Page 174 of Lovers' Dance: Vol. 2

“I asked if you were heading out,” he repeated slowly, for my benefit I’m sure. “You’re dressed up.”

Where I had been surreptitious in my oogling, or so I told myself; Matt’s scrutiny was blatant and made me fidget in my heels.

“I am,” came my reply. Then we both fell silent. It was uncomfortable to say the least. What did one do in this situation? We were still married, separated, but still legally joined. I chewed my lower lip then said, “Um, thanks for letting me know it was Christine who blabbed to the media. Dante was furious. They broke up.”

“Where is Dante?” Matt queried, his gaze rested on the hamper full of clothes that I should have taken upstairs ages ago. The stripped sweater on the top was patently male.

“In Amsterdam for the weekend with the guys,” I supplied, glad the awkward silence was being kept at bay. “Would you like something to drink?”

Matt arched an eyebrow at my high-pitched offer of refreshment. “I don’t want to keep you from whatever you have planned.”

“It’s fine.” I gushed. “And the least I can do, considering you found out who was leaking stuff to the press,” I wrapped my arms around my stomach. “Not that it matters now,” My words trailed off. Someone shoot me now. “Because we’re, um, not together anymore,”

“A cup of tea would be nice,” Matt replied. If he found my behaviour erratic, he gave no outward show of it.

“Ok, great,” I said in that ridiculous cheery tone. Oh God, please help. I had decided in the time it took to make the trip to the kitchen with Matt not far behind my steps, that it was in fact a sign from God and not karma. So what did I do now?Put the damn cell down and make the tea. With shaking hands, I went about brewing a pot of tea under Matt’s silent gaze.

“Dante is still staying here then.” Matt walked over to the kitchen table, straightening the vase of flowers in the middle.

“Yes,” I confirmed. Needing to avoid looking at him and falling under the SSS while the tea brewed, I busied myself with getting cups out. That didn’t take long, so I got the matching saucers out too. “Although I think he’s planning on buying somewhere. He’s not said anything as yet but I caught him checking out one of those propertywebsites.” I could no longer politely get away with staring at my cupboards. Turning to face my estranged husband, I plastered a smile on my face.

“Mmm,” Matt absentmindedly neatened up the three dance books discarded on the table. “Prices have been steadily rising again, and everyone knows it’s near impossible for the average first-time buyers to get their feet on the property ladder in London, most are resigned to renting.”

“It depends,” I had to keep the conversation going while I thought of the best way to bring up our problems. Maybe this was my chance to fix things between us, maybe we could actually communicate like grown-ups and realize it had all been a horrible misunderstanding. And he looked so good, delicious to be precise. I wondered if he could also rock a man-bun. Yeah, I could definitely see him with long silky locks pulled atop his head.

Matt snorted in amusement, then he glanced at my purse. His beautiful eyes narrowed into slits before he raised those well-defined eyebrows at me. “Depends on what?”

“Where you’re looking,” I explained.

“Yes, I’m sure anyone can find a bargain in and around London.” he mocked. “You do know evenrentingfrom those council and housings associations is unaffordable to people on low incomes, far less buying, and this is council housing we’re talking about,”

“Well,” I interrupted. “It’s a good thing he isn’t on a low income then. We doowna ballet company, a successful one at that.”

Matt almost rolled his eyes, almost. He was lucky he had the stubble thing going on, otherwise I might have said something bad. I should just bring up our estrangement before I said something stupid.

Licking my lips, I peered nervously at him while he glowered at my purse again. “Matt,”

He looked over at me, hearing the tentative softness of my tone.

“I swear I didn’t che-”

“Don’t.” Matt cut me off, his whole body stiffened as the grey of his eyes darkened in anger. “I don’t want to hear it, Madison.”

“You haven’t even let me finished,” I said, forgetting about the tea.

“You don’t need to,” he dragged out. “And I certainly don’t want to hear whatever ludicrous excuses you’ve thought up to justify your infidelity.”

“I. Didn’t. Cheat.” Ok. That was a shout, this wasn’t going to end well.

Matt glared at me. “You know, if you had the slightest bit of decency to admit your actions, Imighthave been willing to listen to your reasons, bloody hell, I’d respect you more than I do right at this moment,” His glare got even fiercer as he sent another look at my purse. “Who knows? Imighthave even entertained the thought of perhaps trying to work things out,” Unclenching his fists, Matt leaned forward and pressed his hands, palms down, on top the table. “But you continue to deny it when we both know it’s the truth, you just can’t stop lying.”

“I’m not lying and it’s not the truth,” My yelling continued. “I used to think you were so clever but you’re really an idiot. Those pictures were fake.”

“Fake my arse.” he yelled back. “They were authenticated.”

I rolled my eyes and waved my hand wildly about. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.Yousaid they were checked out. How do I know you’re not behind this?”

Dante’s earlier suspicions I had discounted suddenly started making sense to me in my irate state.

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