AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He slung his truck into the spot beside her. “A bed-and-breakfast, huh?”
She stepped from her car and pocketed her keys with a shrug. “They have an attached restaurant that serves the most amazing bananas Foster. The beignets are beyond, and the crunch cake is insanely good, too. I figured if you want the whole decadent dessert experience, shouldn’t it be the absolute best?”
“You make a valid point, honey. Lead the way.”
He smiled as she took his hand. Inside, a hostess seated them, but they nearly had the place to themselves, since the lunch rush was long over, but the dinner crowd hadn’t yet shown up.
Tucked in a corner of the wide room, replete with hardwoods, lazily swaying ceiling fans, and a huge plaster fireplace, Matt set his menu aside. “You pick.”
Madison glanced up, looking pleasantly surprised. “Anything you’re allergic to?”
“Nope.”
“Anything you don’t like?”
“Unless it involves you leaving, no.”
Madison closed the menu with a smile and settled her elbows on the table, leaning in. “You’re a really smooth flirt. Does your girlfriend know that?”
He’d never really tried one of those. He wasn’t good at making himself vulnerable to anyone. And most of Laramie had given his family a wide berth—with good reason. “If you’re fishing to find out if I’m attached, let me help you. I’m not.”
That answer clearly pleased her. “I’m not, either.”
Good to know. “So how did you meet Trees?”
Instantly, her expression turned more guarded. “Through Zy.”
Over the past months, he’d heard about a woman Trees had befriended because Zy had nailed her his first weekend in town, then promptly ghosted. Madison? Not that it mattered. If she was that girl, the night she’d spent with Zy had been more than a year ago.
“What do you think about him and Tessa?” If she was jealous or still pining for the pretty boy of the EM Security team, he should know so he could right-set his expectations.
“They’re perfect together. She’s a sweetheart, and her daughter is gorgeous. Zy and I have made nice. He’s obviously a lot happier.”
“Did you two ever date?”
She flushed. “No.”
So she’d just spent the night with him once upon a time. Hell, Matt had done plenty of hooking up in the past, frequenting the bars around the University of Wyoming campus and picking up out-of-state sorority girls who knew zilch about his family reputation. The last thing he had any right or reason to do was judge Madison.
He reached across the table and took her hand with a grin. “Yeah, I never dated him, either.”
She giggled. “I didn’t think you were the type to date Zy—or any guy. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but—”
“There’s not, but I assure you I’m strictly into females. You?”
“Not into females. Sorry not sorry.” She shrugged. “Maybe there was a hazy drunken game of spin the bottle or something, but what happens in college, stays in college.”
“I’ll take your word for it; I didn’t go.”
“At all?”
“Nope.”
“Any particular reason?”
A million, really. Matt tried to sift through all his realities to find the right words, but a server came by, an older lady with big hair and a bigger smile. “Sorry for the wait. What can I get you two?”
He gestured to Madison. “The lady will order for us.”
