“Liar.”
She flushed and her luscious mouth flattened into a tight, grim line. “You don’t have the right to expect anything from me.”
“Didn’t say I did,” he told her quietly. “But we both know we have to talk about what happened.”
“No, we don’t.” She shook her head and her long hair lifted and then settled over her shoulders again. “It’s over. Been over for nine months, Matt.”
“Kayla—”
She shook her head and stared up at him. “Don’t you find it just a little ironic?”
“What?”
“Nine months ago, you left without a word to me. And now you want to talk?”
Irritated, he said, “Come on, Kayla.”
“No,” she said, taking a step back as if she needed physical distance to maintain the emotional distance already shining in her eyes. “We’re in the same wedding. And that is all we share now, Matt. Let’s just get through the next weeks with as much dignity as we can, okay?”
There was plenty he wanted to say and more he needed to say, but as he’d just pointed out himself, this wasn’t the time or the place.
“Now,” she said, plastering her best professional smile on her face, “have some champagne, look around at what our artists have to offer and enjoy yourself.”
Sure, he thought as he watched her walk through the crowd, charming men and women alike. He’d enjoy himself. While his body was tight and hard and it was taking every effort he could draw on to keep from tossing her over his shoulder and striding out into the night.
* * *
By the time they arrived at the club where the band Evan wanted to hear was playing, Kayla felt as if every nerve in her body was on red alert. She’d felt Matt watching her all night and that had completely thrown her off her game. She was supposed to do her best by the local artists and though the show had gone well overall, Kayla still felt a needle of guilt because she hadn’t been focused on her job. Instead, she’d spent hours battling to keep her mind from drifting to Matt as often as her gaze had.
God, why did he have to look so good? He even had a tan from his time spent in California and that honey tone to his skin only made his green eyes gleam with an almost otherworldly glow.
She’d managed to steer clear of him until they’d arrived here at the club. Now the four of them were clustered around a tiny table and Matt took any opportunity to let his leg brush against hers. With every single touch, she shivered, and she didn’t think Angie was buying her excuse of still feeling the outside cold. Because these shivers weren’t caused by the frigid temperatures, but by the heat only Matt could generate inside her.
Darn it.
They really hadn’t been able to talk much, thank heaven, because the band had been playing nonstop since the four of them arrived. But even as that thought drifted through her mind, the small blessing ended when the music suddenly stopped and the lead singer announced they would be taking a break. Silence crashed down on the room and was broken seconds later by the rise of laughter and conversation from the surrounding tables. Now was her chance to leave, Kayla thought, but before she could speak up, Angie did.
“Evan and I are going to head home. I think we’ve heard enough, haven’t we?”
Evan nodded. “Agreed. We’ll keep the band we already have booked.”
Suspicious, Kayla looked at her friend in time to see her flash a secret smile at Evan. Just as she’d thought, Angie had set this all up as a way to force Kayla and Matt together again. Well, that wasn’t going to work.
Kayla eagerly picked up her purse to leave, too, but her best friend stopped her. “Kayla, why don’t you and Matt stay on for a while? Maybe the band will get better.”
“Oh,” she said, shaking her head, “I don’t think—”
“We’ll be happy to,” Matt interrupted her, laying one hand on her forearm to hold her in place.
She tried desperately to ignore the sizzle of heat that shot up her arm to burn in the center of her chest. One touch, Kayla thought. One touch from him and she was on fire. How was that fair? Hadn’t her body learned the hard lesson her brain had over the past nine months? That she couldn’t let herself care? That she couldn’t trust what she felt for him because he so clearly wasn’t interested?
“That’s great.” Evan said, taking Angie’s hand. “We’ll see you guys later.”
“Right.” Matt had already shifted his gaze from their friends to Kayla and she couldn’t hide from the intensity in his eyes.
When they were alone again, Kayla picked up her glass of wine, took a long sip, and then set it down again before speaking. “Okay, why don’t you say whatever it is you have to say and get it over with.”
Four
“Good to see you again, too.”
Kayla took a breath and huffed it out. “I think we’re past the whole ‘polite’ thing, don’t you?”
“Fine.” He reached out, covered her hand with his and held on when she would have pulled away. “Let’s talk about that night.”
She flushed, the heat inside her bursting into an inferno of fire that raced through her system like an out of control blaze. “I’d rather not.”
“Too bad.”
Her gaze snapped to his. His grip on her hand tightened further.
“Let me go, Matt.” She said the words through gritted teeth.
“If I do, you’ll run away.”
“You’ve got that wrong, don’t you? You’re the one who ran all the way to California, remember.”
He frowned. “I remember. Do you remember I was taking a promotion?”
“I remember you not bothering to call before you left.”
Not much he could say to that.
“Besides,” she continued, “why would I run? You don’t scare me.”
“Liar,” he whispered, a soft smile curving his mouth.
Well that was enough to stiffen her spine and strengthen her weakening will. She wasn’t afraid of him, but she was afraid of what she felt for him. Naturally, admitting that to Matt was completely out of the question. She wouldn’t give him any more ammunition to use against her. She was still too vulnerable to him, whether she liked acknowledging it or not, and there was just no way that she was going to line up for more pain.
He had flattened her when he left without a word. And the past nine months had been long and cold and lonely. She was done.