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Saving Grace (Misty Grove Book 2) by Paige, Victoria (27)








CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN


Matt


“You may now kiss the bride.”

Fucking finally, Matt thought impatiently before he scooped Grace into his arms and captured her lips with his. His tongue swept into her mouth in a claiming kiss. She gasped before melting into him. He’d been in a shit mood for the past few days considering he was looking forward to getting married. For some harebrained reason, his sisters decided to sequester his woman in Cassie’s house where Kate was currently staying. Matt couldn’t argue about security because Trent had that place locked up like Fort Knox. Plus, Grace had two deadly former assassins with her. Nope, he couldn’t complain, but he missed his woman.

He ended the kiss, satisfied he’d left Grace breathless. He stared down at her green luminous eyes.

His wife.

The walls of his chest expanded then contracted tightly, making it difficult to exhale. Eyes locked together, everyone else receded in the room. 

Except they wouldn’t be ignored. 

“You can monopolize your wife later,” Colt clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Right now, we want to thank her for making you a better man.”

How could Matt argue with that? And as his friend hugged Grace, he was pulled aside by Millie in a tight embrace.

“You did good, Matthew,” Millie whispered. “Couldn’t be more proud of you, picking a woman like Grace to be your wife. You better not screw this up.”

Duly noted.

He stood back as his wife was welcomed into his family. By family, he meant his siblings and the folks of Misty Grove who’d been with him from the beginning. It was a close-knit and small gathering.

Millie and her people from the diner were here because they did their catering around the whole hog Mac had roasted. John, who officiated the ceremony, and his employees from the general store completed the party. And the guys from the garage and the ranch were here as well.

Troy and his biker gang were not invited. He didn’t want this moment fraught with awkwardness. He was certain the biker boss was going to be suspicious because he considered himself Grace’s friend. As far as Matt was concerned, he could be suspicious all he wanted, because he and his wife were leaving immediately after the festivities.

He sensed Kate beside him.

“I never thought I’d see the day my brother would fall for the marriage trap,” Kate said with a smile in her voice. He looked at the blonde beside him. If people saw them side-by-side, they’d be surprised to know that they were twins because Matt and Kate looked nothing alike.

“FYI, I did the trapping,” Matt replied. “And maybe if you’d stuck around here, you wouldn’t be so surprised.”

“Hey, none of that now,” she chided as she tucked her arm in his. “It’s a happy occasion. We’ll butt heads later … well, when you guys get back.”

“Have you talked to Colt?”

He felt his twin stiffen. “I’m trying to avoid him for now.”

“What? By hiding out at Cassie’s house? They’re newlyweds, Kate, you should either find a place of your own or stay at the ranch where there’s plenty of room.”

“I didn’t figure you to be a matchmaker. And thanks for hinting that I can’t stay with you,” she teased.

“Seriously, you and Colt need to get your shit together.”

“There’s no shit to get together because there never was anything between us.”

“Then talk to him. Don’t leave him hanging, sis. He needs to move on.”

“From what I’ve heard from Cassie he had no problem doing that.”

“Is that why you suddenly came back?”

“I didn’t suddenly come back,” Kate retorted. “My brother was getting married. He convinced me to move here, and yet, he wouldn’t let me stay with him.” She smirked when she saw the guilt on Matt’s face.

“Oh, don’t feel guilty.” She nudged him teasingly. “I totally understand. I’m moving into the Timberline apartments for now.”

“I doubt Colt will let you.”

“Colt doesn’t have a say in this.”

“My dear sister, you’re one of the toughest women I know, but Montgomery is eyeing you like prey right now. I doubt you’ll stand a chance.” Matt looked over to where the former SEAL stood and, indeed, he was watching Kate like a hawk. He laughed. “Is that why you’re sticking close to me right now?”

“Of course not!” Kate denied, but the pitch in her voice gave her away. Montgomery was making his sister nervous. Matt would normally be protective of her, but, like him, she needed to have a stick taken out of her ass. And he wasn’t going to do it for her.

 “I’m going to talk to Millie,” she muttered.

“Run off, little Kate,” Matt called after her.

“Hey, I’m older than you,” she threw over her shoulder. He shook his head as he watched her take the long route around the room to get to Millie so she could avoid Colt. What was this—high school? Matt inwardly snorted. They never went to high school or experienced any social setting that could have helped them handle a simple relationship. Maybe that was why they floundered when emotions came into play, and why he had nearly fucked up with Grace.

After about another hour and just before dinner, Grace finally made it to his side.

“Sorry, I abandoned you,” she said, laughing. “Your family is crazy, especially when Millie and Cassie go at it.”

Matt chuckled. “Glad they’re not scaring you off yet.”

“Nah, they’re different and sometimes I get unsettled by their dark sense of humor, but I guess it’s because of what they’ve seen and gone through.”

The life of an assassin, she meant. 

He shrugged. It was a life from a long time ago and many things had happened since then. “Makes you not sweat the small stuff.”

“I’m seeing that!” Grace exclaimed. “I would think that a crazy stalker after me would make me a pariah. You know, someone you shouldn’t be hanging around with.”

“It takes a lot to faze us, babe.”

She gazed up at him, and Matt’s breath caught at the tenderness, and what he dared hope was love shining through her eyes. He dipped his head and kissed her hard. He was a man of action after all.

“All right, Foster, you have to save that for later,” Millie hollered across the room. “Dinner is served, people!”



*****

Matt jolted awake when the flight’s captain announced their approach to George Bush Intercontinental Airport. He glanced at the sleeping woman beside him and couldn’t believe for the millionth time that she was his wife. Despite his adamance that she didn’t have a choice, there was always that nagging fear she would change her mind, and he would have to resort to another blackmail scheme for her to sign the marriage contract.

Following the party to celebrate their marriage, he’d immediately packed Grace into his SUV and drove to Atlanta. They hung around Colt’s condo where he let his wife rest until the terminal opened. They took the first flight out to Houston where they’d spend a few days in a bed and breakfast Millie had found in Houston Heights.

The diner owner was one of only a few people who knew their destination and that Grace had regained her memory. The others who knew were his siblings Kate, Cassie, Lucas, and, of course, Trent and Colt. He didn’t even confide in Roger and Axe and he rarely kept anything from them. However, knowing Roger had a past association with Troy, he wasn’t taking any chances.

Grace stirred beside him, opening her thick-lashed eyes sleepily, before smiling and snuggling closer.

His heart lurched at her simple actions. Fuck, he was definitely pussy-whipped. “Wake up, sleepy head. We’re about to land.”

“Already? I’m so comfortable right now,” she complained.

“Short flight. There’ll be plenty of time to sleep once we get to the bed and breakfast.” Matt was lying. He’d been keeping his libido in check for a while and couldn’t wait to make love to her for the next three days. He leaned over and set her seat back to upright in preparation for landing with Grace still protesting sleepily. Matt doubted he’d be letting her sleep much and wondered how much sleep a pregnant woman needed.

Their flight landed on time and taxied smoothly on the runway. So far, Grace didn’t experience morning sickness, but she’d been lethargic. Matt had read up on pregnancies so he’d know what to expect. He was thankful that Millie dropped off some reading material making sure he wouldn’t be a slacker in the fatherhood department.

He guided a zombie Grace off the plane. They had one overnight suitcase and a bigger one they’d have to pick up at the baggage carousel.

“I don’t know why you had to pick this early flight,” Grace grumbled. “Couldn’t we have left Misty Grove this morning and taken a later flight out of Atlanta?”

“You forget what traffic is like on I-75 during rush hour.”

“Who gets married on a week day anyway?”

Matt smiled and kissed the top of her head, keeping his hand on the small of her back and dragging their carry-on with his other hand. “Hmm … pregnancy making you this disagreeable?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “This has nothing to do with pregnancy.”

He moved her to the side so other people who were rushing wouldn’t mow them down. After all, they were on their pseudo-honeymoon. He was going to take her away on a two week vacation on a white sandy beach somewhere after their actual wedding. He didn’t mind having to do this all over again just so he could make her his all over again. 

“If you must know, I didn’t want Troy showing up at the garage with twenty million questions.”

“So, sneaking away was your answer?”

“I wouldn’t say we snuck away, more like we left covertly.”

Grace laughed. “We’re arguing semantics, but I see your point. I’m sure he’s heard that we got married by now, and he wasn’t invited.”

“Roger will tell him now that we’ve left Atlanta.”

“Who else knows we’re going to Houston?”

“Millie, obviously, Cassie and Kate. Colt, Trent and Lucas also know because they’re on standby.”

“Standby for what?”

“Wife,” Matt said in proprietary tone. “That memory stick is vulnerable. You need a backup of it somewhere. Somewhere that’s secure where no one could break into it. Yet it has to be accessible from anywhere.”

“The Dark Web?”

“You got it.”


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