Page 47 of Matchmaking On The Menu

“That didn’t look like a distraction,” Shelly says softly.

I meet her gaze. “It was.”

Not that I believe it myself.

There’s a pause, then she sighs dramatically and claps her hands once. “Fine. We’ll table the emotional crisis for later.”

“I am not having an emotional crisis.”

“You absolutely are.”

“I’m processing.”

“Same thing.”

“It is not the same thing.”

“It’s the prequel.”

I glare at her.

She grins.

“Come on,” she says, looping her arm through mine. “We’re getting something sugary. You need sweetening up.”

“I do not need sweetening up.”

“You just got kissed by a mysterious man in a jester mask and abandoned in the middle of a fairy-tale moment. You need sugar.”

Ouch! “Okay, maybe a little sugar.”

Shelly beams. “That’s my girl.”

She starts dragging me toward one of the food stalls, Quadri falling into step beside us. Mary hooks her arm in mine. “There’s a reason for everything, you know.”

I nod. If only I knew what.

9

TEDDY

THE PROBLEM WITH MUSES

The apartment feels smaller than usual. Not physically. The walls haven’t moved, and the furniture hasn’t rearranged itself while I was gone. But somehow the place feels different as I pace from one end of the living room to the other.

The music from the festival drifts faintly through the open window, carried on the night air. People are probably still dancing, still laughing. Meanwhile, I’m wearing a path into my apartment floor and pretending I’m not thinking about the woman I kissed and abandoned like an absolute coward.

My hand brushes my mouth as I rub my face, and the memory hits instantly. The mask. The way she looked at me. That split second before I kissed her. Jesus. What the hell was I thinking?

I wasn’t. That’s the problem. One second we were standing there, the next she looked up at me with those impossible blue eyes, and every sensible thought I’d ever had packed its bags and left the building. I definitely shouldn’t have kissed a woman I barely know. And I sure as hell shouldn’t have run afterward.

My stomach twists. I can’t stop replaying it. The confusion on her face. The way I turned around and walked away like a complete idiot.

I drag both hands through my hair and stare at the ceiling. Fantastic. I’ve been in town less than a month, and I’ve already managed to embarrass myself in front of the most beautiful woman I’ve met in years. Years, not months.

Something uncomfortable shifts in my chest, and I shove it back down where it belongs. I didn’t come to Boudica Springs looking for a relationship. I came here because my career is hanging by a thread, and I need the space to figure out how to fix it. This town is temporary. I’m temporary. The kiss was a mistake.

The lie settles heavily in my chest.