Captivated by the Tycoon (The Whittakers #4)(33)
Author: Anna DePalo

She perched on the end of the wood surface, her skirt riding high on her thighs. The need to be joined to him was a palpable ache.

He looked like a man on the edge. His jaw etched in stone, his eyes bright and dark.

He gave her a quick, hard kiss, and she leaned back, coming to rest on her elbows.

She heard a couple of heavy objects fall off the desk and clatter to the floor. A stapler? A tape dispenser?

Matt pulled at the zipper of her knee-high black leather boots, and she was turned on by the sight of his hands on the butter-soft leather.

“Leave them,” she said breathlessly.

“Yes,” he said in husky agreement, then reached beneath her skirt to grasp her underwear and pull it off.

She sat up enough to pull her sweater over her head, baring her lacy bra to his gaze.

Then somehow he was between her legs again. His shirt hung open, his pants undone, his tie hanging loose around his neck.

She grasped the dangling ends of his tie and used it to pull him down toward her.

He took a moment to undo the front clasp of her bra, allowing her br**sts to spring free so he could nuzzle and kiss them, before his mouth returned to hers.

There would be no barrier between them this time, she thought. They’d shared information about their sexual histories, and now, they’d opened up to each other in an even more profound way.

“You could get pregnant,” he muttered, as if reading her mind.

“Your questionnaire said you wanted kids,” she said simply.

His expression heated. “Yes, with you.”

He took his time to ready her with his hand, then he slid into her, filling her.

She closed her eyes and moaned.

Bliss.

He began to move inside her, and she helped him shift her to a better position.

She clung to him as they climbed, the world closing in around them, nothing but the sweet sensation between them existing, until finally she felt as if she was at the edge of the precipice.

Matt groaned. “Come on, honey.”

It was the last encouragement she needed before she went up and over, flying across the void to sweet release.

He followed her a moment later, pulling her tight to him and finding his release.

It was ecstasy, it was everything. Today was the start of the rest of their lives and she couldn’t wait for the rest to unfold.

“I love you,” she said.

“Likewise, sweetheart.” He kissed her nose. “Likewise.”

Epilogue

Life was good. Matt looked around him. It was the annual Memorial Day weekend barbecue at his parents’ sprawling home, and the Whittakers had come full circle.

Several years before, his sister-in-law Elizabeth had come to the barbecue, planning to have a baby on her own by using a sperm donor. Before anyone could blink, though, Elizabeth had become pregnant with Quentin’s baby. Their son had been born early the following year—the first Whittaker grandbaby.

Matt looked over at his brother and sister-in-law, who were talking with another couple under the shade of an oak tree in the Whittakers’ backyard. They’d been married over five years now and still looked unbelievably happy. Elizabeth’s design business continued to thrive, though she’d hired a couple of employees and scaled back on her own involvement since she’d had kids. And despite all odds, Elizabeth had become pregnant again and had recently given birth to baby Sophia.

Actually, Matt thought, the Whittakers had experienced something of a baby boom lately.

Allison had given birth last year to now fifteen- month-old Will. His sister was using her experience as a public prosecutor as a consultant for her husband’s security business.

In the next moment, Matt caught sight of Noah. Now that had been a surprise. Once perceived as the playboy Whittaker, Noah was now the father of one-year-old twins, Ella and Jake. Kayla, who was now freelancing for the Boston Sentinel, swore she never thought she’d see the day when Noah would be spending his time playing with dolls and building blocks.

“Why are you smiling?”

Matt grinned as he watched his wife toddle over to him. “Hey, you.”

At seven months pregnant, Lauren radiated happiness from the inside out.

The sonogram she’d had in her fifth month had shown they were expecting a boy, and they’d already settled on the name Fletcher, Lauren’s maiden name.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Lauren said as he draped an arm over her shoulders and pulled her close.

“Just thinking about us Whittakers.” He glanced around and then down at her. “A few years ago, we would have been prime candidates for Ideal Match. Now look at us.”

“And who do you guys have to thank for that?”

Matt glanced up to see Allison and Connor, who was holding Will, stroll up to join them.

“Hmm, let’s see.” He pretended to consider before asking skeptically, “You?”

“That’s right, big brother.” Allison nodded approvingly. “You may have been the last Whittaker standing, but you shouldn’t have thought for a minute that the rest of us would let you off the hook.”

“Let Matt off the hook for what?” Noah asked as he and Quentin and their wives walked up to them, kids in tow.

“For being the last Whittaker not married,” Allison replied.

Adjusting Sophia into his arms, Quent said, “That’s right, Matt. Did you really think Allison would rest before she got you hooked up?”

Matt quirked a brow. “All she did was suggest I hire a matchmaker.”

“Not just any matchmaker,” Allison corrected. “Lauren Fletcher of Ideal Match.”

He groaned. “Don’t tell me it was a deliberate choice.”

“Okay, I won’t,” Allison said sweetly, and everyone else laughed.

Sometimes his sister confounded him, Matt thought. “How could you have known?”

“For starters, Lauren was—is—one of the best,” Allison responded.

Well, that was true. Though Lauren had recently taken on Candace as a partner and had hired a sassy new receptionist, Matt knew she wanted to keep a hand in the development of her business. She was, in fact, planning to write a book based on her experiences as Dr. Date.

“Second,” Allison went on, “I knew Lauren had once been engaged to your old classmate Parker, and I remember you got rather tight-lipped, Matt, right around the time the newspapers reported the wedding had been called off.”

“And from that flimsy evidence you deduced Lauren and I were soul mates destined to spend our lives together?” he asked skeptically.