Soon To Be Brides. Joan Elliott Pickart
Caitlin was only inches away. His gaze swept over her delicate features, lingered on her lips, then he looked directly into her dark eyes.
“I don’t think,” he said, his voice husky, “that I’d be off base if I kissed you, Caitlin. After all, we have slept together.”
Caitlin blinked. “We…we what?”
“Slept together. On the plane. Right there, side by side, we both were sleeping. So, therefore, we slept together. Sort of.”
“That’s the silliest—”
“No,” he interrupted, lowering his head slowly toward hers, “it’s not. And there is nothing silly about how much I want to kiss you, how long I’ve waited to kiss you, or about the fact that I’m about to kiss you.”
And he did.
Caitlin stiffened as Matt brushed his lips lightly over hers, then shivered when he repeated the sensuous journey. He encircled her with his arms and pulled her close to his rugged body as he intensified the kiss, parting her lips to slip his tongue into the sweet darkness of her mouth.
Caitlin’s hands floated upward to entwine behind Matt’s neck, then her lashes drifted down as she savored the taste, the feel, the aroma of Matt.
She’d fantasized about this kiss, she thought hazily, dreamed about it, had been waiting, as Matt had, for it to take place.
Nothing more should, nor would, take place between them, she silently vowed, but this kiss was theirs to share, the memories of it to do with as they each desired.
Matt lifted his head just enough to draw a quick, sharp breath, then his mouth captured Caitlin’s once again in a searing kiss.
Oh, Matt, Caitlin thought as she trembled in his arms. He had picked the perfect place for this to happen. Hong Kong was…was sort of in limbo, a place of bright colors and surging crowds, a mixture of cultures, the old, the new, creating an otherworldly aura.
It wasn’t the reality of Ventura, nor of the China where her daughter waited. What happened between her and Matt here in Hong Kong was separate and apart from what truly existed. So be it.
Matt broke the kiss, took a rough breath, then eased Caitlin gently away from his aroused body.
“I should apologize for doing that,” he said, his voice gritty with passion, “but I can’t because I’m not sorry. I’ve wanted to kiss you from the moment I saw you, Caitlin. Before you decide to be mad as hell, remember that you shared these kisses, held nothing back.”
“I’m not angry,” she said, her voice unsteady. “I wanted that to happen as much as you did, Matt. The sensual tension between us has been building and building and… But that’s over, now, done. Nothing like this is going to take place between us again.”
Matt frowned and dragged a restless hand through his hair.
“I don’t understand. We just shared kisses that were sensational, unbelievable. We also get along great together, have fun, laugh, talk. Something is going on here, Caitlin. Don’t you want to know what it is?”
She took a step backward and wrapped her hands around her elbows. “No, Matt, I don’t.”
“Why in the hell not?” he said none too quietly.
“Because,” she said, dropping her hands to her hips and matching his volume, “I am on this trip for one purpose. One. My daughter. She is all I’m focusing on. I certainly don’t intend to fit a short-term affair in around the edges of my busy schedule over here. No, I’m not sorry about the kisses, but nothing else is going to… No.”
“You’re making whatever this is between us sound cheap and tacky, Caitlin. I resent that.”
“Well, excuse me to hell and back,” Caitlin said, plunking down on the edge of the bed. “Okay, you don’t like my short-term-affair description. Fine. What would you call it if we continue, end up in bed together?
“Tell me, Matt. Have you been struck by Cupid’s arrow, fallen head over heels in love with me, intend to not rest until I agree to marry you?”
“Oh. Well, no, but give me a break here. That sort of stuff only happens in the movies or those romance novels that women read. Let’s be realistic.”
“I am being realistic. We’re sexually attracted to each other, plus we have fun together, enjoy each other’s company. However, since we’re not in love with each other, taking this further would be nothing more than a short-term affair. I rest my case.”
“I have never in my life,” Matt said, a rather bemused expression on his face, “had a conversation like this one with a woman. Talk about analyzing something to death. I mean, I’m used to just letting things take their natural course and… then… later, down the road it’s…” His voice trailed off.
“Aha.” Caitlin pointed one finger in the air. “Down the road it’s over, ending yet another short-term affair of which I speak.”
“Would you cut that out?”
Before Caitlin could reply, a knock sounded at the door.
“Caitlin,” came Marsha’s muffled voice. “Are you ready to go down to meet the others for dinner? Caitlin?”
“Oh, good grief.” Caitlin jumped to her feet. “That’s Marsha.”
Matt grinned. “Shall I get the door while you freshen your lipstick?”
“Don’t you touch that door,” Caitlin whispered. “Marsha’s busy little mind will go nuts if she finds us in here together.”
“Caitlin?” Marsha called. “Are you in there?”
“Yes, I’m here,” Caitlin yelled. “Go on ahead, Marsha. I’ll be along in just a couple of minutes.”
“Okay. Have you seen Matt? He isn’t in his room.”
“Oh, he’s around somewhere. Maybe he already went downstairs.”
“Well, hurry up, because I am starving to death.”
“I will. I just have to comb my hair.”
“And freshen your lipstick,” Matt said with a chuckle, which earned him a glare from Caitlin.
Caitlin ignored Matt to the best of her ability as she freshened up.
Matt folded his arms loosely over his chest and leaned one shoulder against the wall as he waited. Oh, Caitlin was something, he thought. The kisses they’d shared had been sensational. She was very sensual, very womanly and obviously was comfortable with her own femininity. She had returned his kisses in total abandon and he had been instantly aroused, wanting her, aching for her with an intensity like nothing he’d known before.
And Caitlin when angry? Dynamite. Her cheeks became flushed and her eyes flashed like laser beams. She’d taken him on, toe to toe, and let him know what he could do with any ideas that he might be entertaining of a short-term affair with her.
Matt frowned.
Short-term affair. Caitlin had repeated that phrase like a broken record until he’d reached the point that he’d told her to put a cork in it. The problem was, she was right. He had nothing more than the now ever-famous short-term affair to offer her. He simply wasn’t ready for a commitment to forever, a relationship that would inch toward marriage, hearth, home and Miss M. the baby.
Yeah, sure, he’d said he’d like to know what was happening between Caitlin and him because it was definitely…different somehow from his past experiences where casual dating was the order of the day and no one got hurt. No, there was more depth, intensity between him and Caitlin. But that didn’t mean he was opening the door to a possible permanent future with her and the daughter she would see and hold for the first time tomorrow.
So, where did that leave him? Aching for Caitlin. Wanting to make love with