Page 47 of Match Me if You Can

She blinks, confusion in those blue eyes at my change in subject. Then she sighs, tucks it away, and says softly, “It’s fine. Thanks for asking.”

I stand there, feeling a bit like an idiot, knowing I’m staring.

It’s just…this woman is a puzzle.

Love and romance. Sweetness and patience. Fire beneath and ice above.

A lesson in contradictions.

She shoves her phone in her pocket and stands. “We should go back downstairs.”

We should.

But I can’t make myself turn and go back out into the hall.

Instead, I shut the door, lean back against it.

She lifts her chin as I linger, straightening her shoulders, lifting an eyebrow. “Do we need to have a meeting about more Ambrose facts?”

“Why’d you make pancakes?”

A flicker of an emotion I can’t read slides across her face before she shrugs. “We’re pretending to be engaged. I’m supposed to be trying to win over your family.” Another shrug. “Plus, I was hungry.”

I study her.

That doesn’t feel like the whole story.

But it’s definitely part of it.

So, I give her that much. I don’t give her the exit, though. I cross my arms and stay in place in front of the door.

“Why are you staring at me like I’m a bug?” she mutters.

I tell her the truth. “I’m trying to figure you out.”

A roll of her eyes. “There’s nothing to figure out. I’m just Violet.”

Such bullshit.

“Just Violet who is a matchmaker and a romantic at heart. Just Violet who has an icy exterior that gives frostbite to everyone in the vicinity⁠—”

“Do you need the version of Violet who fawns over you, even in private?” She snorts. “I’d tell you to be patient and she might make an appearance, but since me falling for you is never going to happen, your delusions are just going to have to cut it.”

“Hmm.”

Her eyes flash. “What does that hmm mean?”

It means I understand this small piece—she’s trying to piss me off so I stay far, far away. Like a cornered animal. Like a woman who doesn’t want me to see the truth beneath the ice. “No,” I say softly. “Just Violet who likes to pretend to be unaffected, but…” I step closer, near enough to see the flash of heat in her blue eyes. “There.”

She frowns. “What the hell are you talking about?” Her frown deepens and I gently touch a finger to the V between her eyebrows.

“There’s fire beneath all your ice, princess. No matter how much you try to bury it.”

A scoff. “You’ve taken far too many hockey pucks to the head.”

I study her for another long moment then decide to change tactics.

“What would you do if I kissed you right now?”