“I’d heard you were a wonderful cook, Tate. Good enough to give me a run for my money even.” She winked to let the girl know it didn’t make her angry. “Tell you what, we can cook something together. How does that sound?”
Tate was quiet for a bit as she continued to do Polly’s hair.
“Tate, honey, it’s no secret my son loves you. He wants to be with you and eventually, our families will have to merge more. Why not start now? In fact, why don’t we eat at your house this time, trade back and forth.”
“Polly, my house bursts at the seams with fourteen as it is. But we can do something out back since the weather is so nice. It’s a huge yard with lots of shade. Play equipment for the kids although Nicholas isn’t quite big enough for most of it just yet. I don’t want Liv to be outside in the heat, though, being as pregnant as she is.”
The girl was really a miracle.
“Livvy loves the heat, unlike Cassie and Maggie.” Polly chuckled. “But if we make it after seven when the sun is going down it’ll be fine. I worry that you’re taking on too much though so soon after the hospital. That’s ten extra people.”
Tate stepped back and looked at Polly’s hair, making sure it was even. She patted it and handed Polly a mirror.
“You did a great job with that, honey.” Polly spun the chair and checked out the back.
Tate wanted to offer her the chance to change it with a new look but women like Polly identified strongly with their hairdos and Tate didn’t want to upset that applecart. Polly Chase had a strong enough sense of identity that she could ask for something new if she wanted it.
Tate was scared shitless over the idea of having ten Chases at her house. Her little house. But Polly was right, Tate and Matt had gotten a lot closer since she’d returned from the hospital earlier in the week. Things between them were serious and if she meant to go on with him, they would have to bring their families together. It didn’t make sense to keep them all apart when both Matt and Tate were so close to their families.
“Well, if you’d like, you could come over early and help me cook.” Another woman in her kitchen, an alpha woman like Polly would be a challenge but Matt was worth it. Family was worth it.
Polly grinned. “Why that’d be lovely! I’ll come over at say, five? What are you planning to make? I’ll bring over some of the ingredients. No, don’t argue, you can do the same next week when you come to my house. Since you’re such a fabulous cook we can share duties. If that’s okay with you?”
Tate took a deep breath and let it out. “Sure.” She told Polly her menu plans and the two of them worked out a grocery list and a schedule.
Tate got out of her car and froze as she saw who stood on her porch, leaning indolently against the railing.
“What are you doing here?” She stood by the car, not wanting to get any closer to the man who’d landed her in the hospital just days before.
“I’m out on bail. Seems the prosecutor believes my story that it was an accident. Your mother had a convenient memory lapse as well. I thought I’d come here to mend some bridges.” Her father’s smirk belied his words.
She leaned against the car, arms crossed over her chest. Nathan would be by in fifteen minutes but if she had to, she’d get in the car and drive away. She was done letting him hurt her.
“I’m not interested. Just go home. And don’t call me to fix your problems with my mother anymore.” Her voice shook a bit but it was a step.
“Well and see, here I was about to congratulate you for landing yourself a man at all, especially one with a wallet like Matt Chase.” He took a step off her porch but she put a hand out.
“Stay back. Don’t get any nearer.”
He stopped and jerked his head to the side. “I didn’t come here to touch you, daughter. I had no intention to have you fall down those steps. I don’t care enough about you to harm you.”
“Could have fooled me all those times you did harm me. Now what do you really want? We both know you’re not here to mend anything.”
“Money. You have it, I don’t. Give me some.”
A sick feeling twisted through her. “Ah yes, I should have known. I suppose a job is too much energy to give when you could drink all day instead? How about I pay for rehab? You know I will.” She hated that she wanted to help him, he didn’t deserve it but she couldn’t make herself stop being concerned.
“I don’t need a job now that my daughter has her own business and a rich boyfriend, now do I? The way I see it, Tate, is you landed him, God knows how looking the way you do. And I should benefit from that. I supported you and those other brats, I should be reimbursed for that.”
Incredulousness rode her. “You did what? I’m not arguing with you. Nor am I giving you a cent. I work for my money and I don’t take anything from Matt. I don’t need to. We both work for a living. You ought to try it.”
The thin veneer slid off his face then and the man she’d feared settled into his features. Nausea threatened but she held back.
“Let’s put it this way then, Tate, since you’re being so ungrateful and all. I’m thinking I’d love to be part of your new life. Turn over a new leaf. I’d love to get to know your new family. Since I have so much time and all, I thought I’d come over more often. Maybe stop by the firehouse and visit with my daughter’s new beau.” He shrugged. “Or you can give me a few hundred bucks and I’ll keep scarce.”
She sighed. The Chases seemed okay with her past but that was when they didn’t have to confront it face to face. How would it be if her father just showed up at Sunday dinner, drunk and belligerent? How would Matt feel then? And how would her brothers and sisters feel when they’d finally had a good life?
She’d gone to the ATM earlier to give Nathan cash and her grocery list. She dug into her purse and pulled out three hundred dollars cash and thrust it at him.
“Take it and don’t come back.”
He took his time, leisurely coming toward her and grabbing the money. Tucking it into his pocket, his smile made her sick. “Thank you, daughter. Now I’ll be on my way, not to bother you again.”
Nathan found her rocking in her chair, still sweating from throwing up. He knelt in front of her. “Honey, Tate? Are you all right? Do you need to go back to the doctor? Is it your head?”
She shook her head slowly, wanting so much to tell him what happened. He’d understand. He’d hug her and tell her it would all be okay. But after that experience with the whole Melanie thing, she knew he’d also want her to tell Matt. Or worse, tell Matt himself. He’d also tell her to stop giving their father money and she couldn’t do that.
She finally had something real with Matt and no one was going to threaten it. She was the only one who stood between the ugliness of her father and the beauty of her family. She had to protect them as she always had and now that Matt was hers, she’d protect him too.
“It’s the heat. I’m all right now. I made you a grocery list but I forgot to get cash.”
He waved that away. “Not a big deal. You never let us pay for anything and I’m bored with sneaking money into your purse when you aren’t looking.” He cracked a smile and she snorted. They all did it. She just put the cash aside and used it on the kids or to make special treats for them.
They were safe from their father. She could handle him and keep him away from everyone. She’d done it most of her life and she’d keep doing it now.
“Let me give you a check.” She moved to rise but he put a gentle hand on her shoulder to stay her.
“I mean it, Tate. No. You don’t know how happy it makes me that you’re letting me do your grocery shopping. So let me. It’s some groceries. Considering how much I eat over here, it’s a bargain for me. I’ll be back in a bit. Matt should be here in a while right? You want me to stay until he gets here?”
She smiled, love flooding through her. “I’m fine. I managed without a keeper before Matt came along. I need to call William about the tables and extra chairs anyway. Bring back something you wa
nt me to make for dinner. You can stay can’t you?”
He laughed, dropping a kiss on her cheek. “What a question. I’d love to stay. I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’ll have my cell but I’m betting you’ll have another Murphy or two over here before I get back anyway.”
She wanted to tell him about their father but she couldn’t explain how she knew.
When he left she called William and he promised to bring over a few extra banquet size tables and chairs early the next afternoon.
Making up her mind, she called the police station.
“What do you mean they let him go?”
Matt heard Tate’s voice rise and he hurried through her front door to see she was on the phone.
“Yes, yes, well isn’t that nice? Perhaps someone would have seen fit to call me, you know, the person who got a concussion and spent the night in the hospital? No! If someone had called me would I be calling now? Oh fuck me! Listen here, bub, do you think I give a rat’s ass if someone in some other place should have called me? I didn’t get called.”
Matt exhaled sharply. They let her father out of jail? He pulled his cell out of his pocket and dialed Shane.
“Yes, I know, she’s yelling at one of my deputies right now. I’m sorry, Matt, it’s up to the prosecutor’s office to call the victim and we didn’t know she hadn’t been informed,” Shane answered before Matt even said a word.
“They let him go?”
Tate turned and saw him there on the phone, he stepped to her, kissed her briefly and they both went back to their calls.
“The prosecutor isn’t going to prosecute. He said it was an accident and Tate wasn’t that eager to testify. Matt, the mother is backing up his story.”
Matt’s stomach dropped as he looked up at Tate who was apparently hearing the same thing. She mumbled her thanks and hung up the phone.
“Shit. I have to go.” Matt wanted to make it all right for her, damn it.
“I’m sorry, Matt. I know where you are right now. Believe me. Come talk to me when you can, okay?”
Matt agreed and flipped the phone shut.
“They let my father go. They’re not even going to prosecute him.” Tate’s voice as she spoke to him trembled slightly.
He embraced her gently, stroking his hands up and down her arms. “I know, I was just talking to Shane. I’m sorry, Venus.”
“My mother is backing him up. And it was an accident. I don’t think he deliberately tried to hurt me. He was gesturing all around. I yelled at that deputy. I need to apologize. It wasn’t his fault.”
A bubble of hysterical laughter hit Matt and he let it go. Only Tate would be concerned about that right now when the man who’d hurt her was out free.
She called and apologized to the deputy as Matt got them both some tea. He didn’t like how pale she looked. Nathan came in with groceries some minutes later and Beth followed soon after.
Tate perked up as she started to make a chicken salad for dinner. She didn’t even rely on the crutches much by that point as she hobbled around her kitchen. It seemed to him that merely taking care of other people made her feel better.
As they ate, she told him about the combined Chase-Murphy dinner the following night and he grinned. His mother never ceased to amaze him. Then again, neither did Tate. Twenty people was a big chore for a woman who’d just been in the hospital, but if his mother agreed to it, he knew she’d make sure Tate didn’t overdo it.
After dinner, Beth and Matt did dishes while Nathan took out the trash and Tate folded laundry. He realized how normal it felt, being there with her in her little house. How quickly they’d moved to this level surprised him but he wasn’t scared.
“You don’t need to stay over, Nathan. I’ll be here and I have tomorrow off so I’ll help in the morning to make sure she doesn’t overdo it.” Matt looked around the corner where Beth helped Tate put clothes away before telling Nathan about their father and mother.
Nathan slammed a fist down onto the arm of the couch and Tate came rushing out. “Nathan?”
“I’m sorry, honey. Matt just told me about Mom and Dad.”
So much for talking quietly and in private.
Beth’s eyes widened as she demanded an explanation and she began to pace when they gave it to her. “She’s out of her damned mind. Well, that’s it. Tate, no more. Don’t you dare go over there again. She’s made her bed and so has he. You can’t fix them and it’s just going to hurt you. We don’t need them anymore. We’ll figure out what to do with Jill and Jacob. It’s just one more year.”
“Amen. Now, Tate needs rest. We’ll see you both tomorrow afternoon.” Matt ushered them both out and came back to find Tate pouring herself a drink.
“You want one?”
“You sure you do?”
She turned and sipped the amber liquid. “I’m not him. Yes, I grew up with a man who used alcohol as an excuse to be a monster.” She shrugged. “I don’t. It’s not an excuse but it’s not evil either. It’s just a substance.”
Drawing her close he pressed his lips to the top of her head and breathed her in. “You’re a very wise woman, you know that don’t you?”
“Fuck me, Matt. Put your hands all over me. Make me come.”
He stilled, wondering if he’d heard her correctly or if she was using an exclamation. He took her glass and placed it on the counter. A look into her eyes told him it was the former. “I’m going to lock up. I’ll meet you in your bedroom in three minutes. Be naked.”
Hurriedly, he checked the doors and windows and moved toward her room.
He halted in the doorway and watched her move. Graceful and feminine, she was so beautiful. She turned and locked eyes with him as she reached up to let her hair fall like a pale spill of moonlight around her shoulders.
Moving to her, he undid the straps of her dress and let it fall to pool at her feet. Her bra followed and she stepped out of her panties. He loved that she’d lost her shyness around him with regard to her body. He was glad she’d accepted how damned sexy she was to him.
“Take your shirt off. I want to see you, Matt.”
He heard the urgency in her voice and it disturbed him. He traced her jawline with his thumb and she bit the fleshy pad when he moved over her lips.
“Are you all right, Venus?”
“I need you, Matt. Please.”
His clothes were off in record time before he backed her to the bed and she fell back to the mattress, looking up at him, eyes shining with raw need, with something else he couldn’t quite define. So he did all he knew how to do, ease that need, meet it with the same desire he felt for her.
Sometimes you needed to make love and sometimes you needed to be fucked. Tate needed the latter, needed every muscle in her body to know she belonged to Matt Chase.
She loved him so much it scared the hell out of her but she couldn’t not love him. That he loved her too continued to awe her but she was done questioning it. She wanted to be with him forever and if he wanted that too, who was she to argue?
At that moment though, she needed him to want her. Needed his desire, his lust and attention.
Reaching out, she fumbled through the box in the nightstand and grabbed a condom. “On you. Now.”
He grabbed it, ripping it open with his teeth and rolling it on in record time. When his fingers brushed over her pussy and found her wet and ready, a strangled moan broke from him.
“God, so damned hot and wet. You’re so ready for me.”
She reached down and guided the head of his cock to her gate and rolled her hips.
“Impatient,” he chuckled.
“Yes! Where have you been the last ten minutes? Fuck me, buster!”
His only answer was a long thrust into her body that made her gasp his name as he filled her.
His eyes bored into hers, seeing so deeply that she wanted to weep with it and run away at the same time. It meant something to be known, to be loved despite what she came from, because of who she was. Emotion, deep and overwhe
lming, swallowed her, bringing tears to her eyes as she let her love for him flow from her, through her.
“Venus? Honey, am I hurting you?” He stilled and she wrapped her thighs around his waist and squeezed, pulling him closer to her.
“No. No, it’s fine. They’re good tears. I’m sorry.” She laughed because he was so good, so fine and she was so damned lucky to be loved by him.
Leaning down, he kissed the tears from her cheeks. “I love you, Tate. I don’t know what I’d have done if something happened to you. Seeing you in that hospital bed nearly tore me in half. You’re so strong but damn, you’re a tiny thing. Fragile.”
“I love you too, Matt. And I’m fine. Fine here with you.”
She squeezed her inner muscles around him and winked, breaking the tension.
His lips skimmed down her neck as he whispered endearments to her. His body slowly entered and retreated. Not fucking anymore, he made love to her with exquisite detail, kissing her, caressing her, telling her he loved her.
There was nothing but the two of them and that was all right. Better than all right, it was perfect and Tate couldn’t remember another moment that was ever so perfect.
Matt hauled tables and chairs along with Tate’s brothers and his own as they set up in Tate’s backyard. He loved her house and the giant yard out back.
Tate’s nephew and nieces played on the playset, yelling and laughing in the early July evening and he realized just how happy he was. Satisfied. Fulfilled.
In the kitchen overlooking the yard, the women who meant the world to him laughed and prepared a meal while the men chased children and set up the tables. What an idyllic moment.
Edward stopped next to him, putting an arm around his shoulders. “You’re good with this girl, Matthew. I like what she’s done for you. I like this place. I like seeing our kin mix with hers. This is right.”
Matt’s heart swelled with pride at his father’s compliments. “I was just thinking that. I love Tate. I think I started falling for her with the first bite of her cookies. But I hate that her father is out and I hate that threat.”