Something Wonderful (15 page)

When the bill came, I reached for it, but he grabbed hold of the other end. Tugging back and forth, I didn’t stand a chance. With his strength, it was out of my hands.

“Matthew, let me pay it. You bought lunch last time,” I insisted.

“That was nothing, and besides, I’m the one that asked you out. You can pay next time,” he winked.

Then I remembered my Christmas present. “You have to let me pay for it since I didn’t get you anything for Christmas. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, but you shouldn’t have. I mean…I’m thankful, but it wasn’t necessary.”

“It was necessary. I can’t believe you read novels on your laptop. And by the way, I was hurt you didn’t get me a present,” he pouted like a little boy, resting his hands over his heart. He looked so adorable. I wanted to bite his bottom lip when he stuck it out.

After blinking away the thought, I tried again to steal the bill from him, but to no avail.

“Not here, Becca.” He shook his finger and his head, making a tsk, tsk sound. “You already threw yourself at me in your bedroom. Don’t get kinky with me here. I don’t mind, but I’m sure others will.”

Secretly laughing at his words, I scowled at him. “Fine.”

A
FTER LUNCH,
M
ATTHEW SHOWED
me what he meant by having a great time. We went on a Ferris wheel, a ride that dropped you down twenty floors, bumper cars, and even a dragon swing. We didn’t do much talking, but we sure laughed a lot. Since it wasn’t crowded, we went on each ride several times. We acted like children who couldn’t get enough.

Afterward, he bought a bag of cotton candy. “When I was a kid,” Matthew started to say, taking a handful of it, “I dipped a cotton ball into a bowl of sugar and tried to eat it.”

“You did?” I laughed out loud, taking a bite. That first bite tasted unbelievable; it melted on my tongue, shrinking so fast in my mouth that I wanted another one.

“Of course, it didn’t taste the same,” Matthew chuckled. “Why would you call this cotton candy if it wasn’t made out of cotton, right? Little did I know there was the edible kind of cotton and the NON-edible kind.”

I reached over and took another piece. “Were you a bad boy? I mean, did you do mischievous things?”

“Let’s just say, I was very curious, but Max always covered for me. And I still am,” he smirked and wrinkled his nose.

I scowled at him. “I’m sure you are. That was sweet of Max. I was the same with my sister, only I was the curious one.”

“You don’t say?” Matthew grinned, licking and sucking the sugar off his two fingers from the piece he just finished.

Matthew made eating cotton candy look sexy. Dumbfounded, my gaze remained glued to his lips and I wanted to be one of those fingers.

“Ice cream,” he said, breaking me out of my trance. “What flavor do you like?”

“Any flavor is fine,” I replied. I wasn’t really in the mood for ice cream, but figured what the heck. I didn’t have to finish it. Matthew speedily took off and I waited where he left me.

When Matthew brought back only one, I figured he didn’t want one, but it turned out he wanted to share. Share? We weren’t dating.

“I just want a couple of bites, if you don’t mind. I need to be back before six. I have a dinner engagement.”

“Sure. You take some first,” I offered, as a feeling of disappointment settled through me. Of course, he has plans, and as curious as I was, I was not going to ask. I didn’t want to hear he was taking some girl out to dinner.

Unable to take my eyes off his lips again, I watched him open his mouth and let his tongue indulge one side of the ice cream cone. OMG! Quivering from the way he just licked and slurped, while his drop-dead gorgeous eyes were glued to mine, it felt as though he was licking me instead of the cone.

“Thanks, that was good,” he commented, wiping the remains with the back of his hand.

If this were a date, I would have cleaned his face with my tongue.

“Here, you should take it away from me before I become too selfish and eat the whole thing.”

“Thanks,” I expressed, taking a bit. I just realized I had overlapped the part he bit. In a silly, ‘teenager thinking’ way, I just made out with him and he tasted sweet and yummy.

Instead of heading to the parking lot, Matthew took a detour to the park next to the pier. First thing I noted was an older couple snuggling on the bench. It was the sweetest thing to see. Shortly after, a group of women came jogging past us, checking Matthew out as they went by. I had to raise my brows at him since he knew they were gawking at him. He waved at them, getting giggles and smiles in return. I closed the gap between us when a couple walking their German Shepherd headed our way.

“Not a fan of dogs?” he asked, guiding me behind his back as if to protect me.

“No. I like dogs, just not the big ones. You never know.”

“I understand. I don’t like them either. When I was about eight years old, Max and I were playing catch in the front yard. A homeless German Shepherd came into our yard barking, with its mouth drooling and snarling, it was ready to attack. Max stood in front of me as we slowly backed away toward our front door. We only had a pair of baseball gloves to protect us. I can still remember that day, how scared I was. I was afraid for both of our lives. Luckily, our nanny came out, armed with a bat and a piece of ham that she threw as far as she could. As much as Max and I fought, I knew that day he truly cared about me.”

“Wow. I never had an experience like that. I think I just saw too many incidents on the news regarding dog attacks.”

Matthew started walking backward “Never fear, my Becca. Super Matt is here,” he chuckled, making me laugh, too. “Is your sister older or younger?”

“She’s younger; she’s in her senior year in college. My Dad is an insurance broker and my mom is a teacher.” I said more than I had intended, but it was easy with Matthew. He was a great listener.

“So when do I get to meet your sister? She’s kind of hot; she looks a lot like you, but in a different way.”

“No way,” I blurted before I could stop myself.

“And why not? Are you trying to keep me all to yourself?” Matthew continued to walk backward.

“Yes…NO…I mean….” This was not coming out right. “You’re bad for her.” I didn’t mean to say that either. Was I feeling jealous?

“Bad? You don’t even really know me.”

“I know your kind. You flirt with anything that doesn’t have a penis. You make a girl feel special, sleep with her, then crush her heart.”

“Do you think that is what I’m trying to do to you?” His playful tone changed and he was watching me so closely, that he unknowingly headed straight for a tree. I thought he would have turned around, but didn’t.

“Watch out, Matthew.” Simultaneously, we grabbed each other. With his body backed against the tree and nowhere to go, our bodies collided. Gazing into his eyes, I whispered, being too close for comfort, “Are you hurt?”

He didn’t answer, but his eyes continued to pierce into mine, searching. There was something comforting, yet terrifying about the way he was connecting with me. His hurt look surprised me.

“You must’ve dated some assholes, Becca,” he continued. “Sure, I’ll admit I flirt a lot, but it’s my way of coping. You don’t know what I’ve been through the past two years. I was completely dead inside. I watched as the girl I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, died in the same hospital Jenna was in. For two fucking years, I blamed myself and swore I would never fall for anyone again. But you know what? Your heart has a mind of its own. I found out you don’t have a choice. Your heart makes those choices for you and no matter how hard you fight it, you can’t. Then you’re totally screwed.”

My mouth dropped and my heart ached for him. I had no idea about what he’d been through, and I just accused him of being an ass. Wishing I could take back what I said, I closed my eyes and whispered softly, “I’m so sorry.”

Matthew continued to look at me, but with a softer expression this time. I was waiting for him to curse at me, but instead he laced his fingers through my hair, searching my eyes again. Then his gaze shifted to my lips. His breathing grew faster and intense, fighting what he wanted to do. I wanted him to kiss me so badly, but it didn’t happen. After all, he thought I was seeing someone and being the gentleman he was, I knew he wouldn’t proceed. Sliding his hand around my back, he held me tenderly.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to dump all that on you,” he said gently. “I don’t want to ruin what we have. I enjoy your company so much, Becca. You make me forget the pain. You make me forget her,” he sighed softly against the tip of my ear. There was a lot of sadness in his tone. Tears began to blur my eyes. I felt the depth of his pain shooting through every part of my being, especially into my heart.

Matthew held me longer than I had expected. When he finally released me, he was back to himself. Grabbing my hand, he started sprinting. “Come on, Becca. Let’s see how fast you can run.”

“Matthew!” I yelled. Unable to release his tight grip, I had no choice but to run with him, but it made the awkward situation better, and it felt good to run like that. Yup, he was very smooth.

A
COUPLE OF DAYS
after Christmas, Max and I met my parents for dinner. My parents paid for dinner this time around. Like the last time, we had a fabulous time getting to know each other better. Max and my dad talked about sports, and of course, my mom probed with more questions. We also had dinner last night since they were leaving tomorrow morning. Max’s driver and I took them to the airport, and then I went straight to work.

There were two more days until New Year’s Eve. I could already feel the excitement. This time around, I’ll have someone to kiss at midnight—my Max. I couldn’t wait. Not to mention spending a fun filled night with my closest friends.

Gazing quickly around the room, I noticed everyone was busy at their desks. Matthew went to a meeting with Max regarding another department, so I was holding down the fort. Though there wasn’t much to worry about, since we were all working on the same project and Matthew had delegated the jobs before he left.

Looking at my project on the screen, I started typing about the London fashion show that was coming soon, and all sorts of thoughts fluttered through me. I wondered if I would be invited to go. Since Matthew was back, would he be going instead of Max?

Heavily focused on the layout screen, I jumped when my phone buzzed on my desk. I kept it on vibrate, so it rattled. It was from Max.

Good morning, Ms.
Mefferd. Missed you last night. My bed was cold and it felt so big without you.

Sorry! Can’t have me every night. You would get bored with me.

Never!!! You’re too sexy, gorgeous, and soft. Not to mention, you’ve stolen my heart, so it goes wherever you go.

Awww…gushing…blushing. You’re so sweet, Max.

Want me to make you blush even more?

Aren’t you at your meeting?

We took a break, but
gotta go soon. Come over tonight. I promise you’ll be blushing all night.

I’m coming, Max!

That sounded dirty. You just made me hot all over. Need to take a cold shower. Love you, babe. Oh, by the way, I’ve ordered a sandwich for you from Café Express along with a special dessert. It’s in my office. Looks like we’re extending our meeting into lunch. I’ll miss my lunch buddy. TKLS

Thank you! You’re too good to me. See you tonight. XO

“TKLS,” I repeated, smiling, recalling what it meant. Yup! I needed a cold shower, too. Rereading his text, I remembered that Max has easily said the word “love” before, but I had a difficult time saying it back. I cared about him deeply, but I wasn’t ready to say the “L” word yet. I wasn’t sure if it was just easy for him to say or if he truly meant it. Did he truly know what it meant? Do I?

Suddenly, another text appeared. It was from Luke.
Texting you to let you know that I’m thinking of you. When you’re ready to meet with me, let me know. I’ll be waiting. Sooner or later, he’ll screw up and I’ll be there to catch you when you fall.