Page 15

“Were you in my bedroom?” he asked, perplexed.

“Oh, yeah.” Her ears turned bright pink. He could see that even from ten feet away. “Well…actually, I slept in it a few nights.”

His mouth went dry and he dropped his suitcase.

“Here’s the thing,” she continued quickly.

“The loft is huge and makes a lot of strange noises at night. And a few days ago, I heard a loud cracking and I was a little scared. I thought that maybe someone was breaking in. I tried to lock my bedroom door but I couldn’t find a key. Your room has a key, so…”

Stunned, he looked at her. “You’re not afraid in your own apartment, where a bird with a twig could probably pick the lock, but in my place you are? With a concierge downstairs and cameras all over the outside hallway?”

Her eyes widened. “There are cameras in the hallway?”

“Of course! These lofts go for two million dollars, Maddie! Most people living here have had stalkers at some point.”

“Which is exactly why I was afraid of someone breaking in. There’s nothing to steal from my place. But in here…” She waved her hand back and forth above her head. “I was just afraid to ask you because you might have said no.” She grimaced again.

Shit, yeah, he would have said no! If he was uncomfortable seeing Maddie standing next to his bed…

“Oh, I meant to change the sheets.” She jumped up and hurried toward him.

“No, it’s okay,” he replied quickly, blocking her way. He didn’t want to see Maddie crawling around his mattress. “I’ll do it.”

She gave him a wry look. “I don’t want to offend you, Matt, but do you know how ?”

He narrowed his eyes and peered down at her. “I had a life before I was a rich hockey star. I had to change my sheets! There were five of us. We all helped.”

“Yes, but since then you’ve taken a few pucks to the head,” she said skeptically, but the corners of her mouth twitched traitorously. God, she was making fun of him.

“You know what, I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to be a Match Me! client tomorrow.”

“Oh, that’s hitting below the belt,” she said, shaking her head.

“But it’s good to know you’re not serious.

” She grinned up at him and squeezed his hand.

“And, speaking of tomorrow, you have to show up at the office at ten, okay? I know you have a game tonight and you’ll be exhausted, but be on time. ”

He sighed. “Sure.”

She wrung her hands uncertainly. “Set three alarms.”

“Maddie.”

“What? You’re a lazy late riser!”

“Excuse me, I work hard!”

“I know, but not in the mornings. That’s why I told Lucy she’d better pick you up.”

He snorted loudly. “Great. Tomorrow is looking better and better.”

She patted his bicep apologetically and he instinctively took a step back, where she couldn’t touch him again. Had she been touching him all the time before or was it just now that he had noticed?

“I’ll be on time,” he promised, turning his back to her and lifting his pillow to pull the sheets off.

They smelled like lemons. Maddie smelled like lemons. He had never noticed that before.

“I know, giving interviews and having your picture taken aren’t your favorite things,” she called after him. “But I promise you, it won’t be uncomfortable for you at all!”

Maddie had lied. Just the excited look on Lucy’s face when she picked him up pained him.

Ever since her sister had told her about the marketing opportunity , Lucy had been in a good mood.

Fans always responded well to personal posts about players, so she would post numerous live videos on social media to help Maddie.

Matt was happy it would reach a wider audience for Match Me!

but not the bullshit he would have to take from the other players if word got out that he was searching for his one true love .

So, when they parked at the Santa Monica Pier the next morning and made their way to Match Me!

, where various reporters would be waiting, he was not in the best mood.

Lucy didn’t seem to notice or she skillfully ignored it. “Leslie was so excited about the whole thing, she even suggested following you on one of your dates!” she announced cheerfully as they strolled along the promenade.

Leslie was the Hawks’ big marketing boss, who everyone just called “The Dragon” because she was known for breathing fire when one of the players caused a scandal. “Over my dead body,” Matt said dryly.

Lucy grinned. “I didn’t think you would take it well. But, if you change your mind…”

He gave her a nasty look. It was bad enough he had to go on a date at all. He certainly didn’t want an audience.

Besides, he’d decided last night that maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if he were open to the idea of the date going well. Maddie was good at matching people and lately, Matt wasn’t as opposed to the idea as he had been a year ago.

Here was the thing: Dax was taken now. He spent a ridiculous amount of time with Lucy. Maddie wanted to date, too — and he knew that once she started seeing guys, one of them would quickly realize what a fantastic catch she was.

He gritted his teeth and looked out over the ocean.

Yes. She wouldn’t be with him forever. Sure, they could continue to be friends when she was married and had kids, but things changed.

They’d changed with Dax and it would be the same with her.

He would…lose her. Not completely, but a little.

And maybe…maybe he shouldn’t be opposed to trying a serious relationship.

He wasn’t good at maintaining them, but he shouldn’t rule them out completely, right?

“Is that a no?” Lucy asked innocently.

“That’s a go to hell ,” Matt snapped back.

She laughed. “My goodness, you are grumpy today. You’re supposed to be the best version of your alter ego Charming .”

“That name is utter bullshit!” he complained loudly.

“I like it. It’s easy to sell. Besides, you are one of the more charming players.”

“Only because everyone else is a bunch of brutish baboons!” he replied in disbelief.

“Well…yes. But that doesn’t change the fact that you are a natural in front of a camera, while it’s best to place duct tape over Leon’s mouth whenever there’s one around.”

He groaned. He had the urge to sling some incredibly charming words at Lucy. There would be so much press today, though, that he probably shouldn’t risk it.

“Oh, I forgot how much fun it is to annoy you,” Lucy said, linking arms with him. “We need to do something together again. Dax, you, Maddie, and I. We could invite Jack. He and Dax need to practice being brothers again and I’m happy to help.”

“Hm,” he muttered because, if he was honest, he missed spending time with Dax.

He loved Lucy, she was great, but he hadn’t been able to hang out with Dax these last few weeks.

He could really use his best friend to tell him it wasn’t a problem to be friends with a woman you were sexually attracted to.

He needed to hear it was perfectly normal to have a few dirty thoughts about Maddie since finding out she hadn’t been averse to jumping into bed with him back then.

Fine. The last week had been good – easy and pleasant, just like everything with Maddie. Nothing had changed.

“Wow, Maddie looks good. She must have dressed up for the reporters.”

Matt blinked, glanced up…and groaned inwardly.

Maddie was wearing a sunny yellow dress that clung tightly to her upper body and fell around her hips in a wide skirt.

She wore her hair down so that the ocean breeze blew it around her face.

He knew the dress. She liked to wear it when she went out in the evening.

It wasn’t particularly provocative. It was nothing compared to the short skirts and crop tops that the rest of the world seemed to be wearing at the moment.

Yet it made her face shine and accentuated every single one of her curves just right…

curves he hadn’t cared about until now! He had noted them and then hadn’t thought about them any further. That was then; now was different.

“Wow, amazing how many people are interested in your love life,” Lucy murmured, and Matt let his gaze wander.

Two reporters with big cameras and equally big grins and a TV crew were present.

That was good for Maddie and explained why she was nervously fiddling with the hem of her dress.

Oh shit! They were not seriously planning on airing this on ESPN?

! No sports fan would find it interesting that he had signed up with a dating agency.

Or would they? He was an ice hockey player!

As long as he didn’t date a puck, it was completely irrelevant.

“Hey, hero,” a voice greeted him from the left. It was Hailey, whose dark curls shimmered in the sunlight.

“More like victim,” he corrected and hugged her in greeting.

She laughed. “Victim of Maddie’s powers of persuasion?”

More like a victim of Maddie’s doe eyes. However, he didn’t get to reply because Maddie had spotted him and was approaching.

“You’re on time,” she said with relief and ran both hands tensely through her hair. “Thank God and…” She paused. Her gaze landed on his face. Specifically, his right eye. “What is that?” she asked, mortified, raising her hand and gently touching his cheekbone.

“Ouch,” he exclaimed and flinched. “It’s a bruise, Maddie.” He might not have been half as charming on the ice yesterday as Lucy liked to claim.

Her eyes widened. “You got into a fight ?”

“You don’t fight on the ice. You show off your skills,” he stated.

“Your skills at fighting!”

Well, yes, that too. “It’s nothing, Maddie. It barely hurts.”

“I don’t care if it hurts, it looks terrible!” she hissed in disbelief. “You’re supposed to be photographed and filmed today, Matt! You said you’d be careful!”

He scratched his head. “Martinez started it! He called my brother a son of a bitch.”

“You don’t have a brother!”

“Yes, but he didn’t know that. Besides, that made my mother a whore.”

“Matt! You’re supposed to be the poster boy for the agency. Now you look like a prune.”

The corners of his mouth twitched. She couldn’t have thought of a worse word.

“It’s fine!” Lucy intervened. “People won’t recognize him otherwise.”

Maddie groaned and narrowed her eyes. “He has such a pretty face.”

Matt felt his pretty face flush. Did she truly think that?

“Seriously, Maddie, it’s not a big deal.

He looks hotter with a black eye,” Hailey murmured, patting her friend on the shoulder reassuringly.

“They’ll still be beating down our doors.

Hundreds of millions of women will sign up because they want to be matched with Matt.

Then hundreds of millions of men will sign up because they know how many women have signed up. Really. It’s going to be great!”