“Go.” Ashley pushed on my back. “Say thank you.”
Dad and Jay helped unload Matt’s supplies.
“Thanks, Robinson.” Dad clapped him on the shoulder, adding, “You didn’t need to do this.”
“New guy brings the coffee, right?” Matt laughed. I’d heard about the hazing ritual that Jack started when SSI hired AJ, their first non-Sheppard employee. “It’s not Grannie’s, but it’s better than the swill in the machines,” he said, earning an appreciative giggle from my mom.
I stopped at a respectable, but not out of reach, distance between us. “I thought… I said… But you left.”
Great job, Sheppard, that was the exact opposite of calm, cool, and collected.
Matt smiled and reached for my hand, acting like it was the most natural thing in the world for a bodyguard to hold his protectee’s hand.
“Madeleine Sheppard, if you believe I’ll ever just drop you off and leave, you’re in for a rude awakening.”
I didn’t know how I knew, but I did. Matt’s words weren’t a statement. They were a fucking vow.
My knees did not just wobble.
My vision didn’t blur with the threat of tears. At least, that’s what I told myself as I blinked them away.
Images of Matt and me creating a future together flashed through my mind.
Fuckingridiculous. I shook my head to clear the fantasy. My skin flushed hot at the vividness of the unbidden daydream. A dream I couldn’t have.At least not with Matt.
“Wow,” someone said, breaking the spell. It may have been Ashley; it’d be on brand for her, but I didn’t care enough to verify.
“Thank you.” It was all I could say.
“You’re welcome.”
Needing to focus on something other than my emotions and those damn fantasies of having it all, I asked Matt if he’d brought any crackers.
“I did.”
“Mind if I steal them for Emily?”
“Take whatever she needs. We can always have AJ or Nathan pick up anything I missed.”
“That’s actually a good idea,” I said, rifling through the bags and grabbing the box of round butter crackers and a bag of chocolate candy.
I grabbed one of the discarded bags and filled it, adding a few bottles of water. “Ashley, can you pour a coffee for Jamie and help me deliver it?”
Ashley was dying to see Emily. The only reason she didn’t barge into the room the instant she arrived was because I was there.
“Hell”—her head snapped to Natalie’s carrier—“I mean, heck yeah.”
Everyone laughed. Ashley’s foul language rivalled the guys’,like I have room to talk, and it’d be just as hard for her to stop swearing as it would be for them.
“Thanks.” I turned to Matt and tugged him away from the group. “Thank you, Matt, this was...” I glanced back to buy time as I searched for the right word. “Unexpected.”
He brushed the back of his fingers across my cheeks, in a decidedly I’m more than your bodyguard way, and tucked my hair behind my ear.
Without my permission, my head leaned into his touch.
God, I want to kiss him.
“Get used to it.” He dropped his hand. “Now go take care of your baby brother.”
