Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
MATTEO
“Clara Foss challenged every idea I suggested. We couldn’t agree on anything... and the entire time, she was sliding under my skin without me noticing.” - Julian Hart, Painted Inferno
Jade bumps her shoulder against mine, stumbling to the right, in my direction. “Sorry,” she mumbles, hiccuping and then letting out a soft laugh. “I don’t normally drink.”
I glance down at her, my expression softening as she accidentally bumps into me again. “It’s okay,” I say, bending my arm to offer her my elbow. “Here, hold onto me.”
Jade’s steps stutter and her gaze flicks up to mine. She hesitates, a wave of distrust passing through her eyes. I don’t know how much she’s had to drink but judging by her inability to filter her expressions, I’m sure it was more than the legal limit.
“It’s just my arm, Sunny. You’re going to end up eating concrete if you keep stumbling the way you are.”
A lopsided grin pulls on her face. “Then I’ll look how you probably do without your fake teeth in.”
My eyebrows tug together. “What?”
“You’re a hockey player.” She narrows her eyes. “You mean to tell me all those perfect teeth are real?”
I snort, shaking my head. “Sorry to disappoint, but I’ve managed to keep all mine so far.”
Jade laughs and my heart jumps. It’s a soft melody, sliding against my eardrums, seeping into my veins. She surprises me as she slips her arm through mine, the inside of her elbow hooking around mine.
We’re both silent, except for the sound of her occasional hiccups as we walk farther down the street, toward the intersection. On the left corner, there’s a small diner and we stop out front when we reach it.
Jade tilts her head back, her auburn hair falling down her back. Her lips move as she reads out the name of the place, but the words are barely audible.
It wouldn’t matter if they were anyway. The only thing I can hear is the sound of my blood whooshing past my ears as my heart pumps harder with every beat.
She’s fucking breathtaking.
She straightens her head, turning to look at me with a sheepish grin. “Would you judge me if I said I’ve never been here before?”
My mouth falls open, my eyes widening. “You’ve never been to Diane’s before?!” I stare back at her, mocking surprise, although she’s too drunk to tell the difference. I bite back a grin, swallowing my laugh. “Not having their waffles is the highest crime one can commit in Hillford.”
“Well, I suppose you’d better turn me in then.”
I shake my head, winking at her as I pull open the door. “I would never.” I tug on her arm, guiding her into the diner. “We still have time to change that before someone else does, though.”
Jade smirks. “Well, you’re the only one who knows my secret.”
“It’s safe with me.”
The diner’s relatively empty, since most people who come at night are probably still at the bar. One of the servers from behind the counter waves at the two of us.
“Pick whichever table you’d like!”
Jade is the one who leads, pulling me to an empty booth in the back corner. She unthreads her arm from mine and slides into one of the bench seats. I slide into the one across from her.
“I already know what I want,” she announces, a smile pulling across her lips as she shrugs off her coat.
I arch a brow as I slip off my own jacket. “Is that so?”
“Yes.” My eyes are drawn to her lips and the way they roll as she releases the syllable. My throat bobs as I swallow hard, forcing my gaze away from her mouth.
I don’t know what the hell my problem is.
“Hi!” The server from behind the counter steps up next to our table, almost as if she was summoned by Jade’s words. “I brought you both menus, if you want to look over them.”
“I think we both know what we want, don’t we, Sunny?” My voice is low and thick with tension as my eyes bounce to Jade’s.
Her nostrils widen, her pupils dilating as she stares back at me for a beat. Her tongue darts out to wet her perfect plump lips and I wish my tongue was hers. I close my eyes, the muscle in my jaw tightening.
“I’ll take a water, a black coffee, and whatever he’s having for food.”
I open my eyes, arching a brow at her before looking at our server. “I’ll have the same to drink, but my coffee with cream and sugar. We’ll both have the stuffed nutella waffles with strawberries and bananas.”
She jots it down on her notepad, smiling at the two of us before she excuses herself from the table.
“Those waffles sound like a sugar overload.”
“It is, but you won’t regret it, I promise,” I say, smiling at her. “Plus, you need something to counteract all the alcohol you drank.”
She blows out a breath, pushing her hair from her face as she quickly shakes her head. “I swear I didn’t drink that much.” She purses her lips. “I have a low tolerance and needed something to take the edge off.”
The edge from what?
The words die on her lips as our server comes back with our waters and pours us each a mug of piping hot coffee. She leaves some cream and sugar in the center of the table for me.
Jade slowly lifts the hot liquid to her lips, not even flinching as she takes a sip of it. I overload mine with cream and sugar, slowly stirring it as I meet her gaze once more.
“Is everything okay?”
Her chest rises as she sucks in a deep breath. She swaps her coffee for her water, taking a long sip before setting it back down on the table. “I don’t know. I’m just stressed and out of time and probably fucked.”
My eyebrows cinch together. I have no idea what she’s talking about as she speaks the words in a rushed exhale. “What’s going on? Is there anything I can do to help you?”
She lets out a harsh laugh. “Unless you can come up with the best story idea ever, then no.” She opens her mouth, then closes it, her face scrunching up before she sighs.
“I’m an author and the publisher I’ve been working with asked for a new idea and I’m supposed to have something by Monday but I have nothing. ”
My curiosity is piqued and I tilt my head to the side. “You’re an author? What do you write?”
“Romance,” she admits after a beat, almost as if she wasn’t sure she wanted to say it aloud.
“No shit,” I breathe, a soft laugh following. A grin tugs on my lips. “That’s really cool. I’ve never met a real-life author before.”
Jade arches a brow. “Do you even read?”
“Not often, but it is a skill I have.”
Her shoulders shake with laughter. A pink tint creeps across her cheeks and her lips lift into a slow smile. “Seems like you have a lot of those, but none that benefit me.”
I stare at her for a moment, the last three words hanging in the air around us. She doesn’t seem to notice, probably because she’s still sobering up. She takes another sip of her coffee and then her water.
She has no idea how we could benefit from one another again. I don’t know the first thing about her job or what she does, but I know how to tell a story.
Which could also be the perfect distraction for me.
“Let me help you with your book.”
She sits back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest. “What?”
“You need inspiration for your story. Let me help you.”
She’s silent for a moment, her arms falling away from her chest as she reaches for her mug. Her eyes don’t leave mine as she assesses me. Her gaze is piercing, intrusive, and fuck me, I like the way she’s looking at me right now.
Like she doesn’t know if she should leave my ass sitting in this booth alone or if she should indulge in the crazy idea I presented.
“What do you know about love, Matteo Ford?”
“You can call me Matty,” I offer, shrugging. “Everyone else does.”
Her eyes burn brighter. “I’m not everyone else.”
Holy fuck.
“No,” I rasp. “You’re not, are you?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
Lifting a hand, I rake my fingers through my hair. “It’s not really my thing.”
“And you think that qualifies you to help me write a romance story? About the one thing you don’t believe in?”
“I didn’t say that,” I correct her, bringing my own mug to my lips to take a sip now that it’s cooled down some. “I don’t date for love or romance. It’s just something to occupy my time. Something to keep me busy. It’s not that I don’t believe in love, I just know it’s not for me.”
She nods her head, the movement slow and exaggerated. “Let me change your mind.”
My body freezes. “What?”
She chuckles, leaning forward as she folds her arms on the table. I don’t miss the swell of her breasts, the way they lift as they press against her forearms. I tear my gaze from them.
“Oh god,” she breathes, her eyebrows lifting. “No, not me, not like that. I have no interest in athletes.” I can’t read the emotion on her face. “I don’t actually know what I meant by that. I’m drunk.”
I lift a questioning brow. She’s not as drunk as she was.
“What I meant was, I don’t believe that. I think there’s love out there for someone, if you open yourself up to the idea.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not,” I say, forcing out a laugh and shaking my head. “I’m not big on commitments.”
“Yet you want to help me come up with a story line.”
Jesus, she’s relentless. I let out a frustrated breath and the moment is severed as our server reappears with our food.
She sets a plate in front of me and one in front of Jade.
Each one has two huge waffles with Nutella seeping from them.
They’re piled high with strawberries, bananas, and whipped cream.
“Can I get you anything else?”
Jade shakes her head, looking to me for confirmation then back to the woman. “We’re great. Thank you.”
“Enjoy!”
The silence stretches between us as Jade stabs her waffles with her fork and slides her knife through them. She lets out a soft moan as she takes a bite.
“You were right. These are delicious.”
Satisfaction washes over me and I take a bite of mine. “Told you.”
We’re quiet as we both dig back in, but my mind is fixated on both of our problems. There’s a simple solution, she just doesn’t know it yet.
I need to keep her around, at least until the end of the season.
“Helping you helps me.”
Jade swallows a mouthful of food and chases it with a gulp of water. “What?”
“I play better when I have a distraction that’s off the ice. It’s like reverse psychology. If I think I have something to prove or someone to impress, I’m more focused. If I don’t, I overanalyze every move, and it fucks me up.”
“Okay…” She stares at me, locked in, but doesn’t fully understand what I’m getting at.
“I swore off dating as my New Year’s resolution and everything’s gone downhill since. We were on a losing streak and I didn’t score the last few weeks, until I ran into you.”
Her face slowly breaks into a smile. “Are you saying you’ve been thinking about me, Matty?”
The nickname sounds weird coming from her. “Matteo.”
Her smile stretches, her eyes burning brighter. “You didn’t answer my question, Matteo.”
Electricity rolls down my spine. Fuck. “Yes.”
She pushes another forkful of food past her lips, slowly chewing as she studies me for a beat. “How can we help each other?”
“You can be my distraction, and I’ll help you with your book. It sounds like you need someone to help you brainstorm and I need something to help me keep my head out of my ass.”
“Hmm,” she murmurs, her eyes glued to mine as she lifts her mug to her lips and takes another sip. “A deal we can both benefit from.” She pauses, tilting her head to the side. “What kind of a distraction do you need me to be?”
“Anything, honestly.” I shrug my shoulders. “Obviously, the other day was all it took for me to have something else to think about.”
She levels her gaze on mine. “Are you—” She purses her lips. “I’m not exchanging sexual favors for your help.”
My eyes widen, and I shake my head immediately. “No, no, that’s not what this is. I just like the chase. I perform better under the pressure of impressing someone.”
“Sounds like you just like to show off.”
“Well...” I smirk. “I’d hate to waste those many skills I have that you referred to earlier.”
She snorts, rolling her eyes. “So, you’ll be my muse? Let me draw inspiration from you and your cocky attitude and I just have to talk to you, hang out with you?”
“Basically.” I shrug again, laughing at how ridiculous it sounds. “We’re both in a bind and desperate times call for desperate measures, don’t they?”
“You do have a lot of qualities I look for in a character…” She cocks her head. “Why don’t you just find someone else to distract yourself with?”
My eyes roam across her face, over her freckles and back to her blue eyes. “I’m not interested in anyone else being my distraction.”
She’s quiet again. Assessing, studying. “Okay,” she says after a moment. “Fuck it. I’m out of options, so why not?” She runs her tongue over her top row of teeth. “Just until we don’t need each other anymore?”
A smile tugs on my lips. “Exactly.”
Her expression is unreadable. “I have one rule.”
I tilt my head to the side, my eyes scanning her face. “What’s that?”
“No catching feelings.”
A chuckle rumbles in my chest. “I don’t catch feelings, Sunny. That won’t be a problem.” I extend my arm, holding out my hand to her. “So, do we have a deal?”
Her eyes don’t leave mine as she slides her palm against my waiting hand, giving me a swift shake.
“Deal.”