Page 42 of Mine to Keep

Matt smiled. “Thanks. I can get us a drink, if you’d like.”

Still not booting my ass.

“That would be great.”

I washed in silence for a minute while Matt poured us wine. Not my usual favorite, but I’d drink it.

“Saintly Sweets is a real bakery and coffee shop. I know you said it was a front, but how does that work? I mean…” He sighed, and I gave him a minute to gather his thoughts. “People pay you to protect them or help them. I imagine it’s a high price. How do you explain your finances? Do you launder it?”

I chuckled. His questions were valid, but he clearly watched way too much TV. “First of all, each case is different, and we don’t actually charge out the ass. For example, there was a case my brother, myself, and Angel took where these guys were lighting small businesses on fire up north. We got wind of it and reached out to a local motorcycle club who’d been trying to figure out who was doing it. We offered our services for a reasonable fee.” I shrugged and placed the dishes in the drying rack. “Then we handled it and came home.”

“I won’t ask what ‘handled it’ means.” He gulped his wine. “Again, how do you explain the income?”

I nodded; it was a fair question. “Part of it is explained through the bakery, but we also have a tech security company that’s pure bullshit. Sure we help some here and there, but we create clients to explain the income.”

“Sounds complicated.”

I shut off the water and dried my hands. “It’s a boring and long explanation. I don’t even really understand a lot of how it works; that’s not my strength.”

Matt handed me a wineglass, which I gladly took. “And what is your strength?”

I sipped the liquid, it was sweet yet tart…not bad. “Noel and I are experts in computers, security, hacking…that sort of thing.”

“I see.” He walked over to his living room and I followed, smiling when he patted the cushion beside him. “I decided to stay with JJ—he’s come so far, and I want to see it to the end.”

I joined him on the couch and didn’t interrupt him.

“I did a little research on you guys. What you told me about your sister, it was difficult to find. I caught bits and pieces. So much was buried and unlike you, I don’t have computer talents. I did, however, get a lot on Harper Reese and the shit storm that was his life.” He placed his wineglass down. “Nothing about what happened to JJ, but there were a lot of other stories about what people said and the monster Harper was. I followed as best as I could about what happened to some of the rescued kids.”

I swallowed, wondering where this was going. “And?”

“The more I read the more shattered I became.” He reached out and gently touched my arm. “What you and your brothers did for those kids was amazing. You’re right, no one would have been able to uncover it without you guys helping.”

I nodded. “We almost lost JJ doing it, but we didn’t and we saved Four and yeah, we killed people.” I inched forward, looking directly into Matt’s eyes so he understood the truth. “And I don’t lose one second of sleep over that. This world needs some serious rebalancing, and if my brothers and I can be part of that for the good guys, we’re going to.”

He didn’t speak; his eyes watched me. I was breathless with how beautiful he was. I was about to sit back when he cupped my cheek with his hand. The next moment, his lips were on mine.

Holy shit.Matt was kissing me. I didn’t want to scare him by pushing him onto the couch and devouring him, so I did my best to chill. He broke away, but fuck that—I wasn’t done. I put my wine on the table, grabbed his face gently, and kissed him again. This time I made it clear how I felt.

His tongue slid along mine and I wasn’t sure who moaned first, him or me. He tasted like a motherfucking dream. I wasn’t a virgin—far from it—but I couldn’t remember a time when I’d gladly have died kissing someone. If I were told Matt’s tongue was poison, I’d let death take me just to keep kissing him.

“Damn,” he breathed against my lips. “I wasn’t sure…”

“Sure about what?” I brushed my thumb over his cheekbone.

“I shouldn’t have kissed you. What if you weren’t into guys? Or into me?”

I smiled. He was adorable, his eyes glassy, lips swollen, and that blush. “I’m into guys, and very into you.”

He hummed. “The night at The Alibi.”

He didn’t expound on that sentence, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out what he was asking.

“I wasn’t going to take advantage of a drunk person, Matt…and you were very drunk.”

His eyes flickered to my lips, and I wanted to kiss him again. So I did. This time I gently pushed him so his back hit the cushions and I was pressed along his body.

“Nick,” he whispered between kisses. I hummed and went about devouring him, hoping we’d never stop.

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