Lucas pins me to the wall with a body like warm steel. My legs are wrapped around him, heels digging into his ass and pussy pressed against the hardness of his erection. He’s still wearing jeans, but the warmth of his cock against me is making my stomach feel like it’s doing summersaults and my heart pound like I’ve just run a marathon. I want it. I want it so bad it hurts.

Tell him.

The small voice pierces the cloud of lust that has been blocking everything else since he put his hands on me. But I know if I tell him the truth, he’ll never want to see me again. He’ll never talk to me again.

He’s rocking his body against mine, making it almost impossible to think straight. Just say it. Clear the air.

“Lucas… I…”

“I feel it too, darlin’,” he says, pressing his forehead to mine and kissing me like I’ve never been kissed, like he’s worshiping me. He pulls back from the kiss and flashes me an irresistible smirk. “I may have to keep you around after all.”

I lower my chin, unable to meet his eyes because I know I’m not going to tell him. Not now, at least. Not if it means this stops. I crisscross my fingers behind his neck, pulling him into me. One of his strong hands grips my ass and he plants the other against the wall beside my face. I kiss him again, losing myself in the moment until even the ghosts of doubt are pulverized into dust, until the only thing that exists is the friction of our bodies, the heat underneath my fingertips, and the mingling smoke of our breaths rising up into the darkness of the barn.

I reach for his belt, but he has other plans, using both hands to hoist me up against the wall he tosses my thighs over his shoulders. Pinning my arms against the wall, he takes my weight on his broad shoulders. Without hesitation, he buries his face between my legs. With my dress hiked up to my hips, he has no problem finding my pussy, and my God does he know what to do when he finds it.

He kisses me all over, worshiping every inch of my bare skin. I feel his warm tongue slide along my slit, lapping at me like I’m the most delicious thing he’s ever tasted. He works his tongue against me until I’m shaking so violently with building pleasure I can barely keep myself from falling off his shoulders.

I dig my heels into his strong back, watching the way his muscles cord and relax with every motion of his hands and neck. “You feel so good,” I gasp.

He pauses to grin up at me. “I’m just getting started, darlin’. You’ll be--”

“Lucas!” shouts a voice from the direction of his house. “Get your ass out here!”

It’s Cynthia, and she sounds about as pissed off as she is drunk.

“Fuck,” Lucas growls. He looks at me for a moment, obviously trying to decide if he can ignore Cynthia and finish with me or not. “Wait here. I’m not letting her spoil this. I’ll make sure she stays gone.”

“Stay,” I say. My eyebrows draw down in concern. I can’t say how I know, but I know if he walks away now, I might never have the courage to take the leap with him again. “Please,” I whisper. “Stay.”

His jaw flexes. “I need to get her off my property before she breaks something,” he says, turning to leave me vulnerable and feeling abandoned. With the heat of his body and mouth stripped away, I’m left with only the cold night air and the smell of the animals sleeping in the barn. I creep to the door, watching Lucas storm toward Cynthia, who is using her high heel to bang on his door.

“What the fuck?” asks Cynthia once Lucas is in front of her. “I can smell the pussy on you from here. Who are you with? Where is she? Where is she?” Cynthia yells again through clenched teeth. She emphasizes her words by shoving Lucas.

I grip the door frame, fighting down my instinct to go out there and tell her to keep her hands off him. Why should I fight it though? She said she’s done with me, didn’t she? It’s not like she can fire me any more than she already has.

Then again… If she realizes Lucas was with me, it wouldn’t be long before she would realize she could destroy everything between us by telling him I am the matchmaker he’s so disgusted by. Damn it.

I still can’t believe I let myself fall into that situation without telling him. The only reason I came out here was to come clean and clear the air. I heard how angry he was and how sickened he was by the idea that someone had been listening and manipulating events. I thought maybe if I could just explain myself he could forgive me. After that? I hadn’t gotten that far, but I knew I’d never be able to look him in the eye again until I told the truth.

Except I apparently had no problem letting him eat me out. Again. I lean forward, letting my forehead bump against the edge of the barn door. For someone who made a career out of helping people with relationships, I sure know how to make a mess of my own.

I feel a wave of sickness pass over me. I can’t do this. I can’t let this happen, not when he doesn’t know the truth.

I step out from the barn, clothes still in disarray. “It was me,” I say loudly.

Cynthia rounds on me with a look so full of pure, fiery hate that I almost lose all my resolve and sink back into the shadows, but I don’t. I lick my lips, looking to Lucas, who is watching me with a curious expression.

“I’m the matchmaker,” I say, unable to even meet Lucas’ eyes. “That’s what I was trying to tell you. It was too late, but that’s what I came here to say. The whole reason I’m in Wade’s Creek was to try to help Cynthia get back together with you. I’m so sorry, if you--”

“No,” he says, jaw flexing.

“You fucking bitch,” spits Cynthia. “I’m going to make sure you never work another fucking day in your life. You’re going to--”

“Shut the fuck up,” Lucas snarls, he still hasn’t taken his eyes from me. “You’re going to do jack shit, Cynthia. Even if you had a tenth of the connections you think you have, you couldn’t stop her from getting a job. But you…” he says, taking a step toward me that makes me want to dig a hole in the ground, climb in, and never get out again. “I never want to see you again. Thought you could pull one over on some stupid ass country boy? Thought you’d just fuck around with me on the side then cash a check when it’s all over?”

“No, Lucas,” I plead. My voice is weak and thick as the tears start to fall. “I didn’t know you were the one. I didn’t even know your real name until the festival, I--”

He shakes his head. “I’m supposed to believe you took the job without so much as seeing a picture of me? Or knowing what nicknames I go by?”

“I swear, I had no idea. I prefer to work blind, it’s more genuine.”

“Except I gave her a folder full of information about you and pictures the first night she came to town,” says Cynthia in a tone of voice that says she thinks she has just put the final nail in my coffin.

“Get off my property,” says Lucas.

Cynthia flashes a wicked, satisfied little grin.

“Both of you,” he growls.

“Lucas--baby, let me come in and help you calm down.”

“I don’t want to see either of you ever again. Especially on my property. Go.”

I hang my head, walking back toward my car through the darkness, distantly hoping he’ll call after me once he’s calmed down a little and give me more of a chance to explain myself. But why should he? Why would he forgive me?

Even if I didn’t know he was my client, I still agreed to manipulate a man into getting back with a woman he clearly didn’t want to get back in a relationship with. I deluded myself into thinking it wasn’t that different from what I normally do, but if I had taken a step back I would’ve seen it. There’s a huge difference between helping a woman overcome her self-confidence issues and get together with a guy who’s right for her and helping a conniving woman con an ex boyfriend into getting back together with her.

“Pack your bags, little miss matchmaker. I know where you sleep, and thanks to you, I have nothing going on tonight,” Cynthia snaps.

“Just stop,” I say, feeling overwhelmingly tired. “I’m leaving. I won’t be around to fuck up anybody’s life by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Good riddance,” she sniffs before hopping into her fancy little sports car. She nearly clips the fence in her hurry to drive off and spray me with gravel.

“You’re going to have to be more specific,” says Amy.

It’s the following morning and I’m grabbing a bagel at a place along the main strip of town, just a couple buildings down from Frank and Martha’s bed and breakfast. Amy agreed to come with me and even allowed me to drag my feet until now about telling her just how bad things with with Cynthia.

“We’re not going to get paid,” I say, bracing myself for Amy’s disappointment. “Last night went… Well, you could say it went bad.”

“Bad how?” she asks.

I watch her, feeling a stab of unease when I see how slowly the truth is sinking in for her. That means it’s bad. Amy can be stubborn, and when confronted with something she doesn’t want to believe, the longer it takes to set in the harder it’s going to hit her.

“Bad like… Lucas found the microphone and kicked her out. Then I drove up to his ranch and tried to come clean, but ended up in the barn with my dress around my waist, and... Basically if the date was a nuclear reactor, they would be evacuating everything within a fifty mile radius right now.”

Realization creeps into Amy’s features piece by piece. Her lips pull down slightly at the edges. Her eyebrows sink. Her eyes turn to stare distantly at something on the ground. When she finally speaks again, her voice is quiet, nearly a whisper. “She fired us?”

I spread my hands. “She didn’t say those exact words, but I think that would be a safe assumption.”

Amy covers her face with her hands for a few moments, then slides her fingers through her hair. “My vacation?”

“Probably not going to happen quite yet. I’m really sorry, Amy. I won’t make excuses. I should’ve made this work. For both of us.”

She blows out a long breath and softens her features before reaching across the table to squeeze my hand. “Hey, forget it. Seriously. I’m happy where we are, even if it feels like a struggle some days, we’re making it work. Right?”

“Yeah,” I say, though I wish I sounded as convinced as she does.

“It’s just too bad you don’t get to take Lucas home as a consolation prize.”

I force a laugh. “Well. What do you say we grab our things from the bed and breakfast so I can get out of here before the embarrassment of all this really starts to set in.”

“Oh would you stop it,” says Amy. “You tried your best to do your job, but the client was an ice bitch and no amount of skill was ever going to land her a guy, let alone a guy like Lucas. And so what if you got involved with him? You didn’t even know. Seriously. Just let yourself off the hook, even if they don’t.”

“Maybe you’re right,” I say with a sigh. “Either way, I think I just want to go home and get a big ass cupcake from that place on Seventh.”

Amy’s eyes light up. “I knew there was a reason I loved working for you. Wait. I’m invited, right?”