Page 28 of Simply Yours

She jumped, blinking up to find Matthew waving a hand in front of her face, his grin widening at her obvious distraction.

She frowned.

If Matthew was here… was Jason?

Her stomach tightened, a mess of nerves she didn’t ask for.

“You know your brother is a real twerp…” she muttered, her eyes darting around as if Jason might materialize out of thin air.

Matthew raised an eyebrow, clearly enjoying whatever this was far too much. “Which one?”

She shot him a look.

He knew darn well which one.

“The biggest one.”

Matthew sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth, like a referee about to call a foul. “Oof.” His mock innocence was about as convincing as a fox claiming to be a vegetarian. “Why is that?”

Caitlin crossed her arms, scowling. “None of your beeswax…” She hesitated, then added, “He’s just a twerp. Like you.”

Matthew clutched his chest dramatically. “Wow. You wound me, Caitlin. Really.”

She rolled her eyes, turning back to her loaves, checking the folds in the wax cloths as if her life depended on their precise symmetry.

“Well, someone woke up in afoulmood.” Matthew leaned against her table, looking far too at ease for her liking. “I actually came to buy a loaf of bread from you, you know. To support mydear, sweet friend.”

His tone was pointed, laced with the kind of exaggerated patience that made her immediately realize that she was being a crappy friend.

Caitlin sighed, rubbing a hand over her face.

Because, yeah. Maybe she was.

And the worst part?

Matthew knew it.

That infuriating, cocky grin of his stretched across his face, so smug, so sure of himself, and Caitlin wanted nothing more than to wipe it away, preferably with a stale loaf of her unsold bread.

“Hi,” she grimaced, barely able to meet his gaze.

“Hi,” he grinned—like a cat that had not only caught the canary but had also convinced it to sing him a tune before swallowing it whole.

She narrowed her eyes. “I hate when you do this.”

“Because you know I’m right.”

“Which is completely annoying.”

“Oh, I know it is—which is why I do it,” Matthew laughed, all easy charm, his dimples cutting deep into his cheeks.

Caitlin gritted her teeth. If there were an award for being insufferable, he’d win it in a landslide.

“So,” he continued, rocking back on his heels. “How are you doing on your sales?”

She exhaled sharply. “Well, better than I thought.”

“That good, huh?”

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