Page 25 of The Fiance Dilemma

I insisted, “I’m not planning to shackle you to my wrist and drag you around town. It’d be a little awkward to do it here, but we could break up. Today. It wouldn’t be my first public breakup, and it wouldn’t be the first time a man dumped me, even though some podcaster believes I’m a heartless, damaged, evil witch with issues and a penchant for weddings.”

“They said that about you?” Matthew asked. “When?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but he was pulling out his phone. His fingers swiped with a determination that drove me to peek at the screen. Page Nine’s Instagram was open. “Matthew,” I called, feeling a little apprehensive now. My hand crossed the few inches separating us, landing on his arm. The sleeves of his baseball tee were pushed up and I immediately regretted having gloves on. “Why are you checking—” It locked into place then. “You’ve listened to it.Filthy Reali-Tea,Page Nine’s podcast. I didn’t tell you the specifics. That’s why you’re checking their page?”

A muscle in his jaw jumped when he looked up at me. “Yes.”

I had wondered if making Matthew listen to it would have been a quicker way to have him agree, but a part of me hadn’t wanted his pity. Judgment. And it didn’t matter how or when he found out about my past. It just bothered me a little that he had listened to it before… I could tell him myself? I could prepare?

“And what were you planning to do right now?” I asked him, pushing all of that aside. “Comment on some post like an outraged Karen?”

“I can be a great Karen.”

I gave him a half-hearted smile. “That’s sweet.”

It was also unnecessary.

Matthew hesitated, as if he was going to say something important. But I stopped him with a hand. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a perm moving in the crowd of heads, going one, two, three stands up. Right above us, but to the left. Pug ears popped up too. Then Otto’s cap. Jesus. Those two were like the Avengers of None of Their Business, assembling the moment anything important was picked up by the wind.

“Put your arm around me,” I instructed in a low voice. All Matthew did was frown. “Or do something. Anything you’d do to your fiancée if you were watching a game with her and she asked you something silly like ‘would you love me if I were a worm?’ Anything that’s PDA and would keep people from interrupting us. Anything that—” My eyes widened. “No lips or mouth,” I rushed out, realizing what I was asking might imply Matthew kissing me. But we’d eventually have to do that, right? Right? Oh God. And that— Focus, Josie. “Just do something. Now. Please?”

His hand met mine in a swift motion. Warmth wrapped around my wrist, and before I could so much as process the gentle touch, my gloved fingers were being brought up to the height of his chest. Matthew’s eyes met mine as he lowered his chin, his teeth closing slowly around the extra fabric around my pinky. He gave the glove a quick, gentle tug, and a breath seemed to get stuck somewhere between my throat and lungs. Then he replaced his mouth with his own expert hand, peeling the pink wool off my skin.

Wide-eyed—and frankly boiling hot despite the missing layer—I could do nothing but watch Matthew as he sandwiched my hand in his big palms and blew air into it. A warmth, soft like melted butter, spread, chased away by goose bumps breaking across my skin. My whole body tingled.Tingled.

The corners of his lips tipped up, his gaze roaming all over my face in a way that told me he knew exactly what he was doing. “This,” he finally said, rubbing my skin with his thumbs. “If my woman has cold hands, I’m going to keep them nice and warm.”

My woman.

Nice and warm.

I—

Shoot. I’d just been uno-reversed.

No words rose to my tongue, so I cleared my throat. All right. This was fine. I’d asked forthis.It just caught me off guard, that’s all. That is what the wobble in my belly meant. Surprise.

“But sweetheart,” he said a lot louder. “Of course I would love you if you were a worm.” He winked. “I’d build you a tiny box and carry you in my pocket anywhere I’d go.”

“That’s… cute,” I muttered. Although it really was. It also felt incredibly nice to have my hand held like this. I dragged my eyes behind him. “The Gossip Brigade is down. For now.”

Matthew didn’t seem to care as much as I did. He was now preoccupied with turning my hand and inspecting my palm. His thumb caressed the skin, sending more tingles up my wrist. “The cut is healing.” He lifted his gaze to meet mine. “Do you still want me to kiss it and make it better?”

My brain tripped.Kiss it and make it better?“That’s—” My voice broke. “No lips or mouth. I think I—I think I said that.”

He shrugged. Casually. Way too much. “Sorry. I really thought I mentioned having excellent selective hearing.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, seeing the start of a smile tugging at his mouth. My lips opened, but before I could say anything, both our phones started buzzing.

We frowned at each other, letting go of the other’s hands to fish out our devices.

“It’s Adalyn,” I said.

“Cam’s calling me,” Matthew said at the same time.

We both paused, and then it all clicked together. “Have you—”

“No,” he answered with a shake of his head. He declined the call.

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