Page 27 of Wildly Inappropriate

I slam the door shut, and both Lila and Janice look my direction at the noise. Noticing it’s me, Lila’s happiness melts into a look of distaste, and for some reason, a small piece of my heart feels like it’s about to cry.

***

“Who’s Matthew?” I ask when Lila walks into Jameson’s house that evening.

Lila screams, tossing her keys into the air.

“Jesus Christ, JT. What are you doing just sitting there?”

I could tell her that I’ve been sitting here reading our book, leaving her messages about the logistics of the most recent sex scene and what I would’ve done differently, but we don’t address the book. The Lila and JT who write those notes back and forth aren’t us. They can’t ever be us. They are the little pieces of our personalities who were friends once upon a time, and I’m not ready to send them back into hiding by addressing the personal comments we continue to leave for each other.

I’m also not going to tell her that I’ve barely been able to focus on the book because the stupid nameMatthewkeeps popping up in my brain.

“Just hanging out,” I say instead.

She snorts. “Right. You’ve been hiding in your room for the last two weeks, but now you happen to be ‘hanging out’ in the living room at the time I get home every night?” She kicks off her shoes before stopping at the edge of the living room, her arms crossed.

“So are you really not going to tell me who Matthew is?” I ask as I move toward her. Shit. Just like in Phoenix, I’m unable to resist the pull she has on me. The one I’ve been trying to avoid for the last two weeks. The one that only pops up when we are in private. “Why would you possibly care?” she asks.

It’s a valid question. One I’ve asked myself multiple times since I drove away from her and stupid Janice. So, I give her the only answer that makes any sense to me.

“Your brother asked me to keep an eye on you while he was gone. I just want to make sure you’re not doing anything stupid.”

“Wow. Thank you so much. I am just a naïve little country mouse who just wouldn’t know a good seed from a bad one.”

“Your Southern accent is terrible.”

“Did Jameson really ask you to keep an eye on me?”

“Something like that.”

“I’m going to kill him,” she says, pulling out her phone.

I capture her wrist, staring into her bright green eyes. “Are you going to answer my question?” I ask.

She licks her lips before pulling a defiant mask over her face. “It’s none of your business. I don’t need anyone to keep an eye on me. I’m 24. I have a master’s degree. I’m involved in cybersecurity for some of the top corporations around the world. I can decide whether I want to go out with Janice’s nephew, okay?”

I move closer, our lips just a few inches apart.

“Janice’s nephew, huh? Sounds like a real winner.”

“You don’t know anything about him.”

“I know his name is Matthew. What kind of name is that?”

“What kind of name isJustin Theodore, JT?” she asks, pushing me away.

It’s hard to argue that point because I dislike the name so much that I officially go by JT. So, as any good debater would, I decide to skip right over her question and continue with my point. “I know Janice is out there just trying to set people up all willy-nilly. She tried to set me up with her daughter, for fuck’s sake.”

“Well, it doesn’t speak well for her track record that she would try to set anyone up with you, let alone her own flesh and blood, but she doesn’t know you that well. I’m sure she knows her nephew much better.”

“I’m a catch, Lila,” I say.

“Really?” she asks. “Then why don’t you ever have a girlfriend?”

“Oh, trust me, I could if I wanted to. I could have a girlfriend tomorrow if I wanted one. I don’t know if you know this, but I’ve always had a knack for getting women into bed quickly.”

She rolls her eyes, seeming not to care that I just equated her with the other women I’ve slept with. Though,fuck. She’s definitely not in the same category as any of them. My time with her meant so much more than that.

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