Page 21 of Pucking Your Best Friend

“What?” she asked, uncertain, a slight blush working its way up her neck.

“You looked to see if I had a mirror on the ceiling!”

“You told me you did once!” she defended herself loudly.

She still remembered that, even though it was a year ago! “It was a joke!”

“Well, I wasn’t certain,” she replied, offended, turning her back on him abruptly. “I’ll go unpack.”

His laughter grew louder. Her strange mood of defeat from before was broken. She was Maddie again. Everything was okay. “Should I put a mirror on the ceiling so you feel at home?” he suggested innocently.

“No need. I’m fine with the video cameras I always use to film myself,” she replied lightly, then slipped into the guest room next door and closed the door.

He snorted loudly. To his knowledge, Maddie hadn’t done anything lewd with anyone in the last year because she had this rule of only pursuingforever, not one-night stands.

Shaking his head, he walked back into the kitchen, tugged at his shirt collar, which was somehow too tight today, and searched his fridge door for the flyer for the Thai restaurant next door.

Maddie had obviously overcome the biggest crisis. Still, it couldn’t hurt to order her beloved Pad Thai and maybe mix up a tequila sunrise. He had no idea what went into it, but that was what the internet or the delivery service was for.

He heard Maddie rummaging around in the guest room and then turning on some music on her cell phone – pop songs of some sort. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He likedit, that she was here. That meant he wouldn’t be eating alone today and his huge couch wouldn’t be quite so lonely. Everything about his relationship with Maddie was simple, relaxed. Maybe it would even be cool if she were here for a few weeks. He had never shared an apartment; maybe he wanted to experience it.

Nope. It wouldn’t be weird at all.

“She lives with you? But you don’t sleep with her? That’s super weird!” Leon Alvarez said, shaking his head and pulling on his jersey.

“You can live with people without ravishing them, Leon,” Jack replied dryly.

“Yeah, but Maddie is Lucy’s sister. So, she’s hot, right?”

Matt blinked, perplexed. “How the hell do you know Maddie lives with me?” She only moved in last night!

Dax, who was sitting on the bench next to him, tying his skates, raised his head. “Oh, you have me to thank for that. Maddie told Lucy, Lucy told me, and I told pretty much everyone.”

Matt looked at him gloomily. “Well, thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome,” Dax said, grinning. “I thought it would be great entertainment. So far, I’m right.”

“So, is she hot? Have I seen her before?” Leon asked. The young defender was known for his precise elbow strikes and his lack of sensitivity.

“It doesn’t matter if she’s hot,” Matt replied angrily.

“Italwaysmatters if someone is hot,” Leon immediately contradicted. “You saying that means she’s ugly.”

“Maddie isn’t ugly.” Dax clicked his tongue. “She’s pretty. In an unremarkable way.”

Matt blinked. Unremarkable? Maddie? Did Dax have eyes in his head?

Anyway, that wasn’t the point! He needed to concentrate on the important thing. “Just stop running your mouths,” he said,annoyed. “The whole thing is incredibly uninteresting. We’re just friends. We…don’t think of each other that way. She needed help. That’s it.”

Leon flipped him the bird. “You can’t just be friends with women.”

“Of course you can!”

“No, you can’t. Not if they’re single,” Leon insisted.

“I think it’s possible,” Jack said. “But only if you aren’t sexually attracted to her. You don’t have chemistry with every single woman you meet.”

“Speak for yourself,” Leon replied harshly. “I’ve been able to set off fireworks with every woman.”

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