Page 154 of Lovers' Dance

Matt sighed down the phone. “All right, poppet.”

“Thank you for understanding.” I wandered back to the seat I’d vacated and plopped down.

“As long as you don’t make a habit of shutting me out, poppet. This is going to wreak havoc with my plans,” he said.

That made me curious and a bit alarmed. “What were you planning? Something totally over the top? You haven’t bought me anything stupid, have you? Like a jet or other expensive crap?”

Matt chuckled, his sexy chuckle that seemed to caress my senses. “No, Madi. I was planning a surprise dinner party for you. I thought it would be nice for you to meet my main group of friends.”

Thank goodness I didn’t have to do that shit. Meet more of Matt’s friends? I could barely handle Nathan’s silent disapproval. Matt’s friends would probably be like Nathan, up their own asses and secretly judging me. How Nathan had ended up with someone as sweet as Bella was mind boggling.

“That’s a nice thought,” I murmured, hoping I sounded genuine. “Maybe I could meet them another time.”

When I’m not drunk off my ass and wailing like a banshee.

“Of course, poppet.” Matt paused and I could hear the shuffling of papers. He worked hard, all the time. “When will I be able to see you?”

I thought about it for a few seconds. The fifteenth was the anniversary of my parents’ deaths. Wednesday. Middle of the week. Meltdown day. “Next Friday.”

“Poppet,” Matt’s tone conveyed how much he didn’t like the sound of that.

“It’s a week, Matt.” I let out a hollow laugh. “Honestly, anyone would think you can’t live without me.”

“I can’t,” Matt replied staunchly. “Live without you, that is.”

The air caught in my throat at his words. He was a guarded man, aloof and private.

But never with me. Matt was so open about his feelings it put me to shame. I was trying my best to follow his lead. It was hard, hard to stop hiding behind my walls, to let him in completely.

To trust the way he felt about me was true and not some dream fabricated by my mind. He had to love me. Why else would he act this way? I needed to buy one of those relationship books…just to be sure.

“Matt.” I took a deep breath and tried to quell the voice in my head shouting warnings at me. “I can’t live without you, either.” It was nothing more than a whisper, so quiet I wasn’t sure he heard me.

Until he said, “Good, about bloody time you admitted it.”

I laughed and he laughed with me.

“Friday?” he asked. “That’s a long time away, poppet.”

“A week, Matt. Absence makes the heart—”

“Grow fonder,” he finished my sentence. “All right, Friday it is, but I will be calling you every single day.”

“I wouldn’t expect any less of you.”

“Poppet.” His voice had changed, almost apprehensive. “I know you haven’t spoken about your parents—”

“Don’t.” I cut him off quickly. “It’s fine, I’m fine.”

“If you were, then you wouldn’t be banishing me from your presence until next Friday,” he argued gently. “Look, hear me out for a minute.” Matt took a deep breath, then continued. “I won’t profess to know how you feel about the anniversary of their deaths.” He paused, when I unconsciously let out a wounded sound, but persevered. “I can’t even begin to understand what you’re going through right now, poppet. I want you to know I’m here for you. Whatever you need, I’ll make sure you have it. A shoulder to cry on, a nice cuddle, new shoes, whatever it is you need, poppet.”

I gulped silently. Amazing. Matthew Bradley was a-fucking-mazing. “I love you, Matt.”

“And I you, Madi. Call me when you get back from the airport. I need to know you’ve gotten home safe.”

I hung up after agreeing to call him on my return and more mushy declaration of our emotional attachment. The two of us could form a mutual appreciation club. Members: two. Subscription: lifelong, or as long as we lasted. I could picture a grey-haired Matt bossing me around on some Zimmer frames, while checking out my flabby, wrinkly butt. Nice…unless he turned into his Grumps as he got older. A shudder went through me, thinking of the old man. About a week after my vague confession to Matt concerning the exchange I had with his grandfather, Matt had asked me what exactly had been said. I still hadn’t told him the verbal bullets Grumps had pumped into me, yet I had a niggling sense of unease he somehow knew…which was an impossibility. I couldn’t shake the feeling though that he did know and was testing me, testing my honesty, my willingness to keep things from him. Man, I was paranoid. It didn’t help he was part Vulcan. It was the only explanation behind his ability to read me so easily.

No, I would take Grumps’s words with me to the grave.

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