The Matchmaker's Replacement - Rachel Van Dyken Page 0,42

finished setting the table. “But it would still hurt, therefore, my life would be complete.”

“Inflicting pain shouldn’t be a life goal, Gabs.”

“Neither should being an asshole, yet here we are.” I smiled sweetly.

Lex breathed out a curse and poured his second glass of wine. I was still on my first. The last thing I needed was to be more loose-lipped in his presence; we really would get in a fight then—and probably burn the house down, leaving me homeless.

He tapped his fingertips against his glass, his full lips pressing together in a small smile. Everything about him sitting at the table with me felt right when it should have felt wrong.

I needed a fight.

Something to remind me that he was a horrible human being.

That the minute I let him in, he’d bite.

And not a good bite but the type that spread a life-altering infection, making it so you were never the same. I’d already nearly given my virginity to one asshole, there was no need to repeat history and actually follow through this time. I was afraid it might actually break me—that he would break me.

I shot to my feet, stalked to the stove, and turned down the sauce. The pasta was already on the table, ready for consumption.

“Need help?” Lex asked, his body heat singeing me from behind! A hand snaked around my body as his finger dipped into the hot sauce and then left.

I imagined his lips around his finger and nearly whimpered aloud.

“At least you can cook, Gabs.”

“Meaning what, exactly?” I didn’t turn around. I wasn’t so sure I could trust myself not to launch my body in his general direction and beg him to kiss me.

My legs wobbled.

Gah! I hated him.

“Can’t I give you a compliment?”

“No,” I growled out, mindlessly stirring the sauce with the wooden spoon. “Because they’re always backhanded. Like ‘You don’t look as fat in that dress as you did last time you wore it,’ or ‘Nice lipstick, I hope it was free’—”

Lex’s hand cupped my face, and his cologne lingered everywhere like a cloud of sex that was impossible to step out of. I was afraid to breathe, afraid to move.

“How about this?” His body brushed against mine, our legs kissing, nearly intertwined as we stood in front of the stove. “I really enjoy your cooking. The end.” He removed his hand.

“The end?” I whispered. “Is that going to be your new thing? I’ll know it’s real if you say ‘the end’?”

“You’ll know it’s real because it’s truth,” he said, still not moving.

A door slammed, and Ian’s voice rang out. “Forgot my coat and it’s raining . . .”

I didn’t listen to the rest of the sentence; I was too busy mourning the loss of Lex’s body as he jerked away from me, leaving me cold, shivering, and completely turned-on.

Yes, folks, he turned me on by breathing.

Crap.

Someone needed to smack me in the face, knock some sense into me. I pleaded with fate to simply turn him back into his full-time assholeness so I could live a marginally normal life without losing my mind in his presence.

I turned around just as Ian ran into the kitchen, grabbed his coat, and then jogged back out.

The tension was thick.

Like the sauce I’d just let boil over. “Crap!” I turned back to the stove and quickly removed the pan.

“Correction.” Lex sauntered over and took the pan from my hands. “You were a good cook.”

“The end?” I scrunched up my nose as I looked down at the semi-burnt sauce.

“Yeah.” He gave a firm nod and set the pan in the kitchen sink. “The end.”

My stomach growled on command. He might dump the burnt sauce, but if he didn’t, that sauce and I had a date later. I didn’t care if it had charred pieces of coal in it, I was going to devour every last drop of it.

“I’ll order pizza.” Lex pulled out his cell. “It’s not family dinner unless it’s Italian.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but he was already talking into his phone. “Yeah, can we get two extra-large Hawaiian pizzas, extra pineapple on both of them and Asiago cheese on top?”

Curse him for knowing every weakness I have, starting with pineapple and ending with cheese.

“Cash,” he said into the phone, then fired off my address.

“Feeding an army?” I joked.

“Nah, just you, Sunshine.” He smirked. “And I figure the fatter I keep you, the slower you are when I chase you.”

“Smart.” I nodded. “Prey on the weak, that’s what I