Chapter Five

 

Rory: If you go down the handcuffs-and-leather-paddle-road, don’t be too rough with him. He looks like he might bruise easily. Then again, he might like that kind of thing. If he does, I want details.

Robert: Leather paddles…? Matthew, this was a bad idea. Under no circumstances should you take any more advice from your cousin. I’m not sure how Rig and David deal with him on a daily basis, but it’s just a coffee date, for God sake. Try to keep things in perspective.

Rory: Consent, Matthew. Always get consent.

Robert: Leftovers might not be enough to put up with this.

 

Matthew reached down to help Oliver off the mat. “That was good. Lord knows you’ve got the strength to do this, Legs. It’s your reaction time that could use a little work.”

Oliver glared up at him balefully. “If I’d gotten enough sleep, my reaction time might be better.”

Matthew winced at that. His fault. Last night, after they’d talked, he’d taken Oliver again in the shower. Then woken him up a few hours later with a blowjob that Oliver had been inspired to reciprocate. He’d reciprocated so well that Matthew lost time and possibly saw God.

And now, before the sun was up, he’d decided to drag him over to the gym to show him some moves.

“We have this entire house to ourselves,” Oliver had argued. “Show me here.”

But Matthew had known if he touched him anywhere near his bed, even with the best of intentions, he was going to take him again.

And they were here for a reason.

“You’ve been showing up for weeks and your endurance was already above average. You don’t need to build more muscle or strengthen your core. You really don’t even need to know that much about boxing. What you do need is a few defensive dirty tricks to protect yourself. No one will be able to touch you after that.”

Oliver nodded, dragging his hair into a small bun to get it out of his face. “Fine. But after this I’m teaching you how to waltz and you can’t complain once. That’s the deal.”

“I can take it if you can. Now let’s try something new. When I pin your arms, you drop your body weight, step on my foot, and then when I’m distracted, you twist and place one of your legs behind both of mine, trapping me so you can toss me over your back and onto the ground.”

“Sounds like evil twister,” he muttered. “This is why I don’t share.”

But Matthew was grateful that he had. His initial instincts were to find the piece of shite that had been harassing him and beat the bloody hell out of the man. His second was to call his cousin and get a restraining order. Since Oliver had vetoed both of those ideas, this would have to do. For now.

He wrapped his arms around him, approving when he dropped and bent at the waist. “Good. Now what do you do?”

Oliver paused, wiggling his ass against Matthew’s inappropriate but unrelenting erection. “Are you sure you don’t want to be doing something else?”

He ground his teeth together. “I’m like this whenever you’re around, of course I want to. But this is more important.”

In a quick motion that showed he’d been paying attention, Oliver executed the move perfectly, stomping on Matthew’s foot, trapping his legs and flinging him over his back before he knew what hit him.

Oliver straddled him, those clinging shorts of his riding up indecently and Matthew groaned. “You’re killing me.”

He lowered his mouth until their lips were a breath apart. “No, I’m incapacitating you and escaping your evil clutches.”

His hand slid between their bodies and into Matthew’s sweatpants, stroking him with a skill that left him gasping and reaching for his wrist. “This is when you run and call for help, Legs.”

A familiar voice with a deep, amused lilt made them both still. “Why would he need any? It looks to me like he’s doing just fine on his own.”

Fuck.

“Billy. I thought you’d be asleep for another hour or so.”

William Finn ducked under the ropes and joined them in the ring. “I was asleep,” he said easily, gesturing towards his white undershirt and the pajama bottoms that were covered in shamrocks.

Matthew smirked. “Nice outfit.”

“Comfy too. Like I was, cuddled up with my beautiful wife, sweet as you please, until that alarm Tanaka installed went off on my phone.”

Red-faced, Oliver slipped his hand out of Matthew’s pants before they both rolled away from each other and got to their feet.

William pretended he didn’t notice the move, or their matching erections.

Thank God for small favors.

“I used my key,” Matthew said stiffly. “You said I was free to.”

William nodded easily. “I did and you are. But Ken added an extra security code for when I lock up at night, knowing I’d be worried about my wife and child upstairs. Until I disarm it in the morning, I get a ping anytime a window or door opens up in the gym.”

He should have remembered Ken had installed the security system. “I’m sorry about that. I wasn’t thinking.”

William was leaning back on the ropes now, studying Matthew with an enigmatic expression. “That’s not what you should be sorry about, Matty.”

Oliver tensed beside him and Matthew slid an arm around his waist. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” he repeated firmly. “Where did you learn those moves you’ve been teaching our Mr. Garcia this morning?”

“Moves?” For a second, Matthew wasn’t sure which moves he was talking about.

His brother’s eyes twinkled at his look of confusion. “Oh, didn’t I mention? He added a video feed. Tanaka thinks of everything. Genius, that one.”

Oliver groaned softly into Matthew’s shoulder, but he’d relaxed against him. William didn’t have a problem with who he was dating. He was far more upset that Matthew had learned to fight without him.

“Our old neighborhood,” Matthew said vaguely. “Just the basics to make sure I could take care of Calamity if the need arose.”

That wiped most of the amusement off William’s face. He nodded grimly. “Good man.”

“He is,” Oliver chimed in, sounding protective. “He’s a good teacher, too.”

Matthew made a face. “Wouldn’t go that far. My way is messy and quick, but it should get the job done.”

William scratched his chin thoughtfully. “I’ve been considering adding a self-defense class or two to promote at the opening, but with the baby coming I didn’t want to overextend. I’d be proud if you’d consider lending me a hand with that.”

Matthew’s throat tightened. When was the last time William had voluntarily asked him for help? “I think I could work that into my schedule.”

His brother nodded brusquely, eyes bright with emotion. “That’d be grand, Matty. Just grand.”

Then he clapped his hands together, a serious expression on his face as he studied Oliver. “It looks like my first instinct about you was right, wasn’t it, Garcia? You need to defend yourself? Someone bothering you?”

When Oliver instinctively started to shake his head, Matthew sighed. “Yes, someone’s been bothering him. The guy works with Oliver’s cousin, and he’s a macho arsehole that thinks his size makes him intimidating. Thinks he can make Oliver do whatever he wants.”

He ignored the glare Legs tossed his way. He was right to tell him. William was a good man to have on their side, especially if the shit-heel decided to step over the line again like he had three weeks ago.

Oliver had told him the whole story—how it started with the muscle-bound wanker showing up at the dance studio, then his grandmother’s house, each time insulting Oliver’s sexuality after trying and failing to get him alone. Then the arse had gotten drunk at a family party and snuck into Oliver’s room.

If Oliver’s cousin hadn’t been looking for him, shouting from the hallway… Matthew didn’t want to think about what might have happened.

Oliver had been using the gym as an escape, as well as a place to train. The closer the bastard got to his family, the harder it was for Oliver to avoid him.

Why he hadn’t told his cousin or any of his uncles, Matthew couldn’t understand. But he wasn’t going to keep it from his brother.

William’s expression was hard and telling. “Does he now? I think we should prove him wrong, don’t you, Matty?”

“Hell yes.”

“Now that we’ve got that settled, I saw a problem with that last maneuver of yours. I’ll try that bear hug this time, all right, Ollie? You do your best to throw me off.”

Oliver stared at Matthew with big eyes, mouthing, “Ollie?”

He grinned as his brother wrapped his arms around his boyfriend. Then William caught his eye and Matthew knew they’d be having a conversation about what he’d walked in on at the soonest available opportunity.

But there was no doubt in his mind that his brother would be in his corner.

He’d had it all wrong about him. William loved as deeply, as passionately, as his parents had, but there was nothing selfish about his heart. He could, and did, love his friends, family and his unborn child unconditionally and with equal ferocity.

That was the kind of love Matthew didn’t want to turn away or avoid.

He watched Oliver struggle and swear as William blocked his footwork and his smile grew.

That was the kind of love he’d fight for.

 

 

Three months later…

 

“Oh fuck, baby, we can’t. Not here.”

Matthew growled against the back of his neck, the sound echoing off the tiles in the gym shower. “Oh yes, we fucking can. No cameras in the shower, I barred the door and you haven’t spent the night at my place for a week.”

“It was three days, and I was babysitting, so I suffered more than you did. But I owed Ruben and you still got off, so you can’t complain.”

Matthew spun Oliver around and gripped his biceps. “Blowjobs in the car are hot, Legs, but they’re just temporary fixes. I only have so much restraint when it comes to you. I’m not waiting anymore.”

He turned on the water with one hand, nudging his chest into Oliver’s until his back was pressed against the wall.

“I love it when you get all bossy and impatient,” he said with a happy sigh.

Matthew kissed him hard on the lips before spinning him around again so his cheek was pressed into the tile. “I know you do. That’s why you spent the entire self-defense class distracting me. Brushing against me. Bending over right in front of me, this perfect ass begging for a ride.”

Oliver lifted his hips and performed a move that made the cheeks of his ass caress Matthew’s cock. “You know me so well.”

He learned more every day, Matthew thought with satisfaction as he slipped on his condom and reached for the now ever-present bottle of lube.

Oliver Garcia was still his obsession, and Matthew knew without a single doubt he always would be.

Artistic and strong. Stubborn and determined as he was. Private and shy unless he was dancing or Matthew pushed him out of his comfort zone.

For his part, Oliver kept him on his toes and made him dizzy with need for him at a single, sizzling glance. It was an ache that never went away.

Happy. Oliver made him happy.

Matthew slid wet fingers between the cheeks of his gorgeous ass, feeling that snug bit of heaven he’d been dying for tighten around him.

“Oh God,” Oliver groaned, mumbling that mix of English and Spanish he only spoke when he was too turned on to think. “Quiero, Matty…”

“What do you want, love?”

“You know.” Oliver rocked back against his fingers, one hand slipping down the wall to grip his own erection. “You always know.”

“That’s right.” Matthew pulled his fingers out, spreading those luscious cheeks wide so he could watch Oliver stretch slowly around him. “Fuck, you’re as tight as the first time.”

“Dancing,” Oliver huffed out in a daze. “And Kegels.”

Matthew laughed. After that the only sounds coming from the shower were possessive growls and breathless cries.

He tangled his fingers in Oliver’s curls, tilting his head back until he could claim his mouth the way he was claiming his body.

His man.

The right one.

When he came, Matthew’s shout was loud and raw as lightning hit him again, sending shockwaves through his body.

His heart was pounding, lungs struggling as his body slowly recovered. Then he wrapped his arms around Oliver’s limp, shivering frame and guided him toward the water’s soothing spray.

“That was perfect,” he mumbled.

Matthew tightened his arms around him. “Close.”

“Close?” Oliver’s doe eyes popped open in surprise. “Close?”

“If you lived with me, we could do this whenever we wanted. That would be perfect.”

Oliver leaned back and pushed his wet curls out of his face. “You want me to live with you?”

“Did you miss the part in this story where you finally admitted you loved me? I think it happened seven weeks and eighteen hours ago.”

Oliver’s lips curved adorably. “That’s pretty specific.”

“Move in with me.”

“That could be a problem.” He wrapped his arms around Matthew’s shoulders.

He swore, knowing what his hesitation was about. “It’s always going to be a problem until we fix it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you love me?”

Oliver’s expression softened. “You know I do.”

“Then it’s time I met your family.”

His breath came out in a whoosh. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

He’d never been more serious. He wanted a future with Oliver. He couldn’t have it until Oliver’s family at least knew he existed and accepted his presence. “About you? Always.”

“Does Kate know?”

“About you moving in? She loves the idea.” She wasn’t about to move out and miss all the fun, but she’d promised to give them plenty of alone time.

He didn’t look reassured but he said, “Okay.”

Matthew couldn’t hide his surprise. “Okay? I was expecting more of a battle.”

“You’ll get enough of that if I move in with you,” Oliver warned.

“When you move in with me.”

“You might change your mind after you meet my family.”

Matthew smiled, reaching around him to turn off the water. “You seem to forget how good I am at handling big families.”

The knock on the door to the locker room had them both turning their heads.

“Matthew Finn?” Robert’s shout was irritated. “Godfather Barbie is here trying to bribe me with cold lasagna. Stop with the exhibitionism and take care of that.”

Oliver’s eyes widened and he covered his mouth to muffle his laugh. “Is he really still angry at Rory?”

Matthew reached for a towel and wrapped it around Oliver as he answered. “He was only mildly irritated until Bronte had the baby.”

Rory had been at the gym then too, covering the front desk for Robert. And Bronte had been in a hurry.

Oliver shook his head, striding toward the lockers with a grace that was all his own. “He’s an EMT. It’s not like that was the first time he’s delivered a baby. What’s the big deal?”

Matthew imagined it was partially because Robert had missed the moment. By the time he’d gotten back, William and the ambulance had arrived, and Bronte and the baby were being taken away on the stretcher.

Then again, it could also have had something to do with the baby’s name. Bronte had been so grateful that she’d broken part of the Wayne family literary tradition. The baby’s first name had been chosen for months. Bronte’s father and William had made sure of that, finally settling on Irish author, Oscar Wilde. Bronte insisted they all agree to call her son Wiley so the boy wouldn’t be traumatized or given any ideas before she agreed. But because he’d delivered the baby, Rory had gotten to vote on his middle name.

Deveraux. Wilde Deveraux Finn. Another boy named after a romance author.

“He’ll get over it,” Matthew assured him, kissing his cheek as he passed to gather his clothes. “Nora always does. You and I have more important things to worry about and a lot of plans to make. Like how quickly we can get you packed. And what I should bring to the family dinner.”

And how soon I can start talking about forever.

Oliver grinned weakly. “This should be fun.”

 

***Want more Matthew and Oliver?

Look for another bonus short in ,

Book 10 in the Finn Factor, coming October 2018***

 

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