“Honey…”

“I’ll be fine. I just need to let this all go.”

“You have three minutes and I’m coming back outside if you don’t come in.”

“I’ve lived here alone for the last several years. I can handle the driveway, thank you.”

He smiled at her acerbic tone and headed inside.

She waited until he was gone before she charged over to the other side of the garage where her father stood.

“What? What are you doing here?”

“A fine way to greet your father.” He stank of liquor and she fingered the pepper spray in her hand.

“Get the hell out of here. I have no money. I gave you all my cash. I told you, go away.”

“Now that your boyfriend is living here, you should have more money coming in.”

“I’m not letting him pay rent! What do you think I am? Her?”

“Don’t you talk about your mother that way, girl,” he slurred and moved forward but her anger over that evening spurred her on.

“Stop confusing her sins with mine. I have no more money to give you. If you push me too far and go through with your threats there’ll be no more cash so shut up and go away until after payday.”

She spun and stomped back into the house, triumph warring with fear.

She locked up and turned to see Matt leaning against the kitchen counter, looking at her speculatively.

“Who were you talking to?”

“Myself.”

She bustled past him and took another look at his knuckles. “You really hit him hard. You’re going to be sore tomorrow, it’s bruising already.”

“It was worth it. I don’t scrap as much as I once did. When I was younger, my knuckles were nice and hard from duking it out with my brothers all the time. God, we used to be such a mess! Marc rarely got into the physical stuff but he used to work us all, set us up. He’s a wily one.”

Tate laughed. “Mindfucking. He and Liv really are perfect for each other. I used to think he was softer, more laid back but he’s a lot more intense than he appears to be.”

Matt nodded. “You’re very observant. I don’t think he understood that himself until he and Liv got together.”

“Like you didn’t realize how hard you worked until you got together with me? Or that you rode yourself too hard and thought you were shallow because a lot of things came easy?”

He started a moment and took a deep breath. She’d hit home with that one. Good. He needed some introspection too.

“Let’s go to bed. Taking her hand, he drew her to their room and slowly undressed her before they settled into bed. She lay quietly, waiting as he stroked fingertips up and down her back while he thought about what she’d said.

“Most things have come easy for me. Do come easy I should say. Then I get bored and lose interest. I usually only stick with stuff that challenges me. Firefighting is one of them. It’s a physical challenge every day and a mental one too. You have to be on your toes when you’re at a fire or you’ll get hurt. Hell, even if you’re on your toes you can get hurt. But it’s exhilarating, that work I have to put into it.”

She stayed quiet as he processed. He liked that about her. She let him work through stuff without interrupting even though she had all that energy.

“And women? Well okay, that’s been easy too. And so I suppose people have looked at me and thought I was a happy bachelor. I have been at times but really what I wanted was a woman who engaged me, challenged me, made me dig and work and be a better person and I never found that. Until that day I walked into the salon and you choked when you saw me.”

He chuckled as he felt the heat of her blush against his skin. “I walked in there and there was this laughter. Feminine laughter, drew me right to you and your sisters. Pretty women, all of you. But I couldn’t take my eyes from you. You were like this golden, shiny thing in the midst of my gray life. And you choked and got all embarrassed and then you teased me. When I teased you back you blushed. You are real, Tate.

“And I couldn’t stop thinking about you and we started our lunches and I had to work to get to know you, to get past your defenses and every day I work because you make it worth my effort. Working to make a relationship is meaningful with the right person. It’s not just something I do because I’m not quite bored enough to find something else. I wake up each day excited to work with you, looking forward to whatever new experiences we’ll have, wondering what memories we’ll create. I love you.”

She snuggled close and kissed his chest. “I love you too. I was afraid at first. We’re different. But you’re everything a man should be and I’m so damned happy. You make me feel safe with you. That’s not something I’ve felt a lot in my life. Excited, thrilled, desired, cherished, loved and safe.”

He needed to hear that. It touched him deeply, soothed him. “You looked at me and saw past all the stuff most people see. That’s…I don’t even know if I have the words to express how much that means. I watched my brothers find the women of their hearts and I saw how that made them into better men, whole men but I didn’t quite understand the process until it happened to me. You complete me because you love me. You know me, Tate. I’d do anything for you.”

“Good, you can make me come.”

He laughed, rolling her on top of him. “If people only knew the sex goddess who lurked behind those innocent-looking blue eyes of yours. Well, I’d have to beat them off with a stick.”