It sounded like she’d experienced true heartbreak.
“Who broke your heart? Let me at him. I’ll beat him up for you,” he said, only half joking. It was startling to realize that he’d do things for Penny that he wouldn’t do for anyone else.
He was in a lot deeper with this girl than he’d realized.
“It wasn’t a guy.”
Matt’s head swung toward her so fast he almost gave himself whiplash. Penny scowled at him.
“It’s not what you’re thinking either. You’re so predictable.”
Matt shrugged. “Most guys are. So who was it?”
She looked down at her hands. She did that a lot, he’d noticed. When the conversation turned to something personal, she’d either brush it off or give him only half an answer. Matt figured she was still deciding whether she could trust him. Finally, she glanced up at him.
“It was Rachel. It wasn’t a romantic relationship but my heart was broken. I didn’t see her again until I was an adult.”
Matt sank back into the cushions of the couch, pulling Penny with him. With a soft sigh, she relaxed into his chest, her head nestling in the cradle of his arm. ”You lost your best friend.”
“I’d never had a friend like her before. Rachel and I just connected. I could talk to her about anything. I adore my sisters, but they’re very different from me. Luckily they didn’t tease me for being the geeky one, but they still didn’t share any of my interests. Rachel did.”
Matt pulled back slightly so he could see her face. “I remember how close you two were that summer. It was rare to see one of you without the other.”
Penny’s eyes danced as she remembered. “We spent more time at each other’s houses than we did alone. She’d read all the same books and she was fluent in several languages. She seemed so worldly and sophisticated, but she liked me. She didn’t think I was geeky at all. Rachel made being smart seem cool. I’d never had a friend that I loved like a sister before.”
“What happened to her?”
“Nothing. My dad got reassigned after that year. I cried until I had nothing left. We wrote letters for a while, but like all things, it wasn’t the same. After that, I was too afraid to get close to anyone again. I spent more and more time studying. Then I was in college, then graduate school, and then I came here. Georgia is the only person I’ve let in since. And that’s mainly because she didn’t really leave me much choice.”
They laughed together. Matt decided he owed a debt to Georgia not just for pushing him to come back and apologize that day, but also for being such a good friend to Penny.
“Thank you, Matt.”
“For what?”
She shrugged, not meeting his eyes. “For asking. For actually wanting to know the answer. It’s been a while since I had someone I could confide in.” She pushed her hair back self-consciously and picked up the ice cream melting on the coffee table. “I’d better go put this away.”
Matt watched as she shuffled to the kitchen, but she couldn’t hide the slight redness to her eyes. The sight made him feel unsettled. He wasn’t surprised that he was so protective of her already. They were friends, at the least, although that felt like a monumental understatement considering how stirred up he always was around her. But he was surprised at the longing that had taken root lately. The desire to give her everything she needed.
Everyone thought she was so no-nonsense, but he was starting to see through the mask. She was a secret romantic. Deep down, she wanted to believe in the magic.
And he wanted to be the one to give it to her.
* * * * *
THE NEXT WEEK was a lesson in patience for Penny. It was important to her that when Matt came to the center, he was her patient only. She wouldn’t jeopardize his recovery by going easy on him. She had to treat him just like anyone else. She’d thought it would keep the situation under control if she only agreed to see Matt after work.
Except all she could think of during the day was how considerate he’d been by looking up local seafood restaurants. Then there was the movie marathon. He’d obviously been listening closely when he’d asked her what she liked to do in her spare time. A man who listened was surprisingly hard to resist. Especially one who listened while you spilled your guts. She hadn’t told any of her boyfriends about Rachel. None of them had ever asked the right questions or cared enough to wonder about her past.
Wednesday afternoon, Matt sat in her office. They’d finished early, so he’d made himself completely at home in the chair in front of her desk while she updated the notes in his file. He looked good. Really good, she admitted.
“Aren’t you going to get that?” Matt asked.
It was difficult to keep her mind on what she was supposed to be doing when he was sitting in front of her desk looking like chocolate-dipped temptation. His brown hair had grow
n out some so the ends were just starting to curl over. He seemed to have stopped bothering with shaving lately, too, so there was an appealing layer of masculine scruff on his cheeks.
Simply put, he looked hot.