Page 72 of Pucking Your Best Friend

How should they behave in front of his parents? What wasnormal?

She swallowed the lump as her mouth went dry and her palms started sweating.

“Are you okay?” Matt asked tersely, looking at her skeptically. He was still angry. He’d barely spoken to her yesterday, and now this.

“Mm hm,” she said in a high voice.

“You’re not thinking about how you can tell Mom in great detail that her son bound you to his bed?” he asked dryly.

She laughed nervously. “No, no. I won’t tell anyone else, Matt. I promise.”

“Good,” he snapped.

She didn’t sense that everything wasgood.

Oh man, she hated conflict! She hated that things were strained between her and Matt. She hated arguments. She couldn’t stand it when someone was mad at her.

Everything was awful!

“Ah, it’s so wonderful that you’re here!” Matt’s mother announced loudly as Maddie exited the vehicle. “It’s great that you’re here too, Maddie. Matt tells us so little about his life, we really hope you can tell us some of his secrets.” She winked at her and hugged Maddie tightly.

Gallons of blood immediately rushed to Maddie’s head while Matt coughed loudly in the driver’s seat. She thought she hearddon’t you dare.

Thank God she didn’t have to answer, because when Mrs. Payne had finished with her, she rushed right around the car to embrace her son. Which was incredibly sweet to watch. She tried to pat his head, but he was eight inches too tall for that; the top of her head barely reached his shoulder. Mrs. Payne was only five feet tall and wore sneakers with a baggy orange dress that swallowed up her round body. She looked…incredibly comfortable.

“Oh, Matty, it’s been far too long since you’ve come home,” she said in a hushed voice, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye as she pulled away from him. “Have you grown? You seem taller.”

Matt smiled crookedly and kissed his mother on the cheek. “I haven’t grown in a few years, Mom, so you must be shrinking.”

She laughed in relief. “That must be it! Did you have a pleasant trip?” Her eyes lit up and she turned back to Maddie, whose face immediately reddened.

Sure. Pleasant—not the word she would use to describe seven hours of uneasy silence.

“It was okay,” Matt replied, rescuing her. “Just…long.”

“You should have flown,” his mother said, clicking her tongue.

“Bad for the environment,” Matt replied, hurrying to the trunk to retrieve his duffel bag and Maddie’s small suitcase. “I already fly too much for work.”

It could have been a fun road trip if they had both acted normal, Maddie realized. Maybe that was why Matt hadn’t wanted to fly: Under different circumstances, it could have been a cool day in the car.

Oh God, had they ruined everything?

“Okay, that’s a valid argument,” his mother agreed reluctantly. “But, you’re here now! Your father expected you to cancel.”

They strolled along the gravel path toward the large double doors of the ivy-covered stone house. There was a small veranda gracing the front. It all looked so terribly charming and pretty that Maddie’s heart swelled a bit. That is, until Mrs. Payne fixed her gaze on her again.

“How are you, Maddie? I hear from Matt now and then, but we haven’t spoken in a while. Nell said business is hot right now? Is there anything else new?”

I slept with your son. And it was fantastic.

Matt’s eyes widened in alarm, probably because his mother’s choice of words was extremely unfortunate, so Maddie merely stared at Sandra Payne with her lips slightly parted, not knowing what to say. Finally, she shook her head.

“Oh, I’m sure that’s not true.” Sandra smiled warmly. “But you’ll have plenty of time to tell me!”

She hurried to the door. Maddie noticed that Matt was giving her the side eye. “Is everything okay?” he asked, irritated. “You haven’t said a word to my mother yet.”

Maddie didn’t reply, just stared at him for a second before glancing away. She had never felt so uncomfortable in her own skin in her life.

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