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“Shit, Grace,” Matt sighed ruefully. “I just can’t ever say the right thing around you, can I?”
“Hence, the Mr. Asshole on my phone.” I couldn’t help jibing.
He scowled and pointed a finger at me. “You’re right. I was mad at you.” Before I could say anything, he rambled on, “You should have listened to Axe and not left the apartment.”
“Were you trying to keep that man away from me?”
“If by ‘that man’ you mean Troy, yes.” Matt frowned. “You don’t remember anything about him?”
I shook my head. “Nothing even vaguely familiar.” I took a deep breath. “I know I’ve been in Misty Grove only a short while, but how can I be involved with him and you too?”
Matt stared at me a for a second and then lifted his chin at my container. “Food’s getting cold.” He smeared butter on the pancakes and drizzled syrup. I watched him cut through the stack and lift the fork toward me. “Taste?”
“Why are you avoiding the question?”
“Because I don’t have an answer regarding what you were to Troy,” he snapped.
“This is such a small town, I’m sure …”
“You were at his compound for two days.”
“Oh …”
“Right after our one-night stand.” Matt dropped the fork to his platter and pushed back from the table. He grabbed two mugs from the cupboard and poured coffee that was kept warm on the brewer.
I tried to absorb all this. “So we slept together one night—”
“We fucked, Grace, we didn’t do any sleeping.” Matt’s eyes pinned me to my chair. I couldn’t even pretend to work on my waffles because I felt an odd sensation between my legs. He laid the mug of coffee in front of me.
“—and you’re saying I moved on to Troy.” I was feeling sick to my stomach. Had I been such a slut?
“I may have pushed you toward him.” His face was etched with regret.
My brain warred with my resolve to remember that night between us. I was a coward. A ball of emotion tried to rise up, but I choked it back down. “Did you walk out on me, Matt?”
His eyes narrowed in alert as he tried to gauge my face.
“From our one night together?” I added quite calmly.
“Are you remembering?”
I nodded. “When you slammed out of your bedroom this morning. It was like déjà vu.”
Matt dropped his head in hands and gave a pained groan. “Fuck!” he muttered. “Of all the first memories to come back it had to be that.”
As he was wallowing in his own actions, I was appalled with mine. The knot of emotion turned to bile, and I had to rise up from the chair and race to the toilet. Thankfully, I got to it in time to throw up all the water and meds I had taken from this morning. It didn’t take long for me to be dry-heaving into the bowl.
“Grace,” Matt whispered as he rubbed my back. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a dick to you.”
That wasn’t why I was throwing up, but I was surprised to hear his apology because from what I’ve gathered so far about Matt Foster, he didn’t give a damn about what people thought about him. I grabbed some tissue, wiped my mouth and stood over the sink, not willing to face him until I had at least rinsed my mouth.
The minty taste of the mouthwash relieved my queasy feeling, and I managed a short laugh. “Is that an apology for my future memories of you?”
I looked at him and he grinned. I felt a flutter in my stomach for an altogether different reason, recognizing for the first time why I had slept with this man. He was straight-up handsome in a rough sort of way. His longish, dark blond hair needed a cut, but it suited the several-days-old stubble of his strong, angular jaw. He had piercing, slate-blue eyes that crinkled at the corners when he smiled. I’ve seen his naked upper body at least. He had a ripped, athletic build that I preferred over the body-builder gym rat type like Troy.
“Yeah.” His grin widened. “Although, I’d say you do nothing for a man’s ego—puking so soon after confirming I’d fucked you.”
I rolled my eyes.“It’s not that we’ve slept together that made me feel awful. It’s the idea that I may have slept with another man directly after our night together.” There, my wording was less crass than his, although it still didn’t make me feel better that I might have bed-hopped.
