Page 18 of Fierce-Matt

“Next person?” he asked.

“The next woman you spend time with.”

“Why can’t it be you?” he asked.

“What?” She coughed on the bite of her sandwich she’d just taken. She was running out of time and wanted to eat before she was back to work. What she thought was going to be a tense conversation hadn’t turned into it... until now.

“I said why can’t you spend some time with me to see if I’ve changed?”

“Because I’m not strong enough to set myself up for that kind of disappointment.”

“Ouch,” he said. He was smirking, but she saw the hurt behind his eyes. His hand going to his heart only added to his playfulness. It differed from a decade ago though. She recognized that.

“I’m sure you can take it,” she said.

She doubted anything she said would bother him. It never did before.

“Got your phone with you?”

She frowned. “Always.”

“Hand it over,” he said, putting his large hand out. She stared at him and didn’t make a move to do it. “I’m not going to throw it on the ground and stomp on it.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that.” But she pulled it out of her back pocket and handed it over.

“Unlock it,” he said, crossing his eyes.

It didn’t make her laugh. “Why?” she asked, hesitating.

“So I can put my number in it.”

She took it back and put it in her pocket instead. “Give me yours.”

Hedidn’t hesitate to hand it over after he unlocked it. “See. I trust you.”

Which was saying a lot because who the heck knew what kind of communication was on his phone work-related?

She went to his contacts and added her name, then handed it back after she sent herself a text.

“I’m not as mean as you,” she said.

He smiled. The humor reached his blue eyes. His shoulders relaxed too. She hadn’t realized he might have been as tense as her.

He was clean-shaven, but she’d seen him with facial hair too. He’d gone through a stage in college and came home with it.

Her seventeen-year-old self might have first realized what horny meant even though she still hated the interactions they had.

Once in a while, he’d be nice. He’d compliment her.

He’d made her think he wasn’t going to make her the center stage of some joke.

Then her hopes would be squashed like the Jolly Green Giant stepping on a butterfly.

She didn’t think he was ever going to grow up.

Guess she was wrong.

“Now what?” she asked.