BEAUTY AND THE BEST MAN (2 page)

Two

“Y
ou don’t need me with you to listen to the band,” Matt protested even while Evan laughed.

“This isn’t about the band,” Evan said after a minute or two. “You’ve been avoiding Kayla since you got back to Cheyenne.”

“Not avoiding, exactly,” Matt argued, stopping outside the art gallery where they were supposed to be meeting Angie and Kayla. He’d known that coming back to Wyoming meant seeing Kayla again. But he had planned to do it in his own time. And he hadn’t wanted anyone else around for this first meeting.

On the other hand, with Angelica and Evan both there, Kayla probably wouldn’t refuse to speak to him. Probably.

“I’ve been busy. Hell, you work for Lassiter Media, too,” Matt pointed out. “You know how crazy busy we are.”

“And yet,” his friend countered, “I manage to have a life.”

“Not so much lately, from what I’ve seen,” Matt mused, watching Evan’s expression. “You and Angie don’t get a lot of time together.”

Evan frowned a little. “She’s always been a fiend for work, but yeah. Since her dad’s health went bad, things have been more intense. And with us both spending more time in Cheyenne these days, she’s really focused.”

“And yet, you’re not giving her grief over it like you are me.”

Evan laughed and shook his head. “I don’t believe this.”

“What?” Matt asked. “What’re you talking about?”

“You’re actually
stalling
,” Evan said, clearly amazed. “I’ve never known you to back away from anything, but you really are leery about seeing Kayla again.” Shaking his head, he said, “Just what the hell happened between you two, anyway?”

Scowling, Matt shoved one hand through his hair and turned his face into the icy, gusting wind. “Long story and one I’m not interested in sharing, thanks.”

“Touchy.”

He glanced at Evan. “You have no idea.”

“You don’t have to like her, you know.” Evan hunched deeper into his black overcoat in an effort to fight off the chill of the wind. “Just be civil.”

Civil.

Matt swallowed the bark of sardonic laughter crowding the base of his throat. He wasn’t going to have trouble being civil to Kayla. The hard part was going to be keeping his hands off her.

For the past nine months, Matt had been in California, running the marketing division of Lassiter Media. He’d taken the promotion and the move to L.A. and considered it a plus that he could put some distance between himself and Kayla so that he could think clearly. If he’d stayed in Cheyenne, he never would have been able to sort out what he was thinking...feeling.

Kayla had blindsided him, plain and simple. There had been chemistry between them from the first and the one night they’d spent together had jolted him right down to his bones. Never before nor since Kayla had he experienced what he had that one spectacular night. She had turned his world inside out and rattled him enough that he’d needed space. Time.

And it hadn’t helped.

Hadn’t changed a damn thing.

He still wanted Kayla.

Matt followed Evan into the gallery and was immediately slapped with warmth and noise. Classical music—something slow and lovely—played undercurrent to the rush of conversation that rose and fell like waves crashing against the shore. Crowds of people, dressed in tuxes and bright, jewel-toned dresses roamed through the elegant space, admiring the paintings and photographs dotting the cream-colored walls. Sculptures in metal and wood and marble stood displayed on stylish pedestals under pinpoint lighting.

Matt saw it all, yet hardly noticed. He slipped out of his overcoat, draped it over his forearm and scanned the crowd, looking for one woman in particular. The woman who had been haunting his dreams for nine interminably long months. When he finally spotted her, Matt felt the oddest sensation—a strange mixture of both calm and excitement that churned through his bloodstream like a virus, quickly spreading until he could hardly breathe.

Her shoulder-length hair was a tumble of soft, light brown curls that tempted a man to spear his fingers through their silkiness. Even in a sea of artsy, trendy people wearing black, Kayla stood out. Black was a stark color that only accented her pale, creamy skin, her dress clung to curves he ached to explore again. When she turned, and their gazes locked across the room, he noted the brief reaction of shock and pleasure in her blue eyes before it faded away into a cool businesslike stare. A flush of color stained her cheeks but it wasn’t embarrassment or desire—it was anger.

Damned if he didn’t find that exciting.

“Hey,” Evan said, “I see Angelica over by that weird bird sculpture. I’ll catch you later, okay?”

“Sure.” Matt didn’t even see his friend leave. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from Kayla.

People wandered in and out of the line of vision locking Kayla and him together, but nothing could shatter the connection alive and sizzling between them.

She felt it, too. He could see it in her eyes, in the firming of her luscious lips. Just as he could see that she wasn’t happy about what she was feeling. He had to bite back a satisfied smile. Good to know he wasn’t the only one being twisted into knots. Kayla wasn’t an easy woman to figure out.

It was one of the things he liked best about her.

Most of the women he’d been involved with over the years were all too simple to understand. They enjoyed being with him because he had access to the rich, the powerful, the famous. But Kayla was different. She looked at the world through eyes that searched out and found beauty in the most unlikely places. She wasn’t interested in society or the connections she could make through Matt.

She’d wanted
him.
And that had thrown him. Hard. Because he’d felt the same about her. From the first moment he’d met her, Matt had known that she was going to be different. That she had the ability to cut through his defenses and bring him to his knees. Not a place he was used to finding himself.

Memories raced through his mind, causing sensory overload. He remembered the arguments, the conversations, the incredible tension that had hummed through every moment that they’d spent together.

Mostly, though, he remembered the one night they’d had together. The frenzied need that had fueled their desperate coupling. The out of control desire that had swept away every clear thought.

Even recalling that night had his body going hard as stone and his brain fuzzing over until the only thing it could focus on was
her.
Nearly nine months away from her in a voluntary absence and she was as fresh in his mind as she had been the morning after their “encounter.”

That’s why he’d left. Why he’d had to go and put half a country between them. Love was not part of his game plan. He was focused on his career and didn’t have the time—or the inclination—to deviate from the plan that had been guiding him since college.

But damn he’d missed her.

She lifted her chin, tossed her hair back from her face and started walking toward him. The crowd seemed to part for her, as if in a series of orchestrated moves. She was damn near electrifying. Her hair, her eyes, the curve of her hips and the way those hips swayed invitingly when she walked.

Hell, everything about her screamed
sexy
,
powerful woman
—and that really did it for him in a big way.

The hard tap of her heels against the marble floor sounded out like tiny gunshots, even over the noise of the surrounding crush of people. She never stopped. Never hesitated. Until she came to a stop right in front of him.

Her perfume reached for him, flavoring every breath with the taste of her. He looked down into her eyes, saw them spark and flash and knew he was in deep trouble.

“You’re here for the wedding.”

Her voice was soft and cool with a thread of steel he remembered all too well. “Yeah.”

“Then it’s back to L.A.?”

“It’s where I live now, Kayla.”

She nodded, folded her arms over her chest and glanced around the crowded room before looking back at him. “Evan dragged you here tonight, didn’t he?”

“No,” he lied, and told himself that even if Evan hadn’t insisted he come, he wouldn’t have been able to stay away from her much longer. The pull of her was inexorable and something he was tired of fighting.

“Right, because there’s nothing you like more than a good gallery showing,” Kayla said, her lips curving in a sardonic smile.

Matt chuckled and realized that he’d missed this, too. The verbal sparring, the tension that simmered between them, just beneath the surface.

“You caught me. My secret weakness.” It wasn’t a complete joke. Sure, he wouldn’t normally hang at an art gallery, but watching her with the patrons was something he would pay to see. She was so knowledgeable and her love for the art world shone in her eyes. What man wouldn’t be fascinated by her?

“So, how’s California?”

He cut off his straying thoughts—a man had to concentrate when talking with Kayla. “Crowded.”

“You don’t love all the sunshine and the glamour?”

“Sunshine gets old and I’m too busy working to be interested in the glamour.”

“Uh-huh.” The toe of her shoe tapped against the marble floor. “And what is it you
are
interested in, Matt?”

“You.”

Three

T
he single word escaped before he knew it and he saw the shock in her eyes before it was replaced by disbelief. But damn it, he’d said only the truth.
She
interested him. Enough so that he’d stayed away from Cheyenne rather than face what she could mean to him. Enough that standing here opposite her and not being able to touch her was torturous.

“Don’t,” she muttered. “Just...don’t.”

Great start, he told himself then spoke up quickly. “Look, Kayla, now that I’m in town—”

“Been back a few days, right?”

“Yeah.” He knew where she was going with this and he couldn’t blame her.

“Still too busy to pick up a phone?”

He wasn’t surprised. Kayla Prince wasn’t the shy, retiring type. She didn’t play games. With her, you always knew where you stood. Whether you wanted to or not. “You really want to do this here?
Now?
”

As if suddenly remembering exactly where they were, she took a breath and nodded sharply. “You’re right. I don’t want to do this now. Actually, I don’t want to do this
ever.
”

“Liar.”

She flushed and her luscious mouth flattened into a tight, grim line. “You don’t have the right to expect anything from me.”

“Didn’t say I did,” he told her quietly. “But we both know we have to talk about what happened.”

“No, we don’t.” She shook her head and her long hair lifted and then settled over her shoulders again. “It’s over. Been over for nine months, Matt.”

“Kayla—”

She shook her head and stared up at him. “Don’t you find it just a little ironic?”

“What?”

“Nine months ago, you left without a word to me. And
now
you want to talk?”

Irritated, he said, “Come on, Kayla.”

“No,” she said, taking a step back as if she needed physical distance to maintain the emotional distance already shining in her eyes. “We’re in the same wedding. And that is
all
we share now, Matt. Let’s just get through the next weeks with as much dignity as we can, okay?”

There was plenty he wanted to say and more he
needed
to say, but as he’d just pointed out himself, this wasn’t the time or the place.

“Now,” she said, plastering her best professional smile on her face, “have some champagne, look around at what our artists have to offer and enjoy yourself.”

Sure
, he thought as he watched her walk through the crowd, charming men and women alike. He’d enjoy himself. While his body was tight and hard and it was taking every effort he could draw on to keep from tossing her over his shoulder and striding out into the night.

* * *

By the time they arrived at the club where the band Evan wanted to hear was playing, Kayla felt as if every nerve in her body was on red alert. She’d felt Matt watching her all night and that had completely thrown her off her game. She was supposed to do her best by the local artists and though the show had gone well overall, Kayla still felt a needle of guilt because she hadn’t been focused on her job. Instead, she’d spent hours battling to keep her mind from drifting to Matt as often as her gaze had.

God, why did he have to look so
good?
He even had a tan from his time spent in California and that honey tone to his skin only made his green eyes gleam with an almost otherworldly glow.

She’d managed to steer clear of him until they’d arrived here at the club. Now the four of them were clustered around a tiny table and Matt took any opportunity to let his leg brush against hers. With every single touch, she shivered, and she didn’t think Angie was buying her excuse of still feeling the outside cold. Because these shivers weren’t caused by the frigid temperatures, but by the heat only Matt could generate inside her.

Darn it.

They really hadn’t been able to talk much, thank heaven, because the band had been playing nonstop since the four of them arrived. But even as that thought drifted through her mind, the small blessing ended when the music suddenly stopped and the lead singer announced they would be taking a break. Silence crashed down on the room and was broken seconds later by the rise of laughter and conversation from the surrounding tables. Now was her chance to leave, Kayla thought, but before she could speak up, Angie did.

“Evan and I are going to head home. I think we’ve heard enough, haven’t we?”

Evan nodded. “Agreed. We’ll keep the band we already have booked.”

Suspicious, Kayla looked at her friend in time to see her flash a secret smile at Evan. Just as she’d thought, Angie had set this all up as a way to force Kayla and Matt together again. Well, that wasn’t going to work.

Kayla eagerly picked up her purse to leave, too, but her best friend stopped her. “Kayla, why don’t you and Matt stay on for a while? Maybe the band will get better.”

“Oh,” she said, shaking her head, “I don’t think—”

“We’ll be happy to,” Matt interrupted her, laying one hand on her forearm to hold her in place.

She tried desperately to ignore the sizzle of heat that shot up her arm to burn in the center of her chest.
One touch
, Kayla thought. One touch from him and she was on fire. How was that fair? Hadn’t her body learned the hard lesson her brain had over the past nine months? That she couldn’t let herself care? That she couldn’t trust what she felt for him because he so clearly wasn’t interested?

“That’s great.” Evan said, taking Angie’s hand. “We’ll see you guys later.”

“Right.” Matt had already shifted his gaze from their friends to Kayla and she couldn’t hide from the intensity in his eyes.

When they were alone again, Kayla picked up her glass of wine, took a long sip, and then set it down again before speaking. “Okay, why don’t you say whatever it is you have to say and get it over with.”