LITMIR.BIZ

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sweetheart.” He shoved his hands under his head with a mischievous wink. “You don’t have to tie me up this time.”

      Which she’d only done to ratchet down the emotion of the moment. It had failed miserably.

      “Liked that, did you?”

      The flippant response almost caught in her throat. Because she didn’t want to be flippant. Didn’t want fun and games. She wanted the tender, profound Matt of last night who made her feel cherished.

      When had she turned into such a girl? Five minutes ago, she was halfway out the door—mentally, at least—and here she was wishing for the opposite. Matt had her completely messed up.

      “I have yet to discover something about you I don’t like,” he said.

      “I’ve got you good and fooled then.”

      He pierced her with the force of all that depth behind his eyes. “I don’t think so.”

      She looked away, letting the condom fall to the bed. “You don’t know me. Not really.”

      No one did—by design. How much worse would rejection hurt if someone dug through all the protective layers and exposed her core? Well, she already knew. It would feel an awful lot like when her dad hadn’t wanted her.

      “That’s not true.” He sat up, resettled her against his thighs and cupped her chin. “I recognized you as soon as you took off your mask.”

      Her heart plunged to the floor and tried to keep going. “You did?”

      Why hadn’t he said anything? Duh. He hadn’t because he’d wanted to score with Eva. Of course. Disappointment nearly wrenched a sob from her frozen chest. He wasn’t special. Big surprise.

      “Something inside me did, as if I’d always known you.” He shook his head with a half laugh. “Sorry. I’m no good at this, and to top it off I sound like a starry-eyed teenager. They must put romance in the water here.”

      “What are you saying?”

      He huffed out a frustrated breath. “I don’t know. I mean, it wasn’t like, hey didn’t we go to the same high school? It was an elemental recognition. Inside. Nothing like that has ever happened to me before.” Matt’s fathomless eyes begged her to understand, but she couldn’t sort through the panic in her abdomen to put definition around his words. “I thought you felt it, too.”

      He meant that indefinable swirl between them. The connection.

      Cautiously, slowly, her heart started beating again.

      “The first time I kissed you. It didn’t feel like the first time. Is that what you mean?”

      He lit up, zinging her in the stomach. “Yes. That’s it exactly. Everything between us...it’s just right. We’re sitting here naked having a conversation, and it’s not strange.”

      The smile cracked before she registered that he’d pulled it from her. “Feels pretty good to me.”

      “Me, too. I know as much about you as I need to. You’re my butterfly.”

      His lips claimed hers in a kiss full of promise. And like that, he turned the tables on her again, making her yearn for things she shouldn’t, such as another night of absolving her loneliness in the arms of a man who wasn’t eager to get rid of her. A man who made her feel valued.

      If she stayed, how long could that possibly last?

      The sooner she left, the sooner that yearning could dry up and blow away. But the second she walked out the door, she’d be back in the real world, lost and alone, with only the thin layer of Eva for protection—and that didn’t go very far anymore.

      Rock. Hard place.

      With Matt, she was simply an anonymous woman enjoying the uncomplicated company of a man, and it gave her room to breathe she hadn’t known she needed. One night hadn’t been enough. But if she stayed, it was like giving Matt permission to get closer. That couldn’t go well.

      She stared into the depths of those almost-colorless-blue eyes.

      A small voice in the back of her mind insisted she was selling this completely atypical man short.

      * * *

      Matthew palmed Evangeline’s chin and kissed her until his brain sizzled. She was naked in his lap, legs around his waist, and the position was so sensually erotic, he was one rub of her flesh away from going off like a bottle rocket.

      Last night had been a fantasy. This morning—still pretty unreal. He’d awoken with a start, afraid Evangeline had evaporated like so much mist in the sunlight. But there she was, hair draped over the pillow, breathing deeply in sleep, beautiful against his sheets. The way she filled his bed was so very nice.

      Their one night was over. It wasn’t enough, and he wasn’t ready to say ciao.

      Her hands cupped his butt, urging him closer and he was already almost inside her. One quick thrust and he would be. His thighs strained. He groaned against her mouth, blindly seeking the condom wrapper with clumsy fingers before it was too late.

      His fingers closed around it, and he eased back a bit to roll it on, still kissing her because he couldn’t stop.

      Finally, it was in place. He lifted her bottom and slid in, all the way, and she breathed his name as he situated her flush against him.

      His eyelids slammed closed as Evangeline washed through him, blasting away all the cobwebs until that incredible light of hers flooded the darkness inside. They moved together, heightening the pleasure, heightening the sense of completion until they both exploded simultaneously.

      He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight against his torso as the ripples went on and on. As they faded away, they left the warmest glow in their wake. His lips rested on her temple, and he couldn’t have moved if his life depended on it.

      “I like that position pretty well, too,” she murmured, and he grinned.

      “It has its merits.” Her cheek rubbed his, bristling his morning stubble. As decadent as it was to still be in bed, they had to get up sometime. “Are you hungry? I’ll make you breakfast.”

      It probably sounded as much like a stall tactic to her as it did to him. He didn’t care. Too many things in his life had ended prematurely, and if she left, he’d probably never see her again. That would be a true shame.

      “Do you mind if I take a shower first?” She made a noise. “I forgot, I don’t have any of my stuff. Does the offer of a T-shirt still stand?”

      “Sure. Give me a minute in the bathroom and then it’s all yours.” He eased her off his thighs and took shameless delight in watching his uninhibited butterfly roll onto her back, still breathing heavily.

      Matthew pulled a T-shirt from the dresser and tossed it next to her on the bed. He bent down to kiss her thoroughly because he could, then whistled as he dressed and went downstairs to scare up some breakfast.

      Whistled.

      He’d be shocked, except his ability to be shocked had disappeared right around the time Evangeline had presented her naked backside and told him to hop on board. She was the most exciting woman he’d ever met, and under normal circumstances, real-estate mogul Matthew Wheeler would bore her instantly.

      But this was Venice, and he was a guy who could keep up with Evangeline and talk about spiritual connections without flinching because there were no rules. Being Matt was liberating.

      The updated plumbing in Palazzo D’Inverno only went so far, and when Evangeline turned on the shower upstairs, pipes rattled inside the kitchen walls. It was like music. His cold, lonely house was filled with Evangeline, and he liked it. A lot.

      When she came downstairs clad in only his T-shirt, bare legs on display and wet hair dark against her shoulders, every drop of saliva in his mouth dried up.

      “How

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