Matchmaker - Chapter 3
Thursday
I leaned forward, my eyes glued to her lips. Every thought swirling through my mind was telling me to stop.
Penny’s eyes grew round.
But I didn’t stop. Because my heart didn’t agree with my head. It was broken, and I just needed one night to help heal it. I was so tired of feeling fucking broken.
But I didn’t get a chance to find out if kissing Penny would numb my pain.
Because she removed her hand from my arm like she knew exactly what I was thinking.
She quickly wiped the side of her mouth, as if I’d been staring at her because there was something there.
And not because I wanted to kiss her senseless.
“Is there something on my face?” she asked, ignoring the fact that I was leaning even closer.
I swallowed hard, my thoughts still swirling with desire.
“Matt?”
I wasn’t even sure what her question had been. “Sorry, what did you say?”
She laughed. “Why do you keep looking at me like that? I have something on my face, don’t I?” She wiped the side of her mouth again. “I was eating ice cream earlier and I…” her voice trailed off as I reached out and ran my thumb right beneath her lower lip.
She didn’t have anything on her face. But I’d use any excuse to touch her. “There,” I said, letting my fingers rest along her cheek for just a moment. “I got it.”
“Thank you.” She cleared her throat.
I reluctantly let my hand fall from her velvety skin. She wasn’t mine to touch. But touching her made my heart feel like it was beating better.
“So back to the app.” She looked down at her phone. “It’s time to find you someone to settle down with.”
Why the hell did I agree to this again? I didn’t want her to download some stupid app.
I just wanted to spend more time with her.
I didn’t want to fucking find the love of my life on some random dating app.
I’d already found that back in high school.
And it had all been taken away from me. So I no longer believed in love.
All I knew was that hanging out with Penny made me feel better for some reason.
I was doing this to spend time with her.
Not to fall in love. Not to find someone to settle down with. That wasn’t in the cards for me. Ever.
I leaned away from her. If Penny knew how beautiful she was, she would have known I was about to kiss her rather than worrying about something invisible on her face. If she was mine, I’d let her know how beautiful she was every day. Which her shitty husband was apparently neglecting to do.
“Give me a second to download the app,” she said. “And while we wait, you can tell me all about your ideal girl.”
I stared at her. I didn’t want to talk about this. “I don’t have a type.”
Penny rolled her eyes.
I loved when she did that. Like she was begging to be spanked. Stop. “Well, if you insist, I really like girls who roll their eyes at me.”
“I don’t think that’s an option,” she said as she looked up from the app.
I smiled at her.
And then she blushed and laughed awkwardly. “Stop making fun of me.”
“I wasn’t making fun of you, Penny.” I couldn’t help it. My eyes fell to her lips again.
She shook her head. “True love is serious. So you need to take this seriously,” she said, using her commanding mom voice that worked so well with her daughter, Scarlett.
Sometimes. Scarlett tended to do whatever she wanted.
She was freaking adorable and I was one of the people who spoiled her the most. The little girl could do no wrong in my eyes.
I’d never said no to her before, and I was pretty sure I never would. Maybe it was the same with her mother.
And there was something sexy about her using that demanding voice on me. I usually liked to be in control in the bedroom, but I wouldn’t mind giving her a turn. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with me?
“Ideal girl,” she said. “And go.”
“Hm.” I put my arm on the back of the couch, dangerously close to touching her. “Petite. Red hair…” I stopped talking when her eyes snapped to mine.
“This is all very funny, Matt. For real though. How am I supposed to find the girl of your dreams if all you want to do is mess with me?” She pushed her red hair behind her ear and looked back down at the app downloading on her phone.
I wasn’t joking. She was my ideal girl. But she’d never be mine.
I knew that. And yet…I was sitting here like an idiot anyway.
“You promise this stays between us?” I asked.
For some reason, I wanted this whole dating app thing to be a secret.
I knew she’d already agreed. But I needed to know for real.
“I promise. It can be our little secret. Now describe your ideal girl.”
“I don’t know. Hot. Nice.”
She laughed. “Hot and nice? Did you think I was going to set you up with a mean uggo?”
Honestly I had no idea who she was planning on setting me up with. Because it didn’t seem like she had any idea what she was doing.
“You know what, let’s circle back to that vague answer later. I need some of your hobbies and interests right now.” She started typing in the app. “And by hobbies, I mean things besides sleeping with random girls with huge boobs. Actually, now that I mention it, I do know your type.”
I laughed. “That’s not my type.”
“Then what is?”
“I already told you. Petite redheads.” I winked at her.
She grabbed a pillow and threw it at me. “You’re incorrigible.”
I easily caught the pillow before it smacked me in the face. I liked when she was feisty. “Hobbies, huh? Well…” my voice trailed off as I thought about it. “I like to work.”
She shook her head and typed something into her phone. “I need more than just what you do for work. Tell me something you do for fun. Other than being the best babysitter in town.”
I smiled. I was a pretty badass babysitter for her kids. Rob’s too. But I didn’t really know what else she wanted me to say. “I like to work out.”
“Work and work out? Do you have any hobbies that don’t involve the word ‘work’?”
“I’m the head coach for the Empire High football team. It’s a volunteer thing, so you can’t say that’s work.”
She lifted her head and stared at me. “How did I not know that?”
“You never asked.”
“You sit in our living room every Sunday watching the Giants. You never thought to mention you were a volunteer football coach at your old high school?”
I shrugged.
“Interesting.” She typed something into her phone. “That’s actually really good. I can work with that. Smile for me.”
“What?”
She snapped a picture of me with her phone with my mouth open in mid-question. She looked at the picture and smiled. “Perfect,” she said.
“Are you using that as my profile picture?”
“Yup, it’ll do.”
“Let me see it.” I reached out for the phone.
She laughed and pulled it away. “No, it’s fine, I swear.”
I tried to reach around her, sandwiching her between me and the couch. “You’re sabotaging me.”
“I’m not sabotaging you!” she said with a laugh, trying to squirm away from me. She pushed on my chest to try to shove me away.
And for just a second, I let myself relish the fact that I was on top of her. On the couch. Just like I’d pictured countless times in my head. I could smell the scent of her floral shampoo. It swirled around me, drawing me closer. Her lips were only a few inches away from mine.
The front door clicked opened and I jumped off the couch. It was one thing to dream about kissing Penny. It was another to actually do it. Especially right in front of James. I could bench press more than him, but James had always been a good fighter. I wasn’t sure I’d win that fight.
But it wasn’t James coming through the front door.
“Uncle Matt! Uncle Matt!” Scarlett darted right past her mother and jumped into my arms.
“Hey, Scar.” I kissed the top of her head. “What have you been up to today?”
“Ellie took me and Liam to the zoo. And I got to watch the red pandas.”
She’d become obsessed with red pandas recently. I was pretty sure she liked that their fur was the same color as her hair.
“That sounds like fun. Did you get to feed any?”
Her jaw actually dropped. “I can feed them? I didn’t know that was allowed! Ellie, can I feed them next time?”
I glanced into the foyer to see Ellen lifting baby Liam out of the stroller.
She was the most patient person I’d ever met.
She didn’t even care that Scarlett called her Ellie instead of Ellen.
She walked into the living room with Liam in her arms. And she shook her head at me, giving me a pointed glare.
“Only Uncle Matt is allowed to feed them. Next time you go with him, he’ll let you. ”
Oh shit. Ellen could dish it out too.
“Really?” Scarlett looked up at me with her big doe eyes.
“Sure.” I’d figure it out. Anything for her. I looked over at Penny. Anything for her too.
“You’re ridiculous,” Penny mouthed silently as she took Liam from Ellen.
Scarlett gave me a big hug and then turned to her mother. She stood up on the couch and looked down at her baby brother. “He was a good boy today. He didn’t cry and scare the animals like last time.”
“Is that so?” Penny tickled Scarlett’s side.
“Scarlett,” said Ellen. ”Let’s go get you a bath before your daddy comes home.”
“Okay. Uncle Matt, tell my Mommy when we can go to the zoo. I’m always free.” Scarlett jumped off the couch and started running toward the stairs.
She was so freaking cute.
Ellen took off after her.
I watched in silence as Penny stared down at her son. The son she almost lost. The miracle baby sitting in her lap. Liam started to whine. And it looked like Penny was about to cry again.
“Penny?”
She blinked fast and didn’t look up at me. “Yes?” Liam started to really cry now. “Shh, baby boy.”
“Are you okay?”
She laughed, but it sounded forced. “I’m fine.”
Fine. Women’s universal word for not okay, as far as I could tell. “You know you can talk to me.”
“Hm?” She finally looked back up at me. She shook her head like she’d been lost in a trance.
I pulled Liam out of her arms and cradled him in mine. Liam immediately quieted down in my arms. “I can tell when something is bothering you, Penny.”
She pulled her eyebrows together in an adorable frown. “I can tell when something is bothering you too.”
“A standoff, huh?” I looked down at Liam. He looked just like James. A head of dark hair and a rather serious face. But he had blue eyes like his mother. I used to want kids. And this was the closest I would ever get. This should have been my life.
“I always wanted kids,” I said, breaking the awkward silence. “Four of them. I don’t really know why.” But I did. Because my brother and I were practically raised with the Hunter brothers. The four of us against the world. The Untouchables. Before everything broke.
“You’re going to be a great dad,” Penny said. She didn’t look comforted by my words at all. Instead, she looked even more upset.
But I didn’t get a chance to ask her why. Because James walked in the front door. Penny plastered a fake smile on her face. I could tell. I’d been wearing one for half my life.
“Hi, James!” she said and stood up.
“Hey, baby.” He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the lips, pulling her against him.
Message received loud and clear. I turned away.
“Hey, Matt,” James said. “I thought our dinner was Saturday night…”
“It is.” I stood up. “I just stopped by to say hi.”
James gave me a weird look and pulled Penny closer.
I clenched my jaw. As much as I was tempted to, I wasn’t going to ruin his life. Not like he’d ruined mine.
“Since you’re already here, you’re more than welcome to stay for dinner,” James said. “I’m sure Ellen made enough.”
“I already ate,” I gestured toward the plate of leftovers. “And I actually have plans tonight.” I didn’t. But I didn’t want to sit here as the odd third wheel. Or like I was one of their kids.
Penny looked up at James. “Did you know that Matt volunteers as the head coach for the football team at your old school?”
“Yeah.”
“What? How did everyone know this but me?” She turned back to me. “When’s your next game? Maybe we can come? I’ve never even seen your high school. It’ll be so much fun.”
“Tomorrow night,” I said.
James ran his fingers through his hair. A nervous tic. “I have a lot of papers to grade tomorrow.”
“That’s okay,” Penny said. “I’ve been meaning to get together with the girls anyway. I’ll ask them to go with me. I bet Bee and Daphne would love to see Empire High.”
She was right - I was sure Mason and Rob’s wives would love to see where we used to go to high school.
And honestly, that sounded better than having the guys there.
None of my friends had stepped foot back in that school after graduation besides me.
I think they were terrified of the ghosts of their past. And they’d all moved on.
I was the only one who kept going back. I was the one who was stuck there.
“This is going to be so much fun,” Penny said. She was smiling for real again. And I was happy it was because of me.
“Great. I’ll see you tomorrow, Penny.” I winked at her.
James frowned at me.
But Penny’s smile grew. And that was all I cared about.
She waved goodbye and I left before James could pull me to the side and tell me to fuck off. It wasn’t like Penny and I were going on a date. I’d be on the field the whole time and she’d be with our friends. There’d be zero funny business going on.
No, I didn’t kiss Penny. But I still felt a million times better than I had after practice. Penny was the breath of fresh air I needed.
When I was in the hall my phone buzzed in my pocket.
I pulled it out and saw the name flash across my screen.
Mr. Pruitt. My blood ran cold. Why the hell wouldn’t he leave me alone?
I clicked out of the text without reading it.
I knew exactly what it would say. He sent me the same text every few months for years.
Telling me we needed to talk. That it was important.
But nothing that came out of that man’s mouth was important to me.
My heart started beating the same way it had when I thought I’d seen Brooklyn walking around the streets of the city. None of my ghosts were leaving me alone tonight.
I needed another drink. And to talk to someone who actually understood. Someone who hadn’t frozen me out. I fired off a text and headed to the closest bar.