Page 131 of Men of Fort Dale: The Complete Series

Nick nodded. “If we’re not under orders to keep our mouths shut, we always tell each other where we’re going.”

Nick grinned. “Damn right, I did. They would have looked it up if I didn’t, so I saved them the trouble.”

William frowned. “I know we’re out in the middle of nowhere, but it ain’t like you boys are camping out.”

Nick grimaced. “Probably remembering our little team-building exercise.”

“Ah, right. That’s the one when the troublemaker joined?”

“He wasn’t a troublemaker, Dad.”

“Oh, yeah, he was...is,” Matt corrected.

Nick rolled his eyes. “Yeah, it was when Aidan joined, and we got thrown into the middle of nowhere to freeze our asses off and almost got Sean killed. Now Sean’s a little...touchy about cold places.”

It was a rough but accurate summary of the test General Winter had put the team through years before.

It hadn’t started well when they’d lost Sean in the middle of a blizzard.

The team had nearly lost their minds. They’d lost Clint months before, and the idea of losing Sean had sent most of them into a tailspin.

Thankfully, Aidan had been there, keeping them in line and organizing their mission to hunt Sean down before getting them to the designated rendezvous point.

All in all, not their finest moment. But it had cemented Aidan’s place in their team and gone a long way toward making their family whole again. It might have been an absolute mess, but Matt wouldn’t give it up for anything.

“Well, if they decide to show up, I’ll point ‘em your way. Though ya might need a bigger place,” William said, pointing ahead.

Matt looked to where he indicated, hoping it wasn’t as bad as he feared.

He nearly sighed in relief at the small cabin tucked away in the furthest corner of the property.

It was slightly taller than a one-story, constructed to look like a log cabin.

A light shone through the front door window, and he wondered if the inside would be as rustic as the exterior.

Nick glanced back at him, a ghost of a smile on his face. “I told you it wasn’t going to be very big.”

“Only got one bedroom,” William added.

Nick’s gaze sharpened as he looked at his father. “We’ll live.”

Matt snorted. “We’ve had a lot smaller than this for the whole team to share. I think Nick and I can manage one bed.”

“Don’t doubt it for a second,” William said amiably.

Matt could see Nick was trying to communicate silently with his father.

What the message was and why he was trying to do it silently, he didn’t know.

There were loads of conversations and inside jokes between the Engels, though, and Matt ignored it as he stepped around them to check out the cabin up close.

“Full bath downstairs,” William told him. “Along with the living room. Got a little kitchen in there too, though most of the food is gonna come from Kim. Bedroom’s upstairs.”

“There’s an upstairs?” Matt asked as they approached.

“Just the one room, nothing fancy,” William said, opening the front door.

The air in the small entranceway had the slight tang of cleaning product, but otherwise, Matt smelled pine and earth.

It was chilly inside, but he assumed they had aired the house out.

It led immediately into an open room equipped with a plush couch, fireplace, and thick rug on the floor.

To his left was the small kitchen William had mentioned.

The hallway had one door to the right and a small set of stairs on the left.

“Nothing fancy,” Matt repeated as he looked around.

It was decorated to look rustic, from the bare wood walls and animal pelts on the floor.

An old rifle hung above the mantelpiece, and he was fairly sure the rug in front of the fireplace was genuine bear.

The light fixtures were modern and clean, hanging from the sloping ceiling.

It wasn’t fancy in a glam and glitter sort of way, but he was pretty sure everything, down to the leather couch, probably cost more than he and Nick’s apartments and their contents.

“Nothing fancy,” Nick said, and Matt could hear the grin in his voice.

A warm hand wrapped around the back of Matt’s neck and gave a squeeze before Nick continued inside. Matt smirked, patting Nick’s hip before he was out of reach. Their comfort with one another, combined with their tendency to touch casually, was one of those things that got people’s brows raised.

Personally, Matt didn’t see what the big deal was.

Nick could say a lot with a firm grip or a squeeze of his neck, and Matt enjoyed the attention.

They weren’t always the best at talking through everything, but there were conversations in those little touches.

Nick had been welcoming him into the home and telling him to relax, and Matt had been assuring him he would when they were alone and he could breathe.

“Kim’s probably already got dinner started for everybody. So you boys got another hour or so before you hear someone knockin’ on the door,” William said, his eyes sliding from Nick to Matt.

Matt dropped his bag on the floor beside the couch. “That works for me. Gives me a little time to get situated.”

“We’re gonna eat here tonight, Dad,” Nick called as his footsteps creaked on the stairs.

William chuckled. “Yeah, figured as much. You two rest up because you know she’s gonna want a big dinner tomorrow night.”

“We’ll be there,” Matt promised.

William nodded. “I’ll let her know what the plan is for tonight.”

“Alright, see you later, Dad,” Nick called down the stairs.

William’s eyes flicked to Matt, and for a second, he would swear the older man wanted to say something.

It was just a moment, a tightening of the skin around his lips and the slightest narrowing of the eyes.

And then it was gone, and William was waving cordially before stepping out and closing the door behind him.

Matt let out a low sigh and gracelessly flopped back onto the couch.

He always hated how traveling sapped his energy.

It always seemed strange that something involving hours of sitting and doing very little could be so draining.

But the couch was comfortable, letting him sink deep into its soft hold, and he was willing to take it.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he caught the familiar scent of Nick’s cologne before a shadow fell over his closed eyes.

Matt smiled as warm, strong fingers curled into his hair.

It was one of his biggest weaknesses, and he was pretty sure Nick was the only one who knew it, save for a couple of women from Matt’s past anyway.

“Lazy,” Nick chided playfully.

“It’s a very comfortable couch,” Matt assured him.

“I’m sure.”

“Think I might take a little nap.”

Nick chuckled, pulling his hand back. “Get some rest then. I’m sure you’ll wake up when the food gets delivered.”

Matt nodded, wondering if he could convince Nick to stroke his hair while he dozed off. It wasn’t exactly the sort of request he should have asked of his friend, but that didn’t change how much he would have enjoyed it.

Yet even the absence of Nick near him wasn’t enough to keep him from sleep. He found himself slipping into the comforting embrace of warm darkness.

When he awoke, it was with a faint jerk. He pushed himself upright, noting the stiffness in his back and the lack of sunlight from the window. He squinted at the blanket strewn across him, then looked around.

The house was quiet. Save for the wind outside and the wood creaking, there wasn’t a sound. Getting off the couch, he realized a faint light was coming from the kitchen and, with a brief stretch, went to investigate.

No one was there, but there was a note under the light above the stove. Nick’s handwriting, neat enough to put Matt’s chicken scratch to shame, was scrawled in the center of the paper. It informed him that he hadn’t woken up when the food came, but there were plenty of leftovers in the fridge.

Matt shook his head, touching the note for a moment before looking at the clock built into the stove. It was hard to believe, but it had been almost four hours since he’d laid on the couch. Even harder to believe was that he was sure he could go another four.

Nick was nowhere on the first floor, so Matt mounted the steps quietly.

There was no door, only an opening that led into a room with a sloped ceiling.

On the side of the room facing the mountain, a huge set of windows stood, moonlight pouring in through the glass.

From what he could see, the room was decorated in the same rustic but comfortable style as the rest of the house, save for the large bed at the center.

On one side of the bed was Nick, his back to the window.

Matt watched for a moment before deciding he would sleep downstairs instead. It was hard enough for Nick to fall asleep and stay that way most days. Matt had no idea how comfortable Nick felt at the family lodge and didn’t want to risk waking him just in case.

“I’m not sleeping,” Nick’s rumbling voice rose from the hulking shadow.

Matt chuckled softly, pulling himself fully into the room. “Was kind of hoping you were.”

“No, just lying here thinking.”

“Wishing you were asleep?”

Nick rolled over, face catching the moonlight. “Sounds like a really boring thing to do when you know it won’t happen anyway. Better to think about other stuff.”

Matt walked closer to the bed. “Don’t you do enough of that in your daytime hours?”

“Well, yeah, but the only way to be good at something is practice.”

“That’s the worst excuse I’ve ever heard for just lying there, doing nothing.”

Nick looked up, smiling softly. “I’ll sleep tonight. I can feel it. Just have to get there.”