***
"You still thinking about my offer?" Matt walked next to me from the parking lot up to the condo. Sleep tugged at me, and a nap sounded better than winning the lottery or falling in love. Funny how it was the simple things in life that pulled me in deep.
"No, I'm not thinking about it. I'll do it if you think it would help you with your showing."
He chuckled and followed me into the chilly house. "This isn't about me, Erica. It's about you."
"What about me?" I tossed my purse onto the table and turned to face him. "I don't want to see how you see me. What if it's ugly?"
"The painting or my vision of you?"
"Both?" I smiled and took a step closer to him. "You know I have feelings for you. It would hurt too much to see that you found me as commonplace as the next girl."
"Right. Because that's the woman I described at lunch, right?" He reached out and caressed the side of my face. "You wanna take a nap?"
"Yeah. I can take the couch though." I cupped my hand over his and turned my face a little, pressing my lips against his palm.
"Let's just lay down in the bedroom together. We don't have to push things between us until we're ready. I can keep my hands to myself."
"It's not you I'm worried about." I kissed his hand one more time before pulling it from my face. "I'm good with us sharing the bed."
"Let me see your closet first."
"No. If you're going to paint me, then do the pose in the nude. Show me the full picture." I turned and walked to the bedroom. I was bold if anything, and having Matthew Bryant etch my pain and pleasure on a large canvas wasn't going to change that. I was softening in front of him, which was scaring me, but I couldn't seem to help myself. My protective walls were coming down when they should have been solidifying and bringing in reinforcements.
"You don't mean that." He stopped by the bed and kicked off his shoes as I sat down on the edge of the mattress and pulled off my sandals.
"Sure I do. I want to see what you see, but you've yet to see all of me."
"I'm not sure I would survive it."
I laughed and turned to crawl up the bed. He grabbed me and turned me over before pressing himself to the top of me and brushing my hair from my face.
"And if I can't make it through the project without taking you to bed?" He brushed his nose by mine and nipped at my lips.
"Then take from me whatever you want. Just promise me that you'll paint me as you see me and not as I am." I reached up and pulled carefully at the back of his head, forcing him to press his lips to mine.
We groaned in tandem as I tilted my head and opened my mouth, coaxing his tongue to follow mine in an age old dance. He moved his hips just so, and I opened my legs, making room for him.
"I wish you would have worn the shorter skirt." He smiled and kissed me a few more times before moving back and pulling my skirt up to the middle of my thighs. His fingers pulling at the back of my legs left me whimpering softly against the side of his neck.
"You seem to have taken care of the problem." I slid my feet up the outsides of his legs and wrapped my legs tightly around his center.
"You have no clue how beautiful you are, woman." He brushed his lips up the side of my neck and kissed my ear a few times. "I want so badly to feel you move against me, to hear you moan my name, to feel your body contract as you come for me."
"Fuck," I groaned loudly and undulated my hips, not quite sure I would make it through another playful make-out session with the handsome bastard.
"Tonight. After the concert. Promise me we can have one night together." He moved back to hover above me and kissed my lips softly. "I need to let myself go and I trust you. I want to do that with you. Yeah?"
"Yeah. Please." I pulled him back down and took my time exploring his mouth. The thick press of his arousal against my center left me aching and wet, but I didn't push it any farther. The promise of having the whole night to explore each other was more than enough to hold me back for a little while longer.
"You smell so fucking good." He rolled off of me and growled loudly before reaching for me. "Come lay on me."
I didn't say a word, but crawled on top of him. He helped to position me with my back against his chest, which was odd, but being pressed to him anyway I could be was bliss.
He gripped the sides of my skirt and pulled it up over my stomach, leaving my lower half bared.
"I wanna touch you." He kissed the side of my neck and brushed his fingers over my sex as I arched roughly and cried out. "It's been too long, Erica."
"Way too long." I reached down and gripped his hand as a tremor ran through me. "Wait."
"No." He reached up with his free hand and forced me to turn my face toward him as he made love to my mouth. My moans were captured against his lips as he slipped his thick fingers under the thin scrap of my panties and sunk himself into me. "Work your body against mine."
I cried out again as pleasure swelled deep inside of me. Being with him was almost too much.
"So beautiful." He pumped his fingers in and out of my wetness as I let my knees drop to the side and rolled my hips in rhythm to him fucking me.
It took no more than a few minutes and I groaned his name, lifting off of him and letting the world explode around me in brilliant colors.
Colors I'd almost forgotten existed.