Page 70 of Pucking Your Best Friend

“How many times have you done it?” Lucy asked immediately.

“Well…”

Matt didn’t let Maddie finish. He crossed the kitchen in two steps, wrapped his arm around her neck, and pressed his hand over her mouth.

“I swear to the god Jack doesn’t believe in,” he growled in her ear, “if you say another word about this, I’ll tell ESPN thatMatch Me!is a money laundering scheme for a prostitution ring.”

She stared at him wide-eyed, as if she didn’t understand the situation. Hell, that made two of them!

“Maddie!” he said abruptly, dropping his hand. “We’re not going to discuss our night together with these idiots.”

“Why not?” she asked, surprised. “There’s nothing wrong with it. We’re two grown people who decided to give in to our…needs and…”

“I think I’m going to throw up,” Dax interrupted.

“You take the big bathroom, I’ll take the guest bath,” Jack muttered.

“I love this evening!” Lucy declared, her eyes shining.

“Lucy!” Matt hissed darkly.

“What? I…”

“Dinner is ready,” Dax interrupted tonelessly. “Would anyone like pasta Bolognese with a few sexcapade stories on the side?”

“Yes, me,” Lucy said cheerfully. “And then a round of Uno?”

Matt narrowed his eyes and rubbed his face. At least no one was talking about him and Dax arguing anymore.

Shit, though, that was the only positive thing he could say about the evening. That, and that it ended after an hour and a half. Unfortunately, he had to take Maddie with him, even though he didn’t feel like being alone with her when he was angry. How could she…how could she…whywould she…

“You seem angry,” a gentle voice on his right said.

He stopped short at a light and turned toward her. “Iammad, Maddie!” he said, stunned.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Why?”

“Because you announced to all my friends that we fucked!” he exclaimed, aghast.

“Oh, I see. That.” She waved her hand. “It’s fine. I wanted everything to stay normal, so I told them.”

“You… In what world is itnormalto tell them that we had sex?”

“If you were any other guy I had a one-night stand with, Matt, I would have told them,” she insisted, shifting restlessly in her seat. “I would have giggled and told Lucy about the hot hockey player who ended my dry spell. Dax would have sat therepretending not to listen even though he would have been paying attention. So, I didn’t want it to be a big thing that stood between us forever. That’s why I spilled the beans.”

“But it wasn’t just you alone, Maddie!” he snapped. “It wasournight. Notyours. So, it wasour information, damn it, notyoursalone! You can’t just decide for both of us.” He pressed his lips together and shook his head. “That’s not right!”

“But, Matt!” Her voice was getting louder now. “When something not too significant but interesting happens, you tell your friends, right?”

His mouth went dry. When somethingnot too significant… What the fuck?!

“I thought it would be better if we were open about it,” she continued undeterred.

“Open witheach other, yes!”

“Matt, I didn’t think it would be such a problem for you!”

“Well, it is!”

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