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His eyes darkened again with that odd look. She was supposed to say no. That’s what the old Lisa would have done. She felt sure she’d heard herself say it, but then he rose. All six feet of hot male body unfolded from his bench, gorgeous in black pants, collarless cream sweater and black jacket. His hand reached out to help her from her bench. He smelled so good and looked yummy enough to eat. What the hell, this was the first night of the new Lisa.

Put up or shut up.

“How can a girl resist such a beautifully worded question? I’d be delighted.” She reached in her evening purse, grabbed her keycard and began to walk to the elevator. Yep, now she was sure of it; his eyes were on her ass. Her lips curved in a sly smile.

The hum of the elevator was the only noise as they rode up to the floor Lisa’s room occupied. She felt strange, both awkward and charged with anticipation.

“You know,” Matt said. “It sort of feels like there’s a fifteen-ton elephant between us. I don’t want to push you, but would it be okay if I came in and we talked about this for a while? I won’t, if you’re not comfortable.”

Clearly the better of the two selections, between yes and no, would be the second. But wisdom, sexual frustration and Scotch rarely mixed well with her. Not that they had ever been mixed in her quite this way.

She should blame it all on Gina, laugh it off and send Mr. Wonderful on his sexy way, but something told her not to let this moment pass. To just go with it and see where it led.

“Okay, I would like that. Yes.” She nodded.

Matt led the way. She didn’t know what it was about hotel rooms, but they sure made it easy to be bad. She would never have considered this in her home, but since it was a hotel…

She sat on the edge of the king-size mattress. “Okay, have a seat and let’s talk, Matt. That is if I can get through this without dying of shame.”

He grinned wolfishly. “If you didn’t die at dinner…”

“Then I’ll probably live,” she finished for him with a smile.

He sat in the chair nearest the bed, his face suddenly serious. “Was what Gina said all true or were the two of you yanking my chain?”

She studied the carpet, in a lame attempt to find the words to put this in perspective. “No, we were not yanking your chain. It’s true, all of it. No orgasm till last night. No sex, but the missionary position and even that was a whole five minutes at its longest. And, yes, I want it to change. I’m ready for my life to change, I have to be more…” She searched for the perfect word, needed this man to know she was sincere. “I don’t know what to call it, but I can’t go through life wondering what more is out there.” She threw up her hands. “I hope that makes sense.”

“Can I ask you a personal question?” He looked deep into her eyes.

She laughed, nervous. “Sure, why the hell not? I mean what is there about my sex life you don’t know thanks to my so-called best friend.”

His lips curled briefly. “What happened between you and your fiancé? It was all over the office. You were marrying Mr. Super Successful Liquor Distributor and the next thing I know I’m sitting at a table in a bar finding out you’re newly single.”

“Oh, that.” She shrugged. “I thought you were going to ask me something hard.” Her voice filled with irony. “It’s simple. I came home, found him in bed with another woman, and listened to a tirade about how I was only good for missionary-position sex. He wasn’t interested in blowjobs from me. Which doesn’t really matter because no one else would ever really want me any other way because I was someone you took home to mother. I wasn’t good for sex. I packed his stuff and kicked him to the curb. That about covers it.”

He winced visibly. “I’m sorry, Lisa. You deserve better.”

She sucked air into her lungs and stood, wandering to the window to stare out at the lights below. His face, reflected in the glass, stared back. “Oh, come off it, Matt. A hairdo and a sexy new dress are nice and I’m glad you noticed me tonight, but you didn’t know I was alive a week ago. That’s fine, it really is. You’re just out of my league.” She finished with a shrug.

He rose to move behind her. She watched his reflection reach out and touch her shoulders. His hands were gentle, tentative, rested on her lightly, and yet the thrill rushing down her arms was palpable. His eyes met hers in the glass. “You’re wrong. I have noticed you, Lisa. You’re funny and sweet. Yes, you look dynamite tonight, any red-blooded man would notice you, but you weren’t invisible before.”

He seemed so sincere, so nice. Every woman in the office was hooked on this man. They gossiped endlessly about Matt, some speculated he was gay, because he never seemed to date much. It seemed the chitchat was untrue, because he was here in the room with her and obviously aroused. Her heart pounded. She smiled, tremulously.

“So, now what, Matt?”

“So now…” He held her shoulders a little tighter. She felt strange inside, filled with butterflies and anticipation. The feeling was odd. She’d never felt anxious with Rodney. “Do you let me take you up on Gina’s oh-so-generous offer and let me teach you how to really enjoy sex, all kinds of sex, or do we walk away from this night and go our separate ways pretending that this never happened?” His voice dropped to almost a whisper. “I think we could be good, Lisa, really good. Which do you want?”

She glanced at him, scared, but the answer, when it came, was easy. “Yes.”

“Yes what, sweetheart?” His voice was soft, low and husky. He searched her face, his lips mere inches from her shoulder. A thumb lazily traced the side of her neck.

“Yes, I want you to teach me to enjoy sex, but can we have a few ground rules?”

He lifted her hand to gently kiss her palm. She felt like her touch receptors were on overload. No thoughts formed beyond the one that told her the new panties she wore were damp.

“Okay, sweet Lisa, what do you have in mind?”