Page 255 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 5

“Matt.” She caught my arm and I tried to ignore the spark that her touch ignited on my skin.Again.It kept happening. And I wanted to pretend it was nothing. But it didn’t feel like nothing to me. It had been a long time since I’d felt something like that. A really long time. It was one of the reasons I’d come over here like an idiot, pretending to ask for her help.

But she felt it too, right? My eyes locked with hers. We both stood frozen for just a few seconds.

I wanted to kiss her. I ran through the consequences in my head. James would hate me. Despite years of trying to forget how much he’d fucked up my relationship with Brooklyn, a part of me still hated him. So I didn’t really care about that. Our friendship was built on a foundation of rotten wood. It was doomed to collapse eventually. But if I kissed James’ wife, Rob would never forgive me either. He’d choose his brother over his best friend. Worst of all, my brother, Mason, wouldn’t even have my back on this one. There’d be nothing he could say to defend me. I was crossing too many lines. I’d lose everything. But what did I really have anyway? Some half ass friends that pretendedthe past meant nothing when I was fucking drowning every day? They didn’t understand. They didn’t even care.

I swallowed hard. There were two things that could happen immediately if I went for it. Penny might slap me and kick me out. Or… My eyes landed on her lips. Or she might kiss me back.

Matchmaker - Chapter 3

Thursday

I leaned forward, my eyes glued to her lips. Every thought swirling through my mind was telling me to stop.

Penny’s eyes grew round.

But I didn’t stop. Because my heart didn’t agree with my head. It was broken, and I just needed one night to help heal it. I was so tired of feeling fucking broken.

But I didn’t get a chance to find out if kissing Penny would numb my pain. Because she removed her hand from my arm like she knew exactly what I was thinking. She quickly wiped the side of her mouth, as if I’d been staring at her because there was something there. And not because I wanted to kiss her senseless.

“Is there something on my face?” she asked, ignoring the fact that I was leaning even closer.

I swallowed hard, my thoughts still swirling with desire.

“Matt?”

I wasn’t even sure what her question had been. “Sorry, what did you say?”

She laughed. “Why do you keep looking at me like that? I have something on my face, don’t I?” She wiped the side of her mouth again. “I was eating ice cream earlier and I…” her voice trailedoff as I reached out and ran my thumb right beneath her lower lip.

She didn’t have anything on her face. But I’d use any excuse to touch her. “There,” I said, letting my fingers rest along her cheek for just a moment. “I got it.”

“Thank you.” She cleared her throat.

I reluctantly let my hand fall from her velvety skin. She wasn’t mine to touch. But touching her made my heart feel like it was beating better.

“So back to the app.” She looked down at her phone. “It’s time to find you someone to settle down with.”

Why the hell did I agree to this again?I didn’t want her to download some stupid app. I just wanted to spend more time with her. I didn’t want to fucking find the love of my life on some random dating app. I’d already found that back in high school. And it had all been taken away from me. So I no longer believed in love. All I knew was that hanging out with Penny made me feel better for some reason. I was doing this to spend time with her. Not to fall in love. Not to find someone to settle down with. That wasn’t in the cards for me. Ever.

I leaned away from her. If Penny knew how beautiful she was, she would have known I was about to kiss her rather than worrying about something invisible on her face. If she was mine, I’d let her know how beautiful she was every day. Which her shitty husband was apparently neglecting to do.

“Give me a second to download the app,” she said. “And while we wait, you can tell me all about your ideal girl.”

I stared at her. I didn’t want to talk about this. “I don’t have a type.”

Penny rolled her eyes.

I loved when she did that. Like she was begging to be spanked.Stop.“Well, if you insist, I really like girls who roll their eyes at me.”

“I don’t think that’s an option,” she said as she looked up from the app.

I smiled at her.

And then she blushed and laughed awkwardly. “Stop making fun of me.”

“I wasn’t making fun of you, Penny.” I couldn’t help it. My eyes fell to her lips again.

She shook her head. “True love is serious. So you need to take this seriously,” she said, using her commanding mom voice that worked so well with her daughter, Scarlett.Sometimes.Scarlett tended to do whatever she wanted. She was freaking adorable and I was one of the people who spoiled her the most. The little girl could do no wrong in my eyes. I’d never said no to her before, and I was pretty sure I never would. Maybe it was the same with her mother.