Page 27 of Perfectly Matched: Harbor Falls Romance Collection

The lodge was full of people, and well, people weren’t his thing. Of course. Matt slipped out a French door leading out onto the deck and braved the winter cold.

The deck was cleared of snow, thankfully, so he didn’t have to worry about slipping. The lake sat like a giant jewel beyond the lodge, moonlight flickering off its icy depths. He moved to the rail, peered out into the night, and exhaled.

“Sometimes crowds get to me, too.”

Matt looked to his left while Brad Matthews stepped closer.

“Yeah. I’m not much for parties.”

Then thinking better of that statement, he added.

“But as far as parties go, this is a great one. My mother is having a wonderful time.”

Brad chuckled.

“I love to entertain but I’ve been prepping for this for days. I needed a break.”

He glanced to the lake.

“Man, I am so glad I didn’t tear this place down.”

Matt agreed.

“Me, too. I sure was sweating it with my cabin a mile up the road. I’m glad you left it as is.”

“Well, if it hadn’t been for Suzie’s stubbornness, it probably wouldn’t have happened.”

“Must run in the family.”

“Stubbornness?”

“Um. Yeah.”

“I hear that goes two ways.”

Matt’s gaze landed on Brad’s face and he wondered what he meant. Well, of course, Shelley had probably talked with Suzie, and Suzie had discussed with her husband. There was no time to ponder that notion, however, when the French door cracked open again behind them and the commotion inside spilled out onto the deck.

A sequined Suzie squeezed through the door.

“There you are!”

She sidled up next to Brad and smiled.

“Hi, Matt. It’s so good to see you here.”

She turned her attention to her husband.

“Honey, a couple of heat cans under the serving dishes have gone out and I can’t find any more. Where do you keep them? Oh, and we are out of pate. You know how Claire Harper loves her pate…”

Rolling his eyes, Brad patted her arm.

“I’ll take care of it,”

then turning to Matt, he added.

“See you later man, glad you’re here. Hey, there could be a poker game later tonight if you want to stick around.”

Matt nodded and Brad was gone.

Suzie faced him.

“It is good to see you, Matt. It’s been a while and I wish we could see each other more often. I sort of miss the old days when… Oh!”

Reaching to her waist, she pulled a cell phone from her skirt waistband.

“On vibration. Just a sec. Could be the kids.”

She swiped at the phone and he waited while she said things lik.

“um-huh,” and “yes, of course,” and “you’re sure?” and then finally, “see you in a few.”

She ended the call, slipped the phone back in her waistband, exhaled long, bit her lip and then squared her gaze on him.

“Matt Branson, I need your help. I know you are here for the party and I hate to take you way from it but… Oh, Lord, I really need some help.”

Concerned now, he wondered if this was a police matter.

“What is it, Suzie? Is there trouble?”

Her brow knit and she paused.

“Not sure. Yes, maybe. Yes. There is trouble. At my house. Someone is sneaking around outside. Strange noises too, Shelley said, and…”

Panic raced to his throat, constricting his breath. No.

“I’m just not exactly sure what kind of trouble there could be, but Shelley said the lights were flickering and she wondered if the man outside had—”

Matt grasped her forearms.

“No problem. I’m on my way.”

He turned away from Suzie and jerked open the French door to the dining area.

“Tell Shelley I’m coming. Tell my mother I…”

he shouted over his shoulder.

“Just tell her I’m going after what I need to go after.”

“Shelley?”

“Yes!”

“Go Matt go!”

****

The dress fit like a glove. Sleek and black, the length hit above the knee, the plunging neckline showed a comfortable amount of cleavage, the three-quarter length sleeves skimmed her forearms.

Shelley turned and looked at herself in the mirror from all angles. Suzie was right. The dress was perfect. Too bad she didn’t have the guts to wear it out in the light of day.

Or to a New Year’s Eve bash.

After her bath, she couldn’t resist trying it on. She found it difficult to stop at just wearing the dress, though. She donned pantyhose and found a pair of Suzie’s black pumps. Getting into the dress-up thing, she rummaged through her sister’s jewelry and found a very nice pearl necklace with matching earrings. Oh, and a nice diamond tennis bracelet.

“Might as well put on a little makeup,”

she mused, stepping back from the mirror.

In fifteen minutes, she was dressed, fluffed, decked out, spit-shined, and polished.

“All dressed up and nowhere to go.”

Staring at herself, she wondered... Did she dare? Before she could back out, she picked up her phone and called her sister.

“Talk me out of this,”

she said.

“I think I want to come to the party.”

“Um-huh.”

“Can you come get me?”

“Yes, of course,”

Suzie replied.

“Okay.”

Her heart skipped a beat. Would she really do this?

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

“See you in a few.”

They hung up. Shelley bit her lip and stared at her reflection.

“Shit. I’m going to a party.”

****

His heart pounding, Matt spun his tires as he rounded the corner and sped into Suzie’s driveway. Running the Jeep almost up to the doorstep, he haphazardly parked the vehicle, left it running, and jogged up the sidewalk and onto the porch. Repeatedly, he jammed the heel of his hand on the doorbell.

“Answer the door, Shelley. Answer the door.”

Impatient, he shifted from one foot to another. It wasn’t until the door jerked open that he realized the lights were on in the house.

“I’m coming! Geez, Suze.”

Shelley’s voice trailed off as the door swung fully open. Her jaw dropped. “M-Matt?”

He pushed his way inside.

“Close the door. Tell me what you saw.”

She wrinkled her brow. “What?”

“You called. Suzie said you saw someone messing around the house. Where was he? In the front or back by the lake? What did you see?”

He knew his voice was frantic. Why was she standing there so calm? And why was she so dressed up?

“Matt, I didn’t see anyone messing around. I called Suzie to come and take me to the lodge.”

Realization hit him. He stepped back, distancing himself from Shelley. “What?”

“I didn’t call Suzie about a man, Matt. I called her to come pick me up.”

“Hell fire.”

Raking his fingers through his hair, he paced away and then turned back toward her. He couldn’t do anything but stare.

“Shit. And goddamn, you look so, freaking, hot. I mean, beautiful.”

Finally, he sat with a thud on the sofa, his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands, staring at the floor. “Shit.”

Shelley stepped toward him.

“Matt, calm down. I’m okay. This is…”

“This is a set-up,”

he told her, looking up into her face. Dammit.

“I don’t understand.”

“You called. I was there standing by Suzie. She said there was trouble here at the house, someone messing around, and that… Hell, never mind. You get it, right?”

Shelley huffed out a breath and rolled her eyes.

“Oh my God. My sister! Matt Branson, if you think I had anything to do with this, you’re wrong. My sister has been playing matchmaker. I did not call to have you come get me.”

Neither of them said anything. Matt washed his hands over his face and stared at the floor again. After a moment, Shelley moved to the couch and sat down beside him.

He looked at her.

“I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest I was so worried about you.”

Shelley nodded.

“I could tell you were upset.”

“Dammit, Shelley, I’m a mess. I thought you were in trouble.”

Sighing, she touched his hand.

“Thank you for caring, Matt.”

“I never stopped caring, Shelley.

She smiled.

“We’re a pair, aren’t we?”

She stared straight ahead into the Christmas tree lights.

“Yeah.”

He lowered his hands. He studied her profile. The twinkle of the Christmas lights reflected against her soft skin.

“Matt,”

she whispered, “I lied.”

His heart rate kicked up a notch.

“About what?”

She faced him.

“I don’t want you to forget me. I don’t want you to move on. I don’t want to let you go. I want… a chance.”

Her gaze fell to her lap and she fiddled with the hem of the dress.

“Shelley…”

She shook her head.

“No, please don’t stop me. Let me say this while I can. I know I hurt you. I know you don’t like me very much. And I know there is this big chunk of history that we have to get over. But I can’t get you out of my head, and I can’t ever forget how much I loved you once upon a time. Beyond that, I ache every minute of the day knowing that I hurt you so damn much and that you are still hurting.”

She took a deep breath and exhaled. It was then he noticed the tear trailing down her cheek.

“The thing is, I don’t know what I can do to make it better. I’ve apologized. You still hate me. I don’t know how to fix this.”

Closing his eyes, Matt swallowed and gathered his wits about him. His mother’s words rang in his ears.

“I don’t hate you,”

he whispered. Turning, he placed his hands on both her shoulders and turned her to face him.

“I know how to fix it.”

Her eyes brimmed with tears. “How?”

“I need to let the past go.”

“I need to think there could be a future.”

He slipped the tear away with his forefinger.

“Just love me. The rest will come.”

“I’ve never stopped loving you, Matt.”

Grasping a tendril of her hair, he twisted it around his forefinger and pulled her closer. As his lips moved in to capture hers, he whispered.

“I have loved you every day of my life, Shelley Hart. Every. Single. Day.”

He kissed her. She tasted like home—like a million years of wandering, finally settling in the place of his dreams. Pulling away, he peered into her eyes.

“We need time.”

She nodded.

“And lots of talk.”

His gaze dropped to her lips.

“And kissing?”

Leaning forward, she lightly touched hers to his again.

“Yes. Kissing may help.”

Her gaze played over his face.

“And making love?”

He growled and nuzzled her neck.

“Matt, more than anything, I want us to try again. I’ll do anything…”

Wrapping her up in his arms, he held her close.

“All you have to do is love me,”

he breathed.

“and let me take you home.”

Home. Where he should have taken her all those years ago.

“That’s easy,”

she whispered back.

“Home is the only place I want to be.”

Match My Heart

Suzie Hart Matthews is hard at work on her new cookbook, Perfectly Matched, when she asks the local wallflower, Mary Lou Picketts, to help her with a project.

****

Mary Lou fantasizes about falling in love with country music star Nash Rhodes but is ready to settle for Barry Phillips down the street. After all, Barry is her real boyfriend and he has popped the question. The likelihood that Nash Rhodes ever will, is slim-to-none. Nash is nothing more than a celebrity crush waiting to never happen.

Nash Rhodes enjoys his newfound status in the country music world—after all, it is what he’s worked toward for years—but he longs for a break in the action to ground himself in home and family after months of touring, night-after-night of concert halls, and days-upon-end of sleeping in his traveling bus. And while he also enjoys his adoring fans, and knows his career is dependent upon them, he’s grown weary of being followed. Just when he has made plans to head home to Louisiana for a long weekend, the chance to play a benefit concert presents itself and he’s not sure he can refuse.

When Nash comes to Harbor Falls for the music benefit to support the local children’s hospital, Suzie wonders if she can perfectly match the miss-matched couple of Mary Lou Picketts and Nash Rhodes. After all, they seem perfect for each other, and she had managed to hook her little sister, Shelley, back up with her old high school boyfriend, Matt, hadn’t she? Can she do it again?

Cast of Characters

Main Characters

Mary Lou Picketts

Nash Rhodes

Old and new friends mentioned or appearing in this book:

Suzie Hart Matthews

Brad Matthews

Sydney Hart

Shelley Hart

At Ralph’s Food Mart, Harbor Falls, NC

****

The sushi looked fabulous.

Suzie Hart Matthews glanced up at the smiling Japanese girl behind the counter rolling rice, spicy tuna and seaweed, and shrugged.

“Who would have thought that Ralph’s Grocery would ever hire a sushi girl?”

The young woman smiled back and said.

“See what you want? I make more.”

Shaking her head, Suzie returned.

“Oh no. You’ve quite a selection here.”

She reminded herself to tell her husband, Brad, about her new discovery. The two of them being chefs, they were always interested in the new food offerings in their small town of Harbor Falls.

Somehow, though, she couldn’t imagine sushi on the menu at Falls Lodge, Brad’s business. Nor could she imagine it Sweet Hart Inn. Even though breakfast was the norm at her inn, occasionally she hosted dinner parties or events. Sushi on the menu in this Blue Ridge mountain town seemed, well, a little out of place. Yet, intriguing.

She picked up a pretty salmon roll—it looked and smelled fresh—and slipped it into her grocery cart.

A deep voice came from behind her.

“What do you think of my sushi girl, Suzie?”

Suzie turned to face Ralph Myers, owner of the grocery. Rumor had it he bought out his business partner and was going independent. Recently, he’d been trying a lot of new twists to get Harbor Falls residents to buy their groceries local rather than driving to one of the big box stores in the next county. Keeping business local was of prime concern to the residents and small business owners here.

Hence, the sushi attempt.

Glancing at the display again, she said.

“The sushi looks great, Ralph. But whatever possessed you?”

He cut her off with a wave of both hands and leaned her way.

“She’s a gem. I stole her from a restaurant in Charlotte temporarily to see how it works out. Just the thing Harbor Falls needs.”

Then he proudly stepped back and crossed both arms over his chest while nodding.

“We’re uptown now.”

How can you doubt a man who is so pleased with himself.

“I hope it works out, Ralph.”

She glanced toward the meat counter.

“Now, tell me about your beef sale. I need a couple of nice juicy ribeyes.”

He led her to the counter and proceeded to tell Bart Shackler behind it to get her a couple of extra-thick cuts, the best he had.

“Now, Ralph,”

she batted her eyes.

“y’all don’t have to give me special treatment…”

He bowed and swept a hand in front him.

“Ma’am, yes I do. If I keep you buying from me, Ms. Famous Cookbook Author, I can claim you as my own customer. See?”

He pointed to the wall beside of the meat case.

Suzie cast her gaze on the wall there.

“Well, knock me over with a noodle. Ralph, what in the world have you done?”

A huge poster graced the wall. On it was a picture of her—the same photograph on her just-released cookbook, Best of Sweet Hart Inn—with a tag line that read, Harbor Falls’ Celebrity Chef, Suzie Hart, Shops at Ralph’s!

“Oh my! Ralph, you shouldn’t have done that!”

She was embarrassed to say the least, but not one bit surprised that Ralph would try to capitalize on her recent success. At least he got her name right on the poster. She had chosen to stay Suzie Hart professionally, in her cookbook world. Still, she was homegrown Harbor Falls and while she was flattered, it made her uncomfortable. But she guessed it was fine with her—as long as that was as far as it went.

Ralph leaned and winked.

“Hope you don’t mind, Suzie. I’ll give you ten percent off your order if you let me keep it up. I’d like to put an ad in the paper, too.”

Now that made her a mite uncomfortable. She smiled sweetly.

“Ralph Myers, I’ve shopped your store all my life and I have no intention of shopping anywhere else. I’m honored to have my poster up in your store and you can keep your ten percent, because,”

she reached out and grasped his hand and leaned forward herself.

“that’s the way we do things here in Harbor Falls.”

She smiled and then added.

“Oh, but before you put that in the paper, we will need to get permission from the publisher to use that photo.”

She bit her lip and gave him a frown.

“Sorry to say sometimes these things take time. Let me work on that, okay?”

Ralph’s smile turned frown-like as well.

“I didn’t think of that. Do you mind taking care of it?”

She didn’t. Suzie also knew that the likelihood they would agree would be zero-to-none. Her publisher was mighty hands-on and picky with publicity so this could truly take a while—or not happen at all. She didn’t mind the national publicity she’d recently enjoyed for her cookbook, but the local hype was a little embarrassing. In Harbor Falls, she just wanted to be Suzie, detached of the celebrity persona.

He covered her hand with his and nodded—in gratitude, she suspected. Then he left her and headed toward the front of the store, tossing a hand up at another customer coming down the aisle.

Sighing, Suzie looked back at the poster. “Oh boy,”

she said under her breath.

“Brad will get a kick out of this.”

She pulled out her cell phone and snapped a quick picture of the poster.

Movement to her right caught her attention as someone else stepped up to the meat counter. Mary Lou Picketts stood staring at the wall, too. Oh dear, what will the rest of Harbor Falls think of this? Again, she was a tad embarrassed.

She followed Mary Lou’s gape, however, and realized that she wasn’t exactly looking at the Suzie poster, but that something else had caught the young woman’s eye.

A different kind of sigh exited Mary Lou’s lips. Suzie watched as Mary Lou gazed up at another poster of a man, lean, dark and gritty, standing with a guitar slung over his shoulder. Suzie studied her side profile as Mary Lou took in the full-color and full-body likeness of Nash Rhodes, Nashville’s newest and up-and-coming country music star.

Adoration. That was the look on Mary Lou’s face.

No, that wasn’t it.

Adolescent crush-like puppy love?

Good God no. Mary Lou had to be close to thirty and was way past the adolescent crush phase of her life. The look was something else. Like staring at something just out of reach. Perhaps lost and given up on.

Longing?

Love?

Suzie shook her head. Of course not. No one falls in love with a celebrity icon. Oh, they may think they are in love, but how could they truly be? You cannot fall in love with someone by reading their fanzines, watching them on CMT, scouring the Internet for tidbits of information, and going to their concerts.

Longing. Maybe it was more like longing.

Suzie thought about that. Mary Lou lived a quiet and perhaps slightly isolated life here in Harbor Falls. Suzie had known her since grade school, even though Mary Lou was a few years younger. Still, everyone knew everyone in Harbor Falls, pretty much. Mary Lou was the type of girl who never really had a best girlfriend and kept to herself most of the time. Suzie seemed to remember that she did go off to college—but she wasn’t quite certain what Mary Lou had done with her life since then. She’d heard she worked from home, but at what, Suzie didn’t know.

Mary Lou heaved another sigh. Suzie watched her chest rise, her breasts lift, and then fall in a half-defeated motion. She felt a little sorry for her and wasn’t quite sure why.

Suzie took a few steps and leaned Mary Lou’s way.

“Hard to believe he’s going to be in Harbor Falls next weekend, isn’t it?”

The poster advertised the benefit concert to raise money for the children’s wing of the hospital. Nash was the star attraction but there was a local act opening Nash’s performance. Suzie’s husband, Brad, who was on the hospital board, had a big hand in bringing Nash to their small town, so she had some personal scoop on the musician and his appearance.

The young woman swung her way and jumped back a little.

“Oh! Suzie. I didn’t know anyone was there!”

Smiling, Suzie reached out to grasp her elbow.

“No problem, honey. Didn’t mean to startle you. Thought I’d say hello. Came in to pick up some meat.”

Mary Lou rotated her gaze back toward the poster.

“Yeah. Meat. A hunk of it.”

“Mary Lou!”

Suzie chuckled.

Mary Lou’s hands fluttered to her neck.

“Oh! Did I say that out loud?”

“Sure enough did, sweetie.”

Suzie stepped up beside her and they stood and ogled the poster together.

“I do have to agree that the man is definitely one prime choice of—”

“Beefsteak?”

The women rolled their gazes toward the meat case and Bart who was holding out Suzie’s ribeyes.

“Ahem. Yes. Thanks, Bart.”

“No problem, dear.”

A sly grin broke his lips and he retreated.

Suzie grabbed her steaks and gave Mary Lou a smile as she turned to set them in her cart. Mary Lou waved as she headed in a brisk walk toward the bakery.

But Suzie couldn’t stop thinking about the look on Mary Lou’s face and how discontented that sigh sounded earlier that came from her lips.

Still watching, Suzie took stock. Her clothes were rather baggy, but underneath, her frame was small with rounded hips moving beneath the jogging pants. Mary Lou turned, and Suzie caught site of a rounded contour in the chest area.

Mary Lou Picketts was hiding a rack under those old baggy clothes!

Moving to her face, devoid of make-up, Suzie took stock of a smooth, peaches and cream complexion hiding behind a mousy brown ponytail caught high on her head, which hung down to frame part of her face.

An interesting notion was growing in Suzie’s heart and gut. She glanced once more at the poster of Nash Rhodes, and then back to Mary Lou. Nash was doing that big benefit concert at the lodge, and her husband Brad was hosting the thing.

Did she dare?

Yes. Consider it a gift to humanity. Besides, she had managed to hook her sister Shelley, and her high school boyfriend, Matt Branson, back up again, hadn’t she? That was a rematch made in Heaven. Maybe she could work a little matchmaking magic on Mary Lou.

Lord knows, the girl could stand a break.

Determined, she gripped the cart handle and ventured forth.

“Mary Lou? Wait!”

****

Several hours later, Suzie stood in her kitchen facing her husband. Obviously, he was not drinking the Kool-Aid she was handing him.

“No. Absolutely not,”

he told her.

“It’s just dinner, Brad. It’s the least we can do. Besides, it would probably be the one high point in Mary Lou’s life. Can’t we make a dream come true?”

“As much as I would like to, Suzie, it’s impossible.”

Her husband stared at her. No, glared was more like it.

“Relax, Brad.”

She stepped forward and smoothed her hands over his muscled chest.

“This will not be a problem, I promise you. It’s just a quiet dinner here at the inn. No muss no fuss. Please?”

“Out of the question. Nash’s people have spelled out exactly what he will, and what he cannot do, while he is in town.”

Suzie picked at a piece of lint on his shoulder.

“Oh pooh. The boy needs a home cooked meal occasionally, right? He’s country through and through and we’re just small town. He’d probably welcome it. Why don’t you reach out and see if you can make it happen? After all,”

she sidled in closer and slipped her hands around his waist.

“you can be very convincing.”

“As can you.”

He frowned.

“This is above and beyond the call of husbandly duties, Suzette.”

With a wicked smile, she slipped a couple of fingers under his belt.

“I’ll repay you later by going above and beyond the call of wifely duties, husband.”

Brad groaned and grasped her about the waist.

She continued.

“All you need to do is wrangle him away from the lodge for a couple of hours, either before or after the show, and I’ll do the rest.”

Brad stopped her hands at his waistband by placing his big paws over hers. Those dark eyes of his, always so mesmerizing, peered down.

“Not happening. I have no control over his agenda once he gets here. He’ll be sequestered away in his bus most of the time, whisked in for the concert, and then back out again. It’s a benefit, one that wasn’t on their books and they aren’t making any money on this—Nash Rhodes is not going to be lingering in Harbor Falls long and I’m not asking for special favors. Especially for some lovelorn wallflower.”

Suzie dropped her hands and frowned.

“Mary Lou is a very pretty girl under all that hair and fabric. She just lacks confidence and needs a little coaching.”

“Whatever. Still, I can’t do this.”

“He’s not staying at the lodge?”

“No. He’s parking his bus behind it and staying there.”

“Crap. That was my Plan B.”

She batted her eyes again. Thinking.

“Could you get him here a day early, perhaps? Some sort of pre-concert event?”

He grasped her face in his hands.

“You persistent little minx. No. The way his manager talks, he’s practically on 24/7 call.”

“But I bet you could arrange it. Give him the presidential suite and all the amenities you can muster. I’ll bake and have a ton of goodies there. I hear he has a sweet tooth. I can’t work magic in that trailer of his. I need to get him out of it.”

“My dear wife… I love you to pieces, but I am having no part of what you are planning. The man is the current young gun of Nashville. Their shooting star. They’ve got him booked so tight he doesn’t have time to call his mother without being scheduled.”

Leaning up on her tiptoes, Suzie smiled and kissed her husband’s salty lips, not to be discouraged so easily.

“I’m counting on you, Brad Matthews,”

she whispered.

“Did I tell you about the pink furry handcuffs I bought in Asheville the other day? And that strawberry flavored massage gel?”

The groan came from deeper in his chest this time.

“Now go call and see what you can do.”