Dating the Guy Next Door (16 page)

“Matt, you're hilarious,” the small blonde informed him as she took another sip of her drink. “Did the twins really put homemade glue in your aftershave?”

“Oh yes.” Matt rubbed his chin at the memory. “And it took me a week before the rash went away. My sister assured me it was only flour and water. But I'm sure there was some other top-secret ingredient in there.”

Rachel hiccupped with delight. “What a pair. I'd love to meet them. My three nephews are exactly the same. Last week when I was babysitting they . . .”

“See,” Keith mouthed from across the table as he raised his eyebrows in a series of maneuvers, which Matt assumed was to tell him what a great idea the whole thing was. Yeah, great idea if you liked being stuck on a double date with Keith, his scary producer and Rachel from the website competition.

It had been a month since Matt had made his promise to stay away from Kate and it had dragged by with irritating slowness. Every minute an hour, every hour a reminder that he was back to square one.

It was very frustrating—in every sense of the word—but that's not why he'd eventually agreed to go out on Keith's stupid dinner. The reason for that was because if he kept refusing, he was sure his friend would continue to haunt him for the rest of his life. Possibly longer, and in the end it was easier to just give in.

And he had to admit the evening wasn't nearly as excruciating as he'd imagined. They'd all met up at a hip downtown restaurant and had managed to keep a steady flow of conversation going past the appetizers and through the main course, and as the waiter handed out the dessert menus with a flourish, Matt started to think maybe he could relax slightly.

“So, you don't mind, do you?”

“Sorry?” He blinked, realizing he'd been a million miles away.

“Keith was just saying he and Miranda need to go back to the station to sort out some last-minute details for tomorrow's show,” Rachel informed him with a bemused smile.

“Oh really?” His eyebrow lifted slightly.

“Afraid so. It's real urgent.” Keith gave him a lavish wink. “But I'd hate to ruin the rest of the night, so why don't you two stay and get to know each other?”

“Actually.” Matt stretched up his arms over his head. “I've had a pretty busy week so I might make it an early night as well.”

“Don't be stupid,” Keith said pointedly. “It's only nine o'clock. The night is young.”

“Not when you've been up since five this morning.”

“Get over it,” his friend retorted, quickly pushing back his chair and grabbing Miranda's hand. “Enjoy the rest of your meal.” And then before Matt could even say “Don't worry about the bill, I'll get it,” the pair of them had disappeared out
the door in a rustle of black.

“Boy,” Rachel whistled as soon as they were alone. “Keith's certainly an expert in tact and discretion.”

“Not,” Matt retorted, and they both laughed.

“That's better.” She smiled when they finally stopped their giggling. “And actually I'm pleased they've gone. This whole thing's embarrassing enough without having anyone else to witness it. The only reason I'm here is because my stupid friend logged my name onto the radio website. I didn't even know anything about it until last week. Talk about friends.”

“I know what you mean,” Matt replied as his opinion of her increased. It seemed like he wasn't the only one who was surrounded by well-meaning cupids. But as they spent the next half hour talking, Matt began to wonder if Keith had a point.

After all, they did have a lot in common.

She was an easy companion and was definitely the kind of girl he would've fallen for. Her blonde hair fell neatly around her shoulders and framed her face with the kind of pleasing symmetry that usually appealed to him. And she had a good job. She was a schoolteacher who enjoyed her work but wanted a family too, soon. In fact, she was everything that he'd ever been looking for.

He wasn't surprised when the familiar image of a large table filled with food and the voices of his laughing children entered his mind. It was the same image he'd been seeing for years. Except when he saw Rachel's face there, the normal feeling of happiness and longing was gone. Matt frowned. That had never happened before and even when he didn't know what his future wife might look like the image had always made him feel happy. Made him feel that what he was searching for was worth finding.

He let his mind's eye scan the scene before he finally understood what was wrong with the picture. Then he let out a small gasp as he knew with unexplainable certainty that it wasn't the children who had made him feel happy, it was the woman in the chair. And as soon as Rachel's face faded from the image and was replaced by Kate's, Matt realized his mistake.

Horror filled him as he thought about the fragile relationship he and Kate had shared. The way she'd looked with her hair flying everywhere and that purple paint smeared all over her gorgeous face.

He glanced over to Rachel and he realized that she'd never leave the house looking less than immaculate. She'd certainly never run down to the corner shop in her pajamas because she needed cat food and Socrates shouldn't be made to suffer because of his owner's forgetfulness. Somehow Matt doubted Rachel would ever forget the cat food either. She seemed more like him. A list maker.

Whereas Kate was nothing like him. She was loud, bright and chaotic. She was also tender, vulnerable and unique. Suddenly Matt blinked as if the room had become too bright, and when he finally readjusted his eyesight, he realized he was seeing a completely different picture. What had he been thinking?

He'd thought that he wanted children more than anything. But now, meeting Rachel, he realized how wrong he'd been. Rachel would be a prime candidate for a potential wife. Except the very idea of it left him cold and uninterested. The only
woman he wanted to be with was Kate.

He shuddered as Emma's words came back to haunt him.

She'd told him that Uncle Mathew's mistake hadn't been in not trying to have a family sooner, it was in throwing away the family he already had in order to pursue something else that he thought was more important.

His mouth went dry as he realized he'd thrown away his chance with Kate because he thought he needed to pursue his dream of having a family.

Oh God. What if he'd waited too long to convince Kate he wanted her? He didn't give a damn about her ovaries. Apart from the fact they were part of her delectable body. He really, truly meant it. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with Kate Mitchell, and if it was just the two of them, then it was all the more for him. Now he just needed to convince Kate that he meant it—

“Matt.” Rachel was looking at him strangely. “Are you okay? You've gone pale.”

“I've just remembered something that I need to do.”

“Let me guess.” The girl gave him a rueful smile. “You need to see Kate?”

He nodded his head as he realized that somewhere in their conversation he must have mentioned her. Actually, he had the sneaking suspicion it had been more than once, but thankfully Rachel just gave him an understanding nod.

“I'm so sorry. You're really great but I think I might have made a terrible mistake. I just hope it's not too late to fix it.”

“I hope so too, Matt. We can't help who we love. All we can help is how well we love them.”

But Matt hardly heard because he was too busy digging into his back pocket to pay the bill and get the hell out of there.

***

“Kate, you're a genius,” Monica Peterson called up. “An absolute genius. I love the extra detail you've done in the right-hand corner.”

“Thank you.” Kate glanced down from the scaffolding to where Monica was standing, looking as immaculate as ever. “I know it's going a bit away from the sketch, but it just felt right.”

“Which just proves it's important to trust your instincts. Anyway, I'm leaving now. Don't forget to turn off the lights and lock up before you go.”

“I won't,” Kate assured her patron dutifully, waiting until the tip-tap of her heels finally left the building. Kate glanced at her watch. It was after ten at night and she should probably go home herself.

She wriggled out of the small section of scaffolding she'd been wedged into and stood up. As she rolled her shoulders to loosen away the day's tension, she wondered if this was how Michelangelo felt as he surveyed the Sistine Chapel from his bird's-eye perch.

Looking down from such a height seemed to put everything into perspective. Making the small things seem smaller, and the big things—well, she was trying to avoid thinking about them, which was why she was still at work. At least that
was one area of her life that hadn't turned into road kill.

Kate sighed as she took one last look at the half-completed restaurant before starting to make her way carefully down the scaffolding. However, the sound of the door opening caused her work boot to slip slightly on the steel and she clutched desperately to the safety rail for support. Talk about being caught off-balance.

Once she righted herself, she awkwardly glanced down to see who'd arrived. She assumed it must be one of the workmen, checking in on something on the way home from the pub. But as her eyes scanned the room, looking for the new arrival, her nose caught a whiff of citrus aftershave and her heart started to go into overdrive as her mind made the automatic association.

Matt.

She looked to where he was standing waiting for her and had the overwhelming desire to just let go of the steel struts and drop down into his arms. All this hanging on in mid air was becoming very tiring. Instead she carefully re-established her footing and picked her way to the bottom.

“Hello, Kate. How are you?” he said as soon as she hit the ground, several paces away from him. True to his word, he hadn't tried to speak to her once since that night in the van and her eyes hungrily feasted on the sight of him. His dark jeans brought back sinful memories, while the top two buttons of his smoky-gray shirt were unbuttoned, causing her fingers to twitch in anticipation at what lay below.

“I'm fine,” she croaked. “And you?”

“Oh, you know.” He shrugged before taking a deep breath. “Kate, I need to speak to you. There are things I need to say.”

Kate stood perfectly still. She'd been wondering how she'd feel when they did finally speak again.
If you speak again
, Jenny had reminded her ominously when she'd phoned earlier. Kate had been surprised at how depressing she found the thought.
Well
, her friend had continued.
You did send him away, remember?

But now as he stood in front of her holding a wilted bunch of roses, she realized that despite everything she still wanted to be with him. She wondered if she was crazy. She'd gone over it again and again in her head, but she just couldn't see a way out. She wanted to be with Matt, he wanted to be with her, but standing in the middle of them was the small issue of babies.

At the thought of it, she braced herself, but instead of the tightness that normally lodged in her chest, a strange calmness replaced it. She wasn't sure if it was because of the time she and Julia had been spending together or if it was because of the portrait of her small dead brother that she'd started working on, but all she knew was that the pain had lessened.

Unfortunately, the fact that she no longer felt surrounded by a dark cloud when she thought of having a baby was hardly enough to offer Matt as some kind of hope. No, her only chance of happiness lay in Matt being able to produce some kind of miracle.

Making the impossible happen.

“So, what do you need to say?” Kate finally answered him as she nervously clutched her hands behind her back. Crossing her fingers just in case.

He took a deep breath and his stared intently at her. “I wanted to say you were right. I did think having children was everything, and I might've ended up resenting your decision.”

Never had Kate been less happy about being right. And the small ball of hope that had been shimmering away in the corner of heart finally extinguished itself. She slowly uncrossed her fingers and dug her nails into the palm of her hands to keep from crying. So this was why he'd come. To be honest with her. Her and her stupid miracles. She'd momentarily forgotten they belonged only in fairy tales.

“I'm glad we both agree.” She took a small step back toward the scaffolding to try and minimize some of the damage his presence was having on her.

“Yep, we both agree,” he repeated as he took a small step forward.

“So,” she croaked, taking another pace back. “Was that all you wanted to tell me? That I was right?”

“Mmmm.” He confirmed, another stride bringing him closer to where she was standing.

“Okay.” She gulped as her final step sent her crashing back into the scaffolding, the steel beams rubbing angrily against her shoulders.

“And there's one more thing I need to tell you.” Matt closed the distance between them so his face was only inches away from her own, sending her whole body into some kind of nuclear meltdown.

“What's that?” she asked, her breath uneven.

“That I was wrong,” he told her just before his hungry lips met hers and Kate could feel herself being pulled into the tornado. It was a magnet, causing her to respond despite herself. Here she was having her last kindle of hope being stomped on by the only man she would ever love and all her stupid body could do was kiss him like he'd just said he was wrong.

Wait a minute. He did say he was wrong.

Thankfully years of painting had really built up her upper-body strength and she found the power to finally push him away from her. She'd wanted a miracle, but like the prince with the slipper she needed proof.

“What do you mean by that?” She stared, ignoring the way Matt groaned in frustration as he tried to lean back into her.