Serenity (Inevitable #5)(79)

Matthew lowered his lips to hers. "Like this," he whispered, just before taking her mouth in a lingering, blistering kiss.

When he lifted his head a considerable amount of time later, it was to find Sasha staring at him with wide-eyed wonder, her lips swollen and trembling from his passionate kiss.

"That," he told her, "felt like a hell of a lot more than just affection, didn't it? And for me at least, I know exactly how I feel. I've been in love with you for a long time now, Sasha. I haven't said anything until now, since I know how skittish you are about relationships and all. But I'm crazy about you, want to spend every minute I can with you, and I'm going to keep trying to convince you to move in with me. And one of these days you're going to agree."

"M-maybe," she whispered tremulously, reaching almost blindly for her glass of sherry.

Matthew was prevented from pursuing the subject further by the return of Enzo and Katya at that moment, but he couldn't help the very satisfied grin that he flashed Sasha's way, letting her know in no uncertain terms that he wouldn't give up until she eventually agreed.





"He's a nice boy, isn't he? Well mannered, respectful, smart. And apparently he likes animals, too. That alone would give him high marks in my book."

Sasha grinned at her aunt. "Are you referring to Casey or Matthew? Because that could describe both of them. Especially at the moment."

The two women laughed as they watched Matthew and his son playing an enthusiastic game of fetch with the three dogs currently residing with Linda. OJ the cat was curled up contentedly on Sasha's lap, while at least three other cats prowled through the cottage.

Sasha, Matthew, and Casey had made the drive to Stinson Beach in time to join Linda for a delicious lunch of homemade green chilé cheese enchiladas, Mexican rice, and a salad. Linda was Mexican by birth, but had emigrated to New Mexico as an infant and had grown up in the Taos area. After college, she had set off to explore much of Central and South American, looking for inspiration for her art, and it had been during a trip to Brazil that she had met Joaquim Fonseca. Theirs had been a passionate but relatively short-lived marriage, given that Joaquim was very much a ladies man and hadn't let a little thing like wedding vows stand in his way. Linda had returned to the States after the divorce, and eventually found her way to Marin County. She rarely traveled these days, claiming that it was just too much of a hassle, and too difficult to find someone to take care of all of her animals. But Sasha suspected that Linda's broken heart had never really mended after the bitter divorce, and that she'd retreated to this corner of the world to lick her wounds. 

And Stinson Beach was an ideal place to retreat from the world, with its pristine beaches, funky beach town vibes, and peaceful, laidback attitude. Weekends in the summertime were something of a challenge, given the large crowds who flocked to town, but Linda typically just shrugged them off and kept close to home on those days.

"I see you survived last weekend with your parents," remarked Linda.

Sasha nodded. "They were both on their best behavior, actually. I think some of that had to do with the royal treatment Matthew arranged for them - a five star hotel suite, meals out at some of the top restaurants in town, spa treatments, pretty much the works. It would have been in bad taste on their part to have one of their epic fights, very ungrateful of them under the circumstances."

"And how did they like Matthew?"

"Well, you know my father," replied Sasha drily. "I doubt there's too many people in this world he doesn't like, and especially not when there's free booze around. And of course it's just the opposite with Mama - there are very few people that she actually likes. But she was relatively gracious with Matthew, and I think at least that he impressed her. With my mother, that's about the best you can hope for."

"Hmm." Linda took a sip of the tea that she had just brewed for them a few minutes ago. "So Katya doesn't know just how rich Matthew is?"

"No. I mean, it had to be pretty obvious to both of them that he's wealthy, given everything he did for them last weekend. But I don't think either of my parents have a clue that Matthew is one of the forty richest men in this country. And as far as I'm concerned that's not necessarily information they need to know."

"I agree," replied Linda. "Especially Katya. Good Lord, she'd be pestering you three times a day to marry the man. Or at least move in with him."

Sasha grew pensive as she continued to watch Matthew and Casey toss tennis balls to the three dogs. "He's asked me to do that, you know," she said solemnly. "Move in with him, that is."