“You’re right, the running off when things got hard thing is more like my mother. Hit the road.” Matt hated it that Tim was so mad. He’d always considered Tim his greatest ally with Tate.
“Actually, this is his place of residence so he has a right to go inside, Tim.” Shane, thank God Shane was there.
“I see, you’re going to use the sheriff in your pocket to hurt my sister now?”
“Oh stuff it!” Cassie pushed her way past. “This has gone on long enough. Tate is worked into a frenzy in there and none of you are helping!”
“Of course you’d take his side.”
“This isn’t about sides! All of you get the hell out of here.” Tate thundered out onto the porch, anger sparking in her eyes. She looked at her siblings and then Matt. “All of you. I want to be alone and I don’t need or want anyone speaking for me, thinking for me or taking responsibility for me. How dare you all pack Matt’s things and make that choice for him and for me.”
Matt nodded. “They’re just trying to help, Venus. They love you.”
“And you! You don’t know a damned thing about it.” She pushed Anne gently but firmly out and slammed the door, locking it. “None of you has the right!” she yelled from the other side of the closed door and turned out the porch light.
They all began to argue until Shane’s cell phone rang. He answered, listened and started laughing as he snapped the phone shut.
“That was Tate Murphy, she’s called the sheriff to file a noise complaint about a public nuisance in her front yard.”
Matt scrubbed hands over his face. This had all spun out of control so fast. He didn’t want to be arguing on her, their lawn, he wanted to be inside, holding his woman.
“Y’all go on home. I mean it. I’m going in there to work this out with Tate. If you love her like you say you do, you’ll know she loves me and I love her too. We’re gonna have arguments and she’s going to be hurt and I’m going to be hurt. That’s natural and normal and truly, no one deserves normal more than Tate. So go. Please. I’m sorry I’ve upset you all and we can all work this out later but Tate is in there alone right now.” Matt sighed as he looked at the front of the house.
“Please,” Cassie added. “Please guys. You know they’re good for each other. I know you’re hurting for her but you’re the ones who started packing all this up. It wasn’t her idea. She’d have done it herself if she’d wanted to. It’s just a fight. God, if you all only knew how many fights Shane and I had our first year together. Okay,” she grinned at Shane and he laughed, “still have. Tate is a strong woman and Matt’s easygoing but they will have disagreements. If you gang up on him every time it happens, they’ll never make anything work. Let them make up. If they don’t, you know where Matt works. If you can get to him before Polly does, you can kick his ass.”
Matt heaved a sigh of relief—ignoring the comment about his mother—his moving out hadn’t been Tate’s idea.
Her siblings moved and Matt nodded at them, reaching out and squeezing Cassie’s hand when he passed. He unlocked the door and opened it slowly. When nothing took his head off, he went inside and found her scrubbing the tile in the bathroom.
“Hey, Venus. Whatcha doing?”
“Scrubbing the tile around the toilet.”
He leaned around. “Tate, is that my toothbrush?”
“Hmpf.”
Ouch. “Oookay. Well, luckily there’s a spare in the medicine cabinet then. Will you talk to me?”
“I already did.”
“Tate, not that I don’t like the view and all, your ass looks particularly lovely and I can see your breasts coming out the top of that shirt reflected in the shower door, but can we move this to the living room? Our bedroom? Someplace we can be face to face?”
“Matt, what are you doing here?” She turned and tossed the toothbrush, yep his, into the trash and took off the yellow rubber gloves, laying them under the sink.
“I live here. I told you I’d be back.” He held a hand out to help her up but she ignored it and stood, brushing her hands off on the front of her pants and left the bathroom.
He followed her into the living room where she took the chair so he sat on the table, leaning in and taking her hands in his.
“I’m sorry you had to deal with this insanity with your father alone for all these months. I can’t imagine how scared you must have been to keep it secret.”
“Fine.”
“Fine? That’s it? Your fucking family moves my shit out onto the porch and you scrub the toilet with my toothbrush after you hide something important from me for five months and all you give me is an okay?”
“Who’s got the fuck habit now, buster? Anyway, my family did that, I didn’t. And what’s more if you’d been here, they couldn’t have done it now, could they? And don’t you call them my fucking family, only I get to do that. I’m beginning to wish I’d fucking gotten in my car and headed to Atlanta for a few weeks like Liv did.”
“And Marc went insane with worry!”
“Yes, because it’s always about you people!”
“Back with that you people thing? Liv is from my side of town too!”
“Oh shut up! I mean you people with penises, not you rich people. God. Look, you asked me to tell you. I did. And then you ran off. You can’t expect me to just be all, hi honey, nice to see you, want a beer? when you come back. You’re the one who’s always all, I hate it when you try to run off and then you did.”
“You’re right. I was hurt and I needed to be away from here for an hour or so. God knows why I imagined hell wouldn’t break loose if I left.”
“You left, Matt. When things got bad you left. I may have been wrong for not telling you, and I’m sorry I hurt you, I am. But I’ve been trying really hard to make a go of this. Even with all the insanity, even knowing you don’t tell me everything to protect me, I stay and I try and today I trusted you enough to tell you and you threw it in my face and walked away.”
“I felt like a failure out there on our porch this afternoon. You hid this from me when you should have been able to come to me and let me protect you. It shouldn’t be the other way around.”
Her anger softened and her eyes searched his face. “You’re not a failure, Matt. My family is just too messed up. I’m messed up. You deserve more than that. Better.”
“I want you to stop that talk right now. There’s no breaking up here so quit it. I told you I’d be back. Okay, so I handled it wrong. I should have stayed and we could have talked it through without all the packing and yelling. But we’re together, Tate. We’ll work it out.”
She listened to him and took a deep breath. The tentative smile fell away and her eyes narrowed. “Why do you stink of booze? It’s hard to concentrate right now with you smelling like that. Bad memories I suppose but I’d really rather you not go out and tie one on when you’re pissed. I don’t mind drinking, I do mind coming back so bad off you smell like a brewery.”
He laughed and then tried to get serious again. “Sorry.” He put his hands up. “I’m not drunk. I had three sips of one pint of beer. Nathan threw the rest on me. Why don’t I go shower and change and we can continue this?”
The corner of her mouth slid up a bit. “Nathan threw a beer on you?”
“Yeah. I thought he was going to pop me one and I’d have had to pop him back and you’d have been really mad at me for giving your baby brother a black eye. Luckily, Shane interceded so no blows were thrown.”
“Hmpf. Go on.”
He wanted to go to her and give her a kiss but his clothes stuck to him and now that she’d pointed out the smell it began to make him feel slightly nauseated.
“I’m saving the snuggles and sugar for after I’m cleaned up. But I’ve been running a tab.”
When he finished showering he found she’d moved many of the boxes back into the house and was in their bedroom putting his clothes into drawers.
He approached her from behind wearing only a towel and put his arms around her.
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“I could have done that.” He kissed the top of her head.
“It gave me something to do. Anyway, my family made the problem, I’ll undo it. They really didn’t get most of your clothes. I was in here so they didn’t touch what was in the closet and dresser. I think they took stuff out of the laundry. I’d done a load earlier today.”
He turned her and his chest constricted a moment as he looked at her face, the features he loved so much. He could have lost her over something silly. That was untenable.
“First things first. Tate, we’re going to fight sometimes you know. But unlike what Beth might think, I’m not your mother. I’m not going to abandon you. I shouldn’t have left. I’m sorry. My feelings were hurt and I was upset with myself too, I needed a bit of space but I should have handled it differently.”
He’d moved her back toward the bed and with a flex of his hips, bumped her onto the mattress.
“If I thought you were like my mother I’d have done more with your toothbrush than scrub the tile with it. I love you, Matt, but I’m not a doormat. Even if I gave in to my father, I’m not someone you can walk all over. I won’t allow it.” She put her fingers over his lips as he loomed over her. “But that’s not what you did so calm down. I’m just saying that’s not what you did and that’s not who I am.”
Frustrated at being unable to pull her T-shirt off, he grabbed hold of the neck and ripped it down the middle. “That’s much better.” He kissed the exposed mound of each breast and her skin broke into gooseflesh.
“I’m sorry I hurt you with this whole thing about my father. I would never want to make you feel like a failure. You’re not. You’re my hero in so many ways. You do make me feel safe.” Her voice shook and got breathy as he traced along the edge of her bra cup with his tongue.
He kissed her, nipping her bottom lip quickly. He sighed, rolling off her long enough to rid himself of the towel and start yanking on her jeans.
“Venus, I love you. We’re together and we’ll learn more about each other as we go. You will stop giving that bastard money, do you hear me? I will pay the next month’s mortgage on this house. I’ve been here three months and you haven’t let me pay my share. We’ll work it out with your brothers and the school and with Shane to make sure the kids are safe.”
“It’s hard to concentrate when you’re naked and ordering me around.” She may have complained but she lifted her ass so he could pull her pants and panties off. She sat up, removed her bra and tossed the ripped T-shirt aside before pulling the blankets back.
“Tough. Now you’re naked too.”
“I noticed. Why are you over there?”
“I like looking at you laying there naked, your chest heaving because you want me so much even when your eyes are sparking at me because you’re mad.”
“You really should write all this stuff down. You could turn it into one of those books that teaches guys how to get a woman into bed. You’d make a million dollars. Oh and you’re not paying my bills. That’s not going to happen. Half the people in town already think I’m only with you for that. Although I question whether or not they’ve actually seen you because anyone with a brain knows I’m with you for the sex ‘cause you look so good.”
He laughed. His Tate was back. Their rhythm was back. Relief crashed through him as he knelt between her spread legs and skated his palms up her thighs.
“I’m paying our bills and I’m not arguing. I may be good in bed but I don’t want to be a kept man.” He winked at her.
“Well that’s good since I’ve got three dollars to my name and you’re worth way more than that.”
He frowned. “Tell me you’re going to let me pay next month’s mortgage or there’ll be no sex. I’ll withhold it and everyone knows you’re only with me for my cock.”
“I don’t want you to think I’m after you for money.” She writhed beneath him though, grabbing the body part in question and squeezing lightly. He didn’t hide his smile.
“Tate, that’s not what I think. I live here. This is my house too, right? Don’t you want me to feel at home? How can I if you won’t let me pay my share? And hello, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m a firefighter. It’s not the kind of salary my father makes. Between the two of us, we do fine. But the whole after-my-money argument is based on what my parents have, not what I have. We can talk more about how we’ll split the bills after the sex. You’ve avoided the conversation so far but this situation wouldn’t have been as bad if we’d talked more openly about finances before.”
He wet a fingertip and drew it over the hardened point of her nipple, making her arch into his touch. Pinching it enough to make her moan, he bent to kiss the hollow of her throat and across her collarbone as her free hand slid down his back.
Tate needed him so much right then she felt like she’d die from want. Needed to feel that reconnection with him, making them two as one again.
She knew he hadn’t broken off with her but it hurt that he’d beg her to reveal something and then leave. Still, hearing that he’d felt like a failure, knowing she’d hurt him when she’d only meant to protect him made her realize just how important it was that they communicate with each other.
He kissed down her neck to first one nipple and then the other. She grew wetter, felt her pussy ready for him. The bristles of his beard abraded over the sensitive flesh of her breasts and what started out gentle took on an edge as they both realized the intensity of their need.
“Matt, please, please,” she murmured and he kissed down her belly and settled between her thighs.
“Glad to oblige, Venus.” He pulled her open with his thumbs and looked at her for long moments. It should have weirded her out, the way he gazed at such an intimate part of her body but instead, it made her feel beautiful.
Even more when his thumbs slid inside her and his mouth finally brushed across her, tongue flicking quickly over her clit until she panted. He backed away, licking slowly, avoiding her clit until she arched her hips into his face like a floozy.
He rolled her over and pulled her hips up. He’d never taken her quite like that before and it thrilled her. She pushed back against him and he laughed. “All in due time. I haven’t finished what I started.”
With that, he spread her thighs wide and bent, his mouth finding her again, making her groan into the pillow. With his hands on her upper thighs, he held her wide and steady as he devoured her. All she could do was hold on and be glad she walked as much as she did so her legs were strong enough to hold her up despite her trembling muscles.
Edging into her, sharp and bright, the pleasure of her climax burst over her emotions as the depth of her love for Matt Chase rushed through her.
She wasn’t sure exactly what she said but whatever it was, the neighbors probably heard it, she said it so loud.
She didn’t have much time to wonder though because within moments, Matt’s cock began to press into her pussy, her body parting for him, accommodating him as it always did because she was made for him.
“So beautiful. Do you have any idea how beautiful you are right now, Tate? The curve of your back, creamy and pale, your hair like moonlight against your shoulders? Spread out before me like a banquet and I didn’t get nearly enough to eat.”
She squeaked at the rough eroticism of his words but there was no denying he turned her on.
“You’re mine, Tate. From the first moment I saw your face you worked your way into me. Mine. No one else’s. Even when I’m an ass, you’re mine. Even when you hide things you should tell me and your brother throws beer in my face. Even when you scrub the toilet with my toothbrush, minx. You’re mine as I’m yours and we’re getting married. You got me?”
Surprised but still realizing there was no way she’d say no, she nodded enthusiastically into the pillow.
“You realize I just asked you to marry me, right?”
“Yes,” she managed to gasp out and he reached around and toyed with her clit, idly, as he fucked into her body.
 
; “You’re not going to argue with me?” Amusement laced his voice and she tightened herself around him, bringing a grunt from him.
“Do you want me to? What, it’s just idle sex talk?” She smiled, pushing back against his thrusts.
“Seeing as how I’ve wanted to ask you for months, it’s not idle at all. Holy…damn Tate…that was…shit!”
Laughing, she tightened again and swiveled.
“Oh it’s gonna be that way, is it?” He leaned over her body and bit the flesh where shoulder met neck as his fingers on her clit sped. In that position he totally controlled everything, her movement, his depth and speed. It was beautiful and erotic. He was nearly a foot taller than she was, muscled and very strong but she knew he’d never hurt her.
And today had only underlined what she’d already come to learn—even emotional hurts would be something they could get past because, as improbable as it seemed, he was the one.
Unbelievably, another climax hit just as he pressed hard, fingers digging into her hip, the others still playing against her clit, teeth dug into her shoulder. A long groan came from him and she realized then he wasn’t wearing a condom. The third time in a few weeks. Moments later she realized she never wanted him to again either.
He fell back against the bed and pulled her against him. “I love you, Tate. With everything I am. Will you marry me?”
“I love you, Matt, with everything I am. So yeah.”
“You make me very happy. I’m sorry we didn’t make each other happier earlier today.”
“It’s gonna happen. I’ll try to keep my family from moving you out next time. I know my family, or my parents, are a mess. I’d understand if you were wary of that.”
“Tate Murphy, I love you and your crazy brothers and sisters. My family loves you all. Your father, after Shane speaks with him and you get yourself a protection order in place, won’t be an issue. My father would be happy to guide you through the process and Cassie too. She’s done the protection order thing before.”
“And it protected her really well.”
“Hey.” Reaching back, he turned on the lamp and looked at her closely. “That was a very different situation. In the first place, I know how much of a priority Petal’s law enforcement puts on protection orders and family violence prevention. Shane, even before Cassie, cared and now the department is even more committed. I’m here too. And my dad is the best attorney around and the judge who hears protection orders is really good. First thing you need to do is tell him he’s not getting a dime from you again. And then we’ll take the next steps.”