Black Hills Angel (Black Hills Series) (23 page)

"I couldn't open it." She whispered, her fingers dipping into the front pockets of his jeans. Looking up, she saw his blue eyes waiting for the answer.
Why couldn't you open it?
She firmed her lips, trying to push aside her need to kiss him for the moment. "They didn't come after you called them." 

It was an ever deepening gash that bled with such earnestness.
How can parents not care about their child?
She didn't know what she could possibly do to bridge the gap. As time went on, would she even want to? Matt nuzzled her cheek, pulling her back to his warmth. The warmth that always pulled her back to him.

"No, they didn't come. If it makes you feel better, I called your dad a
heartless asshole
." He offered a weak smile and Andy felt her heart start beating again. The glow in his gaze had nothing to do with anger now, but desire. A desire she felt fanning the flames in her marrow. He watched her carefully and then tilted his head to the side. "Do you want to open the envelope?"  Andy sighed. That was the
million dollar
question.

She turned towards the bed where the pink envelope still sat. Her mother's handwriting caused her chest to tighten. Curiosity was powerful and she did want to know what was inside. Hesitation ebbed as she leaned to retrieve it. She hissed as her ribs balked at her movement. The paper was crisp and smooth under her fingers. Matt stayed quietly beside her. Swallowing a lump, Andy slid her forefinger along the seam to break it. A noticeable tremble shook her fingers as she unfolded the flap to see a cheerful card bedecked in butterflies and glitter.

Andy slipped the card completely out of its slot and opened the card. She closed her eyes, took a breath, and opened them back up.

Andy,

My dearest daughter. It is hard to justify the roads we choose to take when the world threatens to tear someone you love from the world. There are simply no words to make amends. I love you.

I hope you are well and that your daughter is a light in your life.

-Forever your mother-

Well.
That was about all she could say for this odd turn of events. Matt took her back into his arms and she wept against his shirt.

Chapter Twenty One

Andy shifted in her seat to check on the sleeping Harper in the back seat of Matt's red Chevy pickup. The sun hadn't even peered over the horizon, but the faintest pinks and oranges waved over the landscape. She stretched and tried to find a more comfortable spot. The doctor said she would still be sore, but the bruising of her ribs was healing. It was an advisement that she take it easy and rest when she could. Unfortunately Matt took that to mean they couldn't be intimate. Mentally she frowned. It seemed like forever since they had sex. A shiver started on the inside of her thigh and found shelter deep in her core.
Mmm...I need him.

As if he could sense her thinking about him, Matt glanced from the road to her and his clear blue eyes locked on hers. She saw a glimpse of her own desire there in the depths but it was masked quickly by indecision and a wariness that was not the Matt Johnson she had come to know. The self-assurance and confident man had been replaced by an
over thinker
. It bothered her that everything that had happened between them had caused him to put a shield up between them.

"How long until we get to your parent's house?" Andy asked when he turned his attention back to the road. It had been too quiet in the truck with no radio on and Harper sleeping in the back.

"An hour, maybe a bit more. I'm sorry we had to get such an early start, but my dad needs help bringing in some horses for the Buffalo Stampede Roundup." Matt picked up his bottle of water, twisted the cap off and took a drink. Andy bit her bottom lip. Oh how she ached to have those soft lips on her skin! She swallowed hard.

"I'm glad Nora will be taking Harper and me. It sounds amazing! I even brought my camera if I can get some decent pictures." Andy tentatively touched the black camera bag by her ankle. She hadn't used it since before she came to South Dakota. She wasn't sure she still had the talent that her teachers told her she did.

"Nora was thrilled to have Harper back. She's missed her this past week. She always wanted a little girl." Matt said, his face giving away nothing. His fingers tightened on the steering wheel though.

"I'm sure she will have kids with Randy. He sounds like a great guy to have waited so long for her. Her very own
white knight
! Most girls dream of finding such devotion and love." She looked out the window at the passing scenery as they motored down Highway 79. It was bare of most everything except the winding stretch of asphalt and grassland.

"You don't think he's a fool for waiting four years for my sister? They have set three wedding dates and two of them came and went without anything happening. This next one could be the last if she backs out of it again." Matt said almost to himself; his wrist propped up on the top of the steering wheel. Andy wondered if he was feeling foolish for falling for someone like her. Was he regretting telling her that he loved her? Was he wishing he hadn't taken on this burden of a young woman and her four month old daughter?
It's not his child, Andy. He isn't required to make a commitment of any kind to either of you.
She felt slightly ill.

"If he loves her and I think that he does, he would still be there for her even if they never got married. Yes, it seems
unfair
that she cannot commit to him forever. I just don't think that she means to hurt him; just to protect herself." Andy muddled through her response. It hadn't come out quite like she had wanted and it sounded a bit stiff now thinking back on it.
No one should have to wait forever for someone who cannot be everything to them.
Then again, she didn't think it was fair to string someone along with promises if you never meant to act on them, either.

"Well, I really hope Nora knows how much Randy loves her. If she blows this, I don't think there is any coming back from that kind of heartbreak." He didn't look at her, but kept his eyes straight on the road. Suddenly Andy had this chill from the realization that this was not about Nora and Randy, but about them.
You and me.
His family was going to be the test. He needed to know if she could make a commitment.
Oh shit!
Her heart flipped and her mouth suddenly went dry. Andy stopped looking at his profile in the half dark interior. She closed her eyes and prayed she would say the right thing.

"Believe me, she knows how lucky she is! A guy like him just doesn't come around every day." Her heart was pounding in her chest. It was the closest she had come to falling for all of this. He had made her admit she was in love with him and she was. She didn't know if this was too good to be true though. Faith wasn't something that she had learned to pin all of her hopes on. Family was a tripping stone.

Sighing softly, Andy leaned her head back against the head rest and closed her eyes. She wasn't going to sleep, not with all of this added innuendo and Matt sitting right next to her. Her fingers ached to reach out and touch him; to run her fingers along his muscular thigh. Her body heated, hot and fast for him. She was going to have to do something about it if she wanted any sort of clarity in the coming days.

***

His head was a mess! One minute he was planning their future together, the next he was so afraid that she wouldn't welcome a future with him and then he was hit by this intense fire in his blood. He wanted to pull his truck over; take her hard and fast on the side of the road. Matt speared his fingers through his dark hair in exasperation.
What the hell is going on with me? I don't even know which end is up now!
He took in a huge breath and tried to concentrate on the road. Still his eyes wandered to the gorgeous girl sitting in the seat next to him; her head leaning back against the seat.

The soft sunrise caressing her skin in the palest pink. His groin tightened in an almost painful way. Her dark lashes lay like crescents on her cheeks and his fingertips itched to trace them. As if on cue, the tip of Andy's tongue moistened the seam of her lips. The need to touch her, taste her, have her tripled in seconds! Flash backs sprinted through his mind's eye as he nipped and teased her flesh. The way she shivered when he kissed her in the most intimate way. Her green eyes fairly glowed with desire when he brought her to the brink of shattering. Matt shifted uncomfortably in his bucket seat; his erection making itself known.
Son of Crazy Horse!

Glancing back at the road, Matt pulled the truck back into his lane.
Crap!
He had wandered over the dotted white line while he was fantasizing over Andy's body. She was making him crazy! He was sure of it, just as he was sure of the red hot passion coursing through his veins! Leaning to turn on the radio, Matt brushed Andy's arm. The spark nearly knocked the wind out of his sails.
This is absolute torture!
Trying to marshal his wayward senses, he scanned through the stations until he found one he liked. He used to be an all country music guy, but the last couple of years had opened him up a bit. Mumford and Sons were singing, but he barely heard the words. He couldn't get his mind distracted from Andy long enough to focus.

He knew she understood the comparisons he was making between Nora and Randy's relationship to theirs. Honestly, he didn't want to wait like Randy had for his sister. In his mind, Randy was a saint and Nora was being a fool stringing him along like that. As much as he thought they should be together, it would serve Nora right if Randy walked away if she were to botch this wedding one more time. It would tear both of them apart though and Matt couldn't be mean like that. His eyes slid over to Andy again and he sighed.
Who are you kidding, Matt? You'd walk the ends of the earth for her if she asked it.
He would too. He just didn't want to keep hurting her unintentionally, of course. So many questions were left unanswered and it made his feeling of inadequacy swell.

Harper started to cry in the backseat and Matt turned his head to see the little red cherub face and waving hands. Andy jerked awake, turning in her seat to comfort her daughter. Harper almost instantly quieted at her mother's voice. His heart squeezed knowing he would also be quieted by the touch of Andy. If he touched her, if he made love to her, and allowed her to give him what his body craved, Matt knew his mind would be lost. The last organ thinking rationally would cease to exist. He would want Andy and her daughter with a single minded focus. He swallowed and looked into his side mirror.
Forever or nothing.
It was very hard to recognize the guy in the reflection. It scared him.

"She just needed a bottle." Andy half whispered beside him. He turned back to her and smiled.

"You're a good mom." Matt met her eyes briefly before his cell phone rang. Andy grabbed it before he had a chance to look at the screen to see who was calling.
Please not my mom!
Matt raised a brow.

"It's Nora. Can I answer it?" Andy smiled, already opening the phone. "Hey Nora!"

Matt rolled his eyes and chuckled. Andy and his sister had become fast friends; perhaps kindred souls if the truth were told.
They are so alike!

"Um..., well I'm not sure how far we are." Andy looked his way, shrugging her shoulders.

"Tell her we are about forty-five minutes from the ranch." Matt answered, looking at the clock. It was still pretty early. Seven-thirty. Andy listened to his sister on the other end of the line. Her brow was furrowed and then her eyes lit up.

"Of course, we would. Thank you, Nora. Oh, I can't wait! It sounds like such fun." Andy replied, but Matt noticed that her brows were still furrowed. He wondered what his sister had said. As if hearing his thoughts, Andy held out his phone. "She wants to talk to you."

Adjusting his hold on the steering wheel, Matt accepted the phone. He cleared his throat.

"Yep." His sister hated his one line replies. He grinned when he heard her growl into the phone.

"Hey, I invited Andy and Harper to stay with me. I don't think it is a good idea to put Mom and Andy in the same house for extended time until they get to know each other." Nora coughed.

"Why do you say that?" Matt asked in a nonchalant way, because Andy was listening. He was on high alert on the inside.
What does Nora know?
His sister coughed again and began whispering.

"Apparently Mom has made a few assumptions based on the limited information that she has about you and Andy. Mom being who she is, Andy being who she is and you being who you are, well..."

Matt rolled his eyes and tried hard to keep his anger under control. He huffed in the attempt.

"Cut to the chase, Nora." Matt looked at Andy, who was watching him intently.
Crap! Jig is up!

"Mom thinks Andy is trying to catch you for her baby. Andy is already defensive and you are Mom's baby. All of this could blow up unless you talk to Mom." Nora coughed again. "I'm at the ranch, so hurry up! I can only play the good daughter for so long!"

"Be there soon. Thanks." Matt mentally cursed long and hard. This could be a royal mess! He closed his phone and sat it in the cup holder. He could feel Andy's eyes on him and he did his best to push all of the family drama aside. Smiling, he met her eyes. She pursed her lips.

"Are you okay with me staying at Nora's? She said it could be like a girls' slumber party... with the kids, of course." Her cheeks blossomed, adding a youthful glow.
I want to kiss her!

"It's fine. I'm just going to miss sneaking you out to the barn." He waggled his eye brows and she laughed. Matt chuckled despite his misgivings. He couldn't let his mother undermine the choices that were for him and Andy to make. They drove the rest of the way in companionable silence, but Matt's brain was trying to present an argument for any of his mother's fanciful notions.
Better said than done.

Nora was waiting on the porch when Matt and Andy pulled into the looped driveway in front of the Crossing Pines Ranch. Matt pulled his Chevy into his usual place next to the fence and killed the engine. Taking a deep breath, he swung open his door and set his Justin boots on the dusty ground.
Home.
He drew in another deep breath, but this time it was to savor the moment. He loved this land. He loved the freedom and ease of being on the ranch. It was a welcome change to the bustle of Rapid City.

"Hey, Son! I am so glad you are home." His father called from the barn as he headed across the yard. "Your mother is about to drive me crazy! I need backup." The older version of Garrett caught Matt with a firm hand shake and then pulled him into a big hug. Matt chuckled at the familiar gesture.

"Good to see you too, Dad." Matt grinned at his father. He heard the screen door slam on the house. "We might both be in trouble. I could use some reinforcements myself." Matt almost whispered to his father.

"I've got your back if you have mine, Son." They both chuckled and moved towards the house.

"It's about time you made an appearance. It seems like forever since I last saw you." Matt's mother held her arms out to her youngest son and accepted a kiss on the cheek.

"It has been a month. That's not very long." Matt was being smart and a raised brow from his mother said she didn't like it. He stepped back to introduce Andy. He hadn't forgotten she was there. He was trying to let her acclimate for a minute before being thrown into the shark tank. He turned to see Andy standing next to Nora, who was holding a fidgeting Harper.