12. Matthew
12
Matthew
The car drive back to the safehouse is a blur. The quick conversation with the two agents goes over my head. I trip three times walking from the driveway to the door. It’s a good thing Kieran is right behind me and catches me with his strong arms.
I sink into the zebra-couch and watch him sort out the bags of random stuff we picked at the shopping center. He moves with precision and efficiency, his size allowing him to reach high cupboards and shelves without the help of a chair. I think he’s about 6’2”, but I’m shit at estimating. All that matters is that he’s taller than me and can manhandle me and keep me safe.
Prickles cover my skin, sending tiny electrical surges across my entire body.
Oh my god. Kieran kissed me.
I didn’t think he would. This tall, hot, powerful and capable secret agent who’s been thwarting my advances from the moment we met. I was being an idiot at first—I mean, I was half-joking when I low-key threatened to make him gay. But then he had to go and kiss me. It’s all I’ve been thinking about since we left Lena’s apartment. It was… I shudder and rub my lips with my finger as my cock jerks to attention. It wasn’t just so he could shut me up. I think he wanted to kiss me.
I’m still buzzing and I don’t know what to do with myself. It’s like the floodgates opened when he shoved his tongue in my mouth and now there is no stopping them unless he kisses me again. The taste I got of him only exasperated my body’s need to be touched. I crave him. His mouth, his hands. This was not part of the plan, but he changed the rules when he fried my brain.
“Kieran,” I drawl, biting on my lip.
He snaps his attention to me, his nostrils flaring. His captivating brown eyes lock on my face, intense and a little troubled. I swallow hard as a sudden lump lodges in my throat. His gaze darkens, filling with hunger.
Jesus almighty . Let that beast come out and eat me. Pretty please?
“When are you gonna tell me what your plan is?” I ask, taking pity on him. I wanted to tease him about the kiss, but I can be mature. I can give him some more time to process things before I jump him.
Because I’ve been there, too. Granted, I realized I was into guys quite early on. I’d kind of suspected it, so it wasn’t a big deal for me. Or for Chrissy and Gordon. But I don’t really know Kieran. Not in that capacity. I’d love to and I hope that eventually he’ll feel comfortable sharing that side of himself with me. But right now, for all I know, he’s a guy who’s believed he’s straight his entire life and only now realizes—after having a mind-blowing kiss with me, if I may add—that he might not be so straight. Things like these tend to hit some people harder than others. But I’ll be there for him regardless. No way am I letting this stallion go after he made me see fucking stars just with his mouth.
Nah. Kieran, baby, you ain’t getting away from Matty. You are mine. You just don’t know it yet.
“I’m still working out the details,” he says somewhat distractedly. I don’t blame him. I’m quite the eye candy.
But I’m also not very good at sitting on my ass and doing nothing. Especially when all that stands between me and potentially figuring out what happened to Chrissy might be a two-hour drive north.
I study Kieran’s features. His sharp jaw and permanently trimmed beard really do it for me. I want to worship his face. I want to lick his lean neck. I want to nibble on his collarbone.
“I’m getting antsy,” I say, crossing my legs so I can obscure my semi.
He nods at his work phone that’s lying on the breakfast counter, his eyebrows bunching together in sympathy. “We need to be smart about it. Agent Kelly was giving me grief about staying put.”
Kelly can suck it. “When do you think they’ll figure out they need to go to Lena’s place?”
“Honestly? Unless they ask you for help, it’s probably going to take them a while. They will check out the places they think have some relevance to your aunt first. Anything she frequented, close friends, travel destinations she visited more than once, cases she worked on, etcetera. If they don’t know that Lena was a friend of hers, it gives us a week, maybe? Give or take.”
A week at most. That’s how much time we have to figure out what this asset is, why the CIA is so desperate to have it, who attacked Chrissy, and what Kieran’s dead parents have to do with any of this. And then it’s game over for us, I’m pretty sure. We could swing by the apartment complex and take the CCTV recording, but unless we make the guard disappear altogether, all the CIA needs to do is ask him if anyone visited Lena recently. We’d be busted in no time.
Perhaps we didn’t think things through. I unlock my phone, pull up the map app and stare at it. Will the CIA consider this obstruction? Or does it make us complicit even though, technically, we aren’t helping the bad guys? In either case, nothing good awaits us the moment the Agency puts two and two together. The only solution is for them to remain unaware about us making a copy of the data and finding a clue at Lena’s house.
I drag my finger right along the screen, sliding the map west. We still have the pins from earlier on it, and my digit stops at the one near Denver. If I’m not wrong, it takes about four hours by plane to get there. I zoom in on the pin. It points to a bar called Red Whiskers on the outskirts of the city. Okay. Red Whiskers totally sounds like a place my aunt would visit. All I need is for someone to hide a gibberish note with my name on it in the water tank of a toilet or something, and voila , the CIA has the next part of the puzzle that only I can solve. They’ll come running straight to me and Lena’s place will be safe.
I bark out a half-laugh as my mouth tries to accommodate an ear-splitting grin. Shit. I’m a fucking genius.
“You got an idea, sweet cheeks? Or did you finally lose it?” Kieran says from next to me, nudging me in the flank.
“Fuck!” I startle, shoving him away with all my might.
He doesn’t seem to expect my retaliation. His eyes go wide as he loses hold of the backrest where he’s casually propped his elbow and plops onto the couch. My balance gets compromised and, somehow, I end up splayed on top of him. My yelp gets muffled against his chest as he coils both arms around me to secure me in place.
I inhale deeply, my heart sprinting like mad because I almost broke my neck. He chuckles, the sound deep and reverberating through me as his chest rises under me. I shudder, taking in another greedy gulp of air. Fuuuuuuuuck, he smells so good.
“You okay there, Clumsy Pants?” He rubs my back, hitting a spot that makes me arch up like a cat and groan. “Well, someone seems to be tense. Is all that thinking taking a toll on you?”
I lift my head and roll my eyes. “FYI, I just figured out how to get the CIA off our backs so we can make a trip to Hastings.”
His mouth parts on a silent ‘Oh’. I contemplate plunging my tongue inside it, but decide against that. I want him to come to me himself, because that way it will be his own choice. It’s inevitable that he will, that much is clear, but I am willing to wait if it means giving him more time to get used to his updated sexual identity.
I’m a real sweetheart, I know. A true pillar of empathy. All the sociopaths should take notes.
Humming, Kieran manhandles me back into a vertical sitting position, stretching in the seat next to me. “Yeah? This ought to be good.”
I swat him playfully. He laughs and rawr- s at me like a lion. If anything, he’s more like a big fluffy dog, though.
“Stop making fun of me, agent.” I point my finger at his forehead.
“That’s on you, sunshine. Have you tried being less fun to tease? Your reactions are kind of cute.”
“Uh-oh? You think that I’m cute?”
“Don’t twist my words,” he warns sternly, but the huge smile that’s still beaming at me ruins the effect he’s going for. “Plus, you haven’t told me your plan yet. Stop getting distracted.”
It’s easier said than done when he’s sitting so close to me and looking at me like I’m offering him the Holy Grail. Grr . This is unfair. A crush is the last thing I need right now, and since we kissed, I’ve been outright speeding down heart-palpitations and dick-twitching lane like a firetruck out on a call.
Taking a deep breath, I flush out some of my horniness. Not all of it—that’s impossible for as long as Kieran is within fifteen feet of me—but enough so that I can get my head out of the gutter. “We’ll send the CIA on a wild goose chase. In Denver. I know a dude who lives there. He can hide a coded note addressed to me in this bar. It’s from the list of coordinates. Lots of people come and go so they won’t know it was him.”
Kieran nods slowly, his attention solely on me. It’s fucking delightful. “Okay…”
“There are about seven or eight pins pointing to different venues. I won’t tell them which one it is, so they’ll have to check them all. They will be too distracted to care about us, which should buy us enough time to go to Hastings. As for the note… it won’t mean shit. There won’t be a code. This will force them to ask me for help. Granted we manage to check out the Old Pier before they return from Denver, I can send them there next without them having to go to Lena’s place. That way, they won’t know we were at the condo or that we’re leading them on.”
“Damn, Honeybear. Have you been holding out on me about your criminal mastermind streak?”
“I’m serious! This can work.” I fold my arms and push out my lips. “Can you get us to Hastings without anyone finding out or not?”
His big hand rakes through my hair in that way that I love. I almost purr in pleasure. “Leave it to me. I’ve got an idea.” He hops up and grabs the laptop from the coffee table, setting up on the breakfast counter. “I need to make some arrangements, so I’ll contact Agent Kelly in the morning. I’ll tell him you remembered something about your aunt’s trips. He’ll probably want to talk to you. You sure you’ll be able to convince him? Your little performance the other morning has me a bit worried, not gonna lie.”
I throw one of the cushions at him. “Ha-ha. Shut up and worry about your part. I’ll have you know that I had a role in a play when I was in high school.”
He glances my way, a sexy smirk already in place. “Oh yeah? Did you play the tree or the wall?”
“Ugh! You are so infuriating! What, are you five and bullying your crush or something?”
He swivels on the bar stool and faces me. “I don’t know, Matt. Are you brave enough to find out?”
“You’ll regret this!” I point the phone at him. “You are so gonna regret this. Just not right now, because I have to call my guy in Denver and set up the CIA.”