The Rebound Girl (Getting Physical) Read Online Free Page B

over the last piece of toast had a comfortable feeling to it, a dance of breakfast food and camaraderie perfected over time. She almost liked the first time better. Hesitancy, fumbling, mumbled apologies—there was no better way to get to know a man than to see how he handled them all.
    But Matt just smiled charmingly at her and doled out her pancakes as if she was six. God, he was cute. Too cute . What was she doing here at this diner, with this man, in the middle of the night? She hadn’t come all the way out to quaint, bucolic Pennsylvania to woo the local catch—and a divorced schoolteacher to boot. Clichés were for young women, for dewy-eyed nursing students who thought it was the height of romantic fantasy to follow their boyfriends into the wilds to save the downtrodden and medically bereft.
    “You gave me all the bacon,” she pointed out, accepting her plate. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
    “If it’s going to make you frown at me like that, you don’t have to eat it.”
    “I’m not frowning at you.” She grabbed one of the pieces of bacon and took a huge bite. Crispy, just the way she liked it. “I’m frowning at the situation.”
    He paused in the motion of bringing his fork to his mouth. “And how, exactly, is this a situation ? Where I come from, we call it breakfast.”
    “And where is it you come from? Stepford?”
    “There you are again, making fun of me when I least expect it. You have a gift.” Although his words were mild, Matt followed up by narrowing his eyes and watching the group of teenagers in the back get noisily out of their booth and make their way out the door.
    Whitney thought for a moment that she had succeeded in scaring Matt away, that her admittedly faulty tendency to speak her mind had finally proved too much for his mild-mannered adorableness and he was going to escape with the crowd.
    Disappointment twinged somewhere in her nether regions. But then he held up a finger and tossed his napkin on the table, a total gentleman when he added, “Would you excuse me for a second?”
    Matt hated to walk away just when the teasing was coming out of Whitney’s mouth again, but he remembered all too well his own misspent youth. Well, misspent was a bit of a strong word. The worst thing he’d ever done was hit a car in the parking lot with a grocery cart and not leave a note for the giant ding it left in the door. But he had spent considerable time in diners like this one, taking up valuable restaurant real estate and leaving handfuls of pennies in return.
    The restrooms were located near the back, so he headed that way, passing the table covered in empty creamer cartons and sugar packets, making it look as though a war had taken place. He stole a quick peek at the check—all of ten dollars for five cups of coffee, and not nearly enough tip for a timestamp that went back three and a half hours. He pulled a twenty out of his wallet and dropped it to the table, hurrying past so the waitress wouldn’t see.
    When he slid back into the booth, ready to tackle his plate, Whitney reached out a hand. “Give me your wallet.”
    “Is this a holdup?” he joked.
    She kept her hand in place. “Back there at the bar, did you really not know what a DUFF was?”
    He crossed his heart. “I swear. I would never do that to anyone. I thought you looked nice.”
    “The wallet, please.”
    He handed it over, watching as she pulled out his ID and scribbled his name and address on a napkin. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what she was doing, and a part of him—a rather important part—perked up with sudden interest. He’d been alone for over half a year now, lonely for a lot longer than that.
    But by the time Whitney got to his address, he put a hand over hers. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”
    Her eyebrow rose. “We’re not going anywhere without it.”
    “I thought we were just having pancakes.”
    Her eyebrow went even higher, if such a thing were possible. “Listen,