Risk (The Men of Matiz 1)

I know exactly what she's talking about. When I left to get shampoo on my first night back, I realized I'd forgotten my wallet as soon as our apartment door closed behind me. It was locked tight when I turned back to open it. I had to pound on it loudly to steal Adley's attention away from the program she was watching on her laptop. It's a great security feature for hotel rooms, but for apartments it's more annoying than anything.

"I'm with Nolan," I whisper even though I haven't heard any movement at all in the hallway. "I don't want to leave yet."

"Can't you just come home for two minutes to let me in?" She sighs heavily. "You're not that far away, Bean."

I shake my head as I stare at my reflection in Nolan's bathroom mirror. My makeup held up better than I thought it would. Those free Matiz samples I get to take home from the store are worth it. "You should call the building manager to let you in, Ad. When Nolan called him about the air conditioner, he was at our place in no time. Nolan's place is across town."

"How is that possible?"

"How is what possible?" I press my free ear against the bathroom door, but still, I hear nothing.

"I distinctively recall you telling me that Nolan lives close to Cremza. That's four blocks from here, Bean. You could walk here, let me in, and be back there in less than twenty minutes."

I watch my smile give way to hesitation in the mirror's reflection. He did say that. He made a point of saying he was a regular because he lived near the ice cream shop, but the definition of near varies depending on who you're talking to.

Nolan has a private driver at his beck and call which means that everywhere in Manhattan is close to here. For those of us who depend on our own two feet and public transportation, it's far. When we were done eating our burger earlier, Nolan called the driver and he quickly pulled up next to the curb, by the street cart. We hopped in the air conditioned car and he brought us here. I know if we took the subway or the bus, it would have taken infinitely longer. "Give me ten minutes, Ad. I'll call you back."

"Are you coming to save me?" she asks overdramatically. "I can't sit in this coffee shop all night, Elinor."

I don't laugh the way I usually do when she uses my full name. Instead, I end the call and swing open the washroom door, intent on asking Nolan if I could borrow his driver so I can help out my friend before I crawl into bed with him.

Chapter 22

Nolan

J'ai envie de t'embrasser.

The words themselves weren't meant to impress Ellie. I wrote them on her palm because I have yet to meet a woman who wasn't enamored with the fact that I can speak rudimentary French.

I had to learn the basics of the language when I went to Paris after my sophomore year in college so I could fuck around France with Crew. His family has an estate there, and when he invited me, I packed one bag and renewed my passport.

I'm not fluent, but I know enough to get by, including how to tell a woman I would like to kiss her. When I wrote it on Ellie's palm, I fully expected her to ask me what it meant. I didn't expect her to press her gorgeous lips to mine in response.

She knows French. She also now knows that my family loves to sail.

Loved to sail.

It's been years since I've been on the water, but when I looked at that picture, the memories rushed back. It was taken on a day I'd waited weeks for and promised myself I'd never forget. The image is about more than a particular moment in time. It's a capture of the last time we were all together.

It hangs here now, in this apartment, the frame collecting dust, the pure beauty of that scene unappreciated. No one sees it. I rarely look at it, but I keep it hung on the wall because I've kept every promise I ever made to my grandfather.

I want to ask Ellie where s

he learned French, but that treads on ground I don't have a place on. I have no right to ask her anything when I have something to tell her that could alter her entire perception of me.

I have to savor tonight. I need her again. The first time I held back, trying desperately to get her off not once, but twice, before I let the thirst that was burning inside me take control. I fucked her recklessly on a leather couch. It's not what I envisioned when I planned tonight, but when she kissed me with those full lips and I felt the heat radiating from her body, I was gone.

Lost in her.

Drowning in a need that consumed every part of me.

"Nolan?"

I hear her hushed voice from the other side of the bedroom door. I'd pushed it almost shut when I entered the room so I could make a quick call. Then I toed off my shoes, removed my socks and my shirt and stood by the open window hoping to catch a breeze that would cool me down. It didn't happen.

My phone rings. I try to ignore it. I want to ignore it, but I can't.

I tug it out of the front pocket of my pants.