Two

      Matthew had only a moment to register her intent. It wasn’t long enough. When the winged woman pressed her lips to his, his body lit up and flooded with heat. She was like a conduit to a nuclear reactor, and the shocking sensation of her warm mouth on his threatened to bring on full meltdown.

      He knew precisely what Lucas would do in this situation.

      Cupping her face with both palms, Matthew tilted her head to slant his mouth against hers at a deeper angle. Her lips parted on a sigh, and the hands holding his lapels tightened, drawing him closer.

      Nearly groaning, he kissed this nameless butterfly until he couldn’t think, couldn’t stop, almost couldn’t stand. The shock of awareness and incendiary carnal lust picked up where his brain failed.

      Shocking. And yet familiar. As if they’d done this before, exactly this way, pressed against each other in the shadows. Their lips fit, their bodies slid together with ease. He was kissing a stranger—a nameless stranger—and it should feel wrong, or at least odd.

      It was so very right.

      This woman was not at all his type—too glittery, too sensual, too beautiful. He couldn’t imagine introducing her to his mother or taking her to a museum opening where they’d rub shoulders with the elite of Dallas.

      But he didn’t care.

      For the first time since Amber died, he felt alive. His heart beat in his chest and blood flowed through his veins and a woman was kissing him. He reveled in these small clues that he hadn’t been buried alongside his wife.

      After an eternity passed in a blink, she broke away and stared up at him, her breath coming in short gasps. “I’m sorry.”

      “For what?”

      He hadn’t kissed a woman other than Amber in five years and as a reintroduction to the art, it was off the map. Surely she’d felt some of the same heat.

      “I shouldn’t have done that,” she said.

      “Yes, you absolutely should have.”

      He might be out of practice, but she was still firmly in his arms, and a woman who hadn’t just had her world shaken to the foundation would have stepped away by now.

      She inhaled sharply, her chest pushing against his and stroking the flame higher. “Not under false pretenses. I have to come clean. My ex is here, and that was a poor attempt to hide from him.”

      “I beg to differ. As attempts go, I thought it was pretty good.”

      A quavery laugh slipped out from her kiss-reddened lips and then she did step away, out of his embrace. But not too far.

      “Just so you know, I don’t go around kissing random men.”

      “There’s an easy way to fix that. I’d be happy to introduce myself and thus eliminate the randomness.”

      “That would be awesome because I’m pretty sure I’m going to kiss you again.”

      She had felt it.

      The thrill swept all the way to the soles of his feet. Tonight, he was someone else, and as it seemed to be working out well so far, why screw around with it?

      “Matt. My name is Matt.”

      It flowed from his mouth effortlessly, though he’d never been Matt in his life. But right here, right now, he liked Matt a hell of lot. Matt wasn’t bogged down in inertia and terrified he’d never find his way out. Matt hadn’t walked away from all his responsibilities at home or lain awake at night, eaten with guilt over it. Matt hadn’t drifted around the world in search of something he suspected didn’t exist, only to land in Venice holed up in a cold, lonely palazzo.

      Matt had fun and kissed costumed women at parties and maybe got to second base before the end of the night.

      She smiled. “Nice to meet you, Matt. You can call me Angie.”

      Angie. It was too harsh, too common for such a delicate and ethereal woman. The careful phrasing tipped him off that it wasn’t her real name, but since he’d similarly hedged, he couldn’t exactly complain.

      “Which one is your ex? So we can steer clear.”

      Since she’d been trying to hide, he assumed the breakup had been nasty and not Angie’s choice.

      Surreptitiously, she glanced behind her, then faced him again. Her soft brown eyes bored into his, luminous with appreciation. “He’s over there, on the couch with the little blonde.”

      Matthew located what had to be the couple she meant. They were locked in a torrid embrace, and the guy’s hands were down the blonde’s dress. Ouch. Not only was her ex at the same party but also not much for public decency.

      “They didn’t get the memo? This is a masked ball.”

      “I like you,” she said with a decisive nod.

      He grinned. “I like you, too.”

      “That’s good, because I intend to thoroughly use you. I hope you won’t be offended.”

      Matthew’s eyebrow shot up. “That depends, I suppose, on what you plan to use me for. And I really hope it’s in the same vein as kissing me to hide from lover boy over there.”

      Apparently Matt knew how to flirt, too. There was no other explanation for such blatant come-ons.

      Her tongue wet her lips, and the way she did it—while eyeing his lips at the same time—clamped down hard on his lower half. “You just became my new boyfriend.”

      “Excellent. I didn’t realize I’d applied, but I’m gratified to have survived the rigorous selection process.”

      She laughed, and that gravelly timbre sliced through his gut anew. “Just for tonight. I can’t stand the thought of anyone feeling sorry for me because I’m here alone. Pretend we’re together, and I’ll buy you breakfast.”

      Breakfast? He might be in for an evening with a little more action than he’d envisioned.

      Was that what he wanted?

      “I’m not the slightest bit offended. Unless I’m the backup choice. Is your real boyfriend otherwise engaged?”

      “Very nicely done. But unnecessary. You don’t have to be all casual-like if you want to know whether I’m available. Just ask.”

      Dang, he was out of practice. But dating had felt like such a betrayal. For so long, he couldn’t, and when he finally deemed himself ready, no one appealed to him. Even if he’d dated every one of the sophisticated, demure women in Dallas angling for an invitation to dinner, none of them had wings.

      He swallowed and dived in. “Angie, are you seeing anyone?”