Page 21 of Worth the Chase

“Us. Get us a house.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Say it,” he pushed, and it made me laugh.

“No.”

“Then, I’m not getting out of your car. Ever. I’ll live in it.”

“Why are you like this? Don’t you have a job to get to or something?” I’d meant the words lightly, but the look on his face told a different story. “Hey.” I reached out my hand and put it on his arm. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Bells,” he said, but his tone definitely did not soundfine.

Matthew loved that resort. The whole town did. Him looking like he was about to throw up wasn’t like him at all.

“Then, why do you look like you’re about to blow chunks?”

Everyone else had been tiptoeing around Matthew since he’d been back, but I’d never been the type to pretend like things were fine when they weren’t.

He plastered on a big, fake smile, and I wanted to knock it right off his face. He thought I couldn’t see through his bullshit.

“Maybe your driving made me carsick. Ever think of that?”

I growled, “You might be able to lie to your brothers and your dad, but you’ve always been a shit liar to me.”

The smile that he wore almost dropped, but he caught it and kept it in place. “Thought we didn’t know each other anymore?”

I sucked in a quick breath, knowing exactly what he was trying to do. Matthew always twisted things around so that thefocus was no longer on him, but on you. He’d become a master at doing that after his mom died, and apparently, he still was.

“Guess we might still know some things,” I admitted.

“When will we find out about the house?” he asked before opening the door and getting out.

“I’ll reach out to the agent and then write up an offer. It’s been on the market for a while, and the previous owners were tourists, so we should hear back by end of day at the latest,” I said, sounding like a professional even though I most certainly didn’t feel like one. At least not in this business.

“Okay,” he said before adding, “I don’t care how much it costs.”

“Well, I do.” Even though Matthew drove me crazy most of the time, I didn’t want him to overspend if he didn’t have to. “I’ll get you a good deal,” I promised, as if I truly had any control over what the sellers would agree to.

“I know you will,” he said before shutting the door a little too hard, and I winced with the loud slamming sound.

I could have stayed and watched him walk up the stairs to his condo, but I left before realizing that my entire car smelled just like him.

I drove back to my apartment, my head spinning and replaying all the romantic things Matthew had said. Anna was going to flip out as soon as I filled her in…ifI filled her in. Even though she was my best friend, she was clearly on Team Matthew. She always had been.

When I opened up the front door to our place, Anna was standing in the kitchen, burning something on the stove, the smoke billowing all around her as she frantically tried to wave it away with a towel.

“What are you burning?” I asked with a laugh as I tossed my keys onto the counter.

“Grilled cheese. Why won’t the cheese ever melt before the bread burns? I don’t get it. My bread is completely ruined, and the cheese is still hard inside,” she said with a dramatic groan before throwing it into the garbage.

“You’ll have to ask Addison how to make one. She’ll know,” I said because Addison was a fantastic chef and knew how to make everything.

Anna pointed at me with a determined look on her face. “You’re right!” She snapped her fingers. “So, how’d it go? Did you guys find a house?”

I nodded. “We did, yeah. Speaking of, I need to look up the agent’s contact information and give them a call. I’ll be right back,” I said before heading into my bedroom for a little privacy.

Knowing Anna, I thought she’d follow me right in and sit on my bed as I tried to work.

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