All Your Loving (Bachelors & Bridesmaids) (9 page)

He caught her watching him and smiled. She immediately looked away. She'd shivered a little at the purposeful look in his eyes when he'd told her he was going to change her mind about him. The more she challenged him, the more he wanted to show her that she was wrong and he was right. If she started gazing at him with adoring eyes, telling him how wonderful he was and saying she'd date him any place any time, he probably wouldn't be that interested.

Obviously, she'd played him all wrong.

Only she hadn't been playing; she'd just been honest and that had somehow increased Matt's interest in her. He enjoyed challenges and he was driven to win.

But he wasn't going to win her.

She might like him more than she'd expected to, but bottom line there could never be anything serious between them, not with her history. She had a lot more to lose than just a firmly entrenched opinion about baseball. She couldn't put her heart on the line and have another ballplayer break it.

Forcing thoughts of Matt out of her head, she concentrated on the dance, putting all of her energy into every move, so that she could get rid of the restless desire that seemed to course through her whenever she got close to Matt.

An hour later the class ended. She grabbed a drink of water as Matt took a towel from Isabella and wiped off his sweaty face.

"You were very good," Isabella told Matt. "Nice moves for a beginner. And you weren't bad either, Julie. You have the second dance down."

"Thanks, you're a great teacher."

"I agree," Michael said as he and Liz joined them. "I worked up a sweat and an appetite. Who wants to go out for pizza? My treat."

"I wish I could go," Isabella said with an apologetic smile. "But I have a family thing. Maybe next Sunday—if you guys come back for another class."

"You're on," Michael said. He turned to Julie and Matt. "What about you two?"

Before she could answer, Matt jumped in. "Sounds good to me. I'm starving."

"Great," Liz said, obviously happy with Matt's answer. "We can all get to know each other better." She sent Julie a pointed look. "Right Jules?"

"Okay," Julie said, knowing she didn't have much choice but to agree. And there was no danger in a group, right? Pizza and beer—what could go wrong?

* * *

An hour later, Julie knew exactly what could go wrong. Seated in a corner booth at Vincenzo's with Matt, Liz and Michael, Julie had quickly become the focus of the conversation as Matt pressed Liz for information about Julie.

"Tell me what Julie was like in high school?" Matt asked.

Liz smiled. "Well, Julie and I were kind of outside the popular group."

"Kind of?" Julie echoed.

Liz made a face of her, then turned to Matt. "I was really intense. I liked to run for office a lot, even though I usually lost to Michael, who was the star athlete and the most popular kid in the class."

"What can I say?" Michael said with a helpless shrug.

"Nothing, so you can be quiet," Liz told him. "Julie was part of the uncool band kid group."

"Oh, yeah?" Matt asked, turning to her with new interest in his eyes. "What did you play?"

"The flute," she said.

"Was it a marching band?"

"On occasion."

"Do you still play?"

"Not often."

"I had no idea you played an instrument," he mused. "Interesting."

She had no idea why he thought that was interesting, but then he'd been looking at her all evening like she was a puzzle he had to figure out. Apparently, Liz had just given him another piece of the puzzle.

"Oh my God," Liz said suddenly.

"What?" Julie asked, surprised and wary of the eager light in Liz's face.

"I just had a phenomenally good idea. You should play at our wedding. I've been wanting to have an instrumentalist, and I was thinking guitar, but a flute would be pretty, and you are so good."

"I haven't practiced seriously in years," she protested.

"You'll get it right back, I'm sure," Liz said confidently.

"No, it's too much pressure. If I screwed up, I'd ruin your wedding. I think you should hire a professional."

"Our wedding is going to be a small affair with family and close friends. I would much rather have you play something than a stranger."

"But I'm going to be your maid of honor," she reminded Liz.

"You could do both. Just one or two songs before the ceremony starts. It would really mean a lot to me, and you owe me, Jules. I listened to you practice a lot in high school and college, too. Let's not forget that you had thoughts of joining an orchestra at one point."

"So music was more than a childhood passion?" Matt questioned.

"I had thought about playing in an orchestra, but I wasn't good enough." She turned back to Liz. "I'll think about it. But no promises."

"I'll take that for now, but we are going to keep talking about it," Liz said.

Knowing the level of Liz's stubbornness, Julie thought it would probably be a good idea to pull out her flute very soon.

"What about guys?" Matt asked Liz. "Did Julie have any notable high school boyfriends?"

"You know I'm right here," Julie interrupted.

"Yeah, but you're not going to tell me anything," Matt said with a grin. "I think Liz will give me more information."

"There is no information," Julie said. "I didn't have any boyfriends in high school. Tell him, Liz."

"What about Shawn Parker?" Liz asked.

"He was my biology lab partner. The only thing he was interested in was whether I would dissect the frog when he got grossed out."

"That's true. But you did take him to that one dance."

"Only because I didn't want to sit at home and be a total loser," she retorted. "But he was definitely not my boyfriend."

"Okay, I'll agree with that," Liz said. She looked at Matt. "Julie didn't have a boyfriend, but she did have a lot of guys who were interested in her. She just didn't realize it."

"You are so lying," Julie said.

"No, she's not," Michael put in. "I know a lot of guys who wanted to date you, but they were afraid to ask you. You had a definite hands-off vibe about you, especially senior year."

Which had been after her dad left. That entire year had passed in a blur of pain and anger.

"Julie always thought that the guys only wanted to talk to her because she was Jack Michaels' kid," Liz interjected.

"That was the reason most of them were interested," she said. "They thought I could get them tickets, or I could hook them up with my dad's agent. It didn't matter that my dad had divorced my mother. They were still convinced I could do something for them. When they finally figured out I couldn't or wouldn't, they quickly disappeared."

"Not all of the guys were like that," Liz said quietly. "But you were anti-men for a while there."

She shrugged, knowing that Liz was right, but what did it matter now?

"I know what it feels like to have people use you to get ahead," Matt said, giving her a compassionate look. "I'm sure Michael does, too. I'm sorry you went through that Julie."

"Thanks," she said, surprised and touched by his words. A look passed between them that went on far too long, but she couldn't seem to drag her gaze away from Matt. Was it possible that this guy she should hate actually understood her better than anyone else?

Liz cleared her throat. "We're going to get going. I have to finish up some work before my early call tomorrow. Will we see you guys next week?"

"I should be able to come," she said. "I'm not sure Matt wants to repeat the class."

"I'll see what my schedule is," Matt said. "I wouldn't mind doing it again. It was more fun than I expected."

"Matt, it was great to meet you. I hope to see more of you in the future," Liz said. She gave him a pointed smile. "Don't let Julie scare you off."

Matt smiled back at Liz. "I don't scare easily.

Julie sighed. "Again, I'm right here."

Liz laughed. "Bye. Talk to you soon."

"Goodnight," she said, giving Michael a smile as he followed Liz out of the restaurant. She turned back to Matt. "Are you ready to go?"

"Sure."

"I'm glad you enjoyed the class," she said, as they walked down the street. "Or were you just saying that to be nice?"

"I never say what I don't mean," he told her.

"Never? You make a lot of big claims, Matt. You don't break promises. You don't say what you don't mean…"

He put his hand on her arm, stopping her in the middle of the sidewalk. "Maybe I feel the need to be direct, because it's clear you don't trust me."

"I don't know you well enough to trust you."

"That's why we're spending time together."

"Is that why?" she asked, feeling a little bewildered by it all.

"Well, there's this, too."

He lowered his head and covered her mouth with his.

Chapter Seven

Matt's hot breath mixed with the cold night air and all Julie wanted to do was get closer to the heat. He kissed the way he did everything else—with focus, energy and determination to get it right—and it certainly felt right. His lips were firm, his tongue a devilish delight, and the way he slid that tongue in and out of her mouth made her heart pound against her chest.

He angled his head to gain better access, and she went with him, kissing him back with a fervor that surprised herself. But she'd wanted another kiss since the last one they'd exchanged. And even if it was stupid and reckless, she couldn't seem to stop herself from tangling her tongue with his and letting desire and emotion take over.

Kissing Matt was like getting on a runaway train. The thrills kept building, but at some point she started to worry what would happen in the end.

Would they crash or would one of them be able to throw on the brakes at the last minute? And would that person be her?

It turned out to be Matt who lifted his head first, who stared down at her with intense, glittering eyes that told her just how much he wanted her.

She drew in a gulp of air as she tried to catch her breath.

Matt's hands fell from her waist as he stepped away and ran a hand through his hair in what appeared to be bewilderment. "That was…"

She waited somewhat breathlessly for him to finish that sentence, but he couldn’t seem to find the word he wanted. "Amazing, fantastic, unbelievable," she prodded.

He smiled. "All of the above."

"Yes," she agreed. After the way she'd kissed him, there was no point in trying to pretend she wasn't attracted to him. "But we can't do it again."

"Why not?"

"You know why," she said, waving a vague hand in the air.

"Are you really going to let my job stop you from going out with me?" he asked. "Haven't we moved past that?"

"We can never move past it. And while the ride with you might be really fun and exciting, I know what happens at the end."

You're jumping ahead, Julie. We're just having fun. Tonight doesn't have to be the start or the end of anything. It's just tonight. Live in the moment."

It was hard to argue with logic, but she knew they were only postponing the inevitable.

Matt turned his head toward the sound of music wafting down the street. "Let's go check that out."

"I'd rather just go home," she said, but Matt was already walking down the street.

She jogged a little to catch up with him and then followed him into a dimly lit bar where a female folk singer strummed a guitar and sang about love and heartbreak. The woman was good, and the music seemed more than a little appropriate Julie thought. Maybe they should listen to the music. Maybe they should pay attention to the lyrics, too.

"Let me buy you a drink," Matt said. "It's still early."

"All right." As much as she knew she needed to say goodbye to Matt, she wasn't quite ready.

They sat down at a table and ordered two beers while they listened to the singer. The bar was only half-f, and all attention was on the woman whose smoky voice commanded attention.

"She's really good," Matt said when the woman paused between songs to grab a bottle of water.

"She is," Julie agreed. "She has a soulful tone to her voice. It's pretty."

"Tell me about your former music ambitions."

"You already heard pretty much the whole story."

"I don't think I did. Liz mentioned that when you were playing in college, you wanted to get into an orchestra. Why didn't that happen?"

"I wasn't good enough."

He stared back at her, doubt in his eyes.

"What? You don't believe me?" she challenged.

"You don't seem like a woman who just quits."

"Sometimes you have to accept reality. Not every little boy who dreams of being a professional baseball player makes it to the big leagues. And not every girl who plays the flute makes it into a professional orchestra. Some dreams don't come true."

Her words only deepened his frown.

"I'm not being negative," she said defensively. "I'm just practical. Sometimes chasing an impossible dream is a waste of time."

"Is that being practical or being afraid of putting it all on the line?" he challenged.

"It's being practical," she said, refusing to let his question sway her. "It's not about fear. It's about playing the cards you're dealt."