Page 235 of Lovers' Dance: Vol. 2

“We’re not Nathan and Bella.” I pointed out. Matt looked at me for a moment then bamboozled me with his panty-soaking smile. I knew I had lost before he even spoke.

“Let’s give it a go,” he murmured. “And if after a few classes you still don’t want to do it, we’ll stop.”

Under the panty-soaking smile haze I nodded. What was a few more classes? Time, yes. Money, yes, but not my own. Hey, maybe I could poach some of Lucianna’s rich clients. I was toying with the idea of starting a dance class for pregnant women who wanted to keep fit without having to do so via the usual methods of the gym or swimming. I would sound out Fiona, she owed me for the back rub.

“What?” Matt asked when he noticed my expression.

“Business idea.” I quipped then fell silent and watched Lucianna get on all fours as she assumed the first birth position. Matt and I exchanged another look. “I’m not doing that.” Came my staunch warning.

“You don’t have to.” Matt agreed as he eyed our instructor with an arched eyebrow and pursed mouth. I giggled. He grinned. It was a nice moment.

An hour later we left our first antenatal class, armed with a bag of pregnancy goodies and books on relaxation techniques. Guess these were included in the cost. Next week class would be structured around setting our birth plans.

“Do you mind if we stop by the house first?” Matt asked while relieving me of the goodie bag. “I need to pick some paperwork up and drop it off at Nathan’s. It won’t take long. Bella has been asking after you. Have you been ignoring her calls?”

If I had real spidey senses they would be tingling right now. Observing Matt from openly suspicious eyes I asked, “Is this going to be a set-up sort of scenario? It feels as if it could be.”

Matt stopped and shook his head before reaching over to chuck me under the chin. “I’ve missed your craziness.”

“Yeah right.” I mocked, secretly tickled over his words. I wanted to confess how much I missed him, but luckily my self-preservation urge kicked in. “Um, how far did you park?”

“The next street, I couldn’t find parking here.” he advised and held an arm out, such a gentleman.

Ignoring his arm, and the increased tempo of my heart, I shuffled my feet forward. “Dante’s in his new place. I can’t believe how fast it’s happened. It feels unreal.”

Matt fell into step with me. “Yes, he mentioned something along those lines.”

“You guys are still enjoying your bromance then,” I tried to keep my tone light and joking in an effort to hide my inner jealousy. Dante and Matt would never be close friends, but they were building something. I remained undecided whether it was actually a good thing.

“Bromance? Humph. Promise me you won’t use slang around our children,” Matt drawled. “I’m hoping they don’t pick up your accent, although you’ve been sounding more and more like a-”

“Don’t say it,” I cautioned, enjoying our easy banter. “If you only imply I sound like a Brit, I will,”

“What?” he challenged before taking my elbow as we crossed the street.

I knew exactly what to say. “Teach them to sayzeeinstead ofzedfor starters.”

“It’szednotzee.” Matt defended the last letter of the alphabet, English style that is.

“Then you have the to-may-to versus to-mah-to.” I continued with a chuckle.

“You know damn well it is tomato,” he stressed the ‘mah’ for my benefit.

“And the battle of o-u-r against o-r, for words like ‘colour’ and ‘flavour’-”

“Don’t you dare,” Matt dropped his voice in mock horror. “Our babies will be able to spell correctly.”

Ours. Not mine, or his, but ours. Whenever he used that possessive pronoun my heart melted. Then I would harden it back up and remind myself not to fall head over heels in love with him again. It was ok to be fond of him, extremely fond of him; but I wasn’t going down the freaking love lane with Matthew Bradley ever again.Why fight it?Stupid brain, it had been asking me that question ever since Matt admitted he was still in love with me. And I had agreed to try…to give us a second chance. A second chance meant opening myself up to him, it meant risking my heart again.

“I’m parked right there.” Matt pointed out the car a few metres away.

“Matt,” This time it was my hand touching his elbow.

“Mmm?” He kept moving us along.

“You look nice today.”Chicken shit.I had punked out. “You always look nice in a suit.”

“I know.” he replied smugly.

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