. While Hawk had driven the limo through Beverly Hills into Santa Monica, Matt had been very solicitous with her, stroking her face and placing his hand on her high while they leaned back in their leather seats and listened to jazz music playing.
They turned into where the art gallery that Matt favored was located and Hawk parked in the lot and went to help him out of the limo. C.J. discovered once again how much trouble she was in when she walked up the sidewalk to the gallery entrance with the pearly orbs moving inside of her the entire way…she had to force a smile on her face when a particularly sharp pang of pleasure hit her…and judging by the look on Matt's face, he knew damn well what was going on…after all, he's the one who inserted them inside of her.
But give her half a chance and she would get him back for it. She would make sure of it. But first she had to make it inside the gallery without climaxing in front of Santa Monica.
"You need any help," Matt asked as he walked beside her.
She shook her head.
"No…I'm fine…relaxed actually…it's a beautiful day…"
"Yes it is…and it's only going to get more so as each hour passes….it's always lovely this time of year."
She watched him open the door to the gallery and she walked through it, and her eyes widened as she saw the paintings hanging on display. They looked like originals by one of the top artists in L.A.
"Impressive…"
He just smiled as she walked around the main area gazing at the artwork. A man walked up to him.
"Mr. Houston…you're here early…"
"Traffic was light…is the artist here yet?"
The gallery owner nodded and offered them coffee or tea…but both Matt and C.J. demurred. She turned to look at Matt.
"So what are you interested in buying?"
His smile broadened.
"Oh I'm not interested in any of these paintings…"
The artist, a tall man with a smock on walked down the stairs that led to the loft to greet them.
"Ah…you're here…"
He appraised C.J. and she felt his gaze studying her intently…and she looked at Matt inquisitively but his face betrayed nothing.
"So are you ready to get started…"
C.J. looked over at him again.
"You mean me…I'm here with Matt…"
The artist looked at her and then at Matt.
"But I thought…"
Matt glanced over at C.J..
"Follow him up the stairs…I'll be right behind you."
Damn him, C.J. thought, it was hard enough to walk on the flat wearing the pearly orbs but he wanted her to climb a windy staircase to the loft with this artist. But she did and so did Matt and they saw the artist's canvas on an easel, a bunch of paints and a mixing palate.
And then she saw a worn couch in front of her.
"Why are we here?"
Matt smiled at C.J..
"I'm paying him to do your body portrait…it's a surprise…"
She raised her brows at him.
"It sure is…thanks for telling me…"
The artist looked at her.
"You can go into the dressing room to disrobe…"
To do what, did she just hear the guy right? He wanted her to take her clothes off?
"Matt…what's going on here?"
He rested his hands on her shoulders and looked directly at her.
"I'm paying for him to paint you dressed in just your lingerie…lying on the couch over there…"
Her eyes widened.
"You're kidding…"
"I'm not…now go over there and get out of those clothes…except for...you know…"
She looked at both of the men and walked behind a curtained area to take off her clothes…and then grabbed a robe to wrap around herself.
She took the robe off of herself and lay on the couch under the lighting and after giving her instructions on how to position herself, the artist started painting while Matt watched. The most gorgeous woman he'd ever seen though he'd been slow to admit it. But did she know who beautiful she looked?
C.J. just lay there posing for the artist who took his time painting her while her mind wandered. She didn't have any idea what was going on here…with her and Matt. What possessed him all of a sudden, that he had come on so strongly with her?
After all, it's not like they'd ever even talked about taking their relationship outside of the platonic stage…except for that conversation where they somehow decided they'd just be good friends…best friends and keep their hands off of each other. Sure they flirted with the boundaries they set for themselves…kissing and engaging in suggestive banter but it never went beyond that…except there had been that time she'd told him the three magic words.
The ones that could make a woman's heart sing and fill a man with fear and trepidation. Was that how Matt had looked at her when she told him she loved him…she had a hard time reading the face she knew so well. So many emotions appeared to war against each other on his face and he didn't say one word to her, just stroked her face tenderly with his fingers. But then Matt had been a man of few words, preferring action.
They'd been under siege when she made that proclamation…it just slipped out of her without any real thought. Except that they were about to die…after seeing their friend, Andrea a cop get shot to death literally silenced in midsentence by a sniper's bullet. Then hundreds of more gunshots had followed, piercing the windows and damaging the plaster walls around them.
So she'd said it…she told him before the words would die with her, the intensity of her feelings had multiplied overwhelming her in one moment. She realized now she shouldn't have ever told him those words…he'd never addressed them to her, not while he'd been on the run. Not after they'd gotten him back and life had gone back to normal.
Certainly not when he'd gotten engaged to Elizabeth within hours of meeting her it seemed. How could he make such a decision to ask a woman to marry her after knowing her so briefly? Matt had never dated women long before proposing to them…it'd been that way with his other fiancées as well…the ones who died.
Now, within months of his broken engagement he had hit on her…he'd done more than that and she let him because she'd wanted him just as much. Only she knew it wouldn't last, it couldn't and they'd have to figure out how to keep their friendship intact, their business partnerships and not let a weekend of sex and more sex come between them.
Why on earth was she thinking about this now? She should just relax and go with it…enjoy herself and enjoy him and his…gorgeousness. She knew it wouldn't last but right now she didn't care.
She'd figure out what to do when the time came to say goodbye to this chapter of their relationship.
Matt couldn't take his eyes off of her lying there cloaked only by a few scraps of lingerie which enhanced the ripe fullness of her body. Athletic, but also soft in the right places…she could keep up with the physical challenges of the job but she could fit just perfectly in a man's arms doing all kinds of things to make him crazy.
He was crazy…he knew it now. What on earth had he just done? He'd just spent the most passionate night in his life with his best friend…the one he had promised himself to keep his hands off and to keep out of his bed. It'd never work…he knew that…she would want something serious and he just didn't have that woven in his DNA or so he thought until he'd met up with Elizabeth. He'd been ready to settle down only…it hadn't worked out because they were too different in the most fundamental yet important ways.
So they said goodbye and went their separate ways. He'd thrown himself into his work and hit the Rolodex for a while and then something happened…something that made him rethink his life. He'd spent a weekend camping out in the desert with his cousin Will…who of course had been presumed dead for over 10 years when he'd really been a POW.
Now that he was back home, he was struggling to find his way…to rebuild his life in a world that had completely changed…had moved forward without him. They'd hit the beer and cooked over the campfire at night, they'd hiked and they'd spent hours under the night sky packed with stars talking about everything…including the future.
Will hadn't ever looked beyond the present when he'd been in that horrible camp. Now it lay in front of him, all the endless possibilities he thought were forever out of his reach. It overwhelmed him, nearly led him to suicide. But he'd learned to embrace those opportunities rather than to dread or fear them.
Matt had a different problem…he learned that nothing could be taken for granted. That what he thought he'd wanted…it just wasn't enough anymore. He wanted something else…his dreams had changed.
I'm going to go after them with everything I've got, he told himself on the drive back to L.A. after their trip.
Then he'd taken the steps to get there. Because he was a man of action…and he intended to follow through. Hoyt had asked him to do a favor for him and he'd agreed but that would only be a sidebar to his master plan.
So far it seemed to be going well but the weekend was still young.
