she whispered back, knowing her eyes revealed everything she was feeling in case he’d missed it in her husky voice.
“You want to leave?”
Yes!
“And miss the keynote?”
His lips twitched with amusement. “You want to go first and meet in the lobby in fifteen minutes or shall we leave together?”
Whether it was for her privacy or his, she liked that he was giving her the option to choose to leave together, which implied he didn’t mind anyone knowing he was with her, or their leaving separately so no one would be the wiser. It was up to her to decide how they proceeded.
Still, she had a few things to clarify first.
“Are you single?”
Obviously startled at her question, he nodded.
“Then meet me by the fountain in ten.” She pushed back her chair and quietly excused herself from the group at their table.
As she weaved her way through the tables to where she could make her escape, Natalie fought kicking up her high heels with joy. She felt good, light, feminine. And, even though she worried about stumbling, she was glad she had on her heels because they plumped her calves and made her legs look toned. She wanted to look good because Matthew’s gaze was on her. She could feel it as surely as if his hands traced over her skin.
She made it out the door just before a happy giggle bubbled from her lips. This was crazy. She was behaving like a teenager sneaking out of the house to meet a boyfriend. She was a grown woman sneaking out of a conference keynote to meet an attractive man in the lobby.
Despite her bravado at the idea of a short-term affair with Matthew, she hadn’t actually ever had an affair. She and Jonathan had dated for several months prior to their having sex, and she’d cared about him. She’d never had any desire for a physical relationship prior to him. She’d been too busy focusing on her studies, her career, determined to make a difference in pediatric cardiology.
Honestly, despite Monica’s and Suzie’s advice to “get laid” this weekend, she’d had no intention of doing so. Not until she’d seen Matthew at the airport and he’d cast a spell over her mind and body to where she craved him.
Still, what if she couldn’t go through with sex for the sake of sex and Matthew got upset?
She hesitated outside the ballroom door.
Stop it, she scolded herself. Just stop overthinking and go with the flow. Emotional commitment was overrated. Just look at what had happened with her last committed relationship.
Whether it was because of the blow Jonathan’s cheating had done to her ego or because she was hundreds of miles from home, or some unknown reason, she wasn’t going to let her brain get in the way of her having a good time. Excitement surged through every inch of her body. Excitement that she was doing something outside her comfort zone. Excitement that a sexy man looked at her as if he wanted to yank off her clothes and kiss her all over.
For the next three days she’d let whatever happened between her and Matthew happen, and not dwell on the possibility that after the conference ended it was unlikely she’d ever see him again.
Wasn’t that actually perfect? Because she needed to focus on Memphis Children’s Hospital and upping their pediatric cardiology department to the next level. To stepping up to the new role the hospital was going to offer her. She didn’t need Matthew, or anyone else, distracting her.
But at the moment she was in Florida at a gorgeous resort hotel and she was going to enjoy the rest of the evening.
With Matthew.
Suzie and Monica would be proud.
Unable to drag his gaze from Natalie’s retreating backside, Matthew knew he wasn’t fooling a single person in the room. At the moment he didn’t care.
He should care.
He had a child to think about, so his behavior mattered. He had to set a good example for Carrie.
But Carrie was in Memphis with his mother, as Matthew had signed up for this continuing education conference before he’d known he was going to be raising his god-daughter. He’d started to cancel, but his mother had pushed him not to, saying he needed a weekend to decompress after the past few months. Carrie was better off with his mother than she was with him anyway.
His heart pinched as he thought of Robert and Carolyn. The couple had died much too soon in a small plane crash, leaving their most precious possession to him. Four-year-old Carrie.
What had his best friends been thinking? Although serious in his professional life, he’d been a happy-go-lucky bachelor who knew how to have a good time without the burden of commitment.
Robert had been Matthew’s best friend since grammar school. They’d gone through university then med school together. He’d been there when Carolyn had stolen his friend’s heart, had been best man at their wedding, had been there for Carrie’s birth.
Having been only children to single moms, neither Robert nor Carolyn had had any living family and had asked Matthew to be Carrie’s godfather prior to her birth. Not believing he’d ever actually be raising the little girl, Matthew had agreed. Nothing was supposed to have happened to his friends.
But three months ago, it had. Something horrible that neither he nor Carrie would recover from, when the couple’s small-engine plane had crashed, instantly killing them both.
If only his friends had made better arrangements for their daughter. Surely anything would have been better than him.
Matthew paused outside the ballroom door. What was he doing? His life was in total upheaval. He should not get involved with Natalie or any other woman when his world was so topsy-turvy.
Wasn’t that why he’d hesitated to accept Natalie’s invitation to sit beside her?
To let her think there could be anything between them would be wrong. He had a whole new messed-up life he had to figure out. Until he did, Carrie had to be his priority. Only, so long as he made sure Natalie knew that whatever happened in Miami would end in Miami, there was no reason why they couldn’t enjoy the next few days. He needed the next few days. He’d not had sex in months. Not since before his friends had... Hell, he didn’t want to think of that anymore.
Natalie would likely tell him to kiss her lovely behind when he told her he couldn’t offer more than a few days of fun in the sun. Sure, there had been a rare moment when he’d been at Robert and Carolyn’s that he’d envied their relationship, the closeness they shared. But he had never actively thought about marriage or a long-term relationship for himself. He liked being single, liked being able to do what he wanted when he wanted with whomever he wanted, that if he wanted to stay at the hospital for twenty-four hours straight there was no one to complain or be disappointed that his work meant more than they did.
All that had changed with Carrie. Now, whether he wanted to or not, he had to keep a regular schedule, had to come home at night.
He raked his fingers through his hair. Yeah, he hadn’t been free to do much of anything over the past three months. Instead, he’d been trying to figure out what to do with the sweetest
