Page 18 of My Fiancé's Brother 2

Matt: Do you have plans tonight?

I frowned at my phone. I glanced over at Jackson, who was trying to wrestle a stick out of Chloe’s mouth. Chloe was in heaven. Jackson was the only person I wanted to spend time with.

“Do you want to stay for dinner?” my voice sounded casual.

A minuscule twitch touched his eye. “Sorry, I have plans tonight.”

I knew he was lying. He followed that with an easy smile.

I smiled back, and we continued to walk.

“Have a good night,” he said when he got to his truck. The guy could not get away from us fast enough.

“You too.” I stood and watched as he gunned his truck backward. Well, I had just found the one thing that scared our SEAL. Telling him that you loved him sent him running in the opposite direction.

Upstairs,I texted Matt back.

Me: Just having a quiet night. Talk tomorrow?

Matt: For sure.

Chloe curled up to me on the couch and laid her chin on my knee. I started to cry. This was a colossal mess. What was I doing? Why was this so difficult? I felt like I was in a small sailboat in the middle of wild seas. Disoriented. Alone. Scared. The only thing I was sure about was this was all going to end very badly.

I was so stupid. Jackson was the only person willing to get into that boat with me, and he had offered to help me. And instead of being eternally grateful, I questioned his reasons and scared him off so bad, he jumped ship and swam away.

I had no idea what my problem was. I wished for about the thousandth time that my granny was here to counsel me. I missed her mischievous blue eyes that sparkled so bright. What would she tell me to do? She would have loved Jackson. I wasn’t so confident that she would have been as enamored with Matt, but Jackson would have scored high in her books.

I heard a car pull up and then there were footsteps coming upstairs. I dashed into the bathroom to wash my tearstained face.

“Emily?” Matt bellowed.

“Matt?” I stuck my head out the door. “What are you doing here?”

He carried some grocery bags. “Don’t say no. I was at the deli, and I couldn’t stand the thought of you sitting here all by yourself. So, I thought I would cook you dinner.”

“Matt,” I said weakly. All I wanted was some peanut butter toast and my bed.

“Don’t say no,” he pleaded. “You were there for me every single day through thick and thin. Let me cook for you. I don’t even have to eat with you. Just let me do something nice for you.”

I rubbed my eye. “I can’t promise I’ll be good company.”

“Come on, Em. It’s me. Just me. If anyone knows how to hang, it’s us.”

I satat the island and watched as Matt cooked. He didn’t cook often, but when he did, he knew what he was doing. Tonight he prepared my favorite dish, sweet and sour chicken on brown rice noodles with an apricot ricotta salad on fresh greens. I tried to remember the last time he had cooked this particular dish for me, but it had been months.

He kept the conversation light. Talked about how he was going to go back to work soon. His firm had been kind to him throughout his accident. Next week he would start to work out with a personal trainer.

His phone rang.

“Hey mom….no. I’m just at the loft. Cooking dinner for Emily.”

She talked at length. Then he put his hand over the receiver. “Do you mind if we have one more? My mom is feeling kind of low.”

My mouth parted. I thought he would cook and leave me to eat in peace. The last person I wanted to see right now was Irene. I humiliated her son in public. The fallout promised to be tense.

“Are you sure she wants to see me?” I whispered.

Matt frowned in confusion. “Yeah, why not?”

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