Lean on Me (The Mackay Sisters) (15 page)

It wasn’t happening soon, so she
just wished he’d go away and leave her to wallow in her misery and self-pity.

That wasn’t happening, either, by
the looks of it.

Matt continued to sit in front of
her, looking at her.

For Lori, it was intense.  Now
that the pain of her hand was a dull throb, there was nothing to distract her
from him.  Not his perfect body so close to her, the heat from that perfect
body, that male scent that was so uniquely his.

What had happened between them on
the floor, that strong body moving over her, in her, taking her to ecstasy.

Matt loathing what he’d done to
her.  His anger, his hardness.  That was enough to banish any desire she still
had, tamping it down under the now familiar burn of shame.

“I didn’t use a condom,” Matt stated
quietly.

The words slid right through her
shame and she jerked her head up, a mild panic clutching at her heart.  “What?”

“Protection.”  His eyes held hers
steadily.  “No protection.”

Alarm bells started clanging in
her mind.  “I…”

“It’s okay.”  Reaching out, he
took her uninjured hand in his.  “Whatever happens, we’ll face it together.”

Her gaze flew to the table as she
tried to think of the possibility of pregnancy, panic almost engulfing her, but
then she remembered seeing a packet on the table from Ali once, and then seeing
another packet in the bathroom cupboard.  Her shoulders relaxed instantly. 
“It’s okay.”

“I know.”  He squeezed her hand
reassuringly.  “I should have been more careful.  I just…things got out of hand
so quickly.”

Boy, had they ever, but that
wasn’t what she’d meant.  “No.”  She took a deep breath.  “There’s a morning
after pill in the bathroom.”

He frowned.  “What?”

“Ali had one, and she always kept
another in the bathroom just in case.  Before she went on birth control.”  A
flush filled Lori’s cheeks and she looked away.  “She always said it was better
to be safe than sorry. I can use that one.”

“Ah.”  Matt patted her hand before
withdrawing his.  “I’m clean.”

Oh God, shoot her now.  Lori bit
her lip.

“I’ve never had sex without
protection before.  I’ve also kept up health checks.”  He paused.  “You should
know.”

“Okay.”  She swallowed, trying to
meet his gaze but unable to do more than look at that very strong jaw.  “I am,
too.  Clean, I mean.”

“Trust me, Lori, there is no doubt
in my mind about that.”

“Okay.”  She stared at her lap,
wondering what else to say.  What could she say?

There was silence in the kitchen
for several seconds before Matt spoke calmly.  “We need to talk about Tommy.”

Tommy?
  Dumbfounded, Lori
looked up at him.

“What happened between us…” He
thrust a hand back through his thick hair, the dark locks falling haphazardly
onto his brow.  He didn’t look angry now, he looked unhappy.  Troubled.

But that didn’t explain his weird
comment.

“Tommy?” she asked.

“Yeah.  Your boyfriend,
remember?”  That gorgeous mouth of Matt’s tightened, the full lips that were
saved from being girly because they were so firm.

Her mouth fell open.

Matt grimaced.  “He needs to
know.”

“Know?”  Anger kindling through
her, Lori bolted to her feet.  “That’s what this is all about? 
Tommy
?”

“Your boyfriend,” he repeated,
refusing to move back which meant she was almost straddling his knees.

Shoving her chair back, she walked
to the kitchen bench, unsure if she should cry or yell.  In fact, she wasn’t
certain if the wind had been taken from her sails or whether she was entering a
blowing gale.

Sure as hell her mind was
whirling.

Spinning around, she stared at
Matt.

Hands braced on his thighs, he
looked steadily at her.  Bare chested, handsome, and she wanted to hit him.

Violence, apparently, was also her
calling today.

Anger surged through her.  “Tommy
has nothing to do with this.”

“When I take his girlfriend’s
virginity, I think it does,” Matt replied calmly.

So calmly, in fact, considering
the subject, that now she wanted to throttle him.  “Are you freakin’ kidding
me?”

He looked pointedly at the floor
beyond her and she turned her head to see a streak of blood on the floor.  A
small streak that had nothing to do with her palm and everything to do with her
first sexual encounter.

She’d have been mortified if she
wasn’t fast growing furious.

Angrily, she looked back at him.  “I
get your drift.”

When his gaze shifted back to her,
there was a definite darkness to them which she was in no mood to decipher. 
“So are you going to tell him or am I?”

Livid, she fisted her hands. 
“Neither of us are telling him anything.”

“Wrong,” Matt replied.  “One of us
is.”

“Let me fill you in on some ground-breaking
news, sunshine.  First off, you’re saying nothing to Tommy.  What happened
between us is none of his business.”

“Oh really?”  He didn’t shift an
inch, almost as if he was carved from stone, the only thing moving his mouth,
his eyes, his flaring nostrils and oh yeah, that muscle at the corner of his
mouth.  It jumped.

“Really.”

“So you have no intention of
telling him?”

“No.”

“Don’t you think cheating on your
boyfriend, however unintentional, is kind of low?”

She gasped.

He refused to back down.

Oh boy, she really wanted to kick
arse now, and it was his.

Furious, she stormed across the
room to come to a stop right in front of him.  When he simply looked up at her
with that damned eyebrow partially raised, she wanted to rip it off.

“Listen up, Matt Winters,” she
hissed.  “I don’t know why you think you know everything, but you don’t.  Tommy
isn’t my boyfriend, he never was and never will be.  I told you before there
was nothing between us, but apparently you haven’t got a brain in that handsome
head of yours because that information never sank in.”

He continued to hold her gaze.

“I’m sick of everyone judging me,
thinking they know me and what I do, how I think. 
No one
knows me,
Matt, least of all you.”

That muscle ticked beside his
mouth again.

Exasperated, Lori threw her hands
in the air.  “Fine!  You think I’m some slut who would cheat on her boyfriend? 
Whatever.  I’m out of here.”  She swung around to leave the kitchen

“Lori.”

Ignoring him, she made for the
door.

“
Damn
it, Lori.” His voice
was close.  “Stop.”

Refusing to answer, she kept
striding onwards, only to have an arm snake around her waist and jerk her to a
halt.

“Let go,” she demanded angrily. 
“Let me go, you ignoramus.”  When he didn’t, she jabbed backwards with her
elbow.

Give the man credit, he could move
fast.  Maybe it had something to do with his job, trying to get sometimes aggressive
patients onto a stretcher had to be hell. He was also strong.  Before she knew
it she was spun around and backed up to the kitchen bench, Matt’s arms coming
down each side of her, his palms slamming onto the top making an effective cage
to keep her in place.  Leaning over her, he glared.  Her own hands clutching
the edge of the counter, she glared right back up at him.

Fury beat tears any day.

“Now you listen to me.” A thread
of steel ran through his tone.  “I don’t take sex with a woman lightly.  I
certainly never have sex with a woman belonging to another man-”

“I don’t belong to anyone!”

“Yet this is the first time you’ve
denied being Tommy’s girlfriend.”

“No it isn’t.  I told you before
there was nothing between us.”

 Man, he was intimidating, leaning
over her like that with his bare chest so tantalizingly close and his eyes dark
and stormy. 

Dark and stormy beat the heck out
of hard and cold.

“Yeah, I heard that.  You’re
right.”  Matt took a deep breath.  “I’m sorry.  I was thinking that maybe
whatever you had was new and you didn’t want it known yet.”

“For God’s sake, Matt.  What do I
have to do to prove it to you?  In fact,” she snarled, “why do I have to prove
anything to you?  I’m speaking the truth and I’m not saying it again.”

He was silent for so long, the
clock on the kitchen ticking out the seconds into a full minute.  The whole
time he just looked into her eyes, his breathing slow and steady, his gaze
intense, searching.

Refusing to break eye contact, she
met his gaze steadily.  She had nothing to hide.

Suddenly he nodded.  “Okay.”

“What?”

“Okay.  I believe you.”

Lori blinked.  “That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“You look at me and then it’s all
okay?”

“Yes.”

She didn’t know whether to be
relieved or outraged.  Definitely outrage was at the forefront.  “You are such
a prick.”

“Lori-”

“How dare you be so
condescending?”

There went that muscle at the
corner of his mouth.  “I’m not.”

“You know what, Matt?  I’m so mad
right now I could slap you.”

“You wouldn’t want to try,” he
retorted.  “You won’t like the consequences.”

“Is that right?”

“You bet your sweet arse.”  He
leaned down a little closer, his gaze suddenly hot.  “In fact, your sweet arse
is exactly where I’d slap.”

Her mouth fell open at the same
instance a rush of heat filled her face…and elsewhere, which was just kinky. 
Flustered, she shot back, “You touch me and you’ll be sorry.”

“Let’s give it a try then, shall
we?”

Good God, he was serious.  Deadly
serious.  Her eyes widened in surprise, his narrowed in threat.  There was a
definite air of sensual danger about him right now.

Mild mannered Matt, paramedic and
hero of the injured, friend to all, was gone.  In his place stood a handsome,
strong, and extremely unpredictably carnal man with a suggestion that had her
shaking at the knees and her heart pounding erratically.

Oh, this was so weird.  And hot. 
And scary.  She felt out of her depth. Deliciously so.

“I think you better leave,” she
finally whispered.

His head dipped lower.  “Really?” 
Now he was hovering right above her mouth, his breath a hot puff on her lips.

Her knees went weak and her grip
on the bench tightened.  “Um…yes.”

“Are you afraid of me right now,
Lori?”

“No, of course not.”

“You sure about that?”

“Y-yes.”

He nipped her bottom lip, drawing
a gasp from her.  “Maybe you should reconsider.”

“I don’t need to,” she practically
squeaked.

He didn’t touch her but he kept
her caged in by his arms.  It felt at once both protective and ominous.

Eyes open wide, she could only
look up into his dark, compelling gaze. 

“I’m thinking you’re lying right
now,” Matt said quietly.  “I can see your pulse pounding in the side of your
neck.  Your heart rate is definitely beyond the normal.  Fear does that.”

“I don’t fear you.”  Much better,
her voice was no longer a squeak.

“Maybe you should.”

She swallowed.  Oh man, he did
look dangerous right then, almost predatory as his eyes seemed to turn to hot
liquid, the darkness a pool of heated suggestion with a hint of menace.

There went that silence again,
stretching out between them darkly, almost erotically, definitely charged with
sensual carnality.  How that happened, why it happened, Lori didn’t know, but
it was undeniable.

And then he kissed her.  One small
lunge and he captured her mouth, lips moulding almost fiercely to hers, his
tongue demanding entrance.

This wasn’t just a sensual kiss, a
desperate kiss.  This kiss was pure dominance, demanding and taking, his tongue
sweeping inside to ruthlessly plunder, licking deep.

It was also fast.  Fast and hard
and definitely assertive.

Her mind was whirling when he
lifted his head abruptly and it was all she could do to remain upright. 

Looking down at her, Matt’s eyes
held an almost feral light, but he was obviously in total control, his voice
deep, even, not a hint of the breathlessness that had her gasping almost
raggedly for air.

“I have to go back to work, Hamish
is covering for me.  We’re talking tonight when I get back.”

Talking?  Lori blinked, trying to
drag in her scattered thoughts.  “I don’t think-”

“Be here.”  Pushing back, he swung
around and strode across the floor.

One part of her was shocked at his
order, another part was shaking in reaction to everything that had happened,
and a sick third part of her was wickedly excited at his masterly attitude - oh
yes, and the sight of his half naked body leaving her kitchen.

He didn’t look back.  When the
door clicked shut behind him, she almost sank to her knees.

Heart pounding, she touched her
trembling fingers to her lips, feeling the swollen flesh and knowing it was
from his kiss.  Tantalizing thought.

This was quickly followed by a myriad
of thoughts and feelings, some angry, some bewildered.   Things had happened
too quickly, too much said, too much unsaid, things hinted at but still obscure. 
Her emotions had been through a rollercoaster of a ride in a couple of hours
and now she was left standing confused in her own kitchen because she couldn’t
get one thought straight in her head.

“Oh Minx.”  Automatically, she
turned to where the old ginger cat normally sat on a chair.  “I don’t know what
the…”

Minx wasn’t there.  One more
heartache.

She’d never felt so alone.

~*~

Hamish looked up as Matt walked
through the substation door.  “Is Lori all right?”

That was debateable.  He’d just taken
her virginity roughly in sexual heat that had damned near scorched the soles of
his feet off, tended her injuries, gotten into an argument with her, asserted
dominance which he’d never done with a woman before, and ordered her to be
waiting for him when he got home that night.