One #4
It was crazy, she realized while eating, to think that someone like Matt Reed would even remember her or their impulsive kiss.
Hell, they’d barely had any interactions with one another when they were younger because of their age difference.
And now he was part of one of the biggest rock bands in the world.
He probably had women kissing him all the time—she was just one of the masses.
Unfortunately, that just depressed her even more.
And on top of that, Vivienne hated that just sitting next to him was enough to make her want to move closer and kiss him again.
Yikes. Not a good sign. Who knew what she’d do if left to her own devices?
There was no way she was going to take that risk.
It would be better if she didn’t let herself be alone with Matt.
So she’d wait until Aaron was back, and then, even if Matt was still staying there, she’d have the safety net of her brother being around to stop her from doing something crazy.
The night she had gone to see Matt had been the biggest risk she had ever taken.
Vivienne had used every contact and connection she had to get a ticket to the show and then to get backstage with a press pass.
Spotting Riley had been pure luck. Having grown up in the same town as the Shaughnessys and knowing Riley and Aaron had been friends in school, she used it to her advantage when she’d spotted him.
She had been beyond relieved when he’d remembered her and even helped her get past security and see Matt.
That had been as far as she had let herself plan— getting backstage and saying hi to Matt. No way had she imagined that within minutes of being in the same room as him that he’d kiss her.
Liar, liar, liar!
Okay, maybe in her wildest fantasy, it had happened that way. But how often did fantasies come to life?
What would have happened if they hadn’t gotten interrupted?
Lord, she could only imagine. Reverting back to her fantasy version, they would have continued to kiss, and then Matt would have whisked her back to his luxurious hotel room and made love to her all night long.
Which would have made this meeting even more awkward than it already was—especially if he still didn’t remember her.
Vivienne held no illusions—she would have had one night with the legendary Matty Reed, and then he would have left to move on to the next stop on the tour, and she wouldn’t have seen him again.
Until now.
The buzz of excitement from her promotion earlier was gone. With a sigh, she pushed her food around on her plate. She glanced at her brother and saw he was watching her intently. “What?” she asked.
“We’re supposed to be celebrating, and I feel like I kind of ruined your night.”
Bingo! Rather than make him feel bad—after all, he had no idea why exactly she was suddenly so quiet—she decided to try to turn it all around.
“You didn’t, Aaron. Really. I just never expected this turn of events.
I know how important it is for Matt to have his privacy and I don’t want to be the one to jeopardize it.
I can wait a couple of weeks to move. I’m sure my landlord won’t mind. ”
Aaron reached out and covered one of her hands with his.
“Viv, it’s not necessary. I don’t leave until Monday—that gives us five days to get things done.
I’ll make all the arrangements, and we’ll move you in this weekend.
This way it will all be done with me here, so you won’t have anything to worry about. ”
Her eyes went wide. “What? I mean… Um… No! I don’t want you to do that. I’m…I’m not ready. I still have more packing to do, and I know you have a lot to do before your trip. I don’t want you wasting your time on me. I can wait. Really.”
He chuckled. “I know how anxious you are to move in, Viv. You hated having to wait as long as you have. All the work is done, so why continue to wait? Why inconvenience your landlord and pay to stay for a few more weeks when you don’t have to?”
Why indeed? She swallowed hard and tried to come up with a reasonable excuse, but none came to her.
Dammit.
“And I know you—you have been packing for months. It wouldn’t be hard for you to power through and pack up the rest of your stuff.
And, if you wanted to, we could start moving stuff over now.
I have the pickup in the garage, and we could start bringing boxes over tonight if you want.
” He smiled at her. “Come on. You know you want to.”
She did. She really did. This house had been a labor of love, and the thought of moving in had been consuming her for weeks.
If it weren’t for the fact that she wanted it to be perfect, she would have moved in during the renovations.
The thought of all the dust and how much she would have to clean up her belongings afterward had convinced her to wait.
Now the only thing standing between her and her beautiful new home was her own silly insecurity and Matt Reed.
“I don’t know, Aaron. You know I hate rushing.”
He rolled his eyes and laughed. “You are extremely organized; you can’t tell me you don’t have a to-do list sitting on your kitchen counter with everything you have to pack noted and the order in which you want it packed listed.
All you have to do is start packing those things up a little sooner.
It’s not going to be difficult.” He cut her off when she started to argue.
“Plus, by doing it this way, we can move a couple of boxes a night, and Matt and I will even help you unpack as you go, so when the big stuff gets here, you won’t have to deal with the little stuff.
Right, Matt?” He looked over at his friend for approval.
“Absolutely,” Matt said, smiling at Vivienne. “It will give me something to do.”
She almost snorted at the absurdity of it all. Matt Reed was going to help her move into her house and be useful? Somehow she doubted it. He probably hired people to unpack his suitcase.
“I can see you’re doubting me,” Matt said as if reading her thoughts. “I’ll admit it’s been a while since I had to move or do anything like this, but I’m not a complete moron.” He winked. “You tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”
Now there was a statement to make her overactive imagination go wild. Only it had nothing to do with moving boxes and unpacking and everything to do with them kissing and being alone and continuing the fantasy of years ago.
“Come on, Viv,” Aaron said, instantly bringing her back to the present. “We’ll finish up our dinner, and you and I will go over and pick up the first load of boxes. What do you say?”
There wasn’t a good reason not to. She was going to have to suck it up and be a big girl and do the only thing she could—let Matt and Aaron help her move into the guesthouse and then, once her brother was gone, do everything she could to avoid the one and only Matt Reed.