Positively Pippa Read online

  Matt was pouring the wine when she padded back into the sitting room. This felt more like her and Matt, relaxed and easy with no expectations and no tension.

  She sat cross-legged beside him and took her glass. The fire laid a warm glow across her as Matt handed her a plate. Loaded. Good thing she had eating pants on, because it looked incredible. She paused in the middle of the first bite to let the light lemon aftertaste of the crab cake linger. “You’ve been here ten years?”

  “Yup.” He went straight for the meat. “I don’t spend a lot of time here.”

  “It shows.”

  His bark of laughter didn’t even have a tinge of resentment. “My mother is always after me to let her decorate. Even Jo tried to get in here.”

  The long fingers of Cressy. She gave him kudos for resisting.

  “This is just a place to keep my stuff, eat, sleep.” He shrugged. “One of these days I’m gonna do what Eric’s doing and build my own place. Up from the ground and do everything myself.”

  “Is that what Eric’s doing?” She tried to picture Eric in a tool belt and failed.

  Matt nodded and put his plate aside. He’d already eaten everything on it. God, he must have been hungry because she was still working away at hers. “Here.” She handed him half her filet. “I’ll never eat all that.”

  “Are you sure?” He frowned down at his plate. “Because we didn’t order dessert or anything.”

  “I’m not a dessert girl,” she said.

  He gaped at her.

  “Seriously.” Pippa laughed. “But I’ll swap you for your crab cake.” She nabbed the last one before he could say anything. “Tell me about this thing with Eric.”

  He stopped, fork midway to his mouth, as if considering her request.

  Pippa finished her dinner while he spoke. The note of excitement was back in his voice. He kept it locked down tight, but it came through every now and again. He’d studied Eric’s plans in detail. A lot of detail for a man who claimed he wasn’t going to do anything about the offer. “Anyway.” He put his plate on the table and grabbed her hand. “It doesn’t matter.”

  Ah, but clearly it did. Pippa kept her eyes on his fingers laced through hers. The Matt she remembered from school had been driven, focused, intent on getting out of Ghost Falls and leaving a trail of dust behind him. When Eric dated Laura, she’d gotten to know Matt a bit better, but four years in your teens was a big gap to bridge. Still, his scholarship had been everything to him. He’d worked so hard to make it happen, on and off the football field.

  His calm acceptance of the rest of his life bothered her. Sure, part of her got that people could be happy doing exactly what they were doing, but there was that buzz to Matt when he spoke of Eric’s offer. It jibed with what came out of his mouth.

  “Hey.” He pressed her hand. “You still with me?”

  “I’m still with you.” She nodded and let him tuck her into his side.

  He leaned back against the table and lifted her knees to drape her legs over his thighs. Pippa stared into the mesmerizing dance of the flames. Matt gave off a lot of body heat. His thighs beneath her were rock-hard. “This is nice.”

  “Yeah.” He tightened his arm around her shoulders.

  The niggle about Eric wouldn’t go away. “Matt—”

  “Nope.” He dipped his head into the crook of her neck. “No interrupting. I’m getting ready to make my move.”

  Her brain emptied as if someone had pulled the plug. Sharp tingles of heat prickled beneath her skin.

  He brushed the sensitive skin of her neck with his firm, warm mouth.

  Heat radiated from that point, making her boneless, her skin awake to his touch.

  He hummed against her neck, making the prickling thing go a bit crazy. “You always smell so good.”

  “It’s Dior.”

  “No, it’s Pippa.” He stroked up her spine to cup the back of her neck.

  His mouth was doing incredible things to her and she tilted her head to give him better access. Her nipples pushed rigid points against the soft cotton of his tee. A pulse beat between her thighs. All he had to do was this and she was ready to get some skin-on-skin action.

  He brought her head around, so Pippa had to turn toward him.

  Their lips stopped, almost touching but not quite. “How’s my move going?”

  “Really well.” Pippa couldn’t wait any longer and dipped in for the kiss.

  His grip tightened in her hair. His kiss rocked through Pippa, and took any lingering doubts with it. His mouth was firm and demanding on hers, and lit her from the inside out. He took and she gave in a tangle of teeth and tongues.

  He gripped her hips and pulled her to straddle him. He was hot and hard through the fabric of her sweats. The heat in her cranked up another notch and she sank her hands into the silkiness of his hair.

  She felt powerful, sexy, desired. Sinking against his erection, his groan rippling through her, letting her know he wanted her as badly as she wanted him. This beautiful man wanted her, and knowing that made her wet and achy at her core.

  He slid his hand beneath her sweats and cupped her bare ass cheek. “Pippa.” He tore his mouth from hers. His breath came fast through parted lips, his eyes bored into her. “Baby, I gotta see what you’ve got on under these. It’s been driving me crazy the whole night.”

  “All night?” Man, it was crazy hot to tease him like this.

  “All night.” He gripped her ass and dragged her onto his erection. “You in that dress, me getting horny thinking about how little it hid.”

  Pippa sat back on his thighs.

  His hungry gaze swept down to track the motion of her hands as she tangled them in the hem of her tee. She inched the fabric up. Cooler air hit her belly, her ribs and finally her breasts as she hauled it over her head.

  Matt sucked in a breath, his eyes riveted by the swell of flesh over the cups of her bra. Big, hot hands covered her breasts, dark against the pale ivory of her skin.

  Her breasts swelled at the touch, desperate for more, and Pippa arched into the caress.

  His hands firmed, plumping her, sliding his fingers under the lace to tease her nipples.

  “Your turn.” Her voice came out in a breathy rasp. She worked the buttons free on his shirt as he touched her. Pushing the fabric off his shoulders she opened her treat. God, he was beautiful. Sculpted, hard, and made for her to touch. She spread her hands over the swell of his pecs, giving her fingers a happy walk down the corrugated ladder of his abs to his waistband.

  Matt shrugged his shirt off.

  Pippa needed his hands on her naked flesh and she reached behind her to unclasp her bra.

  The cups sagged forward and he brushed the bra away. He jackknifed up, taking her back and down to the floor. Resting his weight on his elbow he watched his hand as it moved over her breasts, taking a little time to pluck her nipple to aching hardness before sliding down her belly. Lower, until his fingers rested just inside the rolled-up waistband of her sweats.

  Not close enough. Pippa bucked her hips to move his hand farther.

  “Damn, Pippa.” He slid her pants down her legs, coming up on his haunches to yank them off her feet and send them sailing across the room. He crouched there, his eyes so hot on her they almost burned. He dipped his fingers under the edge of her thong.

  Pippa held her breath, need pounding between her thighs. She arched into the first dip of his fingers between her soaking wet folds. He slid easily into her, his thumb playing with her clitoris.

  She almost went off under his hand.

  “I need to see you.” Impatiently he tugged her thong off.

  Pippa yanked at his pants. “And these.”

  Matt shucked them, and his underwear. Firelight bronzed his skin. The beauty of him made her suck in a breath—a man in his prime, hard muscle, taut skin, and big all over. He crouched beside her, spreading his big hands over her belly and down into her heat. It was so hot, watching him as he watched his fingers drive her cr
azy. His cock stood thick and hard from the apex of his thighs.

  Pippa wrapped her fist around it, and he hissed. Dropping his head forward to watch her stroke him, still touching her, still driving her fucking crazy. Bringing her close and backing off again.

  “Now.” She squeezed his girth. “Inside me now.”

  Matt moved over her, pushing her legs wide to rest between them and forcing her to relinquish her grip on him. He snatched up his pants and took out a condom. Fisting the base of his cock, he stroked the condom down his length.

  Pippa writhed as she watched. She’d no idea seeing a man touch himself would drive her out of her tiny mind.

  He opened her wider, spread her legs, and watched as he slid inside her.

  Pippa stretched to accommodate him. It had been so long, and he filled her so deliciously.

  His gaze flicked up to her as he flexed, driving himself to the hilt.

  “More.” Pippa half raised herself, desperate for him.

  His jaw clenched, tendons strained in his neck as he withdrew and plunged again.

  Pippa sank her nails into his forearms. “I want it all.” She didn’t want slow and careful, she wanted him to take her hard and fast. She was so ready for him, she didn’t know how long she could last.

  The control stripped off Matt’s face and he let go. The carpet scratched her hips as he pounded into her, filling her completely. Her orgasm built deep inside her, she clenched around him to keep the tight connection.

  Matt brought his thumb to her clitoris. Two, three strokes against the distended bud and she was there, shattering around him, her back arching to take him deeper.

  He tensed and came on a guttural shout that she felt all the way through her.

  “Jesus.” He let his weight rest on her, his breath rasped in her ear. “That was too fast.”

  Pippa shook her head. “That was perfect.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Matt waited until Pippa shut the door behind her before he put the car in gear and drove away. He hadn’t wanted to let her go home. The idea of keeping her wormed into his brain and got stuck. And then freaked him the hell out.

  Not ten minutes after he’d made love to Pippa, he wanted to start all over again. The itch inside him to get deeper under her skin, to unravel the mystery of her kept growing.

  Instead, he did the cuddling thing, and that ramped the twitch into a burn. Pippa had felt right in his arms. Tucked up to his side, her head in the crook of his neck, it felt peaceful, and like she belonged there.

  This was not how he rolled. He liked a woman, and he pursued her. If she was on board with the idea, they hooked up—once, twice, however many times it took to work her through his system. The nagging pinch in his gut tightened. How many times would it take to get Pippa out of his system? Pippa had always been different. She had this siren’s call for him, drawing him closer every time she drifted into his life again.

  He pulled up to the front of his house and climbed out of the car. Eric might have called it right at the site. Keeping things light with Pippa wasn’t going to work out for him at all. Maybe some part of him had always known that.

  The debris from their carpet picnic still spread across his lounge. He grabbed up plates and glasses and carried them through to the kitchen. Pippa had left his sweats and T-shirt neatly folded over the back of the couch. The subtle fragrance of her still clung to the fabric and he pressed the shirt against his nose. The woman smelled like sin and heaven all in one massive wallop.

  * * *

  Pippa shut the door and blinked in the harsh light of the hallway chandelier. It looked like Phi had every light in the house turned on. “Phi?”

  A crash pulled her to the salon at a run.

  “Phi.” Her grandmother stood in the center of the room in an emerald velvet housecoat. Not a hint of makeup on her face, bird’s nest hair squatting on her head. “What happened?”

  “I threw it.” Phi’s voice shook, and not vibrato. Whatever was going on here was beyond theatrics.

  Pippa followed her pointing finger to the smashed remains of a Wedgwood shepherdess. “Why?”

  “I want my stuff back.” Tears seeped out of Phi’s hot, angry eyes. “You didn’t tell me about all the things they’ve taken.”

  No, she hadn’t. Pippa had kept that her little secret and it seemed Phi had found out. “I didn’t want to upset you.”

  “You treated me like a child.” Phi swiped at her tears. “Like a doddering old woman not worthy of your respect.”

  “No, Phi, I tried to protect you.”

  Phi vibrated like a tuning fork. “Protect me? Me?” She ended on a shriek. Phi protected her vocal chords like a broody Rottweiler. Shrieking meant she was way past upset. “I have faced down a packed opera house hissing at my performance of Carmen. I have made conductors weep the world over. Hardened stagehands get the hell out of my way. Whom do you think you’re protecting? Some limp-minded old woman?”

  “I . . .” She’d treated Phi like she couldn’t handle the truth. “You’re right. I should have told you. I kept thinking I might find them somewhere here, or they might reappear and then this would all go away.”

  “Did you take it upon yourself to decide I had imagined the entire thing?”

  “Yes.”

  “That at my advanced age, I had misplaced them?”

  It sounded a lot better in her head than it did coming out of Phi’s mouth. Yes to all that and Pippa nodded.

  “Let me tell you something.” Phi jammed her hands on her hips. “I remember the words and the music to every opera I have ever sung. I can still name the cast members of every performance I gave, and some of the crew. And yet my granddaughter, my precious flesh and blood, took it upon herself to cosset me like an aged dog.”

  The Diva poked through Phi’s tirade and Pippa breathed a sigh of relief.

  “I am a mere sixty-eight years old, need I remind you. And a robust sixty-eight at that.”

  “Phi, you’re seventy-eight and we both know it.”

  Phi fluttered both hands at her. “Age is merely a number, it’s how I feel that counts.”

  “I’m sorry, Phi.” Pippa took a step closer. “I should have told you, and I should never have thought you might be losing your marbles.”

  Phi’s shoulders inched away from her earlobes. “I am wroth with you, Agrippina, but I shall forgive you.”

  Pippa stepped into Phi’s open arms. “I really am sorry.”

  “What we have is special, Pippa,” Phi whispered against her hair. “I have always been honest with you, and I demand the same from you.”

  It was true. Phi told the unpretty truth whenever it needed telling.

  “My daughter does not understand me,” Phi said. “She blames me for so many things. Some of them justified, and some of them merely her own unhappiness. But you?” Phi held her at arm’s length for a second. “You and I were soul mates from the moment you came into the world. Do not fuck with that, Agrippina.”

  “I won’t.” Phi’s love was her anchor, always had been. The unconditional acceptance of who and what she was, from a woman who spent her life flipping the bird at others’ opinion of her. There weren’t many people who had it this good. Pippa tightened her hold.

  “Now.” Phi disentangled herself from Pippa’s embrace. “Was Mathieu a multiplatinum artist or a one-hit wonder?”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Pippa stood beside Phi as Nate got to work. It was a beautiful thing to behold. His broad shoulders flexed and released beneath the official mud color of his sheriff’s uniform shirt. What the man did for a pair of chinos ought to be illegal.

  Phi leaned toward her. “If it doesn’t work out with Matt, you could always tap that.”

  “They’re brothers.” Pippa choked back a snort of laughter.

  “I had a set of brothers once.” Phi got a dreamy smile on her face. “Spaniards. Three of them. Hung like—”

  “You’re sure there’s nothing missing from the rest o
f the house?” Nate turned around, his cheeks red.

  “I’m sure.” Phi nodded. “I checked all my jewelry again this morning, but if you would care to come up to my boudoir and verify, I could be persuaded to let you.”

  The tips of Nate’s ears went red as he cleared his throat.

  “Ignore her.” Pippa took pity on the poor guy. As sheriff, he must get hit on fifty times a day. If she wasn’t so hot for his brother, she might be buying a cat and tossing it up a tree on a regular basis.

  Nate let loose with a panty-dropping smile in Phi’s direction. “I’m not man enough for the Diva.”

  “Nobody is, darling.” Phi let go a window-rattling trill. “But I keep trying until I find one.”

  Nate’s blush spread to his cheeks. “Can you give me a description of the missing items?”

  “Sure.” Pippa motioned him over to the sofa. “Why don’t I get us some coffee and Phi can tell you what they look like.”

  Phi chuckled like a gutter whore. Panic flashed across Nate’s face. “I’ll get the coffee.” She pushed Pippa toward the sofa. “You stay and make eyes at the sheriff. I see he brought his handcuffs.”

  “She doesn’t mean it,” Pippa said as Phi floated out of the room. “She does it to get a reaction.”

  Nate breathed out low. “And she gets it. Every time.”

  Pippa got down to describing the missing pieces.

  Nate wrote it all down, his hand crabbed awkwardly around the pencil as it crept across the page. She slowed down so he could stay with her.

  “Sorry.” He glanced up at her. “I suck at writing.”

  “I could . . .”

  A hard glance shut her up again. Nate didn’t want help. Matt must have had his hands full managing all that testosterone when they were both teens.

  Matt hadn’t called or texted, and she was getting a needy-girl feeling. Even worse than Matt not calling was her obsessing about it. They were taking things easy. No promises, no commitment, just scratching an old itch. Checking her phone like a crushing tween was so not part of the plan. It sat like a cold lump in her gut.