Page 108 of One Day Like This (Excess All Areas 1)

“Dizzy as fuck from hitting the pavement with my head, but otherwise okay.”

“That sounds like a concussion. Should we take you to A&E to get it looked at?”

“Nah. Just got my bells rung. You can wake me up every two hours and play nurse if you want though?”

“How can you make a joke, Matt? Everything just exploded.”

Matt sighed and slid his hand around her shoulders, steering them back into the building. “Because what else can we do? We go to bed tonight. And when we wake up tomorrow, we start to make it right. We’ll give everyone time to calm down. We talk to Luke, we talk to the band, and see if we can’t fit the pieces back together. And if we can’t, then we get on with our lives.”

“You make it sound so simple.”

“That’s because it is. I love you and you love me. We start there, Iz. Every time, we start there.”

18

As the sun broke the horizon the following morning, Matt shuddered, his chest against Izabel’s back, one hand gripping her hip, as he eased them down from their orgasms with slow and steady thrusts.

“You make the best fucking little spoon,” he murmured in her ear, and groaned when her soft laughter caused her to clench around his dick.

He didn’t want to leave her warmth and had felt like that since the previous evening. He’d taken her in the shower after he put them both in there with the sole intent to warm themselves up after getting soaked in the rain.

And then there had been the alarm Izabel had set, the one to go off every two hours to make sure he didn’t have a concussion—after Jase had slammed his head into the pavement. For some reason, he’d been horny as fuck. And not in a selfish way. He’d just wanted to be close to her. Intimate. In her space.

Sometimes, when he’d reached for her, it had been all about the kisses, the connection. Sometimes ... he’d fucked her hard.

But what they’d just done, was make love in the slow and steady way only two people utterly and totally committed to each other could.

Izabel pulled away from him and he groaned as his dick slipped out of her. “I like when you’re big spoon,” she said, turning to kiss his chest.

His phone rang on the side table. “I should answer it given everything that happened last night.” He reached for it. “Hello.”

“Matthew Samuel Palmer. You will get your arse around to my house right now if you ever want me to speak to you again.”

“Nan,” he said roughly. “What’s up?”

“Did you or did you not hear me instructing you to get your arse around to my house?”

Matt rubbed his hand over his face. “I just woke up, I’ve not eaten, and need to shower. Can you give me an hour?”

“No, Matt. I can’t.”

Then she hung up. He checked his phone. “Nan just hung up on me.”

“What did she want?” Izabel asked.

“She didn’t say, but my guess is it’s about Jase. He must have told her.” Matt flopped down onto the bed.

“I’m scared of what the next few days and weeks are going to bring, Matt.”

He pulled Izabel tighter against his side. “It’s just turbulent seas. Our first test. We weather this, we can weather anything.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Matt propped himself up on one elbow. “I know I’m right. Because this, right now, you and me. This is the best outcome. Everything else is gravy. And, yes, we’ve got some work to do, and we’ll do it. But I’ll not do anything at the expense of you and me.” He kissed the tip of her nose, wishing he could kiss the worry out of her eyes.

In one smooth move, he tossed back the covers and climbed out of bed. “Nan wants to see me right now. But even though she said no, I need to shower because I smell like you and us and sex.”

“That shouldn’t sound as hot as it does.”

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