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“Is that an order?” Matt smiled and stood when Dory moved back.
“Damn right it is. It’s cold and crappy outside.” She winked. “On days like this when my Gilbert was still alive, we wouldn’t leave the bedroom.”
He leaned down and she gave him a peck on the cheek. “Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Don’t worry about me, Mathew. I’m sure Luke will run out here if I need anything.”
Matt highly doubted it, but he wasn’t about to talk smack about her son. “I’m just a phone call away.”
“I know. Bless your heart.”
Matt cranked the tunes, his spirits high as he drove home. Thumping his hands on the steering wheel, he sang along to an old Johnny Cash tune and was still singing when he cut the engine and slid from his truck.
He whistled the tune all the way into his house and once he chucked his boots and coat, he headed to the kitchen where he expected to find Grace. She wasn’t there, but neither was Rosie. Matt moved to the window and leaned against the frame.
He chuckled when he spied them over near the fire pit. Grace was flat on her back, and Rosie was on top of her, licking and barking excitedly. The dog’s tail wagged crazily and the dog wouldn’t let up with the licking until eventually Grace rolled over and got to her feet.
He watched Grace and his injured Mama head back to the house. The dog was getting better at maneuvering and she wouldn’t let Grace pick her up. When they came through the front door, he was there to greet Rosie and to plant one hell of a big kiss on the mouth that he’d been thinking of all morning.
His lips slid along her jaw until he found one of those special spots. He nipped her there, just below her earlobe, and grinned wickedly when she gasped and grabbed his shoulders.
“Sorry I took so long,” he murmured, going back for another kiss. Already hard, he began to maneuver her toward the stairs when Rosie yelped. Shit. He let go of Grace.
“Hey, girl. Didn’t mean to step on your tail.?
?
Grace giggled. “What is it about you and this dog? You can step on her tail and she still looks up at you with love in her eyes.”
Matt slowly straightened. “I’ve got a way with women.”
Her eyes flashed and she wrapped her arms around his waist. “You can have your way with this woman, that’s for sure.”
Matt held Grace for a good long while. He just wasn’t willing to let her go. His hands slid down to her butt and he cupped her intimately against him.
“Damn, but you feel good,” he murmured. Rosie whined from the back room and he dropped a kiss on Grace’s forehead. “She must want back in with her babies.”
His hands fell away. “Let me help her and then I plan on getting you naked.”
Grace followed him back to the great room and he helped Rosie back into her pen. As he settled the dog, it occurred to him that his bedroom was too far away—he didn’t think he could take the extra minute or two until he had her right where he wanted her—namely naked and beneath him.
He turned to Grace, but she’d wandered over to the island. In her hands she held the note he’d left for her—he liked the way her eyes got all soft as she read it again.
Suddenly her head shot up, and right away something told him that he wasn’t going to like what was coming his way. Was it the look in her eyes? Possibly. Or was it the way her shoulders hunched, as if she were bracing for something.
“I almost forgot. A lady came by when you were at Dory’s.”
His first thought was Sasha, but as Grace picked at the edge of the note with that weird expression on her face, a bad feeling settled in his stomach. Grace could hold her own against someone like Sasha. This was something else entirely.
“Who?”
“She said her name was Delilah and that—“
“What?” He interrupted, thoughts whirling. It wasn’t possible. “Who did you say it was?” Was his voice louder and more intense than he would have liked? Probably. But the fact was, Matt had no idea what he sounded like because as he watched Grace, whatever else she said was lost to the roaring in his ears.
He gave his head a shake, his gaze glued to her moving lips even though no sound penetrated his ears. He wasn’t sure how long he stood there, watching her but not hearing a damn thing.
There was nothing except this pressure inside him, a hard, sharp pressure that made it hard to breathe or concentrate. He took a step back and shook his head, trying to clear the fog that had settled there.
