Page 12 of The Matchmaker's Cottage

Ethan’s smiles were killer. It helped that he was often generous with them, doling them out freely to friends and strangers alike to equal effect.

There had been—and still was—so much about Ethan that had always reminded Julia of sunshine. A golden god. It was such a pretentious description that it made her actually want to puke, especially now, but the sad reality was that it was alarmingly accurate.

With his deep blue eyes and burnished bronze hair, gleaming white teeth, and skin that always seemed to hold a tan despite the same Buffalo, New York, upbringing she’d had, he was like a modern-day Apollo stepping out of a story from Greek mythology.

Apollo was an asshole, right?Julia thought bitterly, watching as Maggie magnanimously took Ethan’s extended hand and shook it, her cheeks reddening in a way that proved not even she was immune to Ethan’s otherworldly good looks and charm.

The worst part about it all was that he’d had every right to be arrogant and cocky based on his looks alone, especially as he’d entered his late teens. Nor would anyone have been surprisedif he lacked any key characteristics, like intelligence or a sense of humor, and instead existed merely as a sentient Ken doll, living out his days as an attractive yet vapid shell of what the ideal man should be.

But Ethanwasintelligent and funny. He was kind and compassionate. He knew the way girls looked at him, how attractive they found him, and he didn’t care. He just lived his life the way he knew how—to the fullest. Sure, part of it was in service of his own self-interest, but whose wasn’t? Julia couldn’t begrudge him any of it.

Except for what had happened the last time they’d spoken.

She didn’t let herself dwell on it. Moving on from unpleasant thoughts, she focused on the task at hand.

“Maggie, I’ll give Ethan a brief tour. Feel free to finish up what you were doing.” Julia looked at Maggie pointedly, reminding her that they both had jobs that needed to be done.

“Right, on it!” Maggie smiled at Ethan, a little too genuinely if Julia had anything to say about it. “Nice meeting you, Ethan.”

“You, too, Maggie.” There was that damn smile again. Julia pretended not to notice Maggie’s cheeks turning rosy for a second time as she went back upstairs to the bedrooms.

“Okay, let’s take a look around,” she began, trying to decide what to show him first, feeling the awkwardness of the moment seep into her bones as she essentially prepared herself to reacquaint him with his own family’s cottage. She tried to muster up some of the self-righteous anger she had felt about it over the past eight years, anything to help ease the looming discomfort that bloomed in her chest, the stinging hot feeling of…not quite embarrassment but something deeper. Something that caused her to tighten with defensiveness.

“Actually,” he interrupted her swirling emotions, stooping down to pick up his luggage. “I would love a few minutes to just put my stuff down and get organized. Maybe change. Pee.”

The overly familiar mention of bathroom mechanics caused Julia to pause briefly and blink up at him, even though talk like that had been the norm between them for years.

“There’s still a bathroom down that hall.” She gestured, ignoring the tightness that had come back almost imperceptibly. “I’ll take your things upstairs to your room.”

Ethan looked like he wanted to say more, but then decided against it, instead giving her a smile that, this time, didn’t quite reach his eyes, and he followed the direction of her pointed finger toward the powder room, one of the only washrooms that had stayed the same.

Keeping her own polite customer-service smile plastered on her face, she waited until he’d turned the corner before allowing her expression to drop and grabbing his luggage and rushing up the stairs for the second time that day.

“Maggie?” she whisper-hissed as she entered the Cabin Room, then said out loud, “Why the fuck am I whispering?”

Maggie, already tucking one of the pillows into a freshly washed pillowcase, asked, “Whyareyou whispering?” Then, contradicting herself by lowering her own voice to a whisper, said, “You never told me he was so hot!”

Julia groaned. “I knew you were going to say that.”

“How could I not? Have you seen the man?”

“Yes,” Julia replied through gritted teeth. “Obviously.”

“Well, then?” Maggie regarded Julia carefully with her hands on her hips, one pillow still in hand. “What did you say was the reason for your falling-out again?Didyou even say?”

“Maggie!” Julia sent a hasty glance over her shoulder as she dropped Ethan’s belongings on his freshly made bed. “It’s not the time to talk about it right now.”

Maggie narrowed her eyes. “Fine. But I’ll expect answers at some point.”

Julia waved a hand at her in what she hoped was a noncommittal gesture that would shut down the current line of questioning, never to have it come up again. Though she also knew how Maggie could be like a dog with a bone about certain things, so she had a feeling her hope might be misguided.

“He’s going to be out of the bathroom any minute now. I have to show him his room and then give him a tour.” She suppressed the urge to groan and instead took in a deep breath through her nose and released it out through her mouth. “I can do this.”

“Do what?”

Both women let out a short scream at the sound of a new voice at the door.

Ethan had obviously taken care of business and then found his way upstairs to where Julia and Maggie were, coming up behind them undetected as they spoke.