Then River slapped a hand over her mouth and started laughing.
“I don’t know what on earth made me kiss you.” Emerson took a step back and let out a little laugh, too.
She laughed harder. “No offense, but that felt like kissing a brother. Which is extra weird, since I don’t even have one.”
He pointed at her. “Same. And I don’t have sisters.”
They both laughed again, and Emerson finally reached around her to open the truck door.
“Well,” he said as she climbed in, “guess that got that out of the way.”
“Got what out of the way?”
He braced a hand on the doorframe and grinned at her. “There was zero chemistry in that kiss. You are definitely not my type.”
River snorted. “Ditto. Now take me home. And maybe buy me ice cream so I can recover from the trauma.”
He laughed. “Good idea.”
She pointed at him. “Also, never do that to me again.”
“Never,” he agreed, then shut the door.
3
MATHEW
“There you are! You just missed her!” Rose pouted.
Mathew frowned and glanced over his shoulder. “Missed who?”
“The girl you’re going to marry.”
He arched a brow. “Okay, I agreed to come out with you tonight because my boss kicked me out for working too much this week. That doesn’t mean I want to get set up. We’ve been through this.”
Mathew’s cousin, Rose, rolled her eyes. “You’re no fun, Matt.”
“This isn’t news,” he huffed. “I’m going to get a soda.”
Before Rose could argue, he slipped through the crowd. His thoughts drifted immediately to the girl he’d bumped into. The woman had a unique beauty. Her hair was dirty blonde and long, falling past her shoulders. The color of green in her eyes had thrown him off guard, and he’d lost the ability to speak to her. It was the strangest thing.
Simply put, she was gorgeous.
But it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen beautiful people before.
He had the strangest urge to go back outside to see if he could talk to her. He only saw the back of the man who guided her out. Mathew wasn’t sure who he was, but he was clearly with her, Mathew was nothing if not a gentleman. He wouldn’t be the reason a couple broke up.
With a sigh, he moved toward the bar. “Just a diet cola,” he told the server.
The man behind the counter nodded and handed him a bottle after he removed the cap.
Without trying, Mathew’s thoughts returned yet again to the woman. Why was he so drawn to her? What was it about her that made him want to find her and just… get to know her.
It wasn’t romantic. He had zero interest in dating someone right now. If being married to Victoria had taught him anything, it was that he wasn’t capable of splitting his focus between work and a relationship. She’d drilled it into his head day after day and long past the second they’d both signed on the dotted line.
He wasn’t good enough.
He wasn’t relationship material.
