Page 54 of Pucking Your Best Friend

Before Matt could say anything rude, Maddie turned to him. “Yes, this is Matt. Matt, this is Christina…and Alfie? My date?”

Alfie seemed to have realized his blunder because he blushed and quickly held out his hand. “Yeah, right. Sorry. I’m just a huge Hawks fan. It’s nice to meet you.” He gave her a genuine smile…and to Matt’s annoyance, Maddie smiled back just as genuinely. When Maddie smiled genuinely, light bulbs flickered, trying to keep up with the wattage.

Matt tore his gaze away from the two and held out his hand to Christina. “I’m also disappointed that Eggsy isn’t here. The chicken from hell is a good icebreaker,” he said, and his date laughed as she took his hand.

“Her name is Eggsy?”

“Yes.” He turned around. “Maddie, which one of you named Eggsy, you or Hailey?”

“Oh, I did,” she said, her cheeks pink. “My business partner wanted to call herLos Pollos Hermanos. Or Cluck Norris. But I thought both names were too long.”

Matt chuckled softly. “Cluck Norris.”

Christina grinned. “That’s a good one. For the next chicken.”

“Definitely. Shall we sit?”

The others nodded as Matt noticed that Greasy Alfie kept looking over at him in awe.

What a complete idiot. Maddie was standing less than three feet away and he had nothing better to do than gawk athim?

A waiter led them to a table by the window, so they had a good view of the Los Angeles skyline. While they studied the menu, they exchanged small talk: the weather, the Match Me! interview, where they all went to college, things like that.

Christina was, as Maddie had said, an agent for several actors and actresses, but she refrained from mentioning names, which Matt found appealing. Alfie was a scuba diving instructor and mentioned many names of famous clients he had had. “But never a hockey player, if you’re interested,” he said, winking at Matt before he placed his order with the waiter – before Maddie or Christina.

Yeah, okay, so there were no rules in the dating world these days – but you always allowed the woman to order first! That was what his mother had taught him and he would never disappoint her.

Matt pursed his lips and motioned for Christina and Maddie to tell the waiter what they wanted, and then he ordered. As the waiter was about to leave, Maddie added quickly, “Oh, could I have the appetizer salad without olives? And a small glass of white wine?”

“Of course.” The waiter nodded and disappeared.

Matt lifted one corner of his mouth and looked at Maddie, who was sitting next to him. “No tequila sunrise today?”

She shrugged. “I like to try new things.”

He chuckled. “Since when?”

“Always!”

“You’ve been buying the same shoes for ten years and you called me crazy the other day because I buy whatever soap, not always the same one.”

Maddie made a face and addressed Christina and Alfie, “It’s hard to find comfortable shoes that don’t look stupid. Why risk it by buying new ones? And it’s crazy not knowing what your hands will smell like every day! Choose a scent, Matt, and stick with it!”

He shrugged. “I like to live a bit recklessly, Maddie.”

She snorted. “Oh, really, Mr. Babybel Snackman? You eat the same three things, when I’m not cooking. One of them is cheese!Bad cheese, at that. Those red wax wrappers from your beloved Babybel are lying around all over the apartment.”

“You live together?” Christina asked, surprised, looking curiously from one to the other of them.

Matt noticed out of the corner of his eye that Maddie’s cheeks were turning pink, as if she had said something dirty. “Only temporarily,” she said quickly. “My apartment flooded and Matt is the only one of my friends with a guest room.”

“Oh, no. A burst pipe?” Christina asked sympathetically.

“How many guest rooms do you have?” Alfie asked Matt. “Do you have a mansion? A pool? A butler? Man, what we all earn is peanuts compared to you, right?” He laughed loudly.

Hm. Matt already knew where he would like to put his peanuts.

“I’m not keen on walking three miles from the bed to the fridge,” Matt said, “so, no, no mansion. No pool. No butler.” Just a million-dollar loft, but he preferred to keep that to himself, suspecting that Alfie might wet himself from sheer excitement.

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