Page 49 of Lovers' Dance

“Matt?”

“Hmm?” He glanced at me, turning down the road and driving up to my house.

“Do you mind if I take a rain check on tonight? I’m exhausted and feel a bit under the weather.”

He didn’t reply until he parked, then he swivelled in his seat and gave me the full weight of his grey eyes. “Is it because I told you off about the seatbelt? I’m concerned about your safety, Madi, but I might have come across a touch—”

“Domineering?” I suggested with a tired smile. “No, it isn’t. I’m tired.”

He peered at me for a minute in silence, then slowly nodded while exhaling louder than was necessary. “All right, poppet. I’ll return to my lonely house tonight instead of spending it in your bed.”

I stifled a laugh at the forlorn note in his voice. Manipulative beast. “Behave yourself. We could both do with a proper night’s rest. Pop the trunk so I can get my stuff.”

Matt and I exited the car. He got my bags and insisted on seeing me in. There was a bunch of post waiting inside the front door. I picked up my mail as Matt put my bags on the couch. I hid a frown when I saw the letter from HM Revenue & Customs. It reminded me of Aunt Cleo’s own tax problem, which she was expecting me to solve. I stacked the letters away. They could be dealt with in the morning.

“Madison.” Matt was leaning against the back off the couch, arms folded and an unreadable expression on his face. He hardly called me by my first name, it was usually poppet, or Madi.

“Yes, Matthew?” The smile on my lips was strained. He was tense; that made me tense.

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something for the past few weeks but the time never seems right.”

Why was he staring at me like that? I licked my lips nervously, trying not to jump to conclusions and failing miserably. He was going to say something that I probably didn’t want to hear.

“Um, is it important?” I hedged, not wanting to know the reason behind his closed-off expression. “Or can it wait for another time? I’m exhausted.”

Matt fidgeted, running a hand through his hair and averting his gaze for a moment. He looked nervous. That was a first.

“No, I don’t think it can,” he said, gaze returning to my face. I sighed, nodding and folding my arms. Defence mechanism.

“It’s okay, Matt. I can probably guess what it is.”

Scepticism covered his handsome features and he let out a sharp bark of laughter. “I doubt it.”

I walked over to the fireplace, unable to stand still. “You want to break things off. It’s fine. Whatever. I figured this was going to happen sometime soon. I’m not going to get mad or cry, unless you try to take back the shoes you bought me.” It was a feeble attempt at a joke.

Matt’s mouth fell open. What? Did he believe I was too stupid to notice how distracted he’d been the past few weeks? I may have been inexperienced when it came to relationships, but I wasn’t dumb. Well, not too dumb.

“Look, it is what it is,” I continued, brittle calmness echoing through my words. “We had fun and now you want out. That’s fine by me. I won’t tell anyone if that’s what you’re worried about. It’s not like anyone would believe me anyway.”

The more I spoke, the angrier Matt seemed to get. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why he looked at me as if I was insane.

“Can I have my keys back? You’re not going to be needing them,” I finished, dying on the inside, but giving no outward appearance of it.

Matt couldn’t believe his ears. Her little speech had left him without words. And her quiet acceptance of her erroneous assumption beggared belief. How could she stand there so calmly in front of him and act like their relationship meant nothing? For the first time since being with her, Matt felt true anger at his dark beauty.

“Are you out of your bloody mind?” he asked, seething and undecided whether he should shake some sense into her, or kiss what little she had out of her. He stalked a few steps towards the fireplace and she stiffened. “It is what it is? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“I thought you—” she began with an unsure gaze.

“You thought?” he interrupted coldly. “Poppet, right now it seems thinking isn’t your forte. You’re going to stand there, after spending almost a week on holiday with me, and say you’re fine with me breaking things off? You have the cheek to look me in the eye and categorize the past few months we’ve been together as just fun?”

“Matt, I was being realistic—”

“You are so far off reality it shocks me.” He was past fuming. The urge to take her right now and prove to her that she belonged to him was overwhelming. He wanted to paddle her arse for her impertinence. How could she think about their relationship as a casual fling? Matt took another step towards her, literally shaking with fury. Then he noticed her dainty hands, frantically attacking her pinkie finger while she stared up at him in confusion. He closed the distance between them, his anger fading away into nothing as he grabbed her hands, stopping her from unconsciously hurting herself.

“I don’t want to stop seeing you, poppet,” he confessed softly. He had wanted the moment to be perfect when he made his admission, but he was tired of waiting for the opportunity to present itself. There was always something cropping up. He wasn’t going to wait any longer. “I’m in love with you, and I expect you to reciprocate those feelings. Otherwise, I’ll be forced to do something drastic—”

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