Chapter Six
Sex made them hungry. Matthew reheated some leftover pizza he had in the fridge and they sat in the living room with their snack. Andie wore one of Matt's T-shirts while she nibbled at her slice, trying not to think about the number of calories it contained. Matthew liked pizza with everything. The only topping he skipped was anchovies.
"Little fishy things," he grimaced. "Can't stand 'em.
They're hairy, you know?"
"You don't like fish at all?"
"Not much, no."
"You wouldn't make a good Italian, then. Seafood is part of our heritage," she told him. "Especially on Christmas Eve—it's traditional to put out a big spread, the fish, the clams, calamari—that's—"
"Squid, right?"
"Yep. Every Christmas Eve my mother had it all ready—"
Andie stopped. This last Christmas had been the first without her mother. Andie tried to keep the Christmas Eve tradition alive, but without her mother there, it had been an empty ritual.
"I'm sorry about your mom," Matthew told her quietly, seeming to read her thoughts.
"Thanks." She smiled. "You would've liked her. She was a good neighbor. She was really a pistol some times." Andie went silent, a bit flustered. She was getting too personal, 70
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which was a mistake. What she and Matthew had was just about sex. He didn't want to hear her life story.
Matt's two pit bulls had been let out of the bedroom for good behavior and now sat on either side of the coffee table, on high alert for any stray crumbs that might fall to the floor.
Angel, the little white one, whimpered sadly.
"No," he told her, his voice firm. "This is not for dogs."
"They sure look pitiful, don't they?" Andie gestured to the bigger dog with brown markings. "What's her name?"
"That's Marilyn. For the Marilyn. She's got a little beauty spot near her mouth, like the original."
Andie saw the little brown spot. It did look like a beauty mark. "Oh, yeah." She pointed to Angel. "I know sometimes pit bulls have their ears docked, but hers look strange."
Matthew wiped his mouth and reached for his soda. "The idiot who owned her was too cheap to take her to a vet to have her ears docked. So he did it himself with a pair of scissors."
Andie was sick with horror. "Oh my God, that's awful. Poor little thing." Angel sensed Andie's sympathy and trotted over to her side of the sofa.
"Marilyn didn't have it any better. I got them both from a rescue organization. Pit bulls have a bad rep, but you can see they're both sweethearts."
"Yeah." So are you. He was a good guy with a kind heart.
And he didn't just talk about it, he took action. He'd taken two abused animals into his home. "They're lucky to have you."
Matt shrugged. "Like a little more wine?"
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She shook her head. "No, this is plenty, thanks."
He reached for a bottle of hot sauce from the coffee table and sprinkled some on his pizza. His eyebrows rose when he saw Andie smile.
"Do you put hot sauce on everything?"
He grinned back. "Pretty much, yeah."
She was learning about him. Pizza with everything. Likes hot sauce. Hates fish. Kind to animals.
Andie realized he didn't drink, although he served her wine with her pizza. He was satisfied with root beer. She remembered he didn't have any wine the day he'd chatted with her and Tania. There had to be a story there. But it was much too personal a question for Andie to ask.
That's right, Andie, way too personal. Just because you know what he likes on his pizza doesn't make him any less a stranger. So don't go getting any ideas. Don't start getting soft and silly. You got lucky a second time. It doesn't mean a thing.
She set her slice down on the coffee table and picked up her wine glass. When it was halfway to her lips, Angel tried to steal Andie's pizza.
"No!" Andie grabbed for it, spilling the red wine down the front of Matthew's light blue shirt. "Oh, no," she groaned, dabbing the stain with her napkin.
Matthew quickly handed her his own napkin and got up off the couch. "Bad dog. Come on." He took the white dog by the collar and led her out of the room, pausing to look at Marilyn.
"You, too."
The other dog tilted her head. What did I do?
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"Marilyn, come." His voice was firm. Marilyn shook herself and trotted out of the room after him.
He returned moments later with a handful of napkins.
"Shit, I'm sorry. I should have kept them in lock-down. They don't usually act up with me. Guess they're like kids—they have to show off when there's company."
Andie dabbed at her wet front. The soggy napkins weren't helping much.
"It's all right. Don't worry about it," Matt told her.
"It'll stain." She pulled the shirt away from her front. "They say club soda will get rid of wine stain. Do you happen to have some?"
"No, sorry."
"I think there's some at my dad's." She started to rise from the sofa. "I'll go grab it—"
"No. You stay here, I'll go get it," he offered.
"Yeah? I think it's under the sink. The back door's unlocked." She gave him a half-smile. "You know, I'm starting to think you and your dogs are in cahoots to keep me half-naked."
"You found me out. I've been training them every spare moment."
She grinned, shaking her head. "Club soda, please."
Matthew slid open the glass door leading from the back deck of the house. Club soda. He headed to the sink, opened the cabinet underneath and yep, there it was. As he headed toward the door with bottle in hand, he caught a glimpse of the book lying on the counter right beneath the phone.
Hello. What is this?
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He read the title printed in lipstick-red lettering. The Dictionary of Desire. Somehow he didn't think it belonged to Andie's father. He turned the pages with great interest, taking special note of the pages Andie, bless her dear little librarian's heart, had seen fit to mark with hot pink sticky notes.
"Well, well, isn't this interesting."
He couldn't linger—Andie was sure to wonder what was taking him so long. Matt hesitated, picked up the book, and carried it and the club soda back to his place.
When he returned, he found Andie in the bathroom, rinsing his T-shirt in the sink.
"Here you go. Club soda." He handed her the bottle, noticing she had borrowed another one of his T-shirts. She looked cute as hell, her nipples poking against the soft cotton and the hem of the shirt skimming her thighs.
"Thanks." She looked down at herself, indicating the heather gray shirt she wore. "Hope you don't mind—I have an aversion to walking around naked."
He grinned, leaning against the doorframe. "Aw, you're no fun."
Andie quirked an eyebrow at him, but the attempt to put him in his place was spoiled by the bright red flush on her cheeks. Damn, she was adorable. He felt his cock stir. This was the most fun he'd had since breaking up with Chelsea.
No. Even before he and Chelsea split, things were grim. Sex had stopped being fun and had turned desperate. They were two people trying to hold on to something they knew was slipping away.
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Slow down, guy, he told himself. Yeah, this was fun and Andie was cute. He liked her, liked how she cared about her family, how she seemed to be a kind, decent person. But this was a short-term thing. How short-term, he didn't know. But the more time he spent with her, the more he wanted. And that was dangerous.
"I'll see you in the living room, okay?" He needed a few minutes to get his thoughts together.
The first thing Andie noticed when she entered the living room was the wide smile on Matthew's face. The second thing was the all-too-familiar book on the coffee table.
"You...ah...what's that?" She felt her heart thump erratically as she played dumb.
Matt gestured easily with his hand. "I think you know what it is."
Her gaze flashed to his face.
"After all, I found it at your place. I wasn't snooping," he assured her quickly. "It was right there on the kitchen counter. I'd have been blind to miss it."
"Uh-huh." Andie was at war with herself. The scared Andie who liked to play it safe wanted to feel embarrassed. The other Andie, the one she became when she was with Matthew, wanted to look him in the eye and say so what?
"Dr. D's Dictionary of Desire," he read, then gave her a look. "Imagine my surprise to find it sitting right out in the open like a cookbook."
"Imagine," she murmured. She lifted her head and looked at him in challenge.
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"It looks so informative, I didn't think you'd mind if a borrowed it."
"Not at all. And it is. Very informative." Her voice was smooth.
"But I must say, I'm disappointed."
Her tongue flicked her upper lip in a combination of nerves and lust. The smoky quality of his voice and his heavy lidded eyes were making her aware of the throbbing between her legs. "Disappointed?" she echoed.
"I'm disappointed you didn't want to share it with me."
Andie drew in a quick breath. Her flush grew deeper and her vision grew hazy from desire. Her voice sounded thick with longing. "We could share it now."
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One Good Man
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