Page 115 of Fierce-Matt

“No,” she said. “I think he was like thirteen. My father was much bigger and wrapped him up in a bear hug and told him to calm the hell down and if he didn’t, he was going to military school.”

She cracked a smile. “What’s so funny?”

“That actually worked. EJ was good for a period. My mother, she’s a clever one. She made sure there were brochures to those schools in the house for EJ to see. Not out in the open, but like in drawers he might find if he was looking for something.”

“Wow, good for Amber. Are you sure they weren’t serious?”

She shrugged. “I wouldn’t have minded if they sent him. Maybe sending him would have fixed what was broken in him. Or it could have made it worse. It’s neither here nor there and I’m not ruining the last few hours we have here with talk of my brother.”

“Good point,” he said. “What do you want to do with our last few hours?”

“Well,” she said. “You can make me shout out your name another time as long as there is no victory lap around the room. I don’t need you tripping or stubbing your toe and limping home. Everyone will think I did it to you.”

“And they’d clap over it if you did,” he said. “I’d just tell everyone that you were so insatiable that I had to run away to cry defeat and you wouldn’t let me. You kept me locked up as your sex slave for the entire trip.”

She pinched his arm. “If I wanted you to be a sex slave, I’m positive I wouldn’t have to lock you up.”

“Nope,” he said, moving fast enough that she found herself under him in bed. “And I’m positive I wouldn’t have to lock you up either.”

“Never,” she whispered. “Let’s make this one count before we leave.”

He grabbed her hands and threaded their fingers together over her head. “I love you. I’m going to make love to you. That will make it count.”

“Yes, it will.”

32

LEARN FROM THEIR MISTAKES

“How was your trip?” his mother asked him on Monday morning.

He’d gotten to the office early to get a head start on his week. He’d have to be in court most of this week.

“It was great,” he said. “Much needed. How was the Fierce Fourth of July party?”

“Interesting,” his mother said. “We haven’t been invited before. Your father didn’t want to go this year, but Ben talked us into it. He said if we were going to work with Jolene, it came with the territory.”

He laughed. “You’re not even hiding the fact now.”

“There isn’t a reason to.”

“Did she bug you too much for details?” he asked.

Matt reached for his coffee on his desk. He was still trying to recover from his time with Anya.

There used to be a time when he could survive on a few hours of sleep for days in a row.

Those times were few and far between.

The thoughts of a nice quiet night or weekend with the woman he loved were more enjoyable than anything else he could come up with.

“It’s Jolene. She bugs everyone.”

“What did you tell her?”

“That you and Anya went away for a few days to relax. You’ve both been busy and needed the time to recharge.”

“That should be enough for her to know it’s going well,” he said. “But I’m sure it wasn’t.”