The Heat is On (10 page)

As she came apart, she felt more than heard each man lose control. Aidan’s cry was huskier, more restrained, while Matt gave a guttural groan that sent shivers through her. She was nearly panting as the two men shuddered inside her, as Matt tenderly caressed her hips and Aidan continued to brush his fingers over her clit.

“Holy shit,” Aidan swore when their heavy breathing final y grew quiet. One hand touched Savannah’s chin.

“Honey, that was first-class.”

She managed an exhausted smile. “Right back at you.”

Her body suddenly felt empty as Matt pul ed out of her ass, fol owed by Aidan’s gentle withdrawal. She rol ed off Aidan, smiling again when she watched him hop off the bed and fumble on the floor for his clothes.

“I should get going,” he said absently.

Evidently he wasn’t a cuddler. She admired the attitude, though. He’d gotten what he wanted and now he was taking off. Right to the point. She liked that.

“Thanks for coming over,” she murmured.

He laughed softly. “I should be thanking you. You were amazing.” He glanced over at Matt, who was slipping into his boxers. “Thanks for having me, bro.” Matt just shrugged. “Anytime.”

Anytime?

Savannah wondered if that meant he wanted Aidan to play with them again. The thought made her stomach a little unsettled. Aidan was insanely cute and definitely talented in bed, but during those last few moments before her orgasm, Matt had been the only man on her mind, the only one she’d been concentrating on. She wasn’t sure why that happened, or how she even felt about it.

“I’l walk you out,” Matt said to his buddy.

With another dimpled grin, Aidan offered a cute

“Later, Savannah” and fol owed Matt toward the front door. She heard the door open, close, then lock, and when Matt appeared at the foot of the bed a moment later, he had a wry expression on his handsome face.

“You okay?” she teased. “Or did we wear you out?”

“I’m fine.” He cleared his throat awkwardly. “So listen…”

A

startling

combination

of

hope

and

disappointment clamored inside her. He was going to break it off with her. This threesome had evidently been too much for him. He’d only been pretending to enjoy it, but now that his friend was gone, he was going to tel her that he didn’t want to be with someone as slutty as she was. Awful as it was, it was what she’d been trying to achieve by suggesting this little ménage, yet a part of her was a tad disappointed that it had been so easy, childish as
that
was.

“Savannah, I think I’m fal ing in love with you.” Even though she was lying down, she almost fel over. “What?”

“You heard me,” he said gruffly.

“You…I…of course you’re not.” She sat up abruptly.

“That’s sil y.”

Anger flashed in his eyes. “Why exactly is that sil y?”

Panic spiraled through her body like a relentless tornado. How was this actual y happening? This damn threesome was her way to try and put some distance between her and Matt. Al those dates and talks and the staggeringly amazing sex… It scared her. After the fierce jealousy she’d experienced when learning that Annabel e had slept with Matt, Savannah had realized just how close she was to developing real feelings for this man. It was like she was fal ing off a cliff and had two landing options—the water, which meant being safe and happy but alone, or the jagged rocks, a relationship that, like al the others, would end in heartbreak.

She didn’t want to crash into those rocks. Her first priority had always been herself, and so she’d tried pushing Matt away by bringing another man into their bed.

And he’d liked it!

She’d seen the passionate fire burning in his eyes when both he and Aidan had been fucking her. And now he was tel ing her he loved her?

“You can’t actual y mean that,” she burst out. “And is this real y the time you want to declare your love, after I just slept with your friend?”

“It was just sex,” he said with a shrug. “But you and me…that’s more than sex, Savannah. I think you know it but you’re too freaking scared to admit it. We get along—”

“So?” she cut in. “I get along with my dentist—that doesn’t mean we love each other.”

“We laugh together,” he went on, ignoring the interruption. “We like the same shitty horror movies, we have mind-blowing sex, we never run out of things to say to each other.” Looking aggravated, he put on his T-shirt, then buttoned up his jeans. “So yeah, al those things make me think this is more than a damn fling.”

She bit on her thumbnail, reverting back to an old nail-biting habit she only turned to when she was seriously panic-stricken. He couldn’t real y mean any of this. Or at least, the love part of it. They’d known each other two weeks, a month if you counted the first meeting at the bank. That wasn’t enough time for him to fal in love with her.

She didn’t
want
him to fal in love with her.

Matt released a ragged breath. “Why does it not surprise me that you’re reacting this way?” She bristled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re a coward, Savannah. You act al tough and confident, like you don’t care about anything but having a good time, but we both know that’s a big fat lie. You
want
a relationship—you’re just too damn scared.”

Her lips tightened in offense. “I told you, I’m not a relationship person. They never last for me.” Matt barked out a humorless laugh. “Because maybe you haven’t found the right man, ever thought of that? If you’re not meant to be with someone, obviously the relationship wil end. But when you find the right person…” He let the comment hang.

“And I suppose you’re the right person for me?” She scoffed. “We’ve known each other a couple of weeks, Matt. Besides, it won’t work out between us.” He raised one dark eyebrow. “Do you have psychic powers I’m not aware of? How do you know it won’t work out?”

She raked the fingers of her left hand through her hair in an aggravated gesture. “Because it never does. Not for me, anyway. Something always ends up going wrong.”

“Maybe it won’t this time,” he said quietly.

“And maybe it wil .” She stuck her chin out stubbornly. “I made the decision a long time ago not to take that chance anymore. I don’t want any more broken hearts. And I’m tired of the awful sense of boredom and sadness I feel when the thril ends up dying out.”

Realizing she was stil naked, she scrambled off the bed and angrily rummaged on the floor for her clothes.

She shoved on her jeans without bothering with underwear, threw her shirt over her head, and crossed her arms. “Look, I real y do like you,” she said, softening her tone. “Enough that I don’t want to come to the point where I
don’t
like you anymore, or where you don’t like me.”

“And what if we never reach that point?” he chal enged.

Her shoulders sagged wearily. “I always get to that point.”

Frustration creased his forehead. “So you’re just planning on living the rest of your life in fear, avoiding anything good that comes your way? Because damn it, Savannah,
we
are good. And you’re a fool to throw it away.” His voice hardened. “I told you how difficult it is for me to talk about my emotions, but I was wil ing to take the risk, to tel you how I feel.” Pain circled her heart. “Matt…”

“Whatever,” he muttered darkly. “Obviously you can’t take a risk of your own.”

“That’s not fair,” she protested. “I’ve made it clear from day one what I wanted out of this. I never lied to you, or misled you.”

He released a heavy sigh. “You’re right. You didn’t.

But things have changed since day one. We have the potential to be real y good together, and you’re too scared to give us a chance.”

To her dismay, tears stung her eyelids. But the fact that she was about to cry only brought a spark of anger to her bel y. Why was he pushing her? She’d told him her feelings about relationships. Just because he’d suddenly decided he was in love with her didn’t mean she was going to launch herself into his arms and profess her undying love.

Unbearable silence hung between them, until Matt final y cursed under his breath and took a step back.

“Forget it,” he mumbled. “I’m not going to beg you to have a relationship with me. I’m not that guy. But I’m not going to pretend this is just a fling either.” She blinked, trying to stop the tears from fal ing.

“So here you go,” he said in a tone lined with resignation. “You’ve got your wish. A couple of weeks of casual, no-string sex. Hope you had fun.” Without another word, not even a goodbye, he turned his back on her and left the apartment.

“Are you
drinking
?”

The shril and outraged female voice jolted Matt from his catnap. Cranking open one eyelid, he saw two pretty faces hovering above him. His fuzzy eyesight recognized Annabel e, but it took a few seconds to register the petite brunette beside her as Hol y Scott, Carson’s wife. He wasn’t used to the haircut yet. Hol y had recently chopped her long brown hair into a chin-length bob, which emphasized her emerald green eyes and the delicate angles of her face.

Propping himself up on the couch cushion with his elbow, he glanced at the half-empty beer bottle on the coffee table and mumbled, “It’s from last night.” Annabel e planted her hands on her hips. “I can see the condensation dripping down the side. This was just opened.”

Hol y rol ed her eyes. “It’s ten in the morning, Matt.

That’s so pathetic.”

No, what was pathetic was tel ing a woman he loved her for the first time in his life only to be shut down big-time.

But he decided not to say that aloud.

“Since when did you two become my mother?” he grumbled, sitting up with a tired yawn.

“Since you promised you’d let us borrow your SUV

for the wedding today,” Annabel e snapped. “I texted you about it last night and you texted back
yeppers
. I took that to mean you’d help out.”

He straightened up, rol ing his shoulders to get the kinks out. He’d been lying on the couch for about three days now, only dragging himself up to get a beer or use the john. Empty pizza boxes were stacked on the floor and he wrinkled his nose at the stale odor of old beer emanating from the empty bottles littered al over the room.

“Shit, I forgot about that,” he said, shooting them an apologetic look. “Do you just need the keys or am I driving you over to the banquet hal ?”

“There’s a ton of stuff to carry in,” Hol y said, “so it would be cool if you can come and help unload.”

“You don’t have to stay for the wedding obviously,” Annabel e added.

He lifted his arms above his head and stretched.

“Okay. Let me hop in the shower and then I’l take you.”

Leaving the two of them in the living room, he headed to the bathroom, where he took a quick shower, brushed his teeth, and shaved three days’

worth of stubble off his face. Hol y was right, he realized as he stared at his tired eyes in the steamy mirror. He
was
pathetic. So things had ended with Savannah. Big fucking deal. It only went to show that his initial decision to stay single had been a smart one. Love made people go nuts. His sisters had turned into mushy, sappy idiots, and so had he, the night he’d told Savannah how he felt about her.

He was better off alone. Better off reverting back to his old lifestyle, making sure things stayed light, and keeping his damn feelings to himself.

After dressing in jeans and a T-shirt, he reentered the living room to find that it was now spotless. In the ten minutes he’d been gone, Annabel e and Hol y had carted off the pizza boxes, gotten rid of the beer bottles and even wiped down his coffee table. The flowery scent of air freshener hung in the large space, and both women were sitting on a couch now cleared of the random items of clothing previously strewn on it.

“Jeez, you real y are my mother,” he muttered.

Hol y looked over at him with sharp green eyes.

“What happened with Savannah? Did she dump you?”

“No.” He set his jaw. “I dumped her.” Two pairs of wide eyes.

“Why would you do that?” Annabel e demanded.

“None of your business.” He swiped his keys from the little basket on the table by the couch and jiggled them. “Do you want a ride or not?”

He could practical y feel the curiosity radiating from them, but to his extreme surprise, neither female pushed him for details. He chalked it up to the wedding they were heading to, knowing that if the two weren’t occupied with something else right now, they’d be al over him, prying information from him like a dentist extracting teeth.

“We need to stop by Shelby’s bakery,” Hol y said as she slid into the backseat of the SUV. “We stored al the food there.”

Annabel e slid into the passenger seat, and she buckled her seatbelt and shot him a sideways glance.

“Thanks for doing this. Ryan was going to lend me the Jeep but it’s stil in the shop.”

Matt wrinkled his brow. “He wrecked it?”

“Jeez, were you in an alcohol-induced coma for the past three days? He cal ed you the day before yesterday to tel you about it. A dog ran right in front of his car and he had to swerve to avoid hitting it. He crashed into a tree, remember?”

Matt had a vague recol ection of Ryan’s voice bitching in his ear about a dog or something. Fuck, how much had he drank in the last seventy-hours?