Chapter 4 #3
Not surprisingly, curiosity oozed from Emma’s voice. Lately, except for the time she spent with her brother and sister-in-law on the weekends when they came up, all of Liv’s plans were with Emma or Phoebe.
“Matt invited me over to play pool.”
“As in Owen’s friend Matt? The one who owns that beautiful sports car.”
“Yeah, he has a house in town.” It was more like a mansion, but the word “house” was close enough.
“Interesting.”
She didn’t care for Emma’s tone.
“You two must know each other well if he’s inviting you to his house. How come you’ve never mentioned him to me before now?”
“We’re not that close of friends. But other than me and my family, he doesn’t know many people in town, and I think he’s bored. Orchard Harbor isn’t exactly an international hotspot.”
“If you say so,” Emma replied, sounding unconvinced. “But if your plans change or you and Matt want to join us, Phoebe and I are going to the Northside Tavern around seven.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Liv promised, even though she already knew she’d never suggest that they meet her friends. The last place Matt Sherbrooke would ever want to go was the Northside Tavern for karaoke night.
After parking, Liv sat and admired the exterior of Matt’s house, something she hadn’t been able to do the last few times she was there.
The home consisted of two floors. She couldn’t see the back of the house from here, but there was no doubt that at least one deck was attached, providing Matt and his guests with a place to relax and enjoy the fantastic view.
Unlike her parents’ home, which until recently only had a one-car detached garage, his attached garage could house four vehicles.
Clearly, someone took care of the grounds, because they were perfectly manicured and full of color.
She had no desire for a house as large as the one before her, but she wouldn’t mind having a yard filled with flowers and a vegetable garden.
While her apartment was convenient and within her price range, it made gardening impossible, and the only time she had flowers was when she splurged and bought some from Exquisite Flowers.
The front door opened moments after she rang the bell.
“Good timing,” Matt said in greeting, gracing her with a who-turned-up-the-heat smile, and then stepped back so she could enter. “I only got home about ten minutes ago. It took Fireside forever to get our order done.”
While the town was home to four pizza restaurants, only Fireside Pizzeria prepared theirs in a brick oven, making it one of the more popular establishments, and customers often had to wait longer than if they’d gone somewhere else. In her opinion, the wait was worth it.
“What’s in the bag?” Matt asked with his eyes narrowed.
“Cue stick. What else?”
“I was hoping you were going to say your flute or clarinet.”
“I’ve never touched either in my life. But if you want, I can go home and get my guitar. It won’t take me long.”
Matt closed and locked the door behind her. “No need. I’ve got two here. You can borrow one if you want. I knew Owen played, but I didn’t know you did too.”
Liv nodded. “Owen actually started lessons after me. I also play the piano. But I can’t go home and get one of those.”
She would also never ask to borrow one of his guitars because, while she played well, she’d never be able to perform for Matt, a man who played his guitar and sang for stadiums packed with people.
“Do you want to eat first or while we play?”
“Whatever is fine with me.”
What she really wanted was a tour of the house.
The little she’d seen of it so far was beautiful, and she wondered what the rest of it looked like.
If Emma or Phoebe owned the home, she wouldn’t think twice about asking, but not Matt.
He might see the request as an invasion of his privacy, which, in a way, it was.
“Let me grab the pizzas from the kitchen, and then we can start a game.”
After a quick stop in the kitchen, Matt led her down a hallway.
Unlike at her apartment and her parents’ home, there were no family photos on the walls.
Instead, professional-looking photos of the ocean and various beaches provided the only decoration and left her longing for weather suitable for relaxing on the sand.
The last one on the left captured her attention.
“Do you know where this is?” Liv pointed toward the photo.
“I took that one in St. Barts.”
Thanks to the palm trees, she already knew the picture was taken in a tropical area, and it didn’t surprise her that he’d visited there. She was surprised that he’d taken it, though, because it was as good as the ones Phoebe did, and she was a professional photographer.
“I took all these pictures,” he explained, gesturing around him.
“They’re great. I thought they were professionally done.”
“Thanks. It’s a hobby of mine. I took all the landscape photos hanging around the house. If you’re interested, I can show you the others later.”
Maybe she would get a tour of the house after all. “I’d like that.”
At the end of the hall, he stopped at a door and gestured for her to enter.
At least half the size of her entire apartment, he’d set the room up with entertainment in mind.
A pool table, a bar complete with barstools, and two small high bar-style tables occupied the left side of the room.
A flat-screen television hung on the opposite wall, accompanied by a large sofa and several comfortable-looking chairs, all positioned for perfect viewing.
Although, if this were her house, she wouldn’t come in here to watch television.
No, she’d come in here for the view the floor-to-ceiling windows provided.
Much like the hallway, this room didn’t contain any family photos either.
“Would you like a glass of wine or a cocktail?”
Liv pulled her eyes away from the fantastic view outside to the one now standing near the bar. “Some red wine would be nice.”
She watched as he poured each of them a glass of wine and searched her mind for a safe, unintrusive topic. “Did my brother tell you he was offered a promotion at work?” If anyone deserved it, Owen did. He regularly put in sixty-hour weeks.
“Owen mentioned he was one of the candidates,” Matt answered, handing her a wineglass and an empty plate. “Help yourself.”
Liv eyed the three pizzas he’d set on the bar. Either Matt was a mind reader, or they had similar tastes in pizza toppings.
“The company offered him the position on Monday.” She added two slices of pizza to her plate and then took a sip of her drink.
“I’ll have to call and congratulate him.”
She should focus on her food or even assemble her cue stick.
However, her eyes had ideas of their own and followed Matt as he walked toward the rack of pool cues on the wall.
For the sake of the female population, the man should be forced to wear a shapeless potato sack.
Though even that might not hide his broad shoulders and sexy arms. His T-shirt covered his chest and stomach, but judging by the way it clung to him, both would leave her drooling like a baby teething if she were ever within ten feet of him without a T-shirt on.
Before she could stop it, an image of Matt lounging on the beach materialized.
Don’t go there.
She’d fallen headfirst in love with Matt the moment he walked into her parents’ kitchen that Thanksgiving.
Countless times, she’d stared at her bedroom ceiling and pictured them kissing or taking a walk along the beach at sunset—not that he’d noticed her.
And why would he? He’d been a college freshman, and she’d been a high school student with braces and bad acne.
While she’d never stopped finding him attractive, she no longer wasted her time daydreaming about him.
Liv mentally slapped the back of her head, dislodging the tantalizing image. Of course, when she got home, she might turn on One Last Heist and fast-forward to the scene where Matt exited the bathroom wearing nothing but a strategically placed towel.
“Owen’s not sure he’s going to accept it. He’d have to travel a lot.” Yep, if she kept talking about her brother, maybe she wouldn’t blurt out something inappropriate.
“Didn’t he know that when he applied?”
“Owen didn’t apply. His boss recommended him for this new position in the department. If not for the travel, he would’ve already accepted it.”
“How much is a lot?”
She’d asked her brother the same question. “He said it would vary, but on average, he’d be gone ten to fifteen days every month. He doesn’t want to be away from Jenny that much.”
“I can understand that. Time apart can be hard on a relationship.”
Was he speaking from experience? If the woman he’d been photographed with was his girlfriend, he hadn’t mentioned her once.
Matt reached for his drink and gestured toward the pool table. “Why don’t you break?”