No Refunds No Exchanges: A Hudson Family Series- Book 4- Matt and Ali

by Chontelle Brison

  “So what are we eating, Wolf?” She asked grabbing the menu out of my hands. As soon as she realized what had come out of her mouth, she dropped the menu and bolted for the back door behind her.

  Moving faster than I knew I could, I blocked the door with my body so quickly she actually ran into me. Grabbing her shoulders to steady her, she must have thought I meant to her harm because she came up swinging.

  “Wait, Taylor,” I pleaded as I ducked a right cross and dodged a sharp, uppercut. Jesus, was every woman Synclair knew this violent?

  Afraid she was about to knock me on my ass and catching the distant look in her eyes, I lunged forward, wrapped my arms around her and turned so that I took the brunt of our landing on the hard, kitchen floor.

  “What the hell is this?” Michael’s pissed off voice boomed from the kitchen doorway.

  I tilted my head back to explain that Taylor had freaked out when I realized that even upside down, usually in control, Mayor of Carson City, looked ready to lose it.

  Before I could explain Taylor practically leapt off me and extended her hand with a smile. “Matt and I were just horse playing, I slipped, and he caught me on the way down.” She rushed out quickly. Grabbing her hand, I allowed her to help pull me up, and I looked at Michael’s narrowed blue eyes to her evasive brown ones.

  “Is that what happened?” Michael asked as he pushed past me and placed worried hands on Taylor's slim shoulders.

  After a look of sadness crossed her pretty features, she shrugged out of Michael’s hold and forced a smile that neither Michael or I believed was genuine. “Of course, I don’t need you to comfort me, Donaldson,” she spat in an irritated tone.

  Michael didn’t budge, and part of me wanted him to let him know that when a woman addressed you by your last name, you were definitely in the dog house. She shrugged him off again and backed up to the counter where she picked up the pizza menu and proceeded to ignore the concerned look on Michael’s face.

  I looked up at Michael and with one frustrated glance toward Taylor, he stomped out of the kitchen muttering about being surrounded by moody women. Trying to lighten the mood I grabbed the menu out of her hands and didn’t mention the fact that they were trembling slightly.

  “Okay Taylor, give! You called me Wolf so you have apparently seen the website. I take it Synclair showed you.” I assumed it was Synclair. While I had come clean on my escorting, I wasn’t aware that anyone but Synclair had seen the profile page I’d done for the Archangels Agency. And the only reason Synclair had known about it was because she had helped me design the darn thing.

  Taylor gave me a sly smile and leaned back against the counter. “Okay, Syn showed me the website but only because I told her I was doing a new book series and I needed research done.” Her smile made me nervous, and the way she kept looking at me expectantly told me I was missing something.

  “Okay, I know you’re a writer…so you’re writing a book on male escorts? That’s cool.” I told her as I busied myself with texting Mark at Pizza Palace with an order for five different types of pizzas. When I looked up from the phone, she was still staring at me. Did she think I was upset because she had seen my profile?

  “Yeah…I needed research done on male escorts, and Syn recommended your site.” She let out a loud, dramatic sigh that told me I was a stupid, dumb man and she was going to have to clue me in on whatever obvious information I was missing.

  “Okay, well if you need anything, let me know.” I shrugged as I went to reach past her to grab the plates out of the cupboard. I know it was OCD of me, but I had this thing about all the plates being set for dinner with a napkin on each one with one fork and one knife. I had to smile to myself when I thought about what Ali would do, probably put the pizza on a paper towel and avoid washing the dishes altogether.

  “Actually, I need the leather messenger bag filled with notes and Alison’s recorder that she used for an interview that included a very sexy escort named Matt Wolf,” she whispered as I balanced a stack of plates in my arms.

  My eyes grew wide, and my arms dropped to my sides, if Taylor hadn’t swooped in and caught the airborne stack of plates, they would have crashed to the floor.

  “Jesus,” she exclaimed as she pushed the heavy pile back onto the counter and leaned her hip against the granite.

  “You’re Alison’s boss,” I told her smiling. I mean how dense could I be? She had all but spelled it out for me. Now it made sense! Alison had said she did research for a Romance writer and Synclair had told me a dozen times how successful Taylor was as a writer. If Alison worked for Taylor then that meant my bondage loving, little minx was definitely in my grasp.

  “Taylor, buddy, pal, Archer of the Gods,” I began as she arched one delicate eyebrow at me and smirked. “I need to contact Alison so I can give her the messenger bag she left in the hotel room,” I told her, leaving out the part where Alison had tied me to the bed and ditched me. I wasn’t sure how much of our night Alison had told Taylor, but my guess was as little as possible.

  Taking her index finger, she tapped it against her cheek as she pretended to be pondering something. “Or you can give me the bag since the research belongs to me anyway,” she replied giving me a smug look.

  I knew the woman was going to make me work for it, I would expect no less from a friend of Synclair’s. “Now, Taylor…I know Alison likes to give you all of her research once she has it compiled in one nice and neat file on a flash drive.” I made sure to give her a level look that told her that Alison and I had definitely discussed her work. I patted myself on the back for making sure I had run everything Alison had said that night, over and over in my mind, so that there was nothing about her I had missed.

  “Matt, you can’t have her,” Taylor said quietly as she began placing plates and silverware on the table. I tried to resist the urge to turn each ceramic plate so that the designs all went the same way but kept my hands fisted at my sides.

  “Can’t have who?” Asked a familiar voice.

  I smiled as Synclair, Sara, Logan and my brothers began filing into the large kitchen. Loving the fact that I had a new nephew, Logan. Who nobody, including his own mother Sara, had any idea actually belonged to Lucas until just a few months ago, and two nieces or nephews on the way, I forgot Taylor’s comment for a moment and kissed Synclair and Sara on their cheeks.

  “Hey man, get your own woman!” Reece teased as he pulled out a chair and helped Synclair ease herself into it. Sara who wasn’t as far along as Synclair laughed and grabbed an apple from the fruit basket as Lucas and Logan both tried to ease her into a chair at the table as well.

  “Hey you two, I’m pregnant not broken,” Sara grumbled as Logan struggled to pour his mother a large glass of milk. Lucas, who was over the moon that he had Sara back, helped his son by guiding the terribly full glass over to Sara without spilling a drop.

  “Okay, what gives? I’m getting the vibes that we walked in on a good conversation!” Synclair asked winking at Taylor who promptly stuck out her tongue.

  “I told Matt he can’t have Alison,” Taylor announced to my nosy family even as I groaned. “I thought maybe she’d think Matt was irresistible and maybe crawl out of her hermit shell.” Taylor sighed.

  “Who’s Alison? And why can’t Matt have her?” Reece asked as he sat down next to Synclair, removed her shoes and started rubbing her feet like a man efficiently whipped.

  “Yeah, and does Matt even want her?” Lucas asked as Sara grabbed the cookie he was about to hand to Logan and gave him an apple instead.

  “Oh Matt wants her, but he can’t have her, it’s a simple as that.” Taylor quipped as she handed out napkins to everyone.

  “Okay, I’m back to my original question? Who is Alison and why can’t Matt have her?” Reece asked again.

  The doorbell rang, and Dalton bellowed from the living room that he’d get it. Figuring Dalton could handle five pizza boxes on his own, I pulled out a chair, guided Taylor into it by her shoulders, and then sat
down next to her.

  Taylor sighed, I could tell she didn’t want to go into lengthy explanations. Hell, the woman was usually straight and to the point without a lot of fluff, but I needed to know why Alison was off limits.

  She turned to me, her warm brown eyes were somber and even a little sad. “Alison is my research assistant, at first I thought that if she interviewed you for my book that maybe you guys would hit if off.” I watched her play with a napkin as everyone around the table waited in silence for her to continue. She looked up, and a look of frustration crossed her face.

  “Okay look, Matt, it’s nothing personal but Alison is just not ready. I thought she would be, she spends so much time alone on that damn mountain, hiding from the world that I was hoping you would be able to coax her out of her shell a bit,” she muttered.

  “Wait, did you have her hire me for the night, hoping we would hook up?” I asked in surprise. I was careful not to use words that Logan couldn’t hear since the kid was only five years old, but had that been Taylor’s plan?

  One look at her sheepish smile told me I was right. “If that was the plan, then why is she off limits now?”

  “It was a stupid idea, Matt. Look, I live in Washington in a cabin because I need to have a place to come home to where it’s quiet, I like the solitude. But Ali’s not like me. I know the only reason she isolates herself is that she’s scared,” Taylor explained like that should put any further questions I had to rest.

  “What is she afraid of?” Synclair asked, suddenly looking very interested in the conversation. “Did someone hurt her?” I knew by the look on Synclair’s face that she was rearing up to be pissed on Ali’s behalf. Synclair had a passion for helping abused women, and I was sure she’d rush to Ali if that were the case. For a stubborn, mouthy, midget, Synclair was all heart.

  “The accident, the scars,” I whispered as it finally dawned on me what Taylor was saying. Alison kept herself isolated because she felt she was horribly scarred and didn’t think anyone would want her because she had a bad leg.

  Taylor’s head whipped around to pin me with a surprised stare so fast I swear she gave herself whiplash.

  “She told you?” she asked in a voice that told me she was genuinely shocked.

  “Told you what?” Dalton asked as he placed the pizza boxes on the counter and began handing out slices.

  “Taylor’s asking Matt if Alison told him about her accident. Apparently, she has scars and some permanent injury to her leg,” Synclair replied never taking her eyes off Taylor and me.

  “Yeah, she told me. We talked Taylor. No, we did not hook up. I like her, I would just like to speak with her again.” I tried to make myself sound like I was all right either way but there was no way Taylor was leaving this house without forking over Alison’s contact information.

  “I’ll tell you what. I’ll talk to Alison, and if she agrees, I’ll give you her number! But I’m warning you, Matt, if you hurt her even accidently, you’ll have bigger things to worry about then me shooting an arrow up your ass…I mean butt,” Taylor amended as she glanced nervously as Logan. Logan, however, was so busy downing his pizza as he sat proudly on Lucas’s lap, that I doubt he even heard her speaking.

  Realizing that Taylor was going to protect her little assistant from me, who apparently was the equivalent of the big bad wolf, I figured I needed a new tactic. A sneakier tactic.

  “Okay Taylor, I can respect that. I’ll tell you what, either way, I’ll get her bag back to her okay?” I promised while giving her my most innocent smile. Taylor eyed me carefully before nodding and digging into the pizza that Dalton had piled on her plate.

  It was Synclair that winked at me from across the table, letting me know that she knew I was full of shit.

  Dinner seemed to take forever and while I loved the loud voices, and free-flowing laughter, I was ecstatic when everyone started winding down. Lucas, Sara, and Logan left for the cottage that Lucas had built behind the main house, and Synclair and Reece went to show Taylor the room she’d be sleeping in since it was too late for her start her trip back to Washington tonight. Dalton had dawdled long enough to help me clean up the kitchen before he said he was going to his apartment above the garage to crash. I thought it was odd that he never seemed to go out anymore. Dalton was the town Cassanova and enjoyed a steady stream of women, however since Synclair’s cousin, Cami, had completely dismissed him, he seemed less interested in the many women who followed him around.

  “Ah hem,” Synclair’s voice whispered. I gave her a questioning look when I noticed her hand was tucked behind her back like a child hiding a cookie from their mother.

  “What’cha got there, sis?” I asked smiling at the red headed beauty that seemed to be getting even prettier the more pregnant she got.

  Her hazel eyes snapped to mine, and I could tell from the mischievous glimmer there that I was going to like what she had hidden behind her back.

  “Um, I may or may not have lifted Taylor’s phone while she was in the shower…which may or may not have her research assistant's contact information on it.” She practically giggled as she chucked me a small, black iPhone.

  Grabbing the phone out of the air I looked back at Synclair who was now grinning from ear to ear. Glad that Taylor’s phone didn’t have a passcode, I quickly thumbed through her contacts until I found Alison Collins. Okay, now I had her last name, progress. Clicking on her name opened up a detail page that had Alison’s email, mailing address and even her birthday. Mentally fist pumping the sky, I forwarded the contact info to my cell, closed out the contacts and tossed the phone to a very smug looking Synclair.

  “You are the best thing that ever happened to my brother, if he does anything else to screw up, you let me know, and I’ll beat the crap out of him for you,” I told her meaning every word.

  She smiled then turned serious, “Listen, Matt, I am only doing this because Taylor told me about Alison, and she sounds like the Yin to your Yang.”

  “Oookay, not sure what that means but I’ll take it,” I said as I moved around the table to head upstairs to my room. With Reece having converted three rooms downstairs into a mini apartment and Rachel taking the attic bedroom when she wasn’t at school at the University of Reno, I had the whole second floor to myself. But before I could exit the kitchen, Synclair, and her baby bump managed to step in my path.

  “Listen, Matt, I know you have this thing where you want everything neat and orderly,” she gave me a patient look when I snorted in protest. “You deny it? Who organized the canned goods alphabetically? Oh, and who tried to get me stock the freezer in a way that the vegetables were placed in the back because they started with the letter V?”

  I couldn’t deny, order made me calm. It was why I was such a good accountant, I counterbalanced that with the excitement of being an escort. It seemed perfect to me, order and then organized wild passion. Besides, doesn’t everyone organize their cupboards alphabetically? If not how would you find anything?

  “What are you getting at slugger?” I teased when she blocked me from stepping around her. I hoped that using the nickname that she’d earned because of her affinity for using baseball bats as her go-to weapon would remind her that we all have quirks.

  Her hazel eyes narrowed, and she poked me in the chest with Taylor’s phone, “My point is, Alison’s life is constant chaos and if you’re not prepared to go all in; if you’re just looking to bang the chick that got away…then leave her alone Matt. From what Taylor has told me, the woman’s had enough hurt in her life. And most of what Taylor shared she had to find out by snooping into Alison’s past because Alison is so tight-lipped about her past” I watched as Synclair’s eyes glassed over with some memory that obviously made her feel for whatever Alison had been through. Letting me know that whatever bits of information that Alison had shared with me were nothing compared to the whole story. A story I was never going to get out of Taylor, it was going to have to come straight from Ali. And it would, just as soon as I got the wo
man in my sights again.

  “Look, I know my standards are high, I can’t make you promises Synclair, except that, I would never intentionally hurt Alison, but something about her draws me to her. As much as I love you, I can only promise my intentions are honorable. I’m not looking for a fast hook up, I can have that anytime I want, now,” I explained.

  Seeming to be satisfied with my answer she went to move out of my way when Taylor’s phone began to ring. Looking down at the caller ID, Synclair’s face became flushed with anger, and her grip tightened on the small iPhone.

  “Is that my phone?” Taylor said breathlessly as she tried to grab the phone out of Synclair’s reach.

  Synclair moved fast for a pregnant woman, she dashed around the other side of the oak table pointing at Taylor’s phone like it was a snake.

  “Yeah, it was ringing so I looked down and saw the number was from a South American area code!” Synclair almost shouted.

  I had no idea what was so upsetting about Taylor getting a call from South America, but Synclair looked ready to commit murder over it.