Page 104 of Worth Every Risk

“Where are we going?”

“Scotland.”

My mouth drops open. “Are you having a laugh?”

“No. We’ll be back for dinner. You don’t need to pack. Just get dressed.”

“Why?”

He stands up. “Your mum. We’re going to see her.”

Oh, my God. A million thoughts zing in my brain. Mum. I get to see my mum. Scotland. Matt.He wants to meet my mother. Shit. I never thought he’d actually follow through on that vague discussion about meeting her.

“Wait.” I push the covers off the bed and swing my legs over the side, bare feet hitting the floor. “Don’t tell me you’re wearing that suit—looks great, by the way—to see my mum?”

He gives me the most disarming lopsided smile on his way out the door, and my insides instantly reach melting point. Or boiling. Hard to tell. “Only get to make a first impression once, Aries.”

“You’re crazy,” I call. “We can’t just show up at her door. We need to tell her we’re coming.”

“All in hand. Get dressed,” he replies before his deep chuckle fades down the corridor.

God, that man is soooo sexy. I want to race after him in my tiny pyjamas and jump on his back like a monkey. Nibble his neck. Make him carry me back to bed. But I do none of those things. I squeal and jump up and down on my tiptoes in the safety of my room. I’m going to see my mum. And she’s going to meet Matt.

I hope she keeps all her woo-woo stuff locked down. If she starts talking about me and Matt having some other-worldly soul-deep connection that spans lifetimes, I might have to abortthe visit early. There’s only so much of that stuff a man like Matt can take.

I get dressed and ready in record time, and when I get downstairs Matt hands me a coffee and a croissant. I’m still half-convinced I’m dreaming when he says, “All set?”

“Yup.”

“Morning, Aries,” Nico greets, and it’s only then I notice him and Kate standing behind me.

“Oh, hi. Thanks. For this… you know…” I’m waving my hand around to indicate the house, but I’m so inarticulate and obviously flustered that Kate giggles and Nico shoots her a disapproving look.

“Come on, you,” Matt says, putting his arm around me and ushering me towards the front door, but not before I’ve seen Nico raise his eyebrows and glance at Kate, who answers with a smirk and a shrug. I can’t help smiling, because the way Matt said ‘you’ before he grabbed me warmed me all the way from my toes to the crown of my head. And the fact he did it right in front of his brother and Kate somehow makes itbetter. As if them witnessing it, witnessingus, validates whatever this relationship is.

The car is waiting outside, driver at the wheel. Matt opens my door, and I shuffle across the leather and buckle in.

“We’re not driving, are we?” I question as Matt enters the other side of the car. “Because you know we won’t be back by dinner if we are.”

“God, no. I’m not sitting on the A1 all the way up to Scotland.”

“Okay, so… Easyjet?” I wink.

“Nooooo,” he says, long and slow, teasing me for teasing him.

“Prince Harry travelled on Easyjet. Pretty sure Wills and Kate did too.”

“Publicity stunt. I’m not into that bullshit.”

I laugh, and he smiles as he slides his fingers between mine. Linked together, we sit in the back of the car.

After a while, the car slows, and I peer out the window.We’re in Battersea. The London Heliport.

I let out a noise that’s somewhere between a squeak and a chirrup.This is insane. A helicopter, so I can see my mum for the day?

I glance over at Matt, but he’s staring out of the window. “You don’t have to do this, you know,” I tell him.

He turns to me, smiling. “I know. I want to do it. I want to meet this superhero mother of yours who raised the woman I…”

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