Page 24

Matt wouldn’t admit he was nervous when he and Maddie entered Vie en Rose on Wednesday, a fine restaurants occupying the top floor of one of Los Angeles’ skyscrapers.

That was only because a hockey player never confessed he was nervous, though.

He knew his opponents would shamelessly exploit it.

And, okay, this double date wasn’t his adversary, but it wasn’t his friend, either.

Neither was the knee-length dress Maddie was wearing.

She wasn’t wearing nylons underneath, even though it was quite chilly out, which meant she wanted to impress the guy she was meeting — with her legs, which she always said were too thick but Matt thought were rather perfect — totally becoming.

It didn’t bother him that the dress was snug and she looked beautiful.

Maddie could wear whatever she wanted. He wouldn’t have commented if she had come in suspenders or a potato sack.

Well, if it were the latter, he would have asked if it was scratchy.

A man could show concern. However, overall, women should do whatever they wanted with their bodies.

It did bother him that before they left the loft together, she had asked him several times if she really looked okay.

She seemed so terribly insecure that he was tempted to grab her by the shoulders, push her against the nearest wall, and show her with his mouth how okay she looked!

He didn’t want to fall into that trap again, though, so he just kept nodding and saying that she looked amazing.

This was true, even though it drove him a little crazy that she had jokingly let slip on their way out that she had to make sure the strapless, dark blue dress didn’t slip, since no bra fit underneath.

He loved that she had no problem sharing everything with him, but, by God, some things were just too much for his imagination.

“What are you thinking about? You’re rather quiet,” Maddie said, interrupting him and nudging him with her shoulder.

About your breasts was probably not the right answer. “Just a little nervous,” he murmured. “I haven’t been on a real date in ages.”

“Ditto. It’ll be okay. Oh, there they are!

” She guided him to the right and smiled at a tall, dark-haired woman wearing a scandalously beautiful red dress.

She looked very much like a young Naomi Campbell.

Then she raised her hand toward a brown-haired, skinny man sitting not two seats away from her at the bar.

Oh, wow. Christina Henley was beautiful. Maddie hadn’t exaggerated when she’d said, “She’s perfect.” He knew he should probably focus on Christina – she was his date after all – but it was difficult not to inspect Alfie McDonald closely. He looked like a complete idiot.

Matt knew how to spot one. He played against them every day. Sometimes with them, depending on whether Leon was on the ice or not.

He had slicked-back dark hair that curled at the nape of his neck, wore a dark red shirt with too many buttons undone so that you could see his chest hair, and wrinkled trousers.

Matt usually made it his mission not to judge anyone at first glance based on their appearance alone — but he made an exception for Greasy Alfie!

“Hey,” Maddie said kindly, walking ahead. “You must be Christina…and you’re Alfie.” She pointed a finger at each of them, making it look like she wanted to make a Western but the budget was too small for guns.

Christina answered first. “Yes, and you’re Maddie? I recognize you from the TV interview. It’s a shame you don’t have the chicken with you.”

Maddie chuckled and greeted her. Meanwhile, Alfie looked over at Matt with his mouth gaping. “Oh, shit, you really are Matt Payne,” he whispered, almost tripping over his own feet to greet him, ignoring Maddie in the process, which was bad.

Before Matt could say anything rude, Maddie turned to him. “Yes, this is Matt. Matt, this is Christina…and Alfie? My date?”

Alfie seemed to have realized his blunder because he blushed and quickly held out his hand.

“Yeah, right. Sorry. I’m just a huge Hawks fan.

It’s nice to meet you.” He gave her a genuine smile…

and to Matt’s annoyance, Maddie smiled back just as genuinely.

When Maddie smiled genuinely, light bulbs flickered, trying to keep up with the wattage.

Matt tore his gaze away from the two and held out his hand to Christina. “I’m also disappointed that Eggsy isn’t here. The chicken from hell is a good icebreaker,” he said, and his date laughed as she took his hand.

“Her name is Eggsy?”

“Yes.” He turned around. “Maddie, which one of you named Eggsy, you or Hailey?”

“Oh, I did,” she said, her cheeks pink. “My business partner wanted to call her Los Pollos Hermanos . Or Cluck Norris. But I thought both names were too long.”

Matt chuckled softly. “Cluck Norris.”

Christina grinned. “That’s a good one. For the next chicken.”

“Definitely. Shall we sit?”

The others nodded as Matt noticed that Greasy Alfie kept looking over at him in awe.

What a complete idiot. Maddie was standing less than three feet away and he had nothing better to do than gawk at him ?

A waiter led them to a table by the window, so they had a good view of the Los Angeles skyline. While they studied the menu, they exchanged small talk: the weather, the Match Me! interview, where they all went to college, things like that.

Christina was, as Maddie had said, an agent for several actors and actresses, but she refrained from mentioning names, which Matt found appealing.

Alfie was a scuba diving instructor and mentioned many names of famous clients he had had.

“But never a hockey player, if you’re interested,” he said, winking at Matt before he placed his order with the waiter – before Maddie or Christina.

Yeah, okay, so there were no rules in the dating world these days – but you always allowed the woman to order first! That was what his mother had taught him and he would never disappoint her.

Matt pursed his lips and motioned for Christina and Maddie to tell the waiter what they wanted, and then he ordered. As the waiter was about to leave, Maddie added quickly, “Oh, could I have the appetizer salad without olives? And a small glass of white wine?”

“Of course.” The waiter nodded and disappeared.

Matt lifted one corner of his mouth and looked at Maddie, who was sitting next to him. “No tequila sunrise today?”

She shrugged. “I like to try new things.”

He chuckled. “Since when?”

“Always!”

“You’ve been buying the same shoes for ten years and you called me crazy the other day because I buy whatever soap, not always the same one.”

Maddie made a face and addressed Christina and Alfie, “It’s hard to find comfortable shoes that don’t look stupid. Why risk it by buying new ones? And it’s crazy not knowing what your hands will smell like every day! Choose a scent, Matt, and stick with it!”

He shrugged. “I like to live a bit recklessly, Maddie.”

She snorted. “Oh, really, Mr. Babybel Snackman? You eat the same three things, when I’m not cooking. One of them is cheese! Bad cheese, at that. Those red wax wrappers from your beloved Babybel are lying around all over the apartment.”

“You live together?” Christina asked, surprised, looking curiously from one to the other of them.

Matt noticed out of the corner of his eye that Maddie’s cheeks were turning pink, as if she had said something dirty. “Only temporarily,” she said quickly. “My apartment flooded and Matt is the only one of my friends with a guest room.”

“Oh, no. A burst pipe?” Christina asked sympathetically.

“How many guest rooms do you have?” Alfie asked Matt. “Do you have a mansion? A pool? A butler? Man, what we all earn is peanuts compared to you, right?” He laughed loudly.

Hm. Matt already knew where he would like to put his peanuts.

“I’m not keen on walking three miles from the bed to the fridge,” Matt said, “so, no, no mansion. No pool. No butler.” Just a million-dollar loft, but he preferred to keep that to himself, suspecting that Alfie might wet himself from sheer excitement.

He asked Christina a few more questions about her job while Alfie, for once, tried to concentrate on Maddie, who was telling him about the ups and downs of being a matchmaker.

Matt didn’t know all of her stories and was tempted to listen to her at the same time.

That would have been extremely rude, though, and Christina’s anecdotes about stubborn Hollywood actresses were just as interesting, so. ..

After a while, the waiter returned with their drinks and appetizers. Service was slow today for what was supposed to be a good restaurant…and when Matt looked at Maddie’s salad, all he saw was a pile of black olives. And her white wine glass was sized for red.

He waited for Maddie to stop the waiter and point out his mistake, but her eyes only flicked over the salad for a moment before she frowned and shook her head, as if she had just made a deal with herself not to say anything.

The waiter trotted away, Christina and Alfie dug into their appetizers, and Maddie stared unhappily at the olives.

“Maddie,” he muttered, “you ordered the salad without olives. And a small white wine.”

“I know.” She waved it off. “It’s no big deal.”

“Maddie. You hate olives.”

“I know I do.”

“They chopped them up really small, so you won’t be able to pick them off.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter…”

“Send it back.”

“No.”

“You’ll have to choke it down.”

“Or you’ll eat it?” she asked hopefully.

“No! Call the waiter and say: Excuse me, I ordered the salad without olives .”

Her cheeks had turned the color of a shy fire engine as she nervously looked at their two dates, who were glancing at them curiously. “Matt, I don’t want to draw attention and…argue with the waiter in such a fancy restaurant.”

He sighed. “We’ve been through this before. It’s not an argument when you tell the waiter he made a mistake.”

“It’s one more confrontation than I want to have,” she hissed.