face in return
. She cupped
his cheek as she opened her eyes and looked into his
.
Her breath caught when
she saw the way he looked at her
,
as
if he wanted to learn every minute detail of her f
ace, imprinting it to his memory.

His skin felt warm and alive against her fingertips. From close up
,
she could still see some of the freckles that
had
stayed with him over the years, even though he
was
a long way from being the skinny, freckly little boy with a mischievous smile and persona
lity
to match. She let her fingers travel over them almost wonderingly
. The
firm line of his mouth soften
ed
under her traveling hand.
He
kissed her fingers, lingering on the delicate pads
,
and they both smiled, their eyes meeting in perfect understanding.

‘
You know that you’re actually the first
Harper
I
remember
meeting
?’
S
he smiled
.
The
ple
asure that he tried to disguise
was
absolutely
endearing. ‘
Well
, not so much meet
as
hear, really. It was the first day of school
,
and you put on quite a show.’

‘As long as it puts me ahead of the crowd, I’ll take it any
day.’ He grinned. ‘
Yeah
, I remember that
,
too. I was so mad that
Ry
would
be going
away for half
the
day. I just felt really sad and didn’t care if the whole world saw me.’

He
had changed so much
ever since
. S
he watched his face, darkened
with
some sad memories. He had learn
ed
to lock up his feelings
so that
the strong, confident persona he projected
gave
no clue
about
what
he really felt.
H
e still managed to say exactly what he wanted whenever he wanted, but
on his
terms
.
A
nd
it
only
offered
a small fragment of the real
Matt
.

‘
Ry
was absolutely taken with you, though
,
’
Matt
continued
. T
he sadness
was
gone from his voice. ‘
He
came home and raved about this nice girl who offered to be his friend. I was very jealous and came up with several ideas how to get rid of you,
Meg
. Putting Mr. Knuckles in his lunchbox was only one of them. I hoped if you saw him, you’d run.’

Mr. Knuckles was the turtle the boys owned,
Meg
remembered. It was still alive today
. H
is little wrinkly head and dark eyes
were
as alert as they
had been
over twenty years ago. He was a gift from their grandmother, who didn’t really approve of her husband
’
s love of horses, dogs, cats
,
and all other things furry and messy.
So
she
had
picked the little turtle, hoping it would keep the children away from other, more dangerous pets.
Their grandmother
had passed away years ago,
leaving
the turtle
as
one of the very few reminders they had of
her
.