Page 32 of Spark
“Nothing.”
Matt wasn’t buying it. Especially since Chris was suddenly treating dishwashing like a sacred duty, and scrubbing with religious fervor.
Chris added, “She was just updating me on some interesting stuff she found out while she was in town. Did you know that there actually was a murder at the Bearpaw Springs Resort fifty years ago? And that it involved a Tringstad and one of the Eddy Ornelas’s uncles?”
Matt was intrigued, but he refused to take the bait. He recognized an attempt to evade the truth when he saw it. “What else happened with Sophie?”
“Nothing else happened!” Now Chris was lying.
Matt had known Chris for years, and he would have been able to tell even without his shifter senses. He’d always been able to read considering his friend like a book.
“Uh-huh.” Matt didn’t even try to hide his skepticism. “I swear to God, Chris, if you did something to hurt her—”
“I kissed her, okay?” Chris blurted. “A goodnight kiss. I didn’t think it was going to turn out to be a big deal.”
He kissed her?Matt struggled to rein in his instant surge of anger and jealousy.
But of course, Chris noticed- anyway. Because it was impossible for Matt to hide the change in his scent from another shifter.
He finally turned from the sink and looked Matt straight in the eye.
“Look, Matt, I know you really like her, but you’ve never made a move! And shewantedme to kiss her. She said so! It’s not like I just grabbed her or anything.”
Matt choked as a dozen different angry responses rose in his throat. Inside, his bear was roaring with primal rage.
Chris had kissed Sophie!
And she had apparently wanted it.
Chris shook his head. “Look, I’m really sorry you’re upset, but Sophie’smyfriend, too. And she’s her own person, not some toy that you can lock in a cabinet somewhere until you’re ready to play with it.”
Matt stared at him, shocked by the unfairness of that accusation. “Is that really what you think I’ve been doing?” he growled. “Trying to keep her in a box?”
But I let her go! I didn’t ask her to change her plans for college…or for her gap year!
Chris shrugged. “I actually have no idea what you're doing, except that you haven’t been asking her out.”
He dried his hands and walked past Matt. “I’m tired and I have to be at work earlier tomorrow because we have a big wedding reception booked for this coming weekend,” Chris said as he left the kitchen, heading for the stairs heading to their bedrooms. “If you want dessert, I made some extra meringue shells and there’s leftover strawberries and whipped cream in the fridge. See ya in the morning.”
Left to stew by himself in the empty, brightly lit kitchen, Matt glared at the translucent storage container on the counter, with its shadowy outline of meringue shells, and decided that he really wasn’t in the mood for dessert.
Instead, he grabbed a bottle of beer out of the fridge and popped the lid.
He sat on one of the stools lined up on the other side of the kitchen island, and took a pull from the bottle.
At first, he was pissed at the betrayal. Chrisknewhow he felt about Sophie! Why would his best friend make a move on her like that?
And why would Sophie want Chris to kiss her?
His anger faded, replaced by apprehension.Was Dad right? Did I wait too long and miss my chance with her?
Then his bear spoke up.She’s meant to be ours! She’s our mate. You can’t let someone else court her!
Matt agreed. Maybe he should have said or done something earlier. But he wasn’t going to give up so easily.
If Chris could ask Sophie out and kiss her, then why shouldn’t Matt do the same thing?
Deep down, his human half knew that he shouldn’t be thinking this way, but his bear half was determined not to let Chris court her without competition.
