Romancing Her Protector Read online

  “Whoa!” Shay said when a sudden gush of wind caused Matty’s Mercedes to move sideways. “What was that?”

  “Wind shear,” Matty said, able to steer it back onto the road but only after some effort. “It’s getting worse out here. We’re going to have to pull over.”

  “Pull over?”

  “Either that or flip over, yes ma’am. We’re still a good distance away from Franklin U. We’re not going to make it.” A bolt of lightning that gave even Matty pause lit up the sky.

  “Are there any lodgings, motels, anything like that near here?”

  “A motel?”

  “Yes, Shanita, a motel. I don’t trust parking on the side of the road, not with these winds picking up the way they are. We’ve got to get indoor shelter.” Matty sounded almost panicky, but Shay couldn’t help it. Just because he was a known face where she worked didn’t mean she knew him like that. But when the wind, once again, blew the car sideways and nearly off of the road, she got serious.

  “Turn left up on South Benn coming up,” she quickly said. “There’s this little place a couple blocks from there.”

  TWO

  That “little place” turned out to be more like a little roach motel in one of the more dilapidated parts of town. Shay waited in the car while Matty went to secure a room. Or would he secure two rooms? It occurred to her that he was the type who would do just that.

  He was the one, in fact, who had said they would stay in the lobby of the motel and wait out the storm, only to discover that there was no lobby but only a little cubby-hole where the attendant took your money behind a bullet proof glass.

  He secured one room, with one bed, claiming that that was the only room the place had available. Shay didn’t know if she was being played, but she knew she couldn’t sit out in the car, not with the way the wind was whipping and twirling, and the thunder and lightning was piercing the sky. Had to be 50-60 mile-an-hour winds, if you asked Shay. Not to mention the rain. She got out of the car, and ran into the room.

  By the time they entered the small room that smelled of mothballs and some cheap air freshener, Shay was so drenched that she looked as if her clothes had been ironed onto her body, with no daylight between skin and clothing.

  “Get in the bathroom and change,” Matty said, turning off the against-the-wall AC, anxious to get out of his wet clothes too, as soon as she left the room.

  “Change into what?” Shay asked in a broken voice as the super-cold room caused her to immediately get the chills.

  “There should be a robe of some kind in there, I would imagine,” he said, looking at her summer wear of shorts, sandals, and a t-shirt so thin the outline of not only her breasts, but the flatness of her stomach, could be seen, “or just use the towels if there’s no robe. But change.”

  “I’m freezing!” she said as she hurried into the bathroom and closed the door. He knew they would have to bundle up together if he expected to get her warm. What he didn’t know was if she would fight it tooth and nail. Although she was young, there was a worldly, almost sophisticated quality about her that made him wonder if she was more experienced than meets the eye.

  But he didn’t worry about it long, because he was freezing too. He got out of his clothes quickly, flapping his Armani suit over a broken down chair as if it was some off-the-rack, buy-one-get-one free polyester number from Sears. When he was naked, down only to his socks, and was ready to get in bed out of sight of his young companion, a wrenching scream came from the bathroom as the door flew open and Shay, stock-naked, ran straight for him and jumped into his arms. She was looking back, toward the bathroom, in terror.

  “What is it?” Matty asked, looking toward the bathroom too, ready to drop her on the bed and hurry to take care of whatever it was. Until he heard what it was.

  “A spider!” she yelled, wiggling in his arms, looking back one way and then the other as if the creature was going to run out of the bathroom like some saliva-spewing, bow-legged alien out of a Sci-Fi movie.

  Matty laughed, enjoying her in his arms. “A spider, Shanita?”

  “That thing big as a Volkswagen, it ain’t funny!”

  “Okay,” he said, although he really did want to laugh. He turned back the bedspread and attempted to lay her down on the bed. But she wiggled again, looking this time at the bed itself.

  “There could be spiders in that bed, too, why you laughing?”

  “I’m sorry, it’s just that. . . But look,” he said, lifting the bedspread to reveal a clean, white sheet, “no spiders at all. All right?”

  Shay wasn’t all right, but she knew she had to lay or sit somewhere. He found her ridiculous, but he didn’t understand. She had a fear, an out-and-out phobia, for all things spider, snake, or rat. Had that phobia when she was on the streets, had it all her life. That was why, when he did lay her down, she continued to be hyper-vigilant, looking under the covers again even though Matty had already showed her that the coast was clear, looking toward the bathroom door as if an alien creature was ready to run out and get her.

  “And close the door while you try to find it so it won’t come out of there!” she yelled as Matty went into the bathroom. He closed the door and had a quiet laugh before he got down to business.

  Shay lay on her back in bed and tried to calm herself down. She felt like a chump, like one of those helpless females who always needed the big, strong man to come to the rescue, but she couldn’t help it. She hated spiders. Hated them! And when she saw one crawling across that bathroom floor she nearly broke her neck getting out of that room. When she saw Matty standing there, all naked and fine, and when he took her into his arms, she knew she would be all right. It was an odd feeling for her, since she never relied on anybody for anything, but that was how she felt.

  Matty’s feelings weren’t as cut and dry as Shay’s as he peeled around that small bathroom looking for some elusive spider. When he saw her naked body come toward him, despite her hysteria, his loins throbbed at just the sight of her. Her nice little breasts were bouncing, her narrow hips and slender thighs were bobbling, and her dark skin had him salivating for her. She had that same dark chocolate skin Alex had, and she reminded him of the Alex he once knew of nearly a decade ago. Back in the day Alex had that wonderfully unique, independent spirit too. Now she just had independence.

  Shay’s clothes were still all over the floor where she left them and Matty, ever the clean freak, picked them up and hung them over the shower stall. Hopefully they would be dry by morning as it was appearing to him highly likely, given the way the rain and the wind continued outside, that they would be spending the night in that tiny motel room. Which, he also had to acknowledge, after seeing that ripe little body of Shay’s in the flesh, wasn’t an altogether unpleasant prospect for him.

  “There you are,” he said when the spider finally came into view, lumbering out from behind the commode. And Shay wasn’t joking. That thing was big as a Buick. But not so big that he couldn’t grab a glob of tissue and smash it. And then flush the remains down the toilet.

  When Shay heard the toilet flush and then saw Matty come out of the bathroom, she sat straight up in bed, her bedspread falling around her waist, so caught up in the moment that she didn’t realize how exposed she was. “Did you kill it?” she asked ever so anxiously.

  Her big, sincere eyes softened Matty. And a wave of protectiveness suddenly washed over him. “Yes,” he found himself saying, “it’s out to sea now.” Shay fell back down, her head hitting the pillow hard, her ripe little juicy melons, Matty couldn’t help but notice, bouncing on the hit. She looked so relieved, yet still so disturbed, that it disturbed him. He walked over to the bed and stood over her, unable to restrain himself from laying his hand on her soft, smooth face.

  “What’s the matter now?” he asked her, disturbed that she always looked so worried.

  “That spider will never travel your way again.”

  Shay looked at him, with her eyes almost by reflex going to his long, thick pen
is first.

  When she realized her error, she looked up into his eyes. His hand felt so good on her face, and his scent felt so masculine and strong, she didn’t quite know how to respond. There was a reaction within her, deep within her, that was almost foreign to her.

  Not that she didn’t understand about men and women and all that they did together, she did understand. But it was just that she’d never done any of those things before. Besides, it was all so confusing to her. Here she went from near hysteria over a spider in the bathroom, to lust over some man at her bed. And not just any man, but a big, strapping, beautiful man like Matty. And she suddenly felt overwhelmed.

  He seemed to notice her apprehension because he just stood there and studied her, as if he was attempting to make a decision about her, too. And then he moved his hand from her face to her arm. “Scoot over,” he said in a kind of quiet voice that made clear, it seemed to her, that sleep wasn’t the main reason he wanted to get in bed with her.

  She moved over. And they lay there, both on their backs deep under the bedspread, staring at the water-stained ceiling above them.

  “This isn’t exactly the Ritz-Carlton, is it?” he said and Shay smiled.

  “It’s shelter from the storm. No more, no less.”

  Matty looked at her. “Still cold?”

  She nodded.

  “Okay, come here,” he said, turning on his side and opening his arms to her. It was risky, he knew it was risky, but she needed his body heat to keep her warm.

  Shay moved into him with no reluctance. She knew she needed his body heat and welcomed it. And when his big arms encircled her, and pulled her against his rock-solid body, she felt as if she was getting so much more.

  “You okay?” he asked her. “I’m not holding you too tightly, am I?”

  “No, not at all. Thanks.”

  Human affection had always been difficult for Shay. Ever since she excitedly went up to the man who owned the corner drugstore, the man her mother had claimed was her father, and he told her to her face that she was no kid of his and he’d better never hear her tell a living soul such a lie, she’d been leery of ever exposing her true feelings so blatantly. And whether it was he who was telling the big lie, or her mother, it didn’t matter to her after that day. She left that little depressing town of Monticello, Florida, and never saw either one of them again.

  “So ShayShay is afraid of spiders,” Matty said, smiling.

  Shay could smile this time, because she felt completely protected. “I can’t help it. I just hate those things.”

  He ran his hand through her hair. “What else are you afraid of, Shanita?” She shrugged her small shoulders. “Lots of things.”

  Matty stared at her hair. “Including men?” He said this and then looked at her. She looked up at him. She wasn’t an old, experienced hand at this, but she knew what he meant.

  “Depends on the man,” she said.

  Matty smiled weakly. “Good answer,” he said. Then he stared at her. “I’ve always found you attractive, Shay, you know that?”

  “I know that. Just like you find Jessica attractive, and Lola, and Bridget, and every half-decent looking waitress in Stop Gap, attractive.”

  Matty laughed. “Ouch. Are you always this brutally honest?”

  “With other people? Yes. With myself? Not so much.”

  This surprised Matty. “Why wouldn’t you be honest with yourself?”

  “Nobody really is, are they? It’s too raw, too real, nobody can deal with the unvarnished truth when it comes to themselves. Or maybe some people can, I don’t know.

  But I know I can’t. I don’t even try anymore.”

  “Are you dating right now, Shay?”

  Right now, Shay wanted to say. What about never? Guys found her too odd, too quick to cut through their bullshit, for them to bother. “No,” she said.

  Matty believed her. “I understand why.”

  This offended Shay. Did he think her odd, too? “What do you mean?”

  “I mean you’re your own person. You don’t play the games, you don’t go along with the dating rituals, you’ll make a young man work for the privilege to get to know you better.” This interested Shay. “And because of that they don’t want to know me better?”

  “They don’t want to put in the work.”

  Shay smiled. “Yeah, I guess I am a piece of work.” She and Matty both laughed.

  “What about you?” she asked when the laughter died back down. “Are you seeing somebody right now?”

  Matty hesitated. His separation from Alex was still raw. “No,” he said truthfully.

  “Although I had been in a long-term relationship.”

  “It recently ended?”

  “A month ago, yes.”

  “A clean break, hun?”

  Matty didn’t respond. He was no liar, and wasn’t about to become one now. He had just seen Alex earlier that day, after she insisted she had some problem she needed his help with. And when he saw that gorgeous dark chocolate face of hers he had come to adore, and she ran to him and threw her arms around him, he thought for sure he would forgive her everything, including her fling with lover boy football coach, and take her back.

  But it was all bullshit in the end, he quickly discovered, when she immediately launched into the real reason she needed him. And it, of course, had less to do with him, and everything to do with his wallet: the annual, elites only campus ball-slash-retreat was coming up the end of next month and she had seen this necklace in Tiffany’s that she wanted him to purchase for her. List price: $61,989.00.

  It was Matty’s fault, and he knew it. He had spoiled her that way. When they first met, she was smart and self-sufficient and exactly the kind of woman he wanted. And he wanted her desperately. She was in college, completing all of her degrees in the world of academia, and he had foregone college to stake his claim in the world of business. And as soon as he made it big, he wanted her to share in his newfound wealth. He lavished her, not with what she needed, but with whatever her eye found pleasing. With jewels and furs and designer everything clothing, because he knew she loved those things.

  Now she seemed to love those things more than she loved him, which was heartbreaking for Matty. Almost as heartbreaking for him as that day, a month ago, when he found out she was sleeping around with the football coach.

  She wanted Matty still today, she insisted, but only if he was willing to have that open relationship she wanted. In other words, as long as he was cool with her banging the football coach. Matty was a one-woman kind of man, and wasn’t about to share his woman with anybody else. He said no. End of story.

  But, of course, his history with Alex went far too deep, and was far too involved, for the story to ever truly end.

  “What if it’s not a clean break?” he finally asked Shay, in answer to her question.

  “Would that be a disqualifier?”

  Shay thought about this. She knew where this conversation was heading. She knew by night’s end something was going to happen between them. What she wasn’t sure about was what. “For sex, no,” she finally said. “For more than that, yes.” Matty loved her honesty. He wrapped her tighter into his arms and raised her chin so that they were eyeball to eyeball. “And if it’s only sex, can you handle a one-night stand?” He asked this with a little brutal honesty of his own, making clear in his question that what they were about to do, if they agreed to do it, would lead to nothing else. He still had too much of Alex on his brain to launch into another heavy duty affair.

  Shay felt her entire body clench at just the thought of it. What on earth was she about to get herself into? But looking now, into Matty’s caring eyes, made her know she wanted to get into it. She wanted it, maybe even needed it, desperately. “Yes, I can handle it,” she finally said.

  Matty wasn’t sure if she could or couldn’t. He’d yet to meet a woman who could.

  They’d say so upfront, insist they wanted it to be a no strings affair just as much as he did, but th
en later insist on those very strings.

  But Shay was different. For one thing, he always viewed her as a woman who danced to the beat of her own tune and wouldn’t allow herself to let any man define her. His strange concern, in fact, wasn’t so much that Shay would want strings attached, but that he might, which, given his emotional state, was crazy.

  But the circumstances, tonight, were too ripe. It was raining outside, the thunder and lightning were unrelenting, and Shay was lying her very desirable naked little body against him.

  And just thinking about it, and feeling her breasts prick his chest, her flat belly push against his ever-expanding penis, made his desire for her rise to a level that was beginning to become essential. He pulled her closer still. “Feel better?” he asked her.

  She smiled, because she actually did. “Yes. Thanks. Those chills are gone. But it still sounds awful outside.”

  “Yes, it does,” Matty said, as he continued to hold her, to brush her hair out of her face, to feel her body against his.

  His nearness was also affecting Shay in a profound way. And that was why she loved when he touched her face. Only Matty didn’t’ stop with a touch. He began to rub her cheeks, and then to caress her back, her buttocks, unable to stop drinking up the fresh, sweet scent of her, the feel of her supple body, the pure, wonderful innocence in her eyes.

  And then he placed her chin in his hand, and kissed her on the lips.

  There was a tenderness to his kiss, Shay thought, an almost restraint to it. But more than that there was a feeling that was coming over her that caused her entire body to move closer to him, to rub up against him. And when her reaction caused his kiss to deepen, she knew she was treading on an icy, unfamiliar, but wonderful terrain.

  He kept kissing her, kept rubbing her, kept moaning as if he was going to crush her by the will of his lust alone. His lips moved from her mouth to her face to her neck to her breasts and he lingered there. Kissing her and sucking her so much, for so long, that she began to feel impaled by him. She wrapped herself into this powerful man, unsure if she could handle any heightened intensity.