“I knew it would be problematic on the business end after my father passed away. By the time I told them I called it off, he was already near the end. For the last few years, I’ve spent every spare moment outside of my day job in disentanglement mode. I’ve negotiated, and had to sometimes fight with Joy’s father to get to this point. I even conceded and gave up Sara’s and my share of some of the business, to get them off our backs. Still, it’s not been enough. Joy’s parents are still making my decision a living hell, through Joy.
“She would constantly show up at my place, my job, even at some of the corporate meetings for the various boards she knew I served on. She would find me and make a public spectacle at every opportunity. She even started working at Sabatini’s when she found out it was my favorite place to eat. Manipulation is something Joy mastered in her parents’ home. And she’s all the more intense because I’m not falling for it.
“I’ve done everything I could to get Joy to leave Sara and me alone, and just move on. I’ve given her money. A lot of money. She takes it, blows it over a month or two, and then comes back like it never happened. I’ve offered her parents to sell them controlling interest in 2 large retail chains my family owned. They won’t budge.
“I feel it’s like how some people describe getting a divorce. The difference, in this case, is I was never even married, I can’t ever end it, and all the shared assets and businesses are our kids. I don’t know why my parents would have tied themselves – and inadvertently, Sara and I - to the Carrington’s like this. And I didn’t expect Joy to feel that I slighted her when I finally ended our family’s arrangement. She doesn’t even like me, not even a little bit. What’s worse is her parents have cut her off now, because they blame us both for not staying in the relationship. So she’s got double the motivation for us to get back together. That’s what you walked in on that night.”
Matt paused. He released a long, tired sigh after sharing his explanation. He had an exhausted look on his face, as though he hadn’t ever let that secret out to anyone. He had been carrying it around like a ton of bricks. I felt sorry for him. I realized I was probably the only person he could confide in about this, other than his sister. Men are just expected to handle their problems. And wealthy men had to keep their cards even closer to their chests. There was always so much at stake, even from people in their circles that they trusted. Probably, even more so from the people in their circles.
He paused, exhausted. I reached out my hand and gently squeezed his, which was balled up into a tight fist on his lap, as he ran his other hand through his hair. “I’m sorry about what you’ve been through, Matt,” I said softly. “I came from a family just like yours, so I can relate. I know I’d probably be married off to someone my parents would have picked if I hadn’t left their manipulative grasp. That type of meddling is classic behavior. It comes with the territory.”
He smiled peacefully. “So you would have been some Misses Phoenix aristocracy by now too, huh?”
“Of that I have no doubt,” I answered. Our eyes met and locked for what seemed like an eternity. There was so much commonality in our lives. I felt like there was something so right between us. I could have stayed in that moment for a long time, but had to break the silence.
“Matt, I’m so sorry for not hearing you out. I was wrong to assume.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Kate,” he answered. He stood up from the chair and sat facing me on the bed. He cupped my hands in both of his, and stared at me intently, as though searching deep inside my mind for me to concede. His voice was raw, and his touch and proximity sent shivers up and down my back. All I wanted was to have him hold me. I wanted to forget the last two days of misunderstanding and numbness. I wanted to forget the attack. His touch was like a world unto itself, and I yearned to go back into that world.
I sat up in the bed, leaned toward him and kissed his cheek to console him. He turned his head towards me, and slowly, our lips met. His kiss made my breath seize, and waves of intense, primal longing took over me. I pulled my hands out of his grasp without letting out of the kiss, and laced them behind his neck. I could sense his desire building as well, because his tongue parted my lips and reached into my mouth with a feral fierceness.
His hands wrapped tightly around my waist and pulled me closer, and just then, the door opened abruptly. We quickly released from the kiss and turned toward the doorway. It was a nurse.
“Sorry to interrupt you,” she said without slowing her pace into the room. It must have been completely normal for her to see couples the way we were, all the time. “Just go right ahead, you two lovebirds. I have to wheel some equipment out to the next recovery room.”
I looked at Matt as she left, and we both laughed. I could see he was more relaxed than when he had first walked in with the detective to see me.
“I think I should let you rest now,” he started. “It’s almost 3:30 in the morning and you’ve been through so much.”
I nodded and smiled at him. I didn’t want him to leave, but I understood. He reached over and kissed my forehead, then stood up.
“Sleep well, Kate,” he offered. “The officers will be right outside to keep you safe. And there are fourteen more security guards outside the hospital, monitoring all the entrances. They’re a team from one of my corporate security consulting firms. It’s the one business I started myself, from scratch, and the Carringtons have no control or involvement there.
“I called them in before we left the hotel, so they’re 100% dedicated on this assignment. Wherever you are, they’ll be there to keep watch for me. No one is going to have a chance to get close to you the way that son of a bitch did. I have to organize a few things with my work schedule, but I’ll be back in the morning to take you home when they release you.”
“Goodnight, Matt,” I answered. I could see the emotion rising out of him again on mention of the Carringtons and the attacker. The medication made me drowsy by then, so I slowly said, “Get some sleep too. And thanks for everything.”
“No, Kate,” he replied. “Thank you. You understand me so well. I just never thought I’d meet someone who could relate the way you do. I’ll be back soon.”
He leaned over one last time and kissed my hair, then left. As he walked out of the room, I felt my heart soaring. It may have been the medication, but by then I didn’t care. Sleep came quickly.
Chapter 6
When I woke up, Matt was sitting in the chair beside me. He was sleeping, and I don’t recall how long he had been there. It felt good to wake up to him. I looked towards the door and saw there were two different officers standing right outside. I wondered what time it was. There was no clock in this room, but judging from the light coming in the window, it was probably close to noon.
I was still groggy, and assumed it was the pain medication still in my system. I did not want to sleep anymore. I used the bed’s remote control to sit up. It wasn’t very loud, but it was loud enough for Matt to hear it. He jumped up and had a startled look on his face.
“Is everything alright?” He asked, looking around the room suspiciously.
“Yes,” I answered. “I’m fine. Just needed to sit up.”
“The doctor was in earlier,” he said. “He gave the okay for you to leave once you’re awake. So whenever you’re ready, we can go.”
“That’s great,” I remarked. “I am so sick of being in hospitals.”
“Yes, I can imagine,” he answered. “You must be exhausted. I’ll take care of that for you okay?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Ross is downstairs waiting with the car,” he said, changing the subject. “Let’s get you dressed so you can come home. I brought you a few things to choose from, as you came from the hotel in your pajamas. Do you think you’ll be okay to get changed yourself?”
“Yes,” I said shyly. “I think so.”
“Because I can help you, if you want,” he teased.
“I’ll be perfectly fine, Matt,
” I answered, trying to be serious but not able to. His smile was contagious.
“Okay, if you insist,” he said, as he approached the door. “I’ll be right outside. With my back turned.”
I got dressed, smiling from ear to ear. I felt good that Matt had confided in me so completely the night before. It was a relief that he was not involved with Joy. Yes, it was clear that Joy would be in the picture, persisting in her efforts to fulfil her parents’ wishes. That part was not great in itself, however I was relieved that my instincts about Matt - that he was one of the good guys, and genuinely cared about me - were right.
I wasn’t perfectly comfortable about going back to stay at his place. I wished there was a way for me to get to know him without having to live with him this quickly. I wished we could take our time to learn about each other without this set of unusual circumstances. I could keep wishing, but all the wishing in the world could not change any of it. As I walked toward the room door, I decided that instead of wishing, I would instead be grateful.
We finally exited the hospital. The two officers stationed at my door were with us. As we got outside, I noticed their police car in front of Ross’s car. There were three men in suits beside Ross, all wearing the same tan coats and microphone earpieces in their left ears. I noticed more of them at varying distances away from us at the hospital entrance. There were also four black SUVs with completely tinted windows behind Ross’s car.
“So these are all your men, right Matt?” I asked.
“Yes,” he answered, wrapping his arm more tightly around my shoulder and pulling me closer. “They’re well-trained, and they will go wherever you are. I told you, no one is ever going to get close enough to you to hurt you, Kate.”
We all drove from the hospital in a long, multivehicle procession. I felt like I was in a presidential motorcade. We didn’t go in the direction of his condo, so I asked him where we were headed.
“To my place,” he answered. “I just didn’t want to pass in front of the hotel. I don’t want you to have to relive what happened there. I still feel horrible about it.”
I turned toward him and reached one hand up to cup his face. “I know that you feel responsible,” I started, “but it’s not your fault, okay?”
He looked down at his lap, and I lifted his chin up so he could face me again. “Stop blaming yourself. Okay, Matt?”
He placed one hand on a button on the car door, which automatically lifted a blacked-out glass divider between us and Ross. Once it was completely closed, Matt reached around me and pulled me onto his lap.
“I’m not going to stop blaming myself because I should have seen him when I left your room,” he said, looking me squarely in the eyes. “I should have never left. You’re too kind, too beautiful, too special for this to have happened to you. You didn’t deserve to be attacked.”
His eyes were protective and fierce as he spoke. Hot waves of masculine energy emanated from him, piercing through me. It made my entire body tremble with desire for him. It didn’t help that I was in his lap. The last time I was there we were making wildly passionate love in his living room. I tried to focus.
“Until the cops find that bastard, while I’m with you, I’m not letting you out of my sight. And if I can’t be with you because of work or the business, I’ll have my army of goons make sure you’re safe. Okay, Kate?”
He ran his hand through my hair and cradled my neck as he leaned in to kiss me. My heart raced as our lips met. There was a burning passion in his touch, one that had been building since the night before. He took a breath in the midst of our kiss, and spread out his massive hand on my back, balancing me in place on his lap. Being this close to Matt, in his arms like this, felt so right.
I ran my hands through his hair, and fisted it harder as his hands explored my responsive breast through my top. I released a moan into his kiss, unable to hold back as I let him entwine my tongue with his. Ripples of pleasure rose up and tore through my body. I was losing all control.
Matt skillfully undid my blazer without breaking from the kiss. As he unbuttoned the high collared shirt from near my neckline, he pulled away from my mouth to begin ravishing my neck. Suddenly, he jerked backward and I could see a mixture of horror and fear on his face. I was confused.
“What’s wrong?” I asked in a raspy purr.
“Your neck,” he answered softly. “It’s bruised so badly. We can’t do this, Kate. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“It’s fine,” I tried to reassure him. “It looks worse than it is, but the doctor said the bruising will pass soon.”
He wrapped one arm around my waist and used the other to gently place my head on his shoulder. “I’m horny as hell,” he whispered. “And I want to make love to you so bad. I just can’t bear to hurt you, Kate.”
It was reassuring that he felt so strongly about protecting me. I could hear it in the tenderness of his voice, and felt it in his touch. I couldn’t help it. His fear for me made my heart ache. I snuggled into his strong, rock-hard chest and accepted his warm embrace the rest of the way home.
* * *
“You’re going to bed and you’re not getting out until you’re all better,” Matt commanded. We had returned to his place and the two officers were stationed at the elevators. The second they were out of earshot, at the top of his condo unit stairs, he picked me up and effortlessly walked me into the spare room I had been staying in.
I knew this couldn’t be good for me. I sacrificed so much to have my independence. Yet, here I was, in his arms, completely intoxicated by my attraction to him. As much as I preferred my independence, being this close to Matt had a giddying effect on me. He made me feel safe.
“You know,” I started. “Normally I would have a problem with being carried around like this. But, I might just get used to it.”
“Quit the sarcasm,” he finally smiled. “When you’re all better, I’ll stop being a human pack-mule, okay?”
He lowered me into bed, and skillfully pulled the covers out from under me. “One second,” he said, and left the room. He came back with pajamas he must have bought me.
“Where did those come from?” I asked, wondering how he found time to get the clothes he had sent over to the hotel.
“I own a clothing retail chain, Kate,” he said comically.
“Well, isn’t that resourceful of you,” I joked.
“If you think that’s resourceful, wait until you get better, young lady.”
He smiled as he kneeled at the foot of the bed and removed my shoes. They dropped hard to the floor.
“Careful with those,” I taunted him. “They’re Christina Dior pumps.”
“Really?” he answered. “And?”
“And it says somewhere that it’s a cardinal sin to mistreat them. Sorry, force of habit. I think it’s something my mom said a lot. She loved his designs. Plus, you got them for me, so you don’t want to have to replace them so soon.”
“Don’t you worry about replacing shoes,” he answered. “I only want your mind to be focused on one thing right now.”
“Yeah? And what’s that?” I teased. The playful banter with Matt was such a turn-on. There was an ease being with him. I felt I could be myself. No barriers. No layers, No censoring. Just me, myself and Matt.
“Me,” he teased back.
“I can arrange that, I think.”
“No, seriously,” his worried look surfaced again on his face and in his eyes. He walked around to the side of the bed and sat facing me. “I want you to get better. Just rest and focus on being 100%. I’ll make sure you’re safe and take care of the rest.”
“I’m fine, Matt,” I answered. “Yes, I admit, I’m a little worn out. I can use some sleep today. But I can’t stay in bed forever.”
“If I had my way you would be,” he said playfully. “See? I can’t stay serious with you. Let’s get you changed.”
“I can figure out changing into these pajamas myself, Matt,” I answered.
“Alright, but I
’m not taking any chances,” he countered. “You get them on you and I’ll stay right here. Don’t worry, I’ll close my eyes okay?”
I smiled, because he had already seen all of me before. I stood up and changed, then got back into bed.
“All done,” I replied. “You can open your eyes now.”
He looked over, and winced like he was in pain. “Gosh, Kate. Those bruises look so painful.”
“They’re really not as bad as they look,” I answered.
“Fuck,” he shouted. He stood up and began to pace in front of the bed, like a large, caged animal. He had an imposing presence already, and the air of rage on his ominous stature made him seem animalistic and dangerous. “That man has to pay for hurting you like that. I hope the cops find him before I do, because I don’t know what I might do if I catch up with him first.”
I sat up and flung my legs over the side of the bed, facing him. “I’ll be okay. Really, I will. Let the police do their job. I don’t want anything to happen to you, Matt.”
I reached my arms out to him, and he walked up and held on to them. He stood still in front of me, with his eyebrows sloping down in frustration. Looking up at him was intimidating in his current state. Thankfully, as our eyes met, his face softened. He pushed my hair back, and cupped the left side of my chin. His touch sent chills down my back. I closed my eyes and let the moment soak in. I just wanted to change the subject and get him out of his frame of mind.
Chapter 7
Matt kneeled on the floor in front of me and wrapped his arms around my waist. Gently, I leaned forward and kissed his cheek. I worked my way to his neck, kissing him softly as I went along. He moaned out loud, and the sound made me wetter with every moment.
HERO (The Complete Series) Page 11