Page 64 of Hearts and Hidden Secrets
Dylan
The air conditioner hums gently. I rub my eyes, then reach for Evie. The sheets are empty. I blink, sit up, grab my glasses from the nightstand. The curtains are closed, and the clock flashes ten thirty at me.
Holy shit.
I slept in like I haven’t done in ages.
“Hey,” I call out in case she’s in the bathroom.
But when I get out of bed, turn on the light, and pad around the corner, there’s no sign of the woman I spent the night with.
I return to the bed, picking up my clothes along the way, and tugging on my boxer briefs.
Then I notice a sheet of white paper by the TV.
My shoulders sag, and my chest feels hollow before I pick it up. But I swallow hard, steeling for the worst.
Especially since it starts with Dear Dylan . Who starts letters that way that don’t end in bad news?
I had an amazing time with you. Everything has been so unexpected, and unexpectedly wonderful. But I can’t work with you anymore, and I feel terrible that I broke the cardinal rule of being a matchmaker.
I will call you later.
Evie
I take a deep breath, drag a hand through my hair, and decide it’s time to call a translator. I don’t know what the hell this means.
Mia answers on the first ring. “Hey there, hot stuff.”
“Hey. Are you free?”
“Free for lunch? No. I’m just finishing brunch with your sister. Free for you to take me for A, coffee, or B, mystery shopping, yes.”
“My sister?”
“Duh. We’ve become friends.”
“I knew that, but I didn’t realize you were brunch friends.”
“We are totally brunch friends. After I hung out with her at one of Chase’s Scrabble parties, we both realized we had brothers who drove us crazy.”
I laugh. “Chase and Max definitely can drive a sister crazy. Anyway, I don’t want to interrupt your brunch. But sure, I’ll choose B—mystery shopping with you.”
“Great. I’m paying the bill. Good thing you called now. We instituted a cell phone-free brunch, and I literally just turned my phone back on.”
At the bath and beauty products store, Mia hands me a body wash with the name Strawberry Fields Forever. “Would you buy this for a woman?”
I sneer at the pink Strawberry Shortcake-style branding. “No.”
“Now smell it.”
I unscrew the cap, and I’m surprised at the light and fresh strawberry scent. I shrug. “Cheesy branding. Nice smell,” I say, and Mia says thank you.
She runs a cruelty-free beauty products company on the West Coast, and she’s enlisted my help from time to time when she’s in town to give feedback on what a guy would buy for a girl. Now that I’ve given some, I figure it’s time to ask her advice.
“So…I need your advice on a situation.”
“Bet it all on black.”
“Ha ha.”
“Anyway, tell me what’s up.”
I lean against the shelf and give her the quick download. We hung out, I found myself liking her, we got it on, she took off with a note, yada, yada, yada.
Mia’s eyes widen with each line, and when I hit the part about the hotel room—no NSFW details, of course—she shoves my shoulder. “You dog.”
“I like dogs, so I’ll take that as a compliment. But then she left a note and I don’t know what to do.”
She arches a brow. “What did it say?”
“Something about breaking a rule as a matchmaker.”
Mia bounces on her toes. She clasps her fingers tightly. She draws a sharp breath. “That means she likes you!”
“Well, I would kind of hope so, since we did get a little bit naked.”
“Sounds like it was more than a little bit,” Mia says out of the side of her mouth.
“Fine. It was a lot naked.”
She holds up a hand. “I don’t want to think about you naked. The point being, that must mean she’s really into you. Did you tell her how you felt? That you’re totally falling for her?”
I hem and haw. “Um.”
She sighs so heavily it sounds like it has its own weight class. “Dylan,” she admonishes. “You didn’t tell her you’re falling for her?”
I cycle back to last night and the things we said. I told her how much I wanted her. I told her I liked being with her. But did I actually give voice to the most important part of my feelings? Did I ever say out loud that I was falling hard for her?
“I don’t think I did.”
Mia squeezes my arm. “Do it now. Don’t overthink it. She probably feels guilty that she fell for you rather than found you a match. Let her know you fell for her, too. That you’re in it together.”
I have a lot of work ahead of me to achieve that goal. To be in it together. Time to start.