Matchmaker - Chapter 38
Friday
“Stop looking at me like that,” Kennedy said.
“Like what?”
“Like more than friends.”
“I don’t know how to not do that,” I said.
Kennedy shook her head. “You’re making this harder than it has to be. It’s like you said earlier, we’ve always been friends.”
“That was before I kissed you.” I watched as her cheeks grew rosy.
“Cut it out,” she said.
“I’m not doing anything.”
“Yes you are,” she said with a laugh. “You’re over there looking all sexy, staring at me.”
I smiled. “You think I’m sexy?”
“Try harder to look at me like we’re just friends,” she said, ignoring me.
I closed the distance between us in the elevator.
She looked up at me. “Matt…”
“You can’t deny that you feel this too.”
“Of course I feel this.” She put her hand on my chest and then quickly removed it. “I didn’t say this wasn’t hard for me. I just…I don’t want to be with someone that isn’t all in. And you can’t be all in right now.”
“I am all in.”
“Except in public where you’re all in with another woman?”
I pressed my lips together.
“We’re just hitting pause,” she said. But her words didn’t fit her actions, because she drew a fraction of an inch closer.
I didn’t say a word. I just stared down at her.
She leaned forward, her lips stopping by my ear. Her hand rested on my shoulder.
It took every ounce of restraint I had not to hit the emergency button on the elevator to bring it to a halt. I couldn’t remember the last time I wanted something so badly.
“Try harder,” she whispered and then took a step back.
Kennedy Alcaraz was a tease. And I was pretty sure I was falling in love with her. “Maybe you should try harder to keep your hands to yourself, Alcaraz.”
“Don’t call me that,” she said with a laugh.
“You know the alternative.”
She rolled her eyes.
And the elevator doors dinged open, ending our conversation. Because Tanner was standing there.
He looked at us standing on opposite sides of the elevator.
“I guess the conversation didn’t go as planned?” he asked.
Kennedy stared at me.
“Not exactly,” I said. I didn’t try to take her hand as I stepped off the elevator. “Kennedy, this is Tanner.”
“Matt’s best friend,” he said. “It’s lovely to finally meet you.”
“From one of Matt’s friends to another, it’s nice to meet you too, Tanner.”
“Friends?” Tanner looked at me. “Oh, it really didn’t go as planned then.”
“I thought you said no one knew about us yet?” Kennedy asked me.
I smiled. “Don’t worry. Only Tanner knows.”
“Okay. Well, Matt and I decided to just be friends until he sorts out whatever he needs to do with Poppy. So, maybe just don’t mention that we dated for all of two seconds to anyone else?”
Tanner smiled. “Luckily for you, I happen to be an excellent secret keeper.”
“Now which apartment is James’?” she asked.
There were only two doors on the floor. One for James’ apartment. And one that led to his security team. I knocked on the closer door. “Why hadn’t you gone in yet?” I asked Tanner.
“I was waiting for you two. You know how uncomfortable Robert makes me.”
Kennedy laughed. “Please don’t tell me Rob goes by Robert now?”
“Only I call him that,” Tanner said. “Because he hates it and we’re sworn enemies.”
“Why?”
“He loves to claim that he’s Matt’s best friend when that title clearly belongs to me. And his jokes are rarely funny. And his haircut is stupid.”
Kennedy looked up at him. “It kind of sounds like you’re jealous of him.”
“Of Young Robert?” Tanner laughed. “Never.”
“Young Robert? How old are you?”
Tanner cleared his throat. “Age is only a number.”
“So…Rob’s actually older than you?”
“It doesn’t matter either way. What matters is that he certainly doesn’t act like it.”
“Hmm,” Kennedy said.
“What? What was the hmm for?”
“It’s just…your sense of humor is actually a lot like Rob’s. I feel like you two are more similar than you think.”
Oh, this wasn’t good. I knocked on the door louder this time. We needed more people so that Tanner wouldn’t flip out.
Tanner gaped at her. “Similar to Robert? If Matt wasn’t in love with you I’d tell you to wash your whore mouth.”
I didn’t know what was more shocking. The fact that he’d dropped the “L” word when I hadn’t or that he’d told her to wash her whore mouth. “Tanner, what the hell?” I said.
But Kennedy started laughing really hard. “I guess it’s a good thing Matt’s in love with me then.”
I glared at Tanner.
“I take it back,” Kennedy said to him. “I think you’re funnier than Rob.”
“I can tell we’re going to get along swimmingly,” Tanner said and put his arm around her shoulders.
“What else has Matt told you about me?”
“What hasn’t he told me?” Tanner said. “Where do I even begin?”
Fuck my life.
James finally opened the door, but he wasn’t paying attention to me.
“It’s the button that has a pause sign on it!
” he yelled over his shoulder. When he turned around, the smile faltered from his face.
But not because he was upset. Just because he was probably as surprised as me when I’d first seen Kennedy again.
Or maybe he was confused because Tanner’s arm was around her shoulders when it should have been my arm there.
“Kennedy? What are you doing here? When did you move back to the city?” He leaned down to hug her before she had a chance to respond.
“It’s good to see you too,” Kennedy said.
“Guys!” James yelled. “Kennedy’s here!”
“Who?” Rob asked as he walked into the foyer holding the remote. “Holy shit. Is that you, Kennedy?”
Kennedy laughed. “It’s good to see you too, Rob.”
“Decided to crash our guys’ night?” Mason asked as he leaned down to hug her.
“Actually, I was invited by my friend here,” Kennedy said and lightly punched my arm.
Friend. It sounded more like a challenge than anything.
“How long have you known she’s been back in town?” Rob asked.
“A few days.”
“A few days, huh?” Mason asked. “Interesting.”
“Why is that interesting?” Kennedy said.
Mason shrugged. “No reason. Want a beer?”
“I’d rather have a tour.” She stepped into the living room. “What a view.” She wandered over to the windows overlooking Central Park. Everyone started to follow her. But I grabbed Tanner’s arm to hold him back.
“What the hell was that?” I asked.
“What was what?”
“You called her a whore and told her I loved her.”
“No, I said I would never call her a whore because you love her.”
“Same thing!”
“Actually it’s quite different.”
“Kennedy and I just had a fight outside. We agreed to be friends. The last thing I need is to scare her off by tossing out the L word.”
“I don’t know,” he said and looked over at Kennedy with the guys.
I followed his gaze.
Kennedy was staring at me instead of the amazing view. She blushed and turned back to listen to what James was saying.
“It seems like maybe that was the exact word she needed to hear,” Tanner said.
Kennedy stole another glance at me over her shoulder.
God she was sexy. I smiled and she smiled back.
“I told you I was good at helping people find true love,” Tanner said. “Just trust me.”
“You own a sex club.”
“That’s a matter of interpretation. But this is all going according to plan. Quite perfectly as a matter of fact.”
“What plan?”
“You and Kennedy falling for each other.”
“You had nothing to do with that.”
“Of course I did. I admit, I was a little perturbed that you asked Penny to be your matchmaker instead of me. So I decided to interfere. I recently acquired the real estate company your agent Bill works for. I had the owner hire Kennedy’s photography company.
It was a huge contract. I knew she’d been considering moving back to the city and just needed one final push. ”
“What? How did you…”
“And I hired a security team to follow you after all the hitwoman nonsense. So they knew you went straight home the other night instead of coming to my place. Which I’m still quite angry about.
But it was a good opportunity, so I let it go.
I arranged for Kennedy to show up to take your listing pictures that night. And bam. True love. You’re welcome.”
“But last night…you thought I was dating Poppy. You were all excited about it.”
“No, I knew you weren’t. It was all a ruse. Because you hadn’t told me about Kennedy yet and I was trying to force your hand. It worked, didn’t it? You told me everything. Before you told Rob by the way. Just saying.”
Wow. He’d orchestrated this whole thing?
“And Penny thought she was your matchmaker the whole time.” Tanner laughed. “I win.” He lifted his hand for a high-five.
I literally had nothing to say. Because I was pretty sure he had in fact won. I just had no idea he’d had anything to do with it. I high-fived him. “Wait, you’ve been having me tailed?”
“For your own safety. Don’t look at me like that. It’s like you have a penchant for getting into trouble.”
Well that explained why it still felt like someone was watching me.
“So you can tell Penny that you no longer need her services. And I’ll send you the bill for mine.”
I couldn’t even imagine how much he was going to charge me for all that. Was I going to own the real estate company after this? What the hell was I going to do with a real estate company?
He laughed. “Just kidding. I did it gratis for that.”
“For what?”
“Take a look in the mirror, Matt. I haven’t seen you this happy in years.”
He was right about that. “But your plan failed. She just wants to be friends.”
“Give me till the end of the night. I’ll have her in your bed by midnight.” He slapped me on the back and hurried over to where everyone else was still talking.
I didn’t doubt him at all. He’d brought Kennedy back to the city. He’d made the two of us run into each other.
I watched Kennedy laugh at something Tanner said. She smiled over at me again.
Damn, Tanner was a pretty great matchmaker. He was wrong about one thing though…he hadn’t gotten me to fall in love with her. Kennedy had done that all on her own. And I wasn’t about to be put back in the friend zone.