“Put your hand down, Maddie. The rock on your finger is so huge, it’s blinding me. I’m about to drop this dresser.”
“Oh, sorry, Jack,” Maddie said loudly, her voice echoing off the ceiling of the underground parking garage. She crossed her arms behind her back. “I still have to get used to the monstrous weight of it myself. Matt didn’t get the memo that size doesn’t matter.”
“It has to be that big,” Matt informed her tightly as he hoisted the dresser higher in his arms and slowly backed toward the elevator. “So that everyone can see from a distance that you’re taken.”
“Well, every alien in outer space can see it,” Jack said, panting. “So, where is this thing actually going?”
“In the living room,” Maddie said.
“In the guest room,” Matt said simultaneously.
“Ah, yes. So you want to saw the thing up.”
“Matt!” Maddie complained. “We agreed on the living room.” She had asked him if it was okay! Well, he had been half-asleep at that point and she had maybe interpreted his incomprehensible grunt as cheerful agreement…but she still had to practice arguing and a dresser didn’t seem worth discussing as long as it ended up in the living room, of course.
“I don’t remember that conversation!” Matt complained and stopped.
“Well, that’s not my fault.” Hardly. “The dresser shouldn’t suffer because of your bad memory.”
“So the living room should suffer, or what?”
“Guys, you can keep arguing as soon as we’re done hauling a ton of solid-wood furniture around,” Jack replied tersely. “I want to get to the damn playoffs and I can’t do that if I dislocate my shoulder.”
“Oops.” Maddie’s cheeks warmed. “Sorry! Carry on.” She hurried ahead of them to call the elevator, which was suddenly smaller and narrower than she remembered. Luckily, they all fit if she sat on top of the dresser.
“The thing is monstrous,” Matt muttered, shaking his head and knocking on the wood.
“It has to be that big so that everyone can see from a distance that it’s taken,” she replied innocently.
Matt chuckled softly, making her neck tingle. God, she would never tire of his laughter, it was one of the best sounds this world had to offer.
“You know, you said you would never ask Jack to carry bulky waste into your apartment, only I could do that,” he whispered. “I feel betrayed.”
She grinned and rolled her eyes. “The dresser is too heavy for you alone. We needed help and Jack was…”
“The poor guy who answered his phone?” Jack finished.
“Well…yeah.” She grinned at him over her shoulder. “Thanks for that! It’s really handy knowing so many muscular hockey players. Speaking of which: Jack, how about you sign up at Match Me?! I’ll find you the woman of your dreams within two months, I swear!”
He snorted. “I don’t believe in the concept of a dream girl. There are women I like — and women I don’t like. That’s it.”
She clicked her tongue disapprovingly. “Bullshit. Have you never met someone and thought: Wow. I have to have her!”
“Nope.”
“Never?” she asked, stunned, as the elevator stopped and she climbed over the dresser to the hallway.
“Nope,” he repeated, and grabbed hold again while Maddie opened the door to the apartment. “And I doubt she exists.”
“That’s sad,” she blurted out.
To her surprise, however, Jack simply laughed. “It’s okay. I’m better off on my own, anyway. I’m not particularly good at relationships. I don’t need a girlfriend,” he said lightheartedly and set the dresser down. “Okay, I have to go or else I’ll miss my flight to New York.”
“It’s sad you can’t be with your family over Christmas. I’m sorry, Jack,” Maddie said sympathetically.
“Yeah, I know,” he mumbled and looked away. “I wouldn’t go if…” He sighed. “It doesn’t matter. Have fun with the dresser!” He raised his hand and abruptly disappeared out the door.
“Thanks for the help!” Maddie called after him, watching him go. As soon as she heard the elevator close, she whispered, “He seems unhappy, doesn’t he?”
“He seems normal!” Matt contradicted.
“No, he seemed sad. Maybe he’s lonely! Last week, a really nice zookeeper signed up with me and…”
“No, don’t.” Matt wrapped his arm playfully around her head and pressed his hand to her mouth. “First: The Saint doesn’t need anyone to love. He’s only half as innocent as he looks. He needs a woman who challenges him. Second: you won’t be setting up any of my fellow players.”
She stuck out her tongue and licked his hand.
Matt’s fingers stayed where they were. “Oh, Maddie.” He leaned over her and kissed her cheek. “But you know I like being licked by you. Everywhere.”
That unfortunately, made her laugh. Matt grinned and dropped his hand. “So…the dresser…”
“It fits perfectly behind the sofa!” she said innocently. “I could store a lot of kitchen utensils in there that you never use!”
“There are enough kitchen utensils in the kitchen that I never use. Where they belong.”
“What about bedding for all the guests who are coming?”
“What guests?”
“Oh, your sisters and parents, for example. They’re coming at the end of the month. Didn’t I tell you?”
Groaning, he tilted his head back. “You have to stop giving me information while I’m half asleep!”
“But I like how you never argue with me then,” she said.
Matt snorted. “I thought we had practiced arguing!”
Yes, and she still didn’t like it. “Come on, it’s the first piece of furniture I’ve brought in here,” she said pleadingly, wrapping her arm around his waist and leaning against his side. “I should be allowed to decide where it goes.”
“Fine!” Matt capitulated and pulled her closer to him. “But only if you never complain about the size of the diamond on your finger again. It’s staying. That’s that.”
She grinned and pressed her lips to his so unfortunately fully-clothed chest. “Deal. And…is it really okay? If I fill your apartment with my furniture? The rest will come next week, you know that, right?”
“It’s our apartment, Maddie. Or do you want to move back into your dump?”
“That ‘dump’ is charming!”
“Sorry. You want to move back into your charming dump?”
“No. Not really,” she admitted. “It’s cozy here. And I like that I find a hot, naked hockey player in the shower every now and then.”
“Well, the hot hockey player also likes to have a hot, naked Maddie in his bed.”
“How do you know? Did you ask Jack?” she asked innocently.
Matt looked down at her gloomily. “Someone should punish you for that comment.”
She grinned and threw her arms around his neck. “Yes, but who?”
“I’ll think of someone,” he whispered and lowered his mouth to hers.
Sierra Lewis 