The movie started then, giant projection screen at the front of the park flashing white, then rolling the opening credits. Still, Matt didn’t move. Why did it feel like he was touching her from a hundred yards away? Everyone around her had settled onto their blankets, wrapped up in nostalgia as Marty McFly enters Doc Brown’s garage in the first scene. She tried to ignore Matt, she really did. He’d made it perfectly clear last night that he wanted nothing to do with her. But her gaze continually returned to him, making sure he was still there. His steady perusal of her distracted her to the point she couldn’t focus on the movie. Finally, she’d had enough. She needed to force him into coming closer or leaving.

Please let him come closer.

Lucy unfolded her legs and slid forward onto her belly. She propped her chin on her hand, and crossing her ankles, she let her legs sway back and forth in the air behind her. It was a provocative pose, especially for a girl sitting by herself, but she took comfort in the fact that no one sat behind her to see her bare thighs on display. As she predicted, though, Matt didn’t like it. When he pushed off the tree wearing a warning expression, a low thrumming began in Lucy’s stomach, spreading lower with each passing second.

These instincts she had where Matt was concerned were completely new, yet she somehow trusted them. She knew what turned him on because it did the same to her. Driving him crazy, pushing his limits, made her feel desirable. It gave her a sense of control while simultaneously giving her permission to lose control. She wanted to tempt him past the point of return so he’d have no choice but to fulfill his needs with her. Somewhere underneath his stoic expression, he wanted it, too, or he wouldn’t be here.

Hands clenching and unclenching at his sides, Lucy could tell he wanted to close the distance between them. She tossed her hair over her shoulder, exposing her neck, while at the same time writhing her hips ever-so-slightly on the blanket. When Matt began stalking his way to her through the crowd, she felt a surge of triumph, but lust quickly blanketed it. Female heads turned in his direction as he passed but he didn’t remove his eyes from her once. Matt held an air of command at all times, but he wore his uniform today, only increasing his air of authority. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted him to refuse to kiss her. Nothing made sense any more.

Matt finally reached her, but she made no move to change her position. A growl lingering in his throat, he knelt down on the blanket beside her.

“Sit up,” he commanded, keeping his voice low. “Immediately.”

“I’m good.”

His gaze lingered on her bottom before coasting down over her thighs. “You’re the opposite of good.”

Everything below her waist tightened. “W-what are you doing here?” she managed.

He sat back on the blanket keeping his legs bent, moving like such a sleek animal that Lucy’s breathing faltered. “Your brother doesn’t know you’re alone. Apparently you weren’t finished lying when I dropped you off on Friday.”

His harsh comment hit home and she finally sat up, wondering if he’d known calling her on her lie would achieve his goal. “Mood killer,” she muttered. “If you came here to knock me down another peg, it’s not necessary. You did a bang-up job of it last night.”

“I just came to check on you,” he said curtly.

Anger sparked along her nerve endings. “I don’t need to be checked on. I’m watching a movie in the park, not dancing topless in Times Square.” When he only continued to watch her, she sighed. “Look, I didn’t lie to him for the fun of it. He’s got all this engagement stuff happening with Hayden. Not to mention the two jobs. I didn’t want to be a—”

“Nuisance?”

Hearing him call her that—again—did not sit well. Lucy knew from experience that redness was climbing her neck, coloring her cheeks, and she refused to let him see it. She grabbed her purse and attempted to stand, but Matt curled an arm around her waist at the last second and dragged her down onto his lap.

“Hey. I didn’t mean that.” His voice rumbled at her neck and caused her to sag back against him, the new contact allowing his mouth to sift through the hair behind her ear. “Not the first time I said it. Not now. Okay?”

She blew out a breath. “Can you please strike it from your vocabulary, then?”

Matt hummed in his throat by way of answering. She couldn’t help but marvel at how right it felt being held by him like this. Cradled against his chest, his body temperature warming every inch of her. Their bodies molded together, like they’d been superglued. How could she have missed touching him when they’d known each other such a short amount of time?

“What movie is this?” he asked into her hair.

Lucy’s eyes shot wide. “Back to the Future. You’ve never seen it?”

“No.”

“I weep for your childhood.”

Matt’s hesitant laughter rolled through her, but she quickly became distracted when his rough fingers began drawing patterns on her inner thigh, teasing the hem of her dress. He might as well have been stroking her between her legs for the sensations he was creating. “Catch me up.”

“Huh?”

“On the movie. Tell me what’s happening.”

She tried to swallow but her mouth was dry. “Um…so. Doc Brown, the older gentleman who looks perpetually stressed out, has built a time machine.”

“How?”

Lucy turned her head slightly and caught his clean leather scent. “Basically he souped up a DeLorean. And also…gigawatts.”

“Gigawatts?”

“You kind of have to suspend your disbelief for this.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “Disbelief suspended.”

Oh God, he really should smile more. “Marty goes back in time, but everything gets screwed up when his mother develops a crush on him.”

“What kind of movie did you say this was?”

She laughed, but it emerged sounding breathless. “It’s a classic.” Matt’s fingers inched higher on her leg, slipping underneath her dress, effectively cutting off her amusement. Her head fell back against his shoulder as he hooked his free arm around her midsection and positioned her higher on his lap. When his erection swelled underneath her bottom, Lucy released a shaky breath.

“Keep explaining. What happens to Marty?”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Me?” He tilted his hips once, twice. “I’m always serious.”

“They go to the high school dance and Marty plays ‘Johnny B. Goode’ and happily ever after,” she said all in one breath. With his big body surrounding her, arousal evident in his deep voice, yearning rolled through her, concentrated between her legs.

Matt took one corner of the blanket and tossed it over her lap. “Did you go to dances in high school, Lucy? Were you the bad girl who tempted all the boys? Yes, I think you were.”

In one quick movement, he pushed aside her panties and shoved two thick fingers inside her. It took her by such surprise that a small scream would have escaped her throat if Matt hadn’t covered her mouth and yanked her head back against his shoulder.

“Shh.” His breath at her ear sent a delicious shiver down her spine. “Be very quiet and very still or everyone will know I’m fingering your pu**y under this blanket. It needs to be our little secret, doesn’t it, baby girl?”