Page 184 of Lovers' Dance

“No, I’m fine,” I replied.

“Why are you still in there? I want to talk to you.”

Oh, shit. He wanted to talk. He was supposed to be shagging me senseless. I still had my freaking senses.

“I’ll be a minute, Matt,” I called, then went over to the cabinet and pulled out my hairbrush. Might as well look neat for the talk. As I brushed my hair, I pondered my new status. I could work with a crazy girlfriend title, a person can improve upwards from that. All I would have to do was resume my normal day-to-day life, and Matt would see it was the same old me.

Bunny boiler though. Once you got labelled with that title you were more likely to end up with a restraining order against you. I liked my clean criminal record.

It seemed I was taking longer than a minute because Matt knocked sharply on the door.

“What’s taking you so long?” he groused loudly.

“Just a minute, Matt,” I replied.

“You said that five minutes ago.” His tone was frustrated.

I put back my hairbrush, patted my cheeks, took off my sweaty t-shirt, then grabbed one of the robes hanging on the hooks. With shoulders back, I walked towards the door, ready to face him.

“Here I am,” I smiled brightly at his serious face as I finished tying the robe’s belt around my waist.

Matt took my hand and moved us over to the bed. He had put his pants back on. There was definitely no shagging me senseless in the cards. He sat me down, but didn’t sit himself, instead choosing to pace in front of me.

“What’s this about?” I asked casually.

“You,” he said in a flat voice.

“Me?” Did I sound nervous? “What about me, Matt. I’m fi—”

“Don’t.” He cut me off curtly. “Don’t tell me you’re fine. You’re not fine, and I can’t stomach hearing you say it again. You’re. Not. Fine.”

“But—”

“Stop right there. I’m going to do the talking and you can—no—will listen to every word I say. Agreed?”

I nodded. The expression on his face was the one I feared the most. The ‘I’ve had it up to here’ look.

“Right,” he muttered, then promptly fell silent. I opened my mouth to point out the fact he was going to do the talking, but was in fact not talking, when his gaze landed on my face.

I closed my mouth.

Matt took a deep breath, then said, “You need help, poppet—”

“No. I don’t.” A menacing glare had me biting my tongue.

“You do. Trust me, you do.”

“A bit condescending that, don’t you think?” I said, earning another cutting glare.

“Listen to me, young lady, you are going to get help to deal with your problems,”

“I don’t have a problem,” I shot back. I didn’t, not really.

Matt scoffed, arms folded as he stood in front of me. I blinked up at him and something shifted across his features. He unfolded his arms and knelt before me, nudging my legs open so he could get into my personal space.

“Madi, I am not a man who begs. It is not in my nature, you know this.” He cupped my cheeks between his strong hands. “I’ve seen a different side to you and it terrifies me, and I think, I know there are certain issues—”

“Is this because of yesterday?” I interrupted in a light voice as I forced a smile to my face. “Because if it is, you don’t need to worry, Matt. I’m fi—I’m ok now, really I am.”

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