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This could all be simpler than he’d predicted.

Matthew carried Ashley back toward his bedroom, wondering if he’d overthought this whole situation. They got along well and the chemistry hadn’t been a one-time fluke. Why not ride the wave? Friendship with rocking hot sex could be an awesome, uncomplicated alternative to spending the rest of their lives alone or locked in some relationship where emotions ruled their lives to the exclusion of all else.

RICH MAN’S FAKE FIANCEE

23

CATHERINE MANN

SILHOUETTE DESIRE 1878

THE LANDIS BROTHERS

He grazed a quick kiss along her passion-swollen lips before easing her onto his bed. Yeah, he liked the look of her there.

And he would enjoy it even more once he peeled her clothes from her sweet body.

Apparently Ashley had the same idea, because she arched up from the bed to kiss him with an ardent intent that made it clear she was ready for round two. He draped his jacket over the chair without ever breaking contact with her mouth. She tugged his tie with frantic fingers, loosening until finally the length slid free from his collar. She flicked the silk over her shoulder and set to work on the buttons down the front of his shirt until she glided her cool finger inside along his bare skin.

Matthew kissed aside one shoulder strap of her dress. With the dress’s built in bra and her panties out on the foyer floor, she was perilously close to total exposure.

He smiled in anticipation against her flowery scented skin. “At least we’re going to make it to a bed this time.”

She shoved his pants down and away. He kicked them to the side. “I liked the hall.”

“Me, too.” He liked her anywhere. “But this time we’re going to take it slower.”

Matthew brushed away and down both straps of her gown, guiding it over her breasts, teasing along her hips until it slithered to her feet. He couldn’t resist stilling for a moment to take her in. It seemed like longer than a handful of days since he’d had the pleasure of seeing her naked.

He remembered her being hot. He dreamed of her sexiness. But he’d forgotten or hadn’t taken the time to notice some of the more intimate details of her body—such as the enticing mole on her hip that he now traced with his thumb to better imprint it in his memory. Countless other nuances of Ashley burned themselves into his brain.

Then she flattened her hand to his chest and brought a close to his ability to think. Time to feel. To touch. He traced her collarbone with his tongue, working kisses and nips lower to her tempting curves until his mouth closed over the peak of one breast, drawing it tighter, then shifting his attention to the other equally sweet swell, in need of more, more of her, sooner than he’d expected after their mind-blowing encounter in the hall. She arched against him and then they were both tumbling onto the bed.

She slid her hands down his back and cupped his taut buttocks, digging in her fingers, urging him closer. “Now, Matthew.”

He clasped her wrists and gently eased them to the side. “Slower this time, remember?”

“Forget about slower. We have all flipping night for slower.” She wriggled temptingly under him.

He trailed kisses between her breasts, shifting his hold on her wrists to link fingers with her. He nipped along her rib cage, working his way south.

He blew air against her stomach, lower, lower still until she gasped.

“Matthew?”

“FTW,” he mumbled against her.

“What?”

He glanced up the length of her creamy white body and grinned. “FTW. For the win, lady. I’m going for the win.”

Ashley swept her hand through the frothy hot tub waters, reclining back into the warmth of Matthew’s naked strength serving as the perfect “arm chair.” His Jacuzzi was built into the bathroom with a skylight overhead, which offered the aura of being outside without the loss of privacy.

After making love again in his bedroom, he’d shown her the oversize bathroom that had been an add-on to the carriage house. Just as she’d sunk into the full tub, he’d returned with champagne and strawberries—and joined her. The added bulk of his body eased the water just over the tips of her breasts, the gentle swoosh a warm temptation.

As much as she wanted to relax into the moment, sipping her drink, enjoying the burst of fruit on her taste buds as Matthew fed her, her stomach kept tightening with nerves. Things with Matthew were getting more complicated by the second.

Damn it, she should be happy. She’d fantasized over what it would be like with this man. He wasn’t hotfooting toward the door like after their first night together. So why did his ring suddenly feel so utterly heavy on her finger?

Matthew’s hands landed on her shoulders and he began a soothing massage. “I’m sorry you’re so tense. I hate to think this campaign put those kinks in your muscles.”

“I’m managing.” She sipped from the fluted crystal, the fine vintage tickling her nose as surely as the bristly hair on Matthew’s chest teased her back.

“You’re more than managing.” He rested his chin on her head while continuing to knead her kinked muscles. “But you don’t care for the spotlight?”

Just what she needed, reminders of Brent Davis’s concerns that she could actually hurt Matthew’s chances of beating that Martin Stewart. She stayed silent, finishing her drink and splaying her fingers through the rose-scented bubbles.

Steam saturated her senses. The mirror may have fogged a while ago, but she still carried in her memory the reflected image of the two of them together in the gray-and-white marble tub.

His firm caress continued its seductive magic. “Not much longer and hopefully things will settle out.”

She couldn’t imagine how. Every scenario that played out in her mind—continuing this charade or walking away—spelled frustration.

Perhaps her best solution would be to avoid the whole subject altogether tonight and focus on the sensations of the here and now. “That feels amazing.”

His thumbs worked their way up her neck. “This Jacuzzi has eased a lot of tense muscles after working out with my brothers.”

“I was talking about your hands, but yeah, the hot tub is awesome, too.”

He circled the pressure points along her jaw. “I’m glad to hear you like my touch.”

“Very much.” Too much. This had been easier when he’d been the unattainable fantasy of a woman convinced he would never look twice at her.

She tapped her left shoulder, the one still slightly raised and blurted, “I had scoliosis as a girl.”

His massaging fingers tensed for a second, an understated indication he had heard her.

“I’m lucky Aunt Libby aggressively addressed the problem with my spine early.” She knew that now, although she’d hated the brace as a child. “For the most part it doesn’t affect the way I live anymore. Although I shy away from higher heels and standing for too long without moving can give me a headache.”

“Well, as I understand it, mega-high heels aren’t good for anybody’s back and standing still for an hour is highly overrated.”

RICH MAN’S FAKE FIANCEE

24

CATHERINE MANN

SILHOUETTE DESIRE 1878

THE LANDIS BROTHERS

His easy acceptance of the subject released more tension inside her than the massaging tub jets ever could. “No way did I just hear what I thought I heard.”

“What did I say?”

“A man actually dissed high heels for women?” She glanced over her shoulder and crinkled her nose at him. “No freaking way. I thought the whole male species stopped for a woman’s legs extended by spike heels.”

He cocked one eyebrow at her. “How un-PC of you. You make us sound very shallow.”

“You said it. Not me.”

“Ouch. Low blow, but well played. Perhaps you should stand in for me during the debates.” He slipped his arms around her, just below her breasts. “Certainly everybody has physical traits that they’re attracted to.”

“Like legs?”

His hands slid up to cup her, his thumbs brushing against her nipples. “Or breasts.” His head dipped to her ear. “Or the soft feel of your skin.” He nuzzled her neck. “And there’s your amazing hair.”

“You’re quite a smooth talker.”

“I’m only being honest.” His hands stilled again, clasped over her stomach. “Why do you have such trouble accepting compliments?”

He’d been so understanding about the subject thus far, she allowed herself the risk of sharing more about the other hurts, the emotional kind, that the birth defect had brought her over the years. “Left-over issues from the scoliosis I imagine.”

“You’re blessedly healthy.” His eyes blazed with an unmistakable intensity and reminder of how much worse things could have been.

“Yes, and I’m grateful for the amazing doctors who helped me over the years.” She hesitated. “But you didn’t see me before. Achieving this posture wasn’t easy. Some people—my biological parents—didn’t want the financial and time-consuming strain I brought.”

Matthew’s muscles turned to Sheetrock against her back. She looked over her shoulder to find his eyes were equally as hard.

“They didn’t deserve you.” His words were gentle, but his body still rigid.

With indignation. Fury even. She read it all there in his eyes so gemstone sharp they could cut. He was angry for her.

People had been sympathetic, helpful, but she couldn’t recall anyone being flat-out mad for that ill-treated little girl she’d been.

Matthew touched her soul and wiped away years of pain. “Thank you.”

“No need to thank me, I’m just stating a fact.” He held her gaze. “And while I’m on the subject, you’re undoubtedly a tough lady.”

That felt good to hear, as well, especially after Brent’s scathing assessment of her character.

“I had to be. Children can be cruel to a kid who doesn’t look like the rest of them.” Even adults—her biological parents—

could be horribly unaccepting of their daughter’s twisted gait.

Matthew was right. They hadn’t deserved her. How mind-blowing that she’d never before considered that they simply weren’t cut out for parenthood.

Muscles she hadn’t even realized were still tensed eased at the new level of understanding. She’d talked about this with Aunt Libby and her sisters often over the years. Interesting—and a bit scary—that it had taken just one conversation with this man to help her see things with a different perspective.

Matthew skimmed a knuckle down her spine. “You wore a brace all the time?”

“Until college, then I only had to wear it at night.” She cast another quick glance over her shoulder. “That’s why I’m so addicted to silky fabrics now. They feel all the more fabulous on my skin.”

“You’re obviously a sensualist.” His hands glided back around her with a touch as light as any fabric.

“I’m an accountant.”

“So? People who like numbers can’t like sensations and even adventurous sex?”

“When you put it that way…” And touched her that way.

“You’re perfect the way you are.” His thumbs grazed the undersides of her breasts while he dipped his head to tease along her collarbone. “All of that in the past made you into the sexy, smart woman you are today.”

His arousal throbbed an agreement against the base of her spine. She slid her hands under the churning water to caress his powerful legs, wriggling in his lap, her pulse already pounding in her ears as loudly as the blasts of water through the Jacuzzi jets.

He cupped her waist and lifted her slightly, urging her to turn around until she knelt, her damp legs on either side of his.

She leaned forward until the core of her pressed to the hard and ready length of him. Her breasts teased his chest as she leaned forward to capture a kiss.

Tonight wasn’t over yet and she was determined to make the most of it.

She arched up until the heat of him nestled against her, then she slid down, slowly taking him inside her, tantalizingly so, torturously so. “FTW, Matthew. For the win.”

Nine

“F TW, brother.”

His brother’s ill-chosen words echoing in his ears, Matthew choked midway through his golf swing and shanked the ball into a water hazard near the clubhouse. Wading birds swooped upward and out of the way.

Matthew scowled over his shoulder at his middle brother who knew the no-speaking rule. “Thanks, Sebastian.”

He’d been looking forward to this afternoon of golf with his brothers, even if the event also happened to be a benefit tournament. However, if he kept playing like this, the foursome on the fairway behind them would have to stop for lunch before they could move ahead.

“No problem, bro. Always happy to cheer you on.” Their lawyer sibling did have impeccable timing. “Nice slice, by the way.”

The other two Landis brothers stood by the golf cart applauding with grins as smug as the one on the gator’s face as the reptile slid through the salt marsh. Nope, not gonna wade in after that ball. He would take the drop for a penalty stroke.

Matthew pointed his titanium driver at the youngest, Jonah, first and then at Kyle, the next to oldest. “Your turns are coming up soon enough, and I feel a coughing fit coming on.”

RICH MAN’S FAKE FIANCEE

25

CATHERINE MANN

SILHOUETTE DESIRE 1878

THE LANDIS BROTHERS

They’d all grown up competing with each other and nothing had changed now. He couldn’t fault them for it, and of course Sebastian had no way of knowing just what a kick in the gut his FTW would apply. He and Ashley had both won in a major way throughout the night.

Matthew reached into the tiny trash can on the side of his cart and scooped out a handful of the grass seed mixed with sand.

He leaned down to pack it into the divot he’d chunked out of the course when his swing had gone awry.

Thoughts of Ashley tended to send his brain off-kilter in much the same manner. He leaned on his club, images of her facing him in the hot tub threatening what little concentration he had left. They hadn’t gotten much sleep, but he wouldn’t change a minute of their night together.

He glanced at his watch, wondering how much longer until she would finish her meeting with her sisters to review insurance paperwork. Claire and Starr had driven down from Charleston to spend the day with her, which left him free to attend this benefit golf tournament and hang with his brothers. They were just finishing up the ninth hole, so he would be home before supper.