Page 88 of The Golden Scoop

“Are you good with this?” I breathe, forcing the words out before I lose the chance to ask.

Her answer is a playful bite. She’s teasing, reckless, and almost convincing.

There’s nothing I want more than to take her into that bedroom and not come out until morning. But we’re going too fast. I don’t want her to regret anything later.

So, I pull back enough to see her. Really see her. The hunger in her eyes. The lack of hesitation. That part of her that doesn’t slow down until it’s over.

“I should go,” I murmur, even as my hands linger at her waist a second longer than they should.

“What?” Emma blinks, thrown. “You don’t have to.”

“Yes, I do.”

Not because I don’t want her. I do.

Because I want her to choose this clearly tomorrow, not to fall into it tonight. Familiarity won’t be enough to make her feel safe.

“You let me know how you feel in the morning,” I tell her. “We’ll go from there. No rush.”

“Frustrated, probably,” she mutters.

“Dig deeper.”

Emma groans but eventually nods.

We clean up together, brushing past each other quietly. She’s probably hating me for stopping us. Meanwhile, I’m in awe at how easy even something as domestic as this feels. Too easy for something this new.

Once everything’s back to its original organized chaos, I pull her in for one last kiss. Slower this time, fully controlled.

Then I leave.

Hoping like hell I’m not making us both suffer for nothing.

TWENTY

Emma

Rejection has never missed me during the many times I’ve dated. Never like yesterday, though.

For a solid thirty minutes after Matt left, I cycled through frustration, confusion… and then landed on played. Why would he leave when I told him he could stay? I turned the thought over and over until it finally clicked.

The discovery lingers all morning. The way he left, seemingly for my sake.

Let me know how you feel tomorrow…

If Julia was right, and Matt’s been feeling this way for a while now, then he’s not pulling away. He’s waiting. Making sure I’m actually in this with him.

Am I?

I reread the last paragraph of my now-finished first draft.

Matt Hunt is not the man headlines try to sell. Beneath the action-hero persona is someone deliberate, thoughtful in way that doesn’t ask to be seen. He listens more than he speaks, shows up without announcement, and cares in quiet, inconvenient ways. The kind that doesn’t translate into press soundbites but matter anyway.

So what we need to be asking ourselves is not ‘How far gone is he?’ but rather, ‘How many fake features are we being fed, and believing?’

With Matt, physical attraction has always been there. That’s the easy part.

But after these couple of weeks… I’m not even sure I’m still at the ‘liking’ stage.