Let Them Talk
Page 6
I stripped off my dress and tossed it on his cluttered desk. I stood naked before him. I should have felt nervous. Anyone could walk in on us. The open windows behind him overlooked the busy town square. Anyone could see. But I didn’t care. I loved the way he stared at me. It made me feel desirable. Beautiful. Invincible.
Tilting my head back, I allowed my hair to fall past my shoulders. I had nothing to hide. I arched my spine as if I was offering my bare breasts to him. My nipples were tight, my breasts heavy, as anticipation flowed through me.
X parted his lips and said—
“Morning, Sydney.”
Sydney yelped and jumped in her seat, her heart lurching at the sound of Matthew Stone’s voice. She dropped her pen and glanced up, just as Matthew set his coffee mug on the table.
“Uh, hi.” She blinked and looked around. The scent of coffee and baked goods suddenly hit her. Multiple conversations overlapped as the clink of silverware sounded loud to her ears. She’d forgotten that she was at Dawson’s Diner, the most popular meeting place in Seedling. Today it was even more crowded than usual as people grabbed their morning coffee or had breakfast with friends.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” Matthew said as he sat down across from her.
“It’s okay. I was just working on something until you arrived.” Sydney stared at Matthew, noticing every detail of his white T-shirt and blue flannel shirt to his jeans and boots. She wished she didn’t feel so hot and jittery. Why had they set up this meeting? For an interview. Right. She was writing an article on the proposed walking trail and he’d agreed to comment.
“Is that your writing assignment?” Matthew gave a nod to the notebook in front of her. Words covered every inch of the page, crowding each other and spilling past the margins, as if she had too many ideas for the paper to hold.
“Uh, yeah.” She quickly closed the cover and stuck the book under the short pile of notebooks she kept for taking notes. Sydney wondered why she kept writing the fake erotic diary when she was in public. Someone could easily lean over her shoulder and read her work. Maybe it had something to do with the reoccurring theme in her diary—exhibitionism. In almost every scenario she had written in the past week, she and Matthew were so overwhelmed with desire that he’d taken her between the stacks in the library, over a desk in his office or in the park after midnight.
“What kind of book club has a writing assignment?”
“It’s not your typical book club,” she muttered as she grabbed her cup of tea and took a big gulp. It had grown cold and she had to choke it down.
“So I’ve heard.”
Sydney froze and glanced at the counter where her friend Laura was working. Some of the discussions they had at the book club were frank and personal. She couldn’t imagine Isabel or Laura describing them to someone else. “Really?” She carefully set down her teacup. “What have you heard?”
His smile was slow and sexy, and she wiggled uncomfortably in her seat. Matthew Stone’s smiles always teased her senses.
“I heard about the book you’re reading now.” He frowned as if he was trying to remember the title. “It was written by a madam who owned a brothel. Tips on seducing a man, or something like that.”
Sydney nodded. “Laura recommended it. She chose it because it’s being challenged at the library and a few people want it banned. I’m not really sure why they are suddenly making it an urgent matter since the book has been in the library for almost twenty years.”
“They probably didn’t know it was there until now.” Matthew leaned back in his chair. Sydney stiffened as she noticed it was the same move she had imagined him making in her fake diary. “What do you think of the book so far?”
She shrugged. “It’s written to shock the reader, and it doesn’t offer a lot of insight or information. Then again, seducing a man isn’t rocket science.”