Page 18

That was weird, wasn’t it? Maddie hadn’t behaved… normally.

Matt was still thinking about it eight hours later, in the shower at home. He had known her for a long time now and she had never stammered or not known what to say in his presence – quite the opposite.

She had looked at him as if he were a different person, as if she didn’t know him at all. That didn’t make sense to him. He hadn’t behaved any differently today than he usually did.

Shit, he had been obsessing about it for far too long and now the entire bathroom was filled with steam.

Normally, he went straight to the showers after practice, but today, the guys had been unbearable. Everyone had seen the live interview with him in front of Match Me! and felt like they had to analyze it in detail with him.

Leon had wanted to talk about when and where exactly Matt had lost his mind and started thinking monogamy was a cool idea.

Jack had asked if he was dating the chicken, since it appeared there’d been sparks flying between them, as well as feathers.

That’s when Dax pointed out that Lucy would not approve of an affair with a chicken; it might receive bad press.

Then there were a lot of chicken sex jokes, the stupidity of which was only surpassed by their creativity.

Bottom line: Matt had given them the middle finger and left as quickly as possible so as not to turn uncharming .

Nevertheless, the interview had been worth it.

Maddie and Hailey were unable to escape new clients. Maddie had looked happy again for a moment, at least before her expression turned strange. No matter – the better her general mood, the lighter his heart felt. He could bear a few stupid remarks from his teammates.

Matt tilted his head back and let the water run down his face.

At some point, Maddie had admitted she didn’t understand how people could do that voluntarily.

If she tried it, she felt like she was drowning.

But the water on Matt’s face washed any thoughts from his mind and eased the tension in his shoulders…

while he wondered if he could make Maddie forget her aversion to water running over her face.

Just for a few minutes, as he slowly soaped her up, running his hands down her arms, figuring out exactly where she was ticklish and where she wasn’t, then touching her where she definitely wasn’t…

“Fuck,” he said, wincing. He’d been thinking too much. And the shower, apparently, was the worst place to think about Maddie. The worst. Yep, time to turn the water to cold.

Matt flicked the handle to make the showerhead run ice-cold. He squinted, cursing, and turned it off.

Shit, what was he doing?

His phone vibrated as he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. He glanced at the display and saw a message from Dax:

Ice Lounge in an hour. Come and don’t be a chicken.

Then came a gif of a chicken running around headless. Dax had only started sending gifs since he hooked up with Lucy. The whole James family bombarded each other with them.

Matt snorted loudly, not sure if he wanted to listen to another round of annoying jokes. He wrapped the towel around his shoulders and reached for another one just as the door opened.

His heart skipped a beat and he froze. He had been so lost in thought that he had obviously forgotten to lock the door. He was wearing a towel — but around his damn shoulders, not his waist.

Maddie stared at him. She ripped the headphones out of her ears and her eyes widened. Then her gaze wandered. And wandered.

Over his shoulders to his bare chest where the drops were still trickling down. They slid down his six-pack, lower…

Time stood still.

Maddie licked her lips. Swallowed. Then she seemed to realize what she was doing.

Suddenly, she jumped back in shock and put her hand over her eyes. “Oh my God,” she blurted out. “Oh my God, oh my God. You’re naked. A naked man.”

She opened her fingers an inch and looked at his face, but then her gaze wandered to another spot as if she just couldn’t control it.

Matt’s heart pounded as heat spread like wildfire through his body. Shit, now he was getting hard. And no towel could have hidden that.

Swearing, he slammed the door shut so that it shook in the frame.

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“Oh my God, Matt. I’m so sorry!” Maddie called through the door, a hint of panic in her voice.

Yes, that was just what a man wanted to hear from a hot woman that had just been staring at his penis a little too intensely.

He groaned and buried his face in his hands, heat still pulsing through his veins. Everything in his body stiffened.

Maddie’s hungry gaze. Her dilated pupils. The moment she licked her lips.

“Fuck,” he whispered, turning his back to the door and leaning his forehead against the cold tile wall, then punching it with his fist. Anything to cool his body down.

He had to get himself under control, pretend it was no big deal.

Although, no big deal was another phrase no guy wanted to say, let alone hear, when he was naked.

They were friends. Just friends. He didn’t want to ruin it. He needed Maddie. She was his anchor – outside of the game, outside of hockey. She was the person he talked openly with about everything.

About everything except this .

“Sorry, Matt. I thought you were still at the arena!” Maddie’s muffled voice came through the door as he hastily pulled another towel from the rack and tied it around his waist.

“I’m not,” he replied tersely, splashing cold water on his face. He took long, deep breaths.

“I can see that! But usually, you shower there.”

“Not today.”

“Sorry, I had no idea,” she called out louder. “Oh God.”

She groaned loudly and Matt wished she would stop. Groaning.

Fuck. He didn’t know how to handle the situation.Should he barricade himself in here, ignore it, or send Maddie away? No, that would be too obvious. She would wonder if it bothered him and start worrying that things had gotten awkward between them.

No, there was only one solution: He had to laugh the whole thing off.

Yes. Sorry, no big deal , ( laugh) . The three things that stroked a man’s ego like nothing else.

Shit, stroking . Even the word was fatal.

“I’m so sorry!” she repeated. “Really. Sorry...”

Matt took another deep breath, made certain his towel covered everything important, that he was no longer mimicking a tent, and then he rubbed his face several times. He pulled himself together, put on a smile, and pushed the door open.

“You don’t have to be sorry, Maddie,” he said, admiring how calm he sounded. “It’s not like you saw something you’ve never seen before, right?” He raised his eyebrows wryly.

She laughed nervously. Her face was so red that she could have hidden in a tomato patch. “You’re right, of course. But, but…yeah, it’s true.”

Make light of it – he had to make light of it. “Are you certain? You seemed rather curious,” he said nonchalantly. “Almost…hungry.”

He expected her to laugh and shake her head. To tell him that he was an idiot and, naturally, dead wrong.

But she did none of that. She just stood there as her chest rose and fell heavily, her gaze focused on his face. Then she answered contritely, “Yes. Maybe.”

He felt his hand on the knot of the towel clench.

“Argh!” She groaned and rubbed her forehead. “Sorry. I was staring a bit, wasn’t I? I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. It’s just been a while since I’ve seen a man naked. Five years, at least.”

She looked at him again. At his chest. He had the feeling that her gaze was not platonic at all. It wasn’t provocative or intrusive either. But it was warmer than usual.

Her words slowly reached him and swirled in his stomach, hot and probing because that meant that she hadn’t been…

And now he completely lost it. He wanted to be the normal Matt, the Matt who took everything in stride. The Matt who couldn’t be upset by anything, but…

“Well then, I’ll be happy to offer myself up again,” he said, and made a move to untie his towel.

At least this time he had an effect on her. Maddie laughed loudly. Unfortunately, she also moved forward and pressed her hand against his so that he couldn’t undo the knot.

“Don’t you dare! This is embarrassing enough.”

No. Embarrassing wasn’t the word burning in his mind.

His gaze wandered downward to the spot where her hand was resting, where her warm fingers were scratching his hard stomach. Her soft skin touched his. His muscles tensed automatically, and a sweet pull shot through his body.

His breathing grew heavier as the mood changed, the air around them growing unbearably hot.

He raised his head. He looked at Maddie’s flushed cheeks and her slightly parted lips.

He looked straight into her dark eyes and felt her index finger – absentmindedly?

On purpose? – slide over his skin, stroking the fine hairs that had strayed from under the towel.

Then there was that moment.

Her gaze darted to his mouth. It lingered there for a tenth of a second and he could swear that they were both thinking the same thing. Even if only briefly.

They were both thinking what would happen if…

Maddie cleared her throat loudly and took a step back. “Keep the towel up, mister!” she said in mock warning. Her voice, though, sounded hoarser than usual, or was he merely imagining it?

“If you want to be an exhibitionist, then grab a trench coat and go down the Walk of Fame like any self-respecting nude activist!”

He smiled, the corners of his mouth straining. “Noted. So…what are your plans for the evening?”

“Other than crashing on the couch and then falling into bed, you mean?” she asked, yawning demonstratively. She kept her gaze fixed on a spot over his shoulder, probably because she didn’t want to be caught staring again.

“Are you sure? You could also…come.” Oh, fuck. “Um, come with me,” he said, catching himself. “To the Ice Lounge. I’m meeting the others there shortly. Lucy will probably be there, too.”

“Oh, yeah, she texted me. But no, I’d rather have an evening at home. To…” She cleared her throat and smiled. “Wind down. Is that okay?”

“Of course it’s okay. You can do whatever you want.” With whoever you want, as often as you want, as naked as you want…

Dear God in heaven!

“Cool.” She cleared her throat and nodded. “Okay then, have fun.”

“Yup,” he said and hurried past her into his room. He needed to get dressed – and to wind down, himself.