Tempted by the Billionaire(2)

“How come I’ve never heard Ike mention you?” She pushed suspiciously.

The man’s expression was neutral. “You don’t know my name. How do you know he hasn’t mentioned me?”

She flushed. “I just meant he would have told me if he was expecting company.”

The handsome stranger frowned for the briefest of moments. “I only decided to come last night.”

“Last night?” She lifted her brows in surprise. “Where’d you come from?”

He grinned at her, and leaned one arm up against the frame of the door, bringing his face within inches of hers. When his lips flicked into a smile, he had two dimples that punctuated the roughness of his cheeks. “You’re asking a lot of questions for someone with the chain on the door.”

She nodded tersely. “I guess I am.”

He grinned, that boyish, beguiling smile that was sending her pulse racing with ease. “My name is Matt. I’m going to be staying next door for a while, so you might as well get used to me.”

“You are?” It came out as a squeak. A breathy sound of surprise. She looked down at the floor to hide the betraying emotions that ran across her face.

“Uh huh.” He shifted his weight, and the slight movement made Willow look back up at him. When their eyes met, she felt an unmistakable sense of bubbling beneath her skin. Her nerve endings seemed to fizz. She looked away again.

“Matt, you said?” She wracked her brain, trying to remember if Ike had ever mentioned a Matt.

“Mattias,” he expanded, scanning her face.

The penny finally dropped. A unique name, she had indeed heard Ike mention his friend in the past. She bit down on her lip. “From the army?”

“The very same,” he grinned. “See? You have heard of me.”

She nodded jerkily. “I thought you were going to break in.”

He laughed and gestured towards her hand. “So you grabbed hairspray for self-defence.”

She looked down at the bright yellow can and nodded. “You’d be surprised. It’s actually quite effective.”

“You make a habit of spraying would-be burglars with hair product?”

She smiled despite herself. “No. But I’ve got myself in the eye a few times. It stings like bloody murder.”

“I believe you.” He stood back from her door. “You gonna come keep me company?”

She looked over her shoulder. She’d barely got a thing done that day. But that wasn’t the real reason she knew she had to refuse. Men like Mattias were trouble with a capital T. Far too good looking for their own good. Confident. Sexy. Flirtatious and charming. She had known someone like him in the past. Even fallen in love with him.

She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

She aimed for sarcasm. “As much as I’d love to spend the afternoon with a complete stranger, I have work to do.”

His shrug was casual, as though he didn’t much care either way. “Suit yourself. You know where I’ll be if you need me.” He nodded his head at her in what was a surprisingly old fashioned gesture of respect, then turned and stalked off her porch.

She swallowed, watching his lean, even gait as he strode confidently back towards the Berries’. She shut the door and leaned against it, her eyes blinked closed while she waited for her breathing to return to normal.

But behind the papery veil of her eyelids, all she could see was him. Mattias.

As a writer, she was used to conjuring up brave, interesting heroes for her series of young adult fantasy novels. But even Dermott, her most loved teen idol, couldn’t hold a candle to the man she’d just met.

Willow shook her head and made a growl of frustration. “You’re being ridiculous,” she muttered under her breath. “He’s not a hero. He’s just a guy. Probably like the rest of them.”

She re-flicked the kettle, waited for it to boil to life, and then sloshed it into her French press. She carried the pot through to her office and topped her cup up, then stared at her screen expectantly.

But Willow was restless. The words that usually flowed from her fingertips in real time were clogged inside her brain. She shut her eyes and saw only his. Mattias’s. Those cornflower blue gems lodged in his strong, symmetrical face. She frowned, and looked at the clock again. Anna would be in school for at least another hour, but as soon as she could, she’d get the lowdown from her best friend. Maybe when she knew a little more about the man, he’d seem less fascinating.

She groaned and slapped her palm against her forehead. “This is because you’re sex-starved,” she said to herself, lifting her feet to the chair, and resting her chin on her knees. She angled her head, and stared out of her window. Mercifully, her office was at the other side of the house, and her view was of the pier that stretched out over the North Pacific. She hadn’t been with a guy since Thom the Tourist had come through town almost a year earlier. And that had been a quick affair. Little more than a one night stand, really. And the sex hadn’t been great. Before that… there’d only been her fiancé. Ashton. Sex there hadn’t been great either, but she’d thought they had a lifetime to work on it.

“Or lonely.” She sipped her coffee and forced herself to re-read the last few paragraphs she’d written. She tried to write, but the words continued to linger obstinately in the recesses of her brain. It was a long afternoon, and when she finally heard the sound of Anna’s hatchback pulling up next door, she almost leaped from her chair. With a sinking feeling that she was being incredibly nosy, she went back into her kitchen and pretended to busy herself about the sink.

Anna was beautiful, though very different in looks to Willow. Where Willow was tall and slender, with a complexion like coffee and caramel, Anna was fair, short, and curvy. Willow’s naturally reserved personality was the polar opposite to Anna’s openness, too, but still they were close. Willow watched now as Anna walked quickly down the drive, her arms out, and embraced Matt affectionately. Anna pulled back and looked up at his face, and she spoke immediately. Her expression was sombre. Her eyes heavy. He shrugged and said something back, with a lopsided smile. Willow was just contemplating going to the laundry, where she could discretely pop the window open and maybe hear a little better, when they both looked in her direction. She made a strangled sound of surprise and stepped sideways, out of their line of sight. Had she been fast enough?

Anna’s knock, a moment later, was to be expected. Willow pulled the door inwards, but her smile felt false on her face.

“Hey!” Anna grinned and walked into her best friend’s home. “You met Matt?”

“That guy? Yeah. He wanted me to let him in to your place but you never said you were expecting anyone.” She hadn’t meant to sound accusing. But her best friend had dropped this handsome stranger right onto her lap and he’d played havoc with her concentration all day. Sure, she was peeved about it.

“Oh, I know, right? Actually, Ike didn’t even tell me until around noon. Apparently the boys hatched the plan last night, so it was all very late notice. Matt flew in this morning. And Ike’s been so busy with that poor kidnapped kid that he’s been working almost around the clock for the last three days.”

“How’s that going?” Willow asked softly, her heart going out to the parents of poor little Annabeth Stott, who seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

Anna grimaced. “Not a lot of news, unfortunately. Bluford Dam was drained and came up clear, which is a good thing I guess. Dogs can’t find a scent. It’s like she’s disappeared into thin air.”

“How does that happen in this day and age? Someone must have seen something.”

“Camping in the forest. Parents asleep.” Anna shook her head from side to side. “I can’t imagine what they’re going through.”

“Awful,” Willow agreed. “What about her clothes? Surely someone must have found something.”

Anna shook her head. “Photos are circulating of her pyjamas and beanie but so far there’s nothing.”

Willow nodded, and released a long, slow sigh. The thought of the little girl was too hugely sad to comprehend. There were no words that could help, nor that could adequately explain the horror of what the town was going through. “Do you have time for a coffee?”

“Nah, I should get back. Show him around. He hasn’t been down since we moved here.” She put a hand on Willow’s wrist. “Why don’t you come over for dinner? Get to know him a bit better.”

“Dinner?” Willow’s heart turned over in her chest. She shook her head. “I have plans.” A lie. A complete lie. She forced herself to smile apologetically.

“You’re going out?” Anna had every right to be surprised. Willow wasn’t precisely reclusive, but she infinitely preferred the characters of her novels to most real-world specimens. Anna and Ike were notable exceptions.

“No, not exactly,” she said quietly, looking around her lounge for inspiration. “I have to, um, Skype with my agent.” Perfect! “Sorry. Another time.”

“Okay,” Anna nodded. Her blue eyes twinkled in her heart-shaped face. “Matt’s going to be around for a while, so keep an eye on him.”