“JESUS CHRIST, MOM!”
“HOLY SHIT!”
Matt and I shout at the same time as we dive for the floor while she waves the gun around.
“Oh, for the love of Saint Patrick, will you get up off the ground? It’s not even loaded. The bullets are in my glove box,” Mom says with a roll of her eyes.
“What the hell are you doing with a gun?!” I screech at her from my position on the floor, flat on my stomach with my hands still covering my head.
“The church was broken into again two days ago during our Altar and Rosary meeting. They took the Communion hosts for the next few years this time,” she explains. “We think it was Father John from Holy Cross because he plays poker every week with Father Bob, and Father Bob keeps winning. Father John is a sore loser. Anyway, it’s a dangerous world out there when someone starts stealing Communion. Eunice and I went up to the gun shop and got ourselves some protection. Get up off the floor. I can’t talk to you down there.”
I stare up at her as she points the gun at me while she speaks.
“Could you please aim the gun elsewhere?” I mutter.
My mother sighs in irritation and lowers her arm. Matt pushes himself up off the floor when he sees it’s safe to do so, reaches down, and pulls me up next to him. “What exactly is this stakeout you speak of?”
Brushing myself off, I stare at Matt’s ass as he turns away from me, bends over, and picks up my bag that fell to the ground during my dive to safety.
He really has a great ass.
My eyes flick away guiltily as he turns around and smirks at me.
“I found out where Vinnie DeMarco lives. I’m going to park down the street and see if Melanie shows up.”
Matt stares at me in shock. “Wait, you’ve still been working on this even after everything that happened?”
I shrug. “Well, yeah. It’s not fair, what she’s doing to you. I couldn’t just let that go.”
He has a really good poker face right now and doesn’t give away anything that he’s thinking. I hope this goes a little way toward proving to him that he can trust me.
“I’m coming with you.”
It’s not even a question. He just tells me what he’s going to do. With my sense of independence since I kicked Andy’s ass to the curb, I don’t take too kindly to people telling me what to do. Matt leans in close to me and brushes a lock of hair off of my cheek. “If that’s okay with you.”
Son of a bitch.
A gun with an arm attached to it suddenly shoves its way between our bodies. “Save room for the Holy Ghost. Let’s get a move on. I need to get some food in my stomach so I can take my arthritis medication.”
My mom pushes her way between the two of us and walks out into the sunshine.
I grudgingly follow behind her, leading the way for Matt to follow. I close and lock the door behind us and slide my hand into his as we walk down the front steps toward the parking lot, where my mother is already tapping her foot next to the passenger-side door.
I can’t help being a little embarrassed. This whole thing with Matt didn’t exactly start off under great circumstances, and now I’m dragging him out for an afternoon with my insane mother. Even if I did still believe in fairy tales and happily ever after, I’d have to light that romantic notion on fire at this point. I’m a little shocked he didn’t crash through the front door like a cartoon character as soon as she pulled her gun from her bag.
“If this is too weird for you, you don’t have to come with us,” I tell him, stopping far enough away from my car so my mother doesn’t hear us.
“I’m not going to lie—this is all a little crazy right now. I like you. A lot. And that scares the shit out of me because I don’t know if I can trust you. You’re going out on a limb to help me and I don’t know if it’s because you have feelings for me or you just feel guilty.”
When I open my mouth to tell him it has absolutely nothing to do with guilt and everything to do with how I feel about him, he holds a hand up to stop me.
“Don’t. Just . . . not yet. I’m not trying to be mean or ungrateful for what you’re doing. I just need time for my brain to process everything,” he admits.
I put on my big-girl panties and nod at him, not letting his words cut a hole in my heart. I know what he’s going through. I know what it’s like to lose your trust in someone and struggle to find it again. I just never thought I would be the one someone didn’t trust. At least he still thinks about kissing me, so there’s that.
“Well, a stakeout in my VW Bug with my seventy-year-old, gun-toting, arthritic mother sounds like a great way for you to start processing things, doesn’t it?” I ask dryly.
“As long as you don’t leave me alone with Margaret and her gun, I think this will be a good start.” Matt smiles at me as I hit the button on my key chain to unlock the doors to my car.
CHAPTER 14
Am I the first person ever to stare at you blankly when you told me your name? You must have thought I was an idiot.”
Leaning my head back against the seat, I stare over at Matt. He mirrors my pose and I scoot my body a little closer to him.
“I told you, I’m not offended, believe me. I was serious when I said I liked it that you didn’t know who I was. It was nice being able to talk to someone who didn’t know anything about me,” I admit to him.
Matt slides over to the edge of his seat as well until there are only a few inches and a gearshift separating us. “I really can’t thank you enough that you’re doing this for me. Are your friends going to hate you when they find out what happened?”
The concern in his voice melts my heart. He’s about to lose the company his father worked hard for all his life, his ex is dating a mobster who might fit us for cement shoes if he finds us trailing him, and he’s worried about my well-being.
Where did this guy come from?
“Lorelei already knows, sort of. She hasn’t told Kennedy yet, and that’s a little concerning. Kennedy is the one we need to worry about. She carries a gun,” I tell him with a smile. “But seriously, once we get this all figured out and I can explain to her what happened, she’s going to understand. I know it.”
Matt leans across the gearshift, meeting me in the middle until I can feel his breath on my face. “But this is the Mob we’re dealing with. I don’t want anything to happen to you because of me.”
I’ve never wanted to kiss someone so badly in my entire life. I still remember how soft his lips were and how he tasted. I remember the feel of his tongue sliding against mine and how tightly his arms wrapped around my body, holding me close to him. Memories aren’t doing it for me right now, though. I need the real thing.
Staring into his gorgeous eyes, I start to close the distance between us, the sound of my heartbeat thumping in my ears with excitement.
“How long are we going to just sit here? My bursitis is acting up.”
With a sigh, I pull away from Matt and glare at my mother as she opens the rear door and gets back in from stretching her legs. I guess that wasn’t my heart I heard pounding a few moments ago. It was her stomping her foot against the ground trying to get some feeling back in her legs.
“I didn’t ask you to come with us. You could have stayed at my place,” I remind her.
“I thought this stakeout thing would be a little more exciting.”
Turning away from her, I give Matt an apologetic look and he smiles back at me. Even with my mother complaining in the backseat, I still can’t stop thinking about kissing him again. Or imagining him naked. Is it wrong that my mother is two feet away and I’m wondering what it would feel like to run my hands all over his naked body? Matt’s eyes darken as he stares back at me, almost like he knows what I’m thinking.