do the same. Did he know how the cheap cotton clung perfectly to his biceps? Did he have any idea the way the denim perfectly outlined the long, elegant muscles of his thighs? God help me if he turned around. In jeans, the man’s backside would give any Roman statue a run for its money.
I tightened my grip on my coffee mug, conscious that if I didn’t, I was just as likely to drop it.
“You stayed,” I said. “I—I thought you were getting a hotel.”
The previous night had ended with a raucous dinner in the main house with the children playing games upstairs until bedtime while I had spent most of the evening alternating between the joy of lingering around a table for hours with people I actually liked and reminding myself not to do what came most naturally when Matthew was around. We had not sat next to each other, instead wisely taking places at opposite sides of the Sterlings’ patio table. But I could feel his eyes watching me over his wineglass. And every time he passed me on his way in and out of the house, when the combination of paper, cologne, and wine would waft by, I’d have to squeeze my legs together and grip the table to keep myself from following.
And so, once we found Olivia passed out on one of the bunkbeds in Jenny’s room, I went to bed early myself, praying that when I woke the next morning, the temptation would have vanished along with my fatiguing resistance.
No such luck.
Matthew shrugged as he set a hand atop my car, half caging me against it as he took a sip of my coffee. “You try convincing Skylar out of hosting her friends. Besides, the beds here are more comfortable than the Holiday Inn.”
I might have thought it a poor excuse if I didn’t know myself now how insistent the Sterlings were when it came to hospitality.
“But you’re going to the game with Brandon today?”
Matthew’s eyes narrowed slightly over the rim of the mug, but he nodded. “Yep. Game starts at one.”
“No confession today?” I asked. “Or Mass tomorrow?”
One side of that delicious mouth hooked in a half-grin. “Ah, no. Not this weekend. Why, you want to come repent with me?”
I almost asked “For what?” But I wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle the answer.
“You’re looking awful nice for early on a Saturday, duchess,” Matthew remarked. “Where are you hurrying off to? Got a hot brunch date?”
I snorted. “Hardly.” Was that jealousy threaded through the joke? “I’m going to run some school errands for Olivia, and then I need to meet the tenants of my property in Newton.”
His eyes brightened. “You have a house in Newton?”
I nodded. “Yes. I purchased it just after Olivia was born. I thought then I might go back to college, but…” I shook my head. “It, um, didn’t work out.”
Sympathy crossed Matthew’s handsome face, but surprisingly, he didn’t press. On that, anyway. “So the house. You’re planning to live there, then?”
“I might.” I fingered the edge of the car door, suddenly wanting to get in and escape this theory. I had wanted to leave New York for years, but when I spoke to Matthew about the possibility, it came with a stab of pain.
“And you’re not going anywhere else this morning? Just errands and house hunting?”
Something about his tone cut. Just slightly. “Why are you asking me all these questions?”
I could tell he wanted to offer a quick rejoinder. Probably answer my question with another question, as he so often did. Cross-examine me until my head was spinning with irritation and confusion, until I’d tell him whatever it was he thought he wanted to hear.
But instead, he just shook his head with a rueful smile. “Just plain curiosity, doll.”
He glanced behind him toward the windows of the house, perhaps to check for adolescent spies of some sort. “I’ll see you tonight, sweetheart. Or tomorrow, if you’re asleep when we get back. Don’t wait up.”
He darted a quick kiss to my cheek, then started back to the house.
“Wait, what?” As his words sank in, I called out, bewildered, “I thought you were going back to New York after the game tonight.”
Matthew turned back and flashed another grin. “Didn’t they tell you? It’s a Yankees-Red Sox doubleheader on Wednesday, and I’m due some vacation time. I’m staying a bit longer.” He winked. “So, I guess you’re stuck with me for a few days, doll. I’ll try not to get in your