The Foster Husband by Pippa Wright

it.’
    I considered him from under my fringe, my eyes narrowed. ‘What do you want?’
    Matt looked momentarily startled, before bursting out laughing. ‘Can’t a compliment just be a compliment?’
    ‘It so rarely is,’ I said smoothly. ‘Everyone’s usually out for something.’
    ‘Well, maybe I am out for something then,’ said Matt. I suddenly noticed that by leaning in towards me he’d made me inch myself back into a corner that was slightly secluded
from the rest of the bar.
    ‘Oh yes?’ I said. My voice was steady but I could feel a blush stealing up the back of my ears, threatening to give me away. Was Matt flirting with me, or was he about to hit me with
another annoying request from his sponsors?
    ‘Yes,’ said Matt, moving closer. I stepped away again and found the wall of a small alcove at my back. My heart started beating faster, as if I was trapped. Matt just gave me a lazy
smile and raised his eyebrows.
    ‘I need a drink,’ I blurted, waving my empty beer bottle in front of my face.
    ‘Okay,’ Matt said, his easy grin unperturbed. ‘Another Star?’
    ‘No,’ I said, flirtatiously challenging. ‘Something else. You choose.’
    I twisted around and put my empty beer bottle in the alcove by my head. As I turned back to face him, Matt lurched towards me, his eyes wide. I flinched backwards – was he really going to
try to kiss me now? In front of everyone? But instead he pushed past me and caught the beer bottle just before it hit the floor.
    ‘Reflexes of a ninja!’ he exclaimed, straightening himself up, and pushing his hair out of his eyes. He’d moved closer to catch the falling bottle, but he didn’t move
away from me now that he had it.
    ‘Impressive stuff,’ I said, my heart beating faster. ‘No wonder they made you head of marketing with skills like that.’
    ‘Oh I don’t put my ninja skills on my CV,’ said Matt. ‘I only show them to a select few.’
    ‘Then I’m honoured.’
    ‘Okay. To the bar. No Star. Are you saying you’re ready to move onto the hard stuff?’ Matt asked, raising an eyebrow. He was only saved from being off-puttingly cheesy by the
spark of amusement in his eyes that told me he wasn’t taking any of this too seriously.
    Two can play at that game.
    ‘Oh definitely,’ I replied, holding his gaze. ‘The harder the better, frankly.’
    ‘Wait there,’ said Matt. He’d only been gone a second when he returned, catching hold of my chin with the fingers of one hand and tilting my face up towards his. ‘Promise
me you’ll wait?’
    His conspiratorial grin was infectious. I felt drawn in to a secret exchange. ‘I promise.’
    ‘Good,’ he said, ‘because when I come back I’m going to kiss you, Kate Bailey.’
    When I thought about it afterwards, it was the best line I’d ever heard. And of course it was a line. He’d stated his intention with the certain knowledge that if I was there when he
got back from the bar, I was up for being kissed. And if I wasn’t there – well, he’d have saved himself an embarrassing turn-down.
    My head felt giddy, as if I’d had far more than one bottle of beer.
Did
I want to kiss Matt Martell? Only this morning he’d been nothing more than the annoying new boy who
sent me too many emails. But now . . . He winked at me from the bar.
    ‘Hey, Kate,’ Chris appeared at my side, grabbing hold of my upper arm. ‘’Scuse me for interrupting your little conversation, but there’s a whisky over at our table
with your name on it.’
    ‘Oh,’ I turned to face him. I was embarrassingly aware that I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. A smile that had nothing to do with him. ‘I’m okay, thanks.
Matt’s getting me a drink.’
    ‘Yeah,’ said Chris, frowning darkly. ‘Matt.’
    ‘What?’ I asked crossly. It was a bit late for Chris to start getting jealous. It wasn’t like he’d made any effort until he saw Matt chatting me up. Chris’s eyes
flicked over to Matt, and then back to