Matchmaker (Empire High #4) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,148

never wanted to do that. I loved her. I’d never had a friend like her before or since. Neither one of us was perfect though. She’d dated Felix when I thought it was pretty clear that I liked him. And now…I was going to date Matt. That’s okay, right? Please, just give me a sign.

My phone buzzed.

I looked down at a text from Matt. “Are you up? I need to see you.”

My heart started racing. If that wasn’t a sign, I didn’t know what was. “Actually, I can’t sleep.”

“Too busy thinking about me?”

I smiled. One of the many reasons why I was falling for him. He was good at making a heavy situation feel light. “Always.” I didn’t want to lie.

“I’m coming over now. Keep that train of thought. I have an important question for you.”

“What kind of question?”

“You’ll see.”

I wanted to be able to push him away. I did. But my body had a mind of its own. There were suddenly butterflies in my stomach instead of that twisting guilt. And my pulse was racing. I couldn’t turn him away even if I wanted to. Maybe Tanner was right. Maybe Matt and I were always supposed to be together. It was just a long, hard route to get there. But sometimes the hardest loves were the everlasting ones. The real ones.

Another text came through. “What are you wearing?”

I laughed out loud. “The usual. A very sexy pair of sweatpants.” I was crying a minute ago and now he had me laughing. I ignored the way my stomach twisted. I wasn’t just falling for him. I was in love with Matthew Caldwell.

“Perfect. Just the way I like you. Are you rocking that sexy bun too?”

“Don’t you know it. I’m all ready for you.” I was smiling so hard it hurt.

“Just for the record, whatever you’re wearing won’t be on for long.”

I felt my cheeks flush. “Is that your question? Whether or not I’m ready to go all the way?”

“I’d probably word it more on the lines of are you ready for me to properly worship your body. I hope the answer is yes to that. But that’s not my question. And it’s okay if you’re not ready.”

I was smiling so hard my cheeks hurt. What was he going to ask me? “I’m ready.”

He sent about ten eggplant emojis which made me laugh again.

“It’s a shame that we’re just friends, Matt.”

He sent ten more eggplant emojis. He was such a dork. Apparently I loved dorks. “Could I have a side of fries with that eggplant?”

“What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t bring fries and tulips with me?”

Well, that was that. He was officially perfect.

The call button buzzed. I hit the button to let him up.

I was ready for this. I was ready for him. I glanced in the mirror real quick to make myself look at least a little more presentable. I had no idea what Matt was planning. But I had a feeling it involved me repaying him for our little elevator shindig earlier. He’d promised he was getting out of the thing with Poppy. Maybe that was it. But honestly? I’d sneak around with him for a few days. Hadn’t I already been doing that? That was probably the question.

He wasn’t hiding me like some dirty little secret. He wasn’t the same guy he was in high school. We’d both changed. And somehow wound up a pretty perfect fit.

He knocked on the door. I put on a little lip gloss and then hurried over. I looked out the peephole just as my hand grabbed the doorknob.

Oh my God. “Puta mierda.” My hand froze. I blinked and stared at the peephole again. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. But every time I blinked, nothing changed.

The butterflies in my stomach turned to lead. I felt like I was going to be sick. What the hell had I done?

I threw open the door. I wanted to curse and scream and cry. I wanted to hit the redo button. I wanted to be doing anything other than staring at the ghost in my doorway. A ghost that very much was not a ghost at all.

No.

It wasn’t possible.

Never.

And yet…

Nunca.

“Brooklyn?”

* * *

Brooklyn’s back! Brooklyn’s back! If she’d come back a few weeks sooner, everything would have been perfect. But now… Oopsies. Things are about to get messy.

Will Matt go back to Brooklyn? Or will he stick with Kennedy? And most importantly…where the heck has Brooklyn been this whole time?! Find out