“No, I mean, don’t be mad that Hodges was the one who took me to speak with the RCMP.”
Reese thought about that. “Actually, that makes me feel better.”
“Me, too,” David said from the foot of the bed, his arms crossed over his chest.
Reese would bet anything David, like Reese, was battling the urge to drive to Canada and punch Frankie in the face.
Restless, Reese threw off the covers. The only good news was that phone call had totally killed his morning wood. “Let’s order breakfast, then you can tell us what happened,” he said before realizing he was being presumptuous as hell. “Or you’re welcome to ask me to leave, if you’d rather.”
“No,” Mati said. “I want you to know.”
“Okay,” Reese said, relieved.
“Yeah,” David agreed. “Also, I’m not letting either one of you out of my sight.”
David barely tasted his breakfast, and not just because it was more flavorless hotel garbage. His brain was stalled on the idea of Mati having an asshole ex-boyfriend. It wasn’t like it was an uncommon affliction, as his work had proved time and again. But usually, it wasn’t someone he knew. Someone he cared about—even if he shouldn’t. Not yet, at least. But he kept picturing her last night, snuggled into his chest, making Reese come in his pants and falling apart with complete abandon.
He sat across the table from her and Reese, his legs tangled with theirs. He’d done it to show support, to make it clear he wasn’t judging. And to make Reese stop bouncing his damn knee.
That it also comforted David was beside the point.
He surreptitiously checked his phone, reading Chance’s texts as they came in. They already knew a lot about Francisco Ribeiro, and within the next twenty-four hours, Chance, along with Reese’s investigators, were likely to dig up everything from his tax returns to how many cavities he had on his last visit to the dentist.
The messages weren’t doing much for David’s blood pressure, or his appetite, but Frankie also wasn’t popping as the next Ted Bundy.
David managed to hold his tongue until Mati had eaten most of her breakfast. “You ready to talk about this?”
“Yes,” she said, putting her fork down and falling silent.
David stifled his rising impatience.
Mati frowned at her coffee, as if it might tell her what to say. “Frankie and I dated for about six months. I met him at my parents’ church, which should have been the first clue he was a bad idea.”
David cocked his head. “How so?”
“They go to St. Anna’s,” she said. “It’s very,veryconservative. I stopped going when I left for college, but I still end up there for family events, like christenings and the children’s pageants, which is how I met Frankie. He seemed nice, attentive to my parents, and flirted with me every chance he got when they or Father Anthony weren’t looking. I foolishly thought that daring said something about him.”
Reese slid his hand over hers, giving her a reassuring squeeze.
“He asked me out to dinner, and it went from there. It was fine. Fun, even. For the first time in a decade my parents approved of a man I was dating, while he seemed delighted by what he called myoutrageousness.” Mati rolled her eyes. “That should have been another hint. But he seemed into it, and after a lifetime of being told that was what waswrongwith me, I admit I was enjoying it.” She shrugged. “I hadn’t dated much for a while. I had a serious boyfriend in Ottawa when I was in school, and he was kind of…” She waved her hand, apparently struggling to find the right word.
“A jerk?” Reese guessed.
“No. Nothing like that. He was…”
She looked to David for help, but he had no idea what she was going to say.
She sighed. “Kinky.”
Reese twitched in his seat like he’d stuck his toe in an electric socket. David sucked on his teeth to keep from laughing.
“Anyway,”she continued, “the few guys I’d dated since coming back to Sydney hadn’t worked out, and none of them had seemed remotely…um…adventurous. Which is fine,” she hastened to add, looking at Reese.
Reese shook his head quickly, as if trying to ward off the implication. Of course, last night notwithstanding, David would also bet Reese wasn’t all that kinky.
Yet, anyway.
“After a few months of sleeping together, I got fooled into thinking it would be okay to explore some stuff with him. And he was all for it, always bringing it up and encouraging me to take charge.” She looked between them. “I didn’t push, I swear.”
