Even as she told him that, she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, her eyes latching on to his lips. Those perfectly shaped lips she had been dying to taste since meeting him. Why did his mouth appear so tempting? His mustache and beard made it even more so, while conveying a charisma that contributed to his overall handsomeness.
“What if I told you I was interested in more?” he asked in a deep, throaty voice.
“I’m not ready for more,” was her whispered response.
“Okay,” he replied, nodding.
Okay?If he truly meant that, then why were his hands still at her waist? Why had his mouth moved closer to hers? Why were her arms still around his neck? And why was her own mouth inching nearer to his?
When their lips were barely a breath away, she shifted her gaze to his eyes and saw they had darkened even more with desire. Unable to resist temptation, she eased closer and traced her tongue across his lips. Not once, but twice. Then she deliberately ground her hips into his.
“We shouldn’t be doing this, Matt,” she whispered, ignoring the fact that he wasn’t doing anything. She was. Making it quite apparent that her actions did not match her words.
When he didn’t say anything but continued to look at her with a heated gaze, she couldn’t summon another single argument. “Matt?” she whispered.
“Let’s put aside talking for now, Iris.”
Then he captured her mouth with a hunger she felt all the way from the top of her head to her toes. Those hot places in between seemed to flare up in a blaze at the feel of his hips rolling against hers while he took her tongue with an expertise that had her groaning. Then his mouth swallowed up each and every needy groan she made.
Never before had she been kissed so thoroughly. It was as if her entire body was in tune with his. She had become lost in every taste of him as her tongue joined his in a clash, not of wills but of desire. And when he tilted his head to position his mouth for deeper penetration, she knew then and there that Matt Caulder was a force to reckon with. He was a man who didn’t just deliver, but did so on a golden platter. Was that why she hadn’t tried to resist? Why she had succumbed to him so easily? So wantonly?
When he finally released her mouth, she dropped her head onto his chest, drawing in a deep breath and the masculine scent of him. What a kiss! Weren’t they too old to be sharing kisses that hot, mesmerizing and intense? He gently held her while stroking her back, and that’s when reality returned, and she knew she had to get control of herself.
Matt was someone she enjoyed hanging out with and talking to. He was also someone she had enjoyed kissing, but the latter should not have happened. They should not have shared that kiss.
Slowly lifting her head from his chest, she met his gaze. The minute their gazes connected, she felt an intense stirring in the pit of her stomach. One of a sexual nature.
“We can only be friends, Matt. I don’t want anything more than that,” she reiterated, just in case that message had gotten lost in their kiss.
She then opened the door and went inside.
Chapter Seven
The day had finally arrived, and at three o’clock, everyone began filing into the Westmoreland House. Iris glanced around the ballroom and quickly concluded that Pam had thought of everything. From all the pink and blue decorations, to arranging babysitters for the little kids on the second floor, to having Dylan Emanuel and his band, the Techstones—who had performed into the wee hours of last night—back on stage today as the opening act.
Riley Westmoreland’s wife, Alpha, who was an event planner, had decorated the ballroom—along with the help of her husband and other Westmoreland men—with the balloons, colorful streamers and the large banners Iris had picked up yesterday.
Over a thousand more balloons were held in nets made of opaque material and suspended from the ceiling. The color of the balloons needed to be concealed until it was time for the baby’s gender to be revealed. One of Iris’s jobs was to remotely release the balloons at that time. She couldn’t wait for that part.
Upon entering, depending on their gender prediction, everyone was asked to select either a pink or blue baby rattle filled with treats. It soon became obvious that the males were predicting a boy and the females a girl.
Iris found the entire thing amusing, since there were already more males in the Westmoreland family than females. To ensure that everyone, including those seated in the back, could get a clear view of the stage, several jumbotrons were strategically placed around the room. And servers, some dressed in pink and others in blue, walked around the party with food and drink trays.
Iris had attended several gender reveal parties but never had she felt so much excitement circulating in the room as she did with this one. The reason might have been that when Aidan and Jillian got married, they had established career goals they wanted to achieve before starting a family.
Achieving those meant living and working on the East Coast, away from their family and, oftentimes, apart from each other when they were assigned to work at different hospitals. However, regardless of the challenges, they had remained dedicated to each other and their love.
Now, after nearly seven years of marriage, Jill was five months pregnant, and the couple was eager to find out if their first child would be a boy or a girl. From the look on the attendees’ faces, they were eager to know as well.
Aidan Westmoreland was an identical twin of Adrian. And while growing up, few people could tell them apart. As kids, they were known to play tricks on relatives, teachers and other unsuspecting souls by switching their identities. It was easier to tell them apart now that Adrian sported a beard. Two years ago, Adrian and his wife, Trinity, became parents to a beautiful little girl they named Adriana, and they were already talking about having another child. Iris inwardly chuckled, thinking those Westmorelands definitely liked having babies.
She glanced across the room and saw Matt talking to his triplet cousins. She had been busy helping Pam with last-minute details, so their paths hadn’t crossed at all today. However, she had known the moment he entered the building. Like a magnet, his gaze had locked with hers. He had acknowledged her with a nod and smile, and she’d nodded and smiled back. Although they had tried ravishing each other’s mouths when they kissed last night, she was hoping he would take her at her word that she was not ready for anything beyond friendship.
Although she wanted to think the kiss had been a mistake, she refused to let her mind go there. She was mature enough to accept it was something they both had wanted to do—for curiosity or to satisfy a need, urge or craving. In other words, to get that itch out of their system. They did it. It happened. Now they could move on.
But still…accepting those reasons hadn’t kept her from dreaming about him last night, where in that fantasy they had done more than kiss. Nor did it keep her from tingling all over today whenever she thought about it. There had been something about a Matt Caulder kiss that made every part of her body come alive in ways it hadn’t before.
Then, after the kiss, when she had dropped her head to his chest, she had drawn in a deep breath and inhaled his scent. It was as if she were compelled to do it. Matt had his own masculine aroma. Even now, it seemed to be embedded in her skin in a way her morning shower hadn’t eradicated. The smell was intoxicating, but she refused to let it become addictive.