by Anna Blakely
“Honestly?” Matt looked back at her. “Believe it or not, I do. I think in his own, twisted way your father thought he was doing what was best for you.”
“He was wrong.”
Matt’s jaw muscle bulged. “Fuck yeah, he was.”
Kat looked back up at Matt. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Everything. For believing me when I finally told you what happened. For standing up for me…for us…with my father.” Kat slid up his body and took his mouth in hers. “And for still loving me, after all this time.”
He caressed her cheek with his thumb. “Lord knows, I tried not to.” His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down with an audible swallow.
The look in his eyes was beginning to scare her. “What is it?”
“If we’re really going to do this, we need to start fresh. Lay it all out on the table, so to speak.”
“O-okay.” Nervous butterflies began to swirl around in the pit of her stomach.
“After we split, I swore I’d never allow myself to get that close to anyone ever again. And I didn’t, but…”
His voice trailed off, his rugged face frowning with indecision.
“Matt, you’re starting to scare me. Just spit out whatever it is you’re trying to say.”
He filled his lungs to the brim before releasing the air with a single, loud exhale. “Okay, so here’s the thing. I’ve been with a lot of women these past ten years. It’s not something I’m proud of, but I thought you needed to know. I don’t want any secrets between us from here on out. None.”
“Okay.” Kat breathed the word.
That pit in her stomach was suddenly chalked full of those damn butterflies. Though it shouldn’t have been.
It was only natural for a healthy, grown man—especially one as sexy and desirable as Matt—to have an active sex life. He’d been single for a long time, and until now, had no way of knowing why she’d ended their prior relationship. As much as the thought made her physically ill, he’d been free to sleep with whomever he wanted, as many times as he wanted.
But there was still one thing she needed to know.
“Did you love any of them?”
“No.” His answer was so immediate, it was like a hand swatting the fluttering creatures away. “It was just sex. No strings, no commitment. They knew where my head was going in and they all felt the exact same way. I think.” He licked his lips. “I think somewhere inside my subconscious I thought I could, I don’t know…”
“Fuck me out of your system?”
His eyes widened a bit with surprise. “I wasn’t going to put it like that, but yeah. I think that’s exactly what I was trying to do.”
“I’m glad it didn’t work.”
Matt smiled. “Me, too.”
He started to lean in, but she put a hand on his chest to stop him. “In the spirit of honesty, you should know I haven’t been with anyone else but you.”
“I know.” His eyes darkened with a mixture of pride and desire.
“How could you possibly know that?”
“I could feel it.” He did kiss her then, his hand trailing down her flat stomach. “Your body’s so tight. So snug.” Matt brought his lips to her neck. “Like it was made specifically for me.”
Moaning, she smiled lazily. “Again? Already?”
Kat leaned her head to the side while simultaneously letting her outer leg fall open. The man had given her multiple orgasms over the past few hours, yet she was already feeling primed and ready to go again.
“I can’t get enough of you,” he whispered against her ear. “Never enough.”
Matt’s fingers had only just brushed against the top of her bare sex when a loud pounding startled them both.
Without missing a beat, Matt jumped out of bed, grabbed his gun from where he’d placed it on the nightstand after round one, and threw on the clean jeans he’d worn during a quick, re-charging meal before round three.
“Stay here,” he ordered brusquely.
Gone was the sweet, loving man she’d spent the afternoon reacquainting herself with. In his place was this serious, hardened warrior.
“Okay.”
Though Kat doubted the bad guys would announce their presence with a knock to the front door, she wasn’t stupid enough to take the chance. She also wasn’t going to remain naked and in bed, just in case.
Dressing faster than ever before, Kat quickly pulled on the black leggings and oversized sweatshirt. She finished slipping on the last of her two socks when she heard Matt answer the door, followed by another man’s low voice.
She couldn’t hear what was being said, but the lack of gunfire and yelling led her to believe it was safe to come out. To be safe, she carefully peeked around the door’s edge.
Her tense body relaxed when she saw Gabe—the silver fox she’d met at R.I.S.C.’s office—standing inside the cabin’s small entryway. Both men noticed her right away, and from the looks on their faces, their conversation was more than a little serious.
“It’s okay, Kat. It’s Gabe.”
Pushing away her embarrassment from having been caught spying, Kat straightened her shoulders and joined them.
“Hi, Gabe. Good to see you again.”
“Hey, Kat.”
The other man tipped his head in a single nod. He’d seemed serious when she’d met him before, but the expression on his face as he looked back at her this time was different. Kat couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but it was almost as if he felt sorry for her. Which made absolutely no sense, whatsoever.
She slid her gaze to Matt, who definitely looked remorseful. What the hell?
Kat took a step closer. “What’s going on?”
He opened his mouth but shut it before any sound escaped. She watched as he swallowed in the same, nervous way he had in the bedroom a few minutes before. Oh, this couldn’t be good.
“Matt?” Her eyes bounced back and forth between the two men. Hugging herself, she did her best to stay calm when she asked, “What’s wrong?”
It was Gabe who answered.
“Jake got a call about an hour ago. It was a detective with the Long Beach Police Department.”
Oh god! “My dad?” She rushed to Matt’s side. “Is he okay? What happened?”
“Sweetheart, why don’t we sit down.”
With a gentle hand to her elbow, he tried to guide her over to the couch, but Kat jerked herself free.
“I don’t want to sit down. I want you to tell me what’s going on.”
The two men shared a look before Matt said, “I’m so sorry, Kat. Your father…” Matt couldn’t seem to find the words, so Gabe finished for him.
“The Long Beach Police were notified of a car that had been found at the bottom of a ridge. It was your father’s car.”
Gasping, Kat covered her mouth with her hand before promptly dropping it to ask, “Is he okay? How badly was he hurt?”
“When the first responders arrived, they found him bleeding and unresponsive. There was a lot of damage to the vehicle, and it took over two hours to get him out.”
Despite her earlier protests, Kat stumbled over to the arm of the couch and sat down. “Oh, my god,” she whispered. Her head had begun to pound, and suddenly, she found it very hard to breathe. “B-but he’s okay. They got him out and to the hospital, so he’s going to be okay. Right?”
She stared back at the two men, Matt’s entire face filled with an emotion she refused to accept.
I have to go. Now.
Kat shot up from where she’d been sitting and started for the bedroom. “I need to be with him.”
“Kat, wait.”
Matt hurried to follow her, but she ignored him. Already in the bedroom, she grabbed her bag from the closet and tossed it onto the mattress. Her head spun, adrenaline rushing through her body as she tried to think clearly. To remain calm and gather only the items she really needed.
“Kat, stop.”
“I know you hate him, Matt.” She continued
packing. “I don’t blame you. Part of me hates him for what he did, too, but he’s still my dad. I’m the only family he has left.” She ripped a blouse from one of the hangers and shoved it into the small suitcase. “He doesn’t have anyone else. I should be with him.”
“Baby, stop.” Matt gripped her shoulders gently yet sternly.
With her voice raised, she tried wiggling out of his grasp. “I can’t! My father needs me!”
“Your father’s dead!”
Kat’s breath froze in her lungs as her world stopped. “W-what?”
The sympathy pouring from Matt’s eyes crushed her. “He broke his neck in the accident. I’m so sorry.”
Her body went numb, and though she could tell Matt was saying something else, she couldn’t hear him over the loud buzzing in her ears.
Concern began to filter through his expression as the room—and everything in it—tunneled down to the size of a pinpoint. The last thing Kat heard before everything went black was Matt’s muffled voice, screaming her name.
Chapter 11
Matt scanned the immediate area surrounding Thomas Marsh’s final resting place. Then, from behind his dark, polarized lenses, he watched Kat as she stared down at the solid mahogany casket adorned with a large splay of red roses.
Other than to thank her father’s so-called friends and acquaintances for coming to pay their respects, she hadn’t spoken much today. Though he’d made multiple attempts to strike up a conversation, she’d pretty much been locked away in her own thoughts all afternoon. Not that he could blame her.
Still, knowing she was hurting was like a punch to the gut, and Matt hated that he had no idea how to help her. She’d scared the hell out of him when she’d passed out after hearing the news of her father’s death. Thanks to his medical training, he’d understood it was her mind’s way of protecting itself.
She came to a few minutes later, and he’d held her as she sobbed. After that, they packed all her belongings and left. With a quick trip to Matt’s place for a few more clothes, they met Zade at Jake’s private hangar on his ranch.
With permission from their boss, the two men and Katherine had flown here, to Long Beach, so Kat could begin making arrangements for her father’s funeral. That was four days ago.
In that time, she’d been quiet and distant. While Matt understood why, he wished like hell he could find the words to make it all better for her. Unfortunately, he knew they didn’t exist.
Not only was Kat struggling to deal with the loss of the only parent she had left, she was also heartbroken by the fact that she and her father’s strained relationship hadn’t ever really had a chance to fully heal.
Upon Kat’s insistence, they’d all stayed at her dad’s estate, rather than a hotel. Matt was more than a little okay with that, but only because it was more secure.
No further action had been taken against her in regard to the formula, but she’d also been under R.I.S.C.’s protection in the middle of the woods. Matt refused to take any chances with her safety. Especially now.
If he had it his way, they wouldn’t even be here. Having her out in the open like this left him anxious as hell. But it wasn’t like he could order her to miss her own father’s funeral, which is why Jake had instructed Zade to accompany them on the trip as backup.
Matt turned his head on a swivel again, his gut tight as Zade stepped up beside him.
“Uh, oh. I know that look. What’s up?”
With the crowd nearly gone now and Kat busy speaking to a very non-threatening, elderly woman, Matt felt it safe enough to move a few feet away, so the two ladies wouldn’t overhear.
“Something about this whole thing feels…off.”
Zade’s brows furrowed behind the rim of his sunglasses. “Off, how?”
“That’s the thing. I don’t know.”
“So talk it out.”
That was one of the things Matt loved about Zade. The man was a badass in his own right. A former SEAL who’d seen and done things most couldn’t even imagine. Yet there was still a sort of tenderness about him that brought with it a fresh outlook to the team.
Matt had teased him once about being the kind of guy girls left in a perpetual friend zone because he always wanted to talk about shit. Truth be told, Zade’s uncanny way of knowing when someone needed a sounding board was one of the things Matt liked best about the guy.
“Maybe I’m seeing shit that isn’t there, but this whole situation has been nagging at me.”
“What’s eating at you?”
“For starters, I don’t like Kat being out in the open like this.”
Zade gave a slight shrug. “It’s her dad’s funeral, Matt. Not like she’d miss it.”
“My point exactly.”
The other man frowned before looking out around them. “You think someone’s going to try something here?”
Shoving his hands into the pockets of his black suit pants, Matt sighed. “I don’t know. All I do know is I haven’t talked to Marsh in over ten years. Suddenly, I go to confront him about what he did to Kat and me, and he ends up dying hours later, that very same day?”
Zade thought a moment. “The timing does seem a bit odd.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
A raspy female voice had both men’s heads turning. With a casual, yet guarded step, a woman and a man—both appearing to be in their early-to-mid thirties—approached them. Matt immediately noticed their matching badges and guns.
“You Matthew Turner?” the man asked Matt.
“Do I know you?”
“Not yet”—the female answered—“but you will. I’m Detective Casey. This is my partner, Detective Holloway. We’re with the Long Beach Police Department’s homicide division.”
The tightening in Matt’s gut worsened. “Homicide?”
“That’s right.” Holloway looked back at him. “We’d like to ask you a few questions about your relationship with Mr. Marsh.”
With a quick glance to make sure Kat was still preoccupied, Matt told the two detectives, “Pretty sure someone in your department got their wires crossed. Thomas Marsh died in a car accident. He wasn’t murdered. Sorry you wasted a trip out here.”
He and Zade had only just turned around when the woman said, “That’s what the M.E. thought, too. At first.”
Matt closed his eyes. Ah, fuck. Facing the detectives again, Matt said, “As you can see, Marsh’s body was released for burial days ago. So, if there was some confusion in the paperwork or something—”
“Oh, there’s no confusion,” the woman said confidently. “We know for a fact the man in that casket was murdered.”
A soft gasp hit Matt’s ears, and he spun around to find Kat looking back at the two strangers, her jaw having dropped.
“Murdered? W-what are you talking about? There must be some mistake. My father was killed in an automobile accident.”
“Ah, hell,” Zade muttered under his breath.
“Someone went to a lot of trouble to make us think that, Miss Marsh.” The woman stepped forward and offered Kat her hand. “Detective Casey, Long Beach Homicide. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Woodenly, Kat took the woman’s hand. “I don’t understand. The police officer I spoke to the other day said my father lost control on a sharp curve, and his car rolled down an embankment. They said he…broke his neck.”
“Three discs in your father’s neck were broken,” Casey confirmed. “However, after a review of the x-rays and autopsy notes, it was determined that the spinal cord injury your father sustained the day he died wasn’t from the car accident. In fact, the reviewing doctor is quite certain your father was already dead when his car rolled down that embankment.”
Kat reached for him, her delicate fingers digging into his bicep. “Someone k-killed my dad? Why…why are we just now hearing about this? Why wasn’t this caught sooner?”
“We’ll explain all that once we’re able to sit down and talk.”
The tremor in her voice pissed Matt off. “W
hat’s the matter with you two?” He took a wide step forward. “This couldn’t wait until tomorrow?” Glancing behind him and back again, he glared down at the pair. “The man’s not even in the ground yet.”
A soft whimper met his ears, and Matt couldn’t keep from pulling Kat into his arms. “It’s okay, sweetheart. We’ll figure all this out later.”
“Actually…” Holloway began. “We need to figure it out now.” To Kat he said, “I apologize for the timing, but as I’m sure you can imagine, we’d like to find whoever did this to your father as soon as possible. It would be a big help if you two could come down to the station with us to answer a few questions.”
“Go to hell,” Matt told the man bluntly. “We’ve done nothing wrong, and you have no cause to detain us.” To Zade he said, “We’re leaving. Now.”
With a nod, Zade began making his way across the freshly cut grass to the paved road where they’d parked but stopped when the pushy woman began talking again.
“Mr. Turner, while I understand your hesitance to speak to us, it’s really in your best interest if we take care of this now rather than later.” Detective Casey gave him a tight smile.
Mr. Turner? His gut was screaming now.
“How the fuck do you know who I am?” he demanded to know.
“Oh, we know a lot about you, Matthew. Who you are. What you do for a living.” Holloway, the bastard, smirked. “What you and your team are capable of.”
Shit. Fuck. Shit.
The whole scene stunk to high heaven. It also reminded Matt of a time not long ago when Derek had been pulled in by the DPD under the suspicion of murdering his now-wife’s abusive ex.
Like Matt, D had been innocent, but while they’d questioned Derek about the supposed murder, his woman had been kidnapped. By the time anyone realized what had happened, Charlie—Derek’s wife—had nearly been beaten to death.
The fuck if something like that was going to happen to my woman.
“I’m not leaving Katherine.”
“See, that’s where you’re wrong.” Casey pulled out a set of cuffs. “I don’t want to do this here. Like this. But I will, if I have to.”
“We got a report of a man matching your description being inside the house with Thomas Marsh the day he died.”
