9781631050275TheirPerfectMatchMarshNC (13 page)

He eased her onto her back and crawled alongside her as his hand slid down her sweat-dampened stomach. Her breath quickened and her muscles trembled under his light touch.

His fingers dipped into the moistening curls below the waistband of her panties. Molly gasped with arousal as he slid them lower and settled them so that they put pressure against her throbbing center. Meanwhile, his lips eased her bra cups away and nuzzled her erect nipples.

“Zane,” she whispered, her throat dry and her voice hoarse. Her own hand moved toward his zipper.

“Not yet. Remember, I get to look at you all I want.”

She was shaking much harder now as he stripped off the last two garments and gazed down at her nakedness with undisguised longing. Then, gingerly, he guided her hand to the front of his pants. She could feel his hard bulge pressing against the fly of his jeans. Together they jerked it open and pushed the jeans down his hips. His shirt followed them to the floor a moment later.

His tongue teased her first, tracing her hot contours until she drew close to her peak. Heat flowed through her, pooling in her center, but just then he pulled away to leave her gasping with desire.

“Zane….” she murmured while he resettled himself between her still-open legs. She heard the crinkle of a foil wrapper as he sheathed himself in a condom. Molly threw back her shoulders and arched backward as she scooted down and fitted herself around his erection. Flames licked at her center when, at last, he slid inside her.

Strong and efficient, just as Molly suspected he was in most areas of life, Zane rocked and bucked his hips until the tremors took control of her body and flung, moaning and wailing, over the edge of self-control. As the flames consumed her, she had a vague sense of him crying out too. The two of them sailed through open air together and then came spiraling toward earth like two meteors collided in space. Soon they collapsed together, bathed in sweat and shivering with the aftershocks of their explosive mutual climax.

Sleepily she curled up on his chest, her fingers nestled in the crisp mat of hair that swirled around his well-defined pecs. Zane smoothed her hair down around her ears, slid an arm under her shoulders, and cuddled her close. She listened to the soft thud of his heart, beating only inches from hers.

“You’re right, you know,” she said after a few moments. “About Todd. We were together for four years—through most of college. At the end of my senior year, just when I thought things were about to get permanent between us, I introduced him to a new friend of mine from Biology class. A white girl. Two weeks later, he left me for her. That was how I discovered a talent for matchmaking…and a serious problem in the romance department.”

“Wow,” Zane said a bit groggily. “That’s rough. Looks like you stayed friends with him, though.”

“It took a while. They broke up eventually, and he started calling me again. I’d lost my other friend by then, mostly because of some rather unkind things I said to her—I didn’t want to lose him, too. I accepted his apology, but I never considered taking him back. I decided I was better off alone after that, at least for the foreseeable future.”

“Do you still feel that way now?”

Molly laughed against his chest. “I’m beginning to have second thoughts all of a sudden.”

“Sleep,” he whispered, tightening his arms around her. “You’re safe here.”

 “You know, we never got around to trying out that lingerie.”

“Actually, I was hoping we could save that for tomorrow. Any chance you can call in sick?”

“I’m the boss at Lovelines, silly. I don’t have to make up a story to take a day off. What am I going to do…fire myself?”

“That’s not a bad idea,” he said. “Then we could both walk away from that whole mess. I’m no longer your client, and you’re no longer my matchmaker. A clean slate. Start fresh.”

She’d expected him to laugh too, but Molly frowned at the hint of seriousness in his tone. She wasn’t even sure why it unnerved her the way it did.

Eventually she chalked it up to exhaustion and emotional overload on both their parts. She found herself surprised how easy it was to close her eyes and drift off to sleep beside him. Much to her surprise, she really did feel safe there.

* * * *

When he woke early the next morning, he kissed the smooth curve of Molly’s back until she murmured and shifted happily in her sleep.

Zane rolled out of bed, showered, and pulled on a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants before he padded out to the kitchen. He decided to fix her something really nice for breakfast, after which he planned to remind her to call Brenda and tell her she’d be out for the day. Humming, he got out two plates and two mugs.

He’d just measured out the coffee beans and emptied them into the grinder when a sharp knock sounded on his apartment door.

“What the—” Zane glanced at the bedroom door to make sure he’d closed it, then hurried to answer it. He didn’t want whoever it was to disturb Molly—especially not when he cracked open the door and found his brother standing there.

Alaric looked like he was on his way to a country-club breakfast, with his gold mane carefully coiffed above the nested collars of his pinstriped shirt and blue blazer. His eggshell linen pants were pressed to razor creases.

Zane gaped at him. “What the hell are you doing here at this hour?”

“I hadn’t heard from you in a while, so I thought I’d better come by in person.” Alaric’s face registered surprise, then overt disapproval at his brother’s disheveled state. “I…ah…thought you’d be up and dressed by now.”

“I just got out of the shower.” In his annoyance, Zane raised his voice, but then he remembered Molly. “You’ll have to come back later. Call first.”

He started to close the door, but Alaric’s gaze had already lighted on the two plates and two cups on the counter. Understanding spread across his face.

“I understand now. You’ve got company. That explains your attire.”

“Great work, Sherlock. Now if you don’t mind….”

“And if you don’t mind, I have a few questions for you. I’m entitled to ask, considering my money enrolled you in Lovelines in the first place. I assume that’s how you set up this little tryst in the first place.”

“I’d be happy to talk to you, Alaric, but not right now!” Zane spoke through clenched teeth. He threw a backward glance over his shoulder, desperately hoping that his will power could stop Molly from emerging through that door. How would he explain Alaric’s presence? She’d hate his guts if she spotted her former client here before he’d had a chance to explain.

Alaric raised his gold brows. “I understand. Apparently you’re having much better luck in the dating arena than I did. And that’s what I want to talk to you about. What have you found out so far?”

“Nothing. I mean, I’ve done what you said and I’ve come up dry. Molly’s not behind it, though. I’m convinced of that.”

“I’m glad you’re so confident. Now see if you can explain this?” Alaric took out a folded credit card statement. Zane blinked at it, then whistled. “Those aren’t my charges!”

“Exactly. This is the gold credit card I procured specifically to pay your expenses with the dating agency. I’ve been monitoring it carefully, as you should have been doing.”

Zane blinked down at the sheet, astonished. A few small purchases online—testing the waters, perhaps, preceded a large cash advance from an ATM in the city. He had no idea how they had determined the PIN number.

“Isn’t the company tracing these?”

“Of course I called and had everything flagged,” Alaric said in an annoyed tone, as though offended that Zane would even suggest such a thing. “But still! Lovelines is the only place that card was ever used. Someone there took the number down or cloned it, obviously.”

A sick feeling clutched Zane’s stomach as he scanned the sheet yet again, hoping to find some mistake that would exonerate Molly. “These first few purchases were made online. I’ll check them out as soon as I can.”

“As soon as you can get rid of your date you mean.” Alaric waved off Zane’s glare.

“Look, Alaric, I told you already—I’ll go where the evidence takes me. I won’t just pull the trigger because you’re standing behind me breathing down my neck. If I bring an accusation, I plan to have evidence on my side.”

“I don’t know what more you could want!” Alaric exploded. “You’ve already uncovered plenty of motive, means, and opportunity.” He pointed at the receipt in Zane’s hand. “Now I bring you written proof, and it still isn’t enough!”

“This was shipped to a P.O. Box. It could have been sent to anyone.”

“If you ask me, they’re all in on it! Maybe we should just go to the cops and turn the whole operation in—let them sort it out. Obviously you aren’t too keen on doing it yourself. I have to ask myself why.”

“And I have to ask myself why you’re so impatient all of a sudden. It’s not like they’ve left you broke and homeless.” As Zane stared at Alaric’s reddening cheeks and almost feverish eyes, a startling realization dawned on him. “Wait a minute. This isn’t about the money you lost at all, is it? It’s what I suspected right from the beginning—it’s because they couldn’t find you a mate. You really got your hopes up over this dating thing, didn’t you? That’s why it drives you nuts to think that Molly and I—” He stopped, aware that he’d almost said too much. “Well, you know what I’m saying. Just come clean with me, Alaric. I’m your brother, after all.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Zane. The dating service was an experiment, and nothing more. I’m not cut out for a relationship, any more than you are. Both of us carry way too much baggage for that.” Pivoting on his expensive heel, he started down the hall. “I’m giving you a few more days, Zane. Then I’m going to the cops,” he said as he stormed away. “Let your new friend answer their questions instead of ours. I suspect they’ll be far less impressed with her answers than you seem to be.” He paused. “And don’t lose that bill. We might need it later, for evidence.”

“I won’t.” Luckily, Alaric had said nothing about crumpling it in frustration as he closed an angry fist around it.

Molly was up soon, emerging from his bedroom wrapped in a blanket. In spite of everything, he still wanted to pull it off her and drag her back to the bed. But he stood rooted to the kitchen floor, his hands feeling as numb and useless as his heart.

“I need to get ready for work,” she said. “I’ll have to swing home and get some new clothes or everyone will wonder why I’m wearing the same thing two days in a row. I’ll be putting up with winks and innuendo all day…even though it would be totally worth it.”

Her mood seemed buoyant and upbeat. Zane hated himself for being the one who was about to destroy it.

“Call them up and tell them you’re not coming in—at least, not yet. We need to talk for a while.”

When her face changed, Zane felt a knife twist in his chest.

“Uh-oh.”

He wanted to clasp her to him, comfort her and kiss away her insecurities one by one. However, he knew that once he said what he had to, he’d be lucky if she ever agreed to be in the same room with him again.

Still, lying to the woman he was now pretty sure he loved—what torture could be worse?

“Let me shower first,” she said in a resigned tone. “Then we can talk all you want.”

He pointed the way to the bathroom. “Help yourself. Meanwhile, I’ll make us some coffee and eggs.”

The moments ticked by painfully until she emerged again. Zane busied himself with their breakfasts, but all the joy had gone out of the task by then. Luckily, he managed to cook everything without burning it and set the meal out on the table in a reasonably appealing way. When Molly did come out of his room again, fragrant with soap and dressed, he pushed back the fresh desire building in him and took a seat opposite her at the small table.

“So talk,” she said, eyeing him warily.

“Okay. The first thing I have to tell you is that I was never really a committed client at Lovelines. That is, I wasn’t actually looking for a relationship when I joined up.”

Her brows lifted, and her mouth parted in surprise. She didn’t speak, though, and busied herself with her coffee cup.

“Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t mean I was just looking for some action or anything like that. I am single, and the part about the Merchant Marines and my father passing away was all true. It’s just that…well…the fact is, I was asked to check out your company by someone close to me. My brother—my half-brother, that is—is a former client of yours. His name is Alaric Scott.”

“Alaric? Yes, of course. I remember him.” Her eyes bugged out. “He’s your—your brother?”

“Half-brother. Younger. It was his father I told you about…the wealthy man my mother left my father for, dragging me along.”

“But why did your brother want my company investigated? Did he want to buy us out or start a rival company? I don’t get it.”

“It’s more than that. One of your employees has been even sneakier than I’ve been, Molly. There have been some…shall we say…violations of law using cyber techniques. Alaric didn’t want to go to the police until we’d checked it out privately. He didn’t want anyone to know he’d signed up for a dating service. He was even more embarrassed that he’d apparently been duped by one.”

“He was embarrassed about signing up for Lovelines?” Her eyes flashed. “That’s exactly the kind of nonsense I’d hoped to avoid when I started my company!” Slowly the rest of what he’d said seemed to sink in. “What—what do you mean violations of the law?”

“I mean someone made electronic funds transfers from Alaric’s account to some offshore account he can’t trace. He got most of it reimbursed, but that isn’t the point. Someone’s used his identity to trade stocks, order things…a gold bracelet, stuff like that. Now it’s happened on the card I used as well. Alaric was convinced it was you. I’m just as convinced that it can’t be.”

“Thanks for that vote of confidence,” she said bitterly. “But this is insane! I refuse to believe my employees had anything to do with this. They’re my friends!”

“You might be right, or you might not be. It’s possible someone might have hacked into your system from outside.”

“No! I refuse to believe that!” She banged down her coffee cup and glared at him in outrage. “Todd made sure that our system is totally safe from outside access! He told me so himself!”