Chapter Six
Matty Boy
I wait for her to answer my question, which is taking her longer than I would expect over a last name. Yes, I have reasons other than just wanting to know what it is. The way she’d reacted to my honest answers has me wondering about her more now and wanting to find out what this girl is all about.
She continues to chew on her lip, contemplating if she wants to tell me or not. “Tessa?” I prompt her.
“It’s Kelly. My name is Tessa Kelly.” It seems to pain her to admit that.
I guide the car into the lot beside the restaurant and find a place to park. I turn to her in my seat. “Well, Tessa Kelly, you are about to put some of the best Italian food ever made into your mouth,” I tell her before getting out and rounding the car to her door. Once she steps out, I shut and lock the car, then offer her my arm. “Shall we?” She takes it with a smile and I lead her to the front door.
It being Saturday night, the waiting room for a table is packed, but I called ahead and have reservations for the whole night if we choose to take that long. I lead her through the crowd to the concierge desk and clear my throat, getting the attention of the young girl standing behind it texting on her phone. She looks perturbed until she sees me.
“Mr. Keagan,” she gushes as her face breaks out into a wide smile. I hear Tessa scoff behind me, so I give her hand a squeeze to shut her up before I speak.
“Emma, I have a reservation for two.” She looks down, running her finger over the marked-up table layout on the podium.
“Yes, Mr. Keagan, right this way.” She grabs two menus, along with a wine list, then turns to make sure Tess and I are behind her.
She leads us to our table in the back and waits as I pull out Tessa’s chair for her before taking my own seat. She lays our menus down in front of us and hands me the wine list. “Your server will be with you in a few minutes, Mr. Keagan.”
I smile and nod to her. “Thank you, Emma.” She turns and looks back once over her shoulder before hurrying back up to her station.
“Awe, that’s so cute,” Tessa quips as she opens her menu with a shit-eating grin on her face. “I think she has a little bit of a crush on you, Mr. Keagan.” She looks at me, pursing her lips, then smiles wide.
I lean back in my chair. “Jealous?” I ask her, taking up my own menu.
She scoffs. “Hardly.” For some reason, her answer bothers me. “So I take it you come here a lot?” She waves her menu in the direction of Emma. “By her reaction, you seem to be a regular.”
“I am. Like I said, it’s my favorite.” I take a sip of the ice water that had been left on the table and study her over the rim of the glass. She blushes when she sees me staring at her. God, she’s a gorgeous, tiny thing. Her sleek blonde hair hangs loosely around her perfect small shoulders. The little black dress she’s wearing fits her curves like a glove, exposing just enough skin to make me want more, but covering her adequately, leaving a shit ton of her body to my dirty imagination. I lay my menu down on the table in front of me, still studying the woman sitting across from me. “So tell me, Tessa Kelly, what brings you to town?”
I watch as she slowly traces her index finger around her own water glass. The motion of her delicate finger has my cock coming to life and wanting to be encased in her small hand.
Her brow furrows. “I never told you I was new in town. How do you know I haven’t been here my whole life?” She looks at me, all cocky and shit.
I take another drink of my water and set it back on the table, matching her smug smile with one of my own. “I know you’re new to town because one,” I hold up my index finger on my right hand, “you have no fucking clue who I am. And number two,” I hold up the second finger, “I’ve never seen you before today, and believe me, if I had, I would’ve remembered it.”
She leans in on her side of the table, holding up her index finger, matching mine. “Number one, arrogant much? And number two, your deductive reasoning skills are impeccable.” She taps the pads of her fingers against mine. “Cheers.” She’s a feisty one, but I knew that from the moment she flung the door open on me. She’s setting a fire in places that have been cold and dark for a very long time in me. Being around her feels easy. Nothing feels forced or awkward, even though I was bought for her at an auction.
“Speaking of cheers…” I motion for our waiter who comes to a stop beside me. I look at Tessa. “Any preference on wine?”
She shakes her head no. “I’m not much of a wine drinker. I’m more of a whiskey bourbon type of girl.” She gestures to me. “But please, order me something that you think might change my mind.” Damn, she’s sexy with her sassy ass attitude and those plump red lips.
I order her a bottle of Tenuta dell'Ornellaia vintage, 2013. It’s a great blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from Tuscany, Italy. The waiter flitters off to retrieve the bottle as I settle back into my chair.
She looks at me curiously. “What kind did you get?” she asks, shielding her face with the menu. I can see the apples of her cheeks are flushed a nice red, like the wine I’d just ordered her. It’s nice to know I’m getting to her as much as she’s getting to me.
“A nice red blend from Italy.” The price of the bottle I’d just ordered is a little bit more expensive than what I usually get when I dine here, but I feel like she’s testing me, and I never fail. I reach across the table, plucking the menu from her hands. “Now tell me what brings you to town?”
“Circumstances that I don’t wish to discuss if you don’t mind.” Her tone is clipped, but her eyes betray the pain my question has brought up. I decide to drop it. I’ll find all that shit out later when I can get a call in to Eno.
I hold up my hands, palms out, surrendering on the topic, for now. “Okay, didn’t mean to pry.” I point to both menus lying in front of me. “Do you mind if I order for you? I know just the right food to pair with the wine,” I claim. I give her an easy smile, hoping to get back to the light banter we’d been sharing moments ago.
“Please,” she concedes with a weak smile. Whatever my question has brought up for her, she’s finding it hard to let go. Who the hell is this woman? And what the fuck is she running from?
I’ve had my share of damaged women in my bed and they’re all the same. They all get that same look in their eyes when their past slams into them, starting a flame not even the strongest of bourbon could put out, and I’ve just done that for Tessa.
I motion to the waiter once more and order our food, along with two Pappy’s on the rocks. Her eyes widen when she hears the drink order. “I hope you like Pappy.”
Looking very pleased, I watch as she runs her fingertips lightly around the strand of pearls around her delicate neck. “I’ve never had it, but I’ve always heard that it’s a wonderful bourbon.”
“That, it is. Some of the best and hardest to get.” She seems to be coming out of the fog of her past now.
She clears her throat and sits up a little straighter. “So, Matthew, have you lived here your whole life?” She seems to be more comfortable shifting the topic of conversation to me, and I’ll give her that. She deserves it since I went and dug something up for her she seems to be trying her best to bury.
“No—” I start, just as the waiter brings the two ice filled tumblers with the amazing amber liquid in them. He sets them on the table, gives us a nod and removes himself once more. “I’m from a town two hours south of here.” I take up the tumbler sitting in front of me, gesturing with it for her to do the same. I clink her glass with mine, giving her a genuine smile that she returns. “Cheers.”
“Cheers,” she returns, and I watch as she raises the glass to her lips, taking the first sip. Her face flushes and her eyes sparkle. “Oh my God, that is so good.” She looks at the glass, and then to me.
Her smile makes my heart twist in my chest, and it has me wanting to make her do it more. This woman is hypnotizing me with her hot and cold, rough and soft, but mostly with the innocence she seems to be letting slip around her carefully built walls.
“It’s the best I’ve had. I’m sure there are more expensive, better distilled bourbons, but this one,” I say as I hold up my tumbler to the light, turning it in my hand, “is my favorite.”
She takes another sip, slowly letting it slide down her throat. “So, since you’re not from here, how did you end up here?” She swirls the liquid in her glass.
“After I graduated from college I joined the military and was assigned to a unit where I met a bunch of hometown high school best friends.” I stop, taking another drink. “So when we served our time and were discharged, I followed them back here.”
“How long were you in the military?” she asks. I’m glad she didn’t linger on the college years and went straight to what everybody went to, my service years.
“Long enough to know I was ready to get out when they released me.”
I’m pleased she accepts my explanation, but I can see the curiosity in her eyes. I expect her to google me when she gets home tonight, much like I’m going to do to her, but I’ll be doing more than googling her. But, unlike me, she’ll find nothing.
“And you’ve been a mechanic since then?” She finishes off the last of her liquor and I gesture to the waiter for two more.
“Yes.” It’s a half-truth, not the full truth because let’s face it, I can’t tell her everything I’ve been doing since I’ve been Stateside, now can I? “We opened up a security business a few years ago too,” I add.
I watch her as the waiter sets another tumbler full of Pappy down in front of us. I toast her once more before taking another sip.
She does the same then sets the glass down, leveling her eyes across the table at me. “You know, one would think you’re trying to get me drunk with this.” She points an accusatory finger at the glass.
“No, I’m not. I’m trying to loosen you up a little bit though. Remember that stick we talked about earlier? I think it’s working its way out.” I smile at her before I take a big gulp. She stays silent, and I can see she’s fighting a smile from breaking free. “What? No snappy comeback? I told you it was working.”
She lets her laugh free this time as she takes her glass back up. “As in security? Like body guard stuff?” She points at me, making a circle with her finger around my upper torso.
I laugh. “No, as in home security.” I sit back, letting the waiters who have brought our plates set them in front of us. She looks at what I’ve ordered for her, then up at me with her nose crinkled. It’s fucking cute as hell.
“It’s Spaghetti alle Vongole,” I tell her as I pour her first glass of wine. Looking up to her, I find she has a quizzical look on her face. “Pasta and Manila clams with crushed red peppers.” She still doesn’t look sure about what I’ve ordered for her. “Take one bite. If you don’t like it, you can order off the American menu,” I reason. She hesitantly takes her silverware and rolls up the noodles on her fork for her first bite. She slowly puts the bite into her mouth and I literally watch her melt in her seat.
The moan she lets out travels right down to my dick. Is that the sound she makes when she comes? Or is it similar to the one she makes when she’s being fucked properly by the right man with a big dick, like me? Will I ever make her moan out my name?
She covers her still full mouth with her hand. “Oh my God, this is divine, Matthew.” I smile at her, knowing how damn good it is and loving the sound of her saying my full name, not the stupid juvenile nickname I’d been saddled with in the service.
“Now wash it down with a sip of the wine,” I direct her. She lifts the goblet to her full lips and takes a swallow, letting it mingle with the tastes of the pasta before swallowing.
“Shit, that’s even better.” She doesn’t say another word for the rest of the meal. She remembers her manners as a lady but eats with the speed of a starved teenaged boy.
When she’s finished, she drinks the last of her wine and lays her napkin down beside her plate. “I think that was the best meal I’ve ever eaten,” she exclaims louder than she probably should have, garnering the attention of the diners sitting at the tables surrounding us. She covers her mouth with her hand and tries to whisper. “Oops! Did I say that a little too loud?” She’s a little tipsy, and so damn cute at the same time.
I lean in, motioning for her to join me. “At least you didn’t burp that loud,” I whisper in her ear. She draws back with an embarrassed smile on her face. “Dessert?”
She lays her hand on her belly, shaking her head no. “I don’t think I can hold another thing, Matthew.” There she goes again, saying my full name. Damn, at this rate, I’ll have to excuse myself and jerk off in the bathroom. My dick has been hard ever since I saw her in that little black dress she’s wearing.
“Sure you can.” I motion for the waiter to bring us the plates of dessert I had ordered.
The waiter places the smaller plate in front of her and she leans over, taking in the tantalizing smell of espresso. She looks up at me as eager as a child on Christmas morning. “What’s this?” Her eyes are gleaming.
“Tiramisu.” She looks at me, confused. “Italian coffee cake? No? It’s made with espresso, mascarpone cheese, and Italian lady fingers,” I explain as I take my own fork and dig into one of my favorite desserts of all time.
And as before, once I get her started eating the creamy dessert, she doesn’t stop until her plate is clean and the wine bottle is empty. “Okay, now that is the best thing I’ve ever eaten,” she gushes as she wipes her mouth once more.
I can’t take my eyes off this woman; I’m completely fascinated by her. In the beginning, this was only supposed to be a one-time thing, but I have to have more of this, and definitely more of her. I hope she feels the same way.
She stands and I stand with her. “I need the ladies room,” she mouths to me, and I point her in the right direction. While she’s gone, the table is cleaned and I pay the check.
I wait outside the restrooms for her with my hands in my pockets when I feel a light touch on my back.
“Matty?” I turn to the familiar sound of Ariel’s voice.
“Ariel,” I greet her, leaning in to place a light kiss on her cheek. Meeting her anywhere else except my bedroom at the clubhouse is a bit awkward, seeing as how we’ve only ever done it the first night we’d meet. I hold her hands out to her sides and give her a once over. “Beautiful, as always,” I compliment.
“Thank you.” She looks around and then back to me, her eyebrows raised in question.
I throw my thumb over my shoulder to the ladies room. “I’m waiting for my date.”
She looks a little startled. “Date?” In all the times she and I have been together, it had to be in private, due to her being married and all. But I still don’t miss the fact that me being on a date has irked her in some way.
“And I take it you’re here with your husband?” I remind her of our situation.
“Oh, yes. Joseph brought me out for our anniversary,” she says, right as Tessa opens the door and steps out.
“Oh, Matthew,” Tessa squeaks, a little taken aback to find me waiting for her in the hall. I reach out just in time to keep the tipsy little thing on her feet. I snake my arm around her waist and pull her to my side, knowing I’ll probably have to help her out to the car, and it’s a damn good excuse to keep her body close to mine.
“Ariel, this is Tessa, my date.” I cut my eyes to Ariel in warning.
“Yes, it’s nice to meet you.” Ariel gives Tessa’s hand a sanitized shake before dropping it so quick, you would think the contact was burning her skin.
Tessa looks up at me, then back to the half-naked woman standing in front of us. “It was nice to meet you too, I think.” I fight a grin at the snarky little comment she added at the end.
“It was nice seeing you again, Ariel, but we have to get going,” I tell her, pulling Tessa with me as I step around the woman I could never see me being with again after the night I’ve had with the woman at my side. But it’s encounters, like with Ariel, that are going to jeopardize Tessa staying there.