Miss Match Read online

  “Is that okay?” she asked against smiling lips.

  Lucinda laughed and kissed her once more before leaning back. “Is it okay that you bought all of my toiletries, lotions, and hair products and stocked your master bathroom with them for me? Um, yeah, it’s okay.” She paused for a moment, looking at Samantha with such affection and love that Samantha was burning under the gaze, but she didn’t look away. She never wanted to be outside of the adoration that was reflected in those eyes.

  “I don’t sleep as well without you, I miss you when you’re gone,” Samantha admitted quietly. “I want you to be as comfortable in my home as I am in your arms.”

  Lucinda reached over and took the glass gently from Samantha’s hand, placing it on the counter. She wrapped Samantha’s legs around her waist while sliding her hands under Samantha’s ass and lifted her off the counter.

  Samantha instinctively held her arms tighter around Lucinda’s neck as Lucinda started kissing across her collarbone and along the column of her neck. She walked them slowly through the kitchen to the bedroom. She pressed wet kiss after wet kiss along Samantha’s jaw as she held her close, cradling her ass in her hands as they approached the bed. She stopped at the edge of the bed, bringing her lips to Samantha’s, holding her tightly.

  “I want to spend every minute of every day with you,” she whispered across Samantha’s kiss-plumped lips.

  Samantha whimpered softly as Lucinda lowered her gently to the bed, breaking the kiss as she knelt in front of her, rubbing her hands up and down Samantha’s thighs before she began to slowly undress her. Samantha’s eyes were focused on Lucinda’s, as strong, steady fingers unbuttoned her shirt and slid it down her arms before moving to the fastener on her designer slacks and easing them down. Lucinda took Samantha’s hand in her own, kissing her palm softly before moving to her wrist, sucking on the skin as she kissed up her forearm to the inside of her elbow, up her biceps, along her shoulder, back to her lips, her fingers caressing Samantha’s back and unclasping her bra.

  Samantha responded to each kiss, lips and tongue teasing, her breathing in short pants as Lucinda hooked her fingers into the band of Samantha’s lace thong, guiding it off and to the floor. She pressed her mouth firmly against Samantha’s lips, walking her up the bed as she crawled over her, this time never breaking the kiss.

  When Samantha settled against the dark sheets, Lucinda finally pulled her mouth back, gently tugging on Samantha’s bottom lip with teeth before she hastily disrobed, lowering her body to the perfect form below her. She worshipped the skin in front of her, pressing hot kiss after hot kiss to the curve of Samantha’s breast, along her sternum, up her neck, sucking on the skin under her ear, lips tugging along an earlobe. Her hands skimmed soft skin, tickled along ribs, pressed an open palm over a flat stomach, dragged blunt nails along protruding hipbones. Lucinda let her lips speak every thought she had ever had of love and affection into Samantha’s flesh, one syllable and one word at a time.

  Samantha writhed beneath Lucinda’s affections; firm pressure met with a gentle roll, her leg slid up Lucinda’s hip and around her back, her fingers got lost in Lucinda’s hair, scratching at her scalp, breathing in and out, murmuring I love you with every gasp, every lick, each touch of fingers to soft skin. Lucinda attempted to stimulate every nerve ending in Samantha’s body without ever attending to her soaking wet core. If Samantha’s raw reaction was any indication, she was succeeding.

  Lucinda rolled her hips against Samantha’s, her hand holding Samantha’s leg flush to her body as she pressed down again. Samantha groaned at the sensation and her hands moved to her breasts and hardened nipples. She massaged and squeezed as Lucinda lavished her neck with kisses and gentle nips, rolling her hips over and over.

  Samantha felt dizzy. She felt positively electric underneath Lucinda, safe, loved, and on fire. It was difficult to focus between the blood pooling at her core and the hot mouth working its way to hers. She moaned before sucking Lucinda’s tongue into her mouth and grinding her hips upward, harder this time. She needed to feel all of Lucinda, now. She wasn’t above begging. In fact, it felt inevitable.

  As if reading her mind, Lucinda pulled back from the kiss. She shifted her position, lifting one leg over Samantha’s and slipping the other underneath the leg wrapped around her waist until their sexes were just inches apart. Samantha’s eyes widened when she realized what Lucinda was silently asking. She nodded and rose off the bed slightly, bringing their lips together as arms and legs intertwined while Lucinda ground down against her. A sound she didn’t recognized spilled from her lips as Lucinda started an even rhythm, rolling their centers together, again and again. Samantha’s hand fell to Lucinda’s chest, adoring the soft flesh before teasing along her nipples.

  Her hand gripped at Lucinda’s ass, encouraging her as their wetness mixed and made it harder to maintain the friction they both needed. Lucinda embraced Samantha while littering kisses along her jaw, grinding faster and harder, her movements becoming erratic. Samantha’s stomach was wound tighter and tighter as her breathing became more and more desperate. A wave washed over her as she felt herself approaching the precipice. “Mm, baby, I’m gonna come…”

  Lucinda brought her mouth back to Samantha’s, licking at her lips while she slipped a hand between them, caressing Samantha’s breast as she lowered her mouth to the pebbled nipple, swirling her tongue around it before sucking it into her mouth, hard. Samantha cried out at the unexpected force of the suction, her hand slipping from Lucinda’s breast to scratch angry lines across perfect, pulsing abs as she started to shudder with pleasure. Lucinda hissed but shortly followed Samantha over the edge. She tucked her head into Samantha’s neck as Samantha repeated Lucinda’s name over and over, almost trancelike, unable to stop herself.

  After a few moments of continuing to move against each other gently, drawing out their orgasms, Samantha swooned when Lucinda initiated a sweet kiss between gasps for breath. The gentle contact was in such stark contrast to the intensity of their lovemaking that Samantha sighed into the kiss, rubbing noses with Lucinda’s. “I’m sorry I scratched you.”

  “I loved it. I love you.” Warm lips silenced any further apology.

  Samantha melted into Lucinda, hugging her close and pressing kisses along her sweat-damp neck as she continued to catch her breath. “I love you so much, Luce.” She kissed the skin below Lucinda’s ear. “So much. To the moon and back.”

  “To the moon and back?”

  Samantha nodded shyly; Lucinda had a way of pulling things out of her that she didn’t know were there. Lucinda leaned back, glancing between them, admiring the four angry lines on her stomach.

  “Sorry.”

  “Stop apologizing.” Lucinda looked devious. “On second thought, maybe you can make it up to me.”

  “Oh yeah?” Samantha traced her fingers along Lucinda’s collarbone. “What did you have in mind?”

  “I want to taste you.”

  Samantha’s heart rate and breathing picked up again. The idea of Lucinda tasting her made her faint. Lucinda slowly lowered her onto the mattress and pressed a chaste kiss to her lips, pausing there, seemingly enjoying the moment before slanting her mouth down and along the skin of Samantha’s chest, over her twitching stomach muscles, until she hovered above Samantha’s wet, swollen sex.

  Samantha closed her eyes and arched her head back as Lucinda dragged a flat tongue over her, tasting their combined juices, moaning into the movement, and sending vibrations deep into Samantha’s soul. She gave careful attention to Samantha’s lips, cleaning and lapping along them before sucking gently on her clit. Samantha’s hands clutched the sheets as she wound tighter and tighter again, still so sensitive from their first round of play. Lucinda dipped lower, slipping her tongue inside as she brushed her thumb over Samantha’s swollen clit, pressing down hard with one final thrust. Samantha curled forward, her breathing halting in ecstasy there before slumping back with a sated sigh.

  When Lucinda climbed up
Samantha’s body, she met her with hungry lips and tongue, tasting them both with an appreciative moan.

  “Mm, so good, baby,” Samantha purred as she pulled Lucinda down on top of her, reaching to their side to drape the covers over them, wrapping Lucinda up in her arms and savoring the feeling of Lucinda draped over her, warm from the afterglow of passionate lovemaking and vulnerability.

  Lucinda rested her head on Samantha’s chest and whispered, “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” Samantha said as she closed her eyes and welcomed sleep.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Lucinda woke up early. It was still dark in the bedroom when she unwrapped herself from Samantha. She watched Samantha’s silhouette; she was so peaceful lying there, a small smile on her lips. She looked so tranquil, like she was sleeping deeply for the first time in a long time. It killed Lucinda to see; she wanted to be there when she woke up. It occurred to her in that moment that she wanted to be there every time. But not today, today she had to leave; she had to deal with her work demons. Hopefully she could finish up early enough to take Samantha out to dinner.

  Yesterday was so busy that she didn’t have the opportunity to talk to Samantha about the Improper Bostonian article. Lucinda had called in a favor from one of her clients that worked there and got an advance copy sent over that she promptly brought to a custom framing store on Newbury Street. They assured her it would be done today, so she planned to pick it up and sweep Samantha off her feet at Del Frisco’s before surprising her with it at home, hopefully naked. This whole plan had sounded a lot easier to pull off before the whole Richard firing thing got expedited.

  Samantha stirred as she finished dressing, looking up at her with sleep-heavy eyes. “Why are you dressed? The bed misses you.”

  Lucinda laughed. “I’m sorry, babe. I have to iron out some stuff at the office. I was hoping if I got an early start I could end early and you and I could do some of that vacation planning we talked about.”

  Samantha stretched and rolled to her side, the sheet slipping down to expose her naked breasts. “Well in that case…ponder this while you’re away: Tahiti, overwater bungalows, breakfast brought to us by canoe, clothing optional.”

  Lucinda sighed, trying to avoid the temptation to reach out and touch the newly exposed skin. “That sounds heavenly.”

  “I’m a genius. I know.” Samantha crawled to the edge of the bed and clasped her fingers with Lucinda’s. “Call me later?”

  “Of course.” Lucinda gave her a quick kiss on the lips and nuzzled her nose before she headed out to work.

  *

  Samantha awoke with a yawn. Her hand slid across the now cold sheets beside her. She frowned, remembering that Lucinda had already left. Last night had been magical. She smiled in recollection as she stretched out, a little sore from their play. It was a pleasant reminder. As her eyes adjusted to the room she saw a note by her alarm clock. She scooped it up, standing from the bed and wandering into the kitchen to start the coffeepot. She smiled at the pink lipstick kiss on the paper, opening it carefully.

  Good Morning, Beautiful,

  I’m going to be hard to reach, but I will get in touch with you when I can. Thank you for last night. And every night. I love you.

  PS Coffee’s on, breakfast is in the microwave.

  PPS You are the cutest sleeper ever.

  She couldn’t help but chuckle as she walked to the counter, her cup and saucer already waiting, the coffee ready to pour. She pulled out an omelet from the microwave, with fresh-cut fruit laid carefully along the edges. Her heart swelled with the amount of time and thought that went into this. She could get used to this kind of wake up, although, admittedly, she would rather make breakfast with Lucinda than eat it without her. She moved the fruit to another dish and warmed the omelet in the microwave as she dug out her phone from her purse. Since she’d started dating Lucinda, she had gotten lazy about taking her phone to the bedroom with her. Probably because she was busy in the bedroom doing other things than checking her messages.

  When her breakfast was warm, she settled onto the stool at her kitchen island. While holding her freshly poured cup of coffee, she frowned at her phone’s screen. She had six missed calls from Andrew and two frantic texts telling her to answer her phone. Just as she was dialing him back, there was a rapid knock on her door.

  “Just a minute,” she called and pulled her bathrobe closed for good measure.

  “Sam, it’s me, I’m coming in,” Andrew’s muffled voice from the other side of the door sounded before he opened the door. “Why isn’t this door locked? I didn’t even need to use my key.” Andrew looked a little disheveled. Well, disheveled for Andrew’s standards which just meant that he had on designer-casual clothes instead of his usual dress slacks and jacket.

  “Lucinda left this morning. I really ought to get her a key…” She used her fork to cut the omelet into a few small pieces before adding, “I was just calling you. What’s up?”

  “She’s not here?” Andrew paced a bit before walking over to the cabinet and pulling down a coffee mug.

  “No, she left early this morning. You’re making me anxious with the pacing and ominous texts. Care to explain?”

  Andrew poured himself some coffee and walked over to Samantha’s bar, retrieving a bottle of Baileys which he poured generously into his cup. He marched back to her, took her fork, and took three big bites of her omelet before speaking.

  “This is amazing,” he mumbled as he stabbed at her plate for a fourth time.

  “Andrew, slow down. Get a plate of your own. And a fork.” Samantha swatted at his hand before taking back her fork.

  “Did you make this? You didn’t make this. It’s too good.” Andrew chewed loudly and took a big swig of his mug, which by color alone appeared to Samantha to be mostly Baileys and only a splash of coffee.

  “I take offense to that statement.” She took her first bite. He was right—this was delicious.

  “Samantha, I love you, I do. But cooking is not your forte.”

  Samantha hated that he knew her so well; if she had made this omelet, one side would probably be burned and it definitely would have come out as scrambled eggs. “That’s fair. Lucinda made it and left it in the microwave for me.”

  “Ah.” He took a deep breath and sat across from her at the island. “Listen, we need to talk.”

  “We are talking.” Samantha took another bite. She hadn’t seen Andrew this jumpy in quite a bit, and it was a little unnerving. “Seriously, you’re freaking me out a little.”

  “Sam, I don’t even…oh fuck, here.” He ran his hand through his hair nervously before handing her his phone.

  The screen was open to a gossip site. In big bold letters, a blind item read: MATCHMAKER WHO CAN’T MANAGE PERSONAL LIFE HIRES PR FIRM TO SWEEP IT UNDER THE RUG WHILE GETTING BETWEEN THE SHEETS.

  Samantha’s jaw dropped as she clicked on the link to see more. The content was vague but the basic story was that an up-and-coming matchmaker had to seek out a PR firm to run a hush campaign on past failed indiscretions only to fall into bed with the PR exec that handled the case. The writer failed to mention a gender but did allude to the matchmaker in question making recent waves in print media and being spotted out on the town looking friendly with the PR exec.

  This was Samantha’s worst nightmare. Coming on the heels of her Improper Bostonian article, this would be red hot in minutes. It might already have grown legs and taken off, for all she knew.

  “When did this go up?” Her voice was flat. She pushed away the plate in front of her, no longer hungry. She was nauseous.

  “I got a phone call from a media outlet this morning around eight a.m. I sent them to voice mail because I figured we could set up some interviews together once we looked at our schedules on Monday. I knew we would generate some buzz but I wasn’t expecting this. They were calling to see if this had anything to do with you and Eric. Sam, they asked for a comment.”

  The room started to spin—t
his was exactly what Samantha had been afraid would happen. If anyone made the connection that this was about Samantha and linked her to Lucinda, she would be ruined. How awful did it look that she was sleeping with the director of the firm she hired to hide Eric’s affair? Pretty awful. She knew that. “I’m going to faint.”

  Andrew looked alarmed. “Don’t faint yet, it gets worse. Hear all of it and if you still want to faint, I’ll get a pillow for you. Maybe you should have a drink.” He pushed his mug toward her; she considered it for a moment before what he said dawned on her.

  “What do you mean worse? How could this get any worse?”

  “That wasn’t the only call. I got five more on the ride from Ben’s place to here. We can only avoid this for so long. We have to release a statement, Sam.”

  “Do you think—?”

  “It was Eric? He’d be a fool. The lawyers would eat him alive. I doubt it.”

  “Then who?”

  “Who knows? There’s plenty of competition out there. We have a target square on our backs right now.” Andrew scrunched his brow with stress. “We have to call Clear View and the lawyers.” He looked up with a sad expression, “You gotta call Lucinda, Sam.”

  The fog that had settled around Samantha’s mind cleared the instant he mentioned Lucinda’s name. She was supposed to protect her from this. She was supposed to keep this secret quiet. She promised this wouldn’t get out. It wasn’t that she thought Lucinda personally leaked this, but her proximity to the issue was dangerous. Associating with Lucinda at this point in time was career suicide and she knew it.

  “Andrew”—she was shaking now—“what are we going to do?”

  He looked pained. “You are going to shower and get dressed. I’m going to start making phone calls, and we are going to head over to Clear View immediately. I’ll have legal meet us there. You should warn Lucinda. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”