You cannot possibly mean what I think you mean.
Reese considered confirming itwas,in fact, what Rupert thought he meant, but instead fell asleep enjoying how it would drive Rupert absolutely batshit crazy for a while.
By morning, Reese had a series of messages involving every punctuation mark and special character on the keyboard, and some he didn’t even recognize. This was followed by a series of emojis that appeared to be violent things happening to eggplants.
Reese had no idea.
“What are you smiling at?” Matilda asked as she dragged herself upright and perched her glasses on her nose.
Reese tilted the phone and scrolled so she could see the entire exchange.
He’d happily listen to her throaty early-morning laugh every day of his life.
He kissed her, because how could he not? Her lips curled and his heart skipped at the laughter and sleepy happiness in her eyes. He drew his thumb over her eyebrow and down to her cheek, tracing the familiar shape of her beautiful face.
The buzz of David’s phone on the coffee table interrupted the heady silence.
“Sorry,” David muttered from the couch, sitting up. He didn’t sound as though he’d just woken up.
Reese wondered if David had been listening to them. If he had heard them kiss.
If he’d wanted to join them.
David answered his phone, “What’s up, Chance?” His hand scrubbed through his thick hair, leaving it sticking up in all directions. Reese’s fingers twitched with the desire to smooth the silky strands back into place.
Then David jumped to his feet and spun to face them. Reese clutched Mati’s hand, alarmed, though he didn’t fail to notice the skin-tight, black boxer briefs barely containing David’s massive thighs, or the bulge between them.
“Mati,” David said carefully, “did you take a restraining order out against your ex-boyfriend?”
Reese felt like he’d been punched in the chest.
Mati bolted upright. “What?No.”
David listened to Chance, his frown growing fiercer by the second.
Mati waved her hand to get his attention.
“Hold on,” he said, taking the phone from his ear.
“Okay, this has to be because I asked the RCMP about a peace bond once, but I never filed. And, god, that was over a year ago.”
“So, youdidsee the need for a restraining order at some point,” David clarified.
She sighed. “Yes. Briefly. And it’s not called a restraining order in Canada. That’s for family. We have peace bonds and they don’t work the same as they do here in the States.”
David looked singularly unimpressed by the semantics lesson. He brought the phone back to his ear. “Hey, I’m going to call you back. Thanks for taking care of that other stuff. Let me know when it gets here.” He listened for a few more seconds before hanging up.
Mati wilted against the pillows. “FuckingFrankie.”
Reese vaguely recalled that name. He had a long-standing policy not to ask too many questions about Mati’s love life, since the answers had made him crazy, but Frankie had come up a few times. And then he’d been gone.
Apparently, not gone enough.
“I didn’t know,” he said.
Mati eyed him. “Don’t be mad.”
“I’m not mad. You had no obligation to tell me.”
