His gaze fell upon her lips, his eyes suffused with smoldering heat. Anticipation tightened her skin as Matt leaned forward. He reached across the table and swiped the corner of her mouth with the pad of his thumb. “Sugar,” he murmured.
Tamryn released a shaky breath. “Thank you,” she replied.
In that same low, seductive voice, he said, “Using my finger wasn’t my first choice.”
The current arcing between them was electric. The air? Magnetic. The sights and sounds of the noisy French Quarter faded away as they stared into each other’s eyes.
Tamryn gazed at him, completely mesmerized. “You’re dangerous, Matthew Gauthier.”
“Maybe,” he said. “But don’t let that stop you.”
She leaned forward, her lips inches from his.
And his phone rang.
Dammit.
Before he even knew who was on the other end of the line, Matt had already made the decision to murder him. He pulled the phone out and frowned at the number.
“I need to take this,” he told Tamryn. He had to turn away because that dazed, sultry look on her face sent his concentration to hell. “Hello?” he answered.
As he listened, his eyes slid shut. Corey Anderson, former Major Leaguer and current baseball coach of the Gauthier High School Fighting Lions, described the scene at the home of his wife’s grandmother, who was the head of the Gauthier Civic Association. This was just what hedidn’tneed right now.
“Dammit,” Matt cursed. “I’ll be there in an hour. Try to keep the pitchforks out of their hands.”
He ended the call and had to refrain from letting out another curse. Tamryn’s face no longer held that sensual, kissable look. He wanted her face to hold that look all the time.
“Is there a problem?” she asked.
“You can say that.” Matt rubbed the back of his neck. “Apparently, a member of the Gauthier Civic Association discovered that a group in Maplesville is planning to hold a carnival during the same week as Gauthier’s African American Heritage Festival.” He brought his hands forward and massaged his temples. “There’s been some…tension between the two towns ever since Maplesville got a new outlet mall.”
Matt’s stomach tensed every time he thought about that damn outlet mall. He cursed the day he’d ever contacted those developers. If it weren’t for his luring them to this area, that outlet mall wouldn’t be here and he wouldn’t have this secret weighing so heavily on him.
“Sounds like something the future state senator needs to get a handle on,” Tamryn said. “I guess that means I’ll have to get that tour of the Cabildo some other time.”
“Sorry about that,” Matt said. Then he grinned. “Actually, that’s a lie. I’m not sorry at all. I remember going there on a field trip back in junior high school. I was bored out of my mind.”
Tamryn’s brows narrowed with exaggerated censure. “This lack of respect for all the wonderful history surrounding you is so disappointing.”
“Maybe if I had a hot professor teaching me, I would have learned to appreciate it more.” He walked around to her chair, but instead of pulling it back, he lowered his head and trailed his lips up the side of her neck. “I think a couple of lessons are in order. What do you think, Professor West?”
“I think if I had you as a student, I wouldn’t get a bit of teaching done.”
“That’s the point,” he said against her neck.
They returned to the university so she could pick up her car, only to discover that it had a flat tire. Matt’s brows rose in surprised amusement as he listened to her light into the rental car company’s customer service rep.
“Remind me not to get on your bad side,” he said when she’d finished the call.
“I should have gone with another car rental company after the busted radiator,” she said, getting back into his car. “I’ll call around tomorrow.”
“Or you can borrow one from me,” Matt offered. She twisted in her seat, her mouth agape as she stared at him in disbelief. Matt shrugged. “I have an old Toyota that’s just sitting in the garage. It needs to be driven anyway.”
“I cannot borrow a car from you,” she said.
“You can if I insist,” he said. “Consider it my apology for the hell I put you through dodging your calls and emails these past six months.”
“Well, when you put it that way…”
