"And I said I was sorry about that," he said, as if that closed the topic. Then he took the box from her hand and removed the earrings himself, handing them to her one at a time. "Do you need me to put them in for you, too?" he asked a little playfully.
"No," she murmured, reaching up to fasten the earrings into her earlobes. When she was finished, she turned so he could see them. "What do you think?" she asked.
"Stunning," he stated, smiling at her warmly.
Her mouth felt unreasonably dry again, so she swallowed, fighting the vague feeling of discomfort slithering up her spine. He was just being nice, trying to make up for what a complete and absolute asshole he had been before. No reason to be suspicious of his motives.
But then he took her hand again, scooting closer to her on the couch. His other hand found its way to rest on her thigh, and red flags went up all over in her head.
"I miss you," he said.
"You're the one that let me leave," she reminded him, trying to decide whether or not she should move her leg so he lost the contact with her thigh or just leave it alone.
"I know; that was stupid. I didn't know what to do."
"You got caught," she stated plainly.
Seeming to ignore that statement, he raised his hand from her leg to brush her cheek, then he cupped her face in his hand and began to lean in.
Fighting the natural instinct to move closer, she forced herself not to and instead leaned back to get away from his lips.
Of course that was the exact moment—as he leaned even closer and she leaned back even more—that the door flew open, and Aaron came walking in.
Julie started, Matt practically sprung away from her, and they both sat there looking at Aaron like a couple of guilty teenagers whose parents had just walked in on them.
Aaron's face curled up into a slight sneer and he made a low noise of disgust, then he walked into the kitchen so he couldn't see them as he noisily stuffed things into the refrigerator. "Sorry, was I interrupting?" he called sarcastically.
"No," Julie said, jumping off the couch, feeling the need to explain herself. She walked into the little alcove of the kitchen and said quietly, "It was not what it looked—”
"I can’t look at you right now," he said, cutting her off and holding his hand up in front of her face.
Ouch.
Feeling oddly hurt, Julie retreated. She started to say something, then stopped herself, biting her lip and walking back into the living room.
Matt cleared his throat and stood up, handing her the empty jewelry box.
"Thank you," she said quietly, the wind completely knocked out of her sails.
"I'm going to go speak with my brother for a second," Matt said, glancing toward the kitchen.
Julie nodded and went back to the couch to sit down, trying to ascertain how Aaron—whom she barely kn
ew—had managed to cut her so deeply with his rejection in the kitchen. She had known he didn't like her, but to say he couldn't even look at her?
It made her feel lower and dirtier than anything else had up to that point.
Then she heard Matt say, "Are you going to get that…thing inflated or should I get her a hotel room until you manage to get around to it?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm sure that would be much more convenient for you, wouldn't it? What, Emma's not out of town this week? You could just bring her home with you."
"Don't be an asshole," Matt said dismissively.
"Right. The neighbors. You've already learned they don't keep quiet, haven't you?"
There was a brief moment of silence, then Matt said, "You didn't answer my question. You were supposed to have somewhere for her to sleep already, it's unacceptable that—”
"That I'm busy? Sorry, when I was planning out my weekly schedule I completely forgot to pencil in 'babysit Matt's mistress,' but I'll try really hard to remember my job from now on,” he shot back scathingly.