Forever Driven: Forever Bluegrass #4 (15 page)

“So who is in bed with whom?” Riley asked, drawing Aniyah’s attention away from the crazy eyebrow hair.

“That’s hard to say. I know who all is voting for the highway, but besides Peel and Stanley, there’s no one overly vocal about it. Now, Peel’s bimbo . . . Did I say that out loud? Bless her heart, I shouldn’t say something that cruel. Peel’s personal assistant who assists in all things personal did say that Hager is building a road in Lumpur and that Senator Hump-her . . . Lord help me, my mouth is just running away today. She said Senator Peel and Hager have quite a few connections back home. Oh, and Luttrell regularly donates to Marge Stanley’s charities. Besides that, there are plenty of people those two donate to, including yourself. Here’s a list.”

Riley nodded as she took the list of people who received donations from one or both of the men, and who were voting in favor of the highway. She and Dan had talked about that. The rest of the media outlets were having a field day saying Riley was a bought vote and she wanted to set the record straight. “Matt, do you think you can find anything out? Ask our sources back home.”

Dan snorted. “Him? He’s a journalist for a small town paper. What could he find out that I couldn’t?”

Riley just shook her head, and Matt rolled his eyes. “How about we all work on digging up information. I don’t think it will be as simple as a campaign donation. We need to go deeper. Who has a personal or professional relationship with Luttrell and Hager? And Dan, can you get your reporters to ambush them both as soon as my speech is over in the House?”

“I don’t ambush. I question. And I have many questions for these two.”

“Well, I think it’s time for me to place my vote.” Riley smiled and stood up. “Shall we, Dan?”

Riley linked her hand through Dan’s arm, and they walked out of her office. “I’m not missing this. You coming, sugar?” Aniyah asked Matt. Matt sent her a wink, offered her his arm, and escorted her down the hall.

“I can’t wait to see what she does,” Aniyah whispered. “Miss Riley has just enough crazy in her to make politics fun.”

Matt chuckled. “She’s always interesting, that’s for sure.”

Matt watched as Riley pulled her hand from Dan’s arm and the camera filmed her walking toward the doors the chamber. The two guards opened them at the same time and Riley walked through them and into the House.

“I’m sorry, am I late to the vote?” Riley said loud enough for it to echo off the granite walls and cause instant silence.

R
iley felt
devilish as she saw the look of surprise on the faces around her. The Speaker of the House rapped his gavel. “We’ve begun the vote, Miss Davies, and you are interrupting.”

Riley put on an innocently shocked expression. “Oh, I’m so sorry. You see, I’m running late since someone tried to kill me to prevent me from voting here today.”

Riley hid her worry that she was wrong. If she was wrong and the snakes naturally got into her house, then she would never live it down. However, she didn’t think this was the case. The timing was off and the weather was too good for snakes to be seeking warmth in her closet. She had decided she was going to risk it all on her gut feeling that this had been an attack.

The room erupted in whispers and the Speaker rapped his gavel again. “Order!”

“I know that we’re voting, but I think you’ll allow me one minute to speak, since I was so horrifically detained.” Riley held up her hand and the room gasped. She didn’t wait for the Speaker to give her permission. She didn’t need to when the camera crew stepped into the area reserved for press. Everyone started preening, and it gave Riley the opening she needed.

“I’ve always been against the highway. Am I against progress? No. What I am against is bullying, and that is what this is about. Some people think because their food company or their road company donated to your campaign, they get to tell you how to vote. That’s not how you envisioned being a politician, is it? You probably dreamed of doing what’s best for your town, your neighbors, and your constituents. Not being forced to do something you know is wrong just to make sure you have the money to get reelected. Well, I don’t care if I’m reelected. And I’m not going to be bullied or threatened,” Riley held up her hand again, “into voting for something I know is wrong. Something that serves no point—we already have a highway connecting Frankfort and Lexington—and something that will destroy my historic town. And why? Why are people like Harvey Luttrell and LeeRoy Hager so determined to see this highway completed? If you know the answer, and I can guarantee you it’s not to better our state, then you’d better vote against this highway. Because next, they’ll come for your district.”

The House went quiet and the Speaker cleared his throat. “May we finish our vote now?”

Riley smiled sweetly. “Yes, please.”

She took her seat and watched, palms sweating and heart pounding, as the highway funding was narrowly shot down. She had won the first battle.

* * *

M
att was so
proud of Riley. She was radiant with the excitement from her win. They both knew it was going to be short-lived, though. The Senate was meeting over the weekend to review their budget. A vote was scheduled for Monday, and she fully expected Peel and Stanley to get the highway funded in the Senate budget. That meant next week, the final week in the session, both bodies of Congress would hash out those parts of the budget that only passed either the Senate or the House. But for this weekend, they were going to celebrate.

“Where are we going?” Riley asked as he turned off the road leading to her farm.

“My house,” Matt said with a grin. “Remember, we’re having dinner at your parents’ house tonight, and I thought you’d want to change. I know you said panty hose were invented by the devil, so I figured you’d be dying for your jeans.”

“Yeah, but aren’t they at my house?” Riley asked confused.

“Not any more. I had them moved after the snake attack. You shot your floor to hell, and it’s being fixed.”

“You would have too, if tons of snakes were slithering out of your closet right toward you,” Riley mumbled before shivering at the memory.

Matt reached over and gave her thigh a squeeze. “I know. That’s why I moved your clothes over to my house. I thought you might want some time to recover before opening your closet door again. And this isn’t permanent, unless you want it to be.”

Matt held his breath as he pulled to a stop in front of his brick ranch house in the small, middle-class subdivision on the outskirts of Keeneston. He looked at the minimal landscaping and the basketball hoop in the driveway. Maybe it wasn’t as nice as Riley’s flower-filled country cottage, but it was all his. Besides, with all of the undercover work, he hadn’t been home enough to appreciate it.

“It’s strange. We’ve only spent one night together, yet I can’t imagine ever spending another night apart.” Riley leaned over the seat, careful of her still-sensitive hand, and kissed his lips.

“I love you, Riley. Before I left, I found out there were ten acres for sale behind your farm. I thought about buying it, but I don’t know if it’s still for sale. It made me think of you—of us. But anyway, I don’t care where we are so long as we’re together.”

“Well, come on. We don’t want to be late for dinner, and I’m eager to be shown the house. Especially the bedroom.”

Matt shot up the driveway and into the garage. Before the garage door was all the way closed, he had Riley in his arms and his mouth to hers. He picked her up into his arms and closed the door. “Mudroom,” he murmured against her lips as he walked through the house. “Kitchen, living room, our room.”

He set her on the bed and kept his eyes on her as he stripped off his clothes. He held out his hand, and she put her healthy one in it. Helping her to her feet, he unbuttoned her blouse and unzipped her skirt. He hung them in the closet next to the clothes he had her cousin, Sydney Davies McKnight, bring over before sliding his hands around her ribs to unhook her bra. He let it fall to the floor and placed his lips on her neck. Riley moaned softly as he trailed his lips down the column of her neck, over her collarbone, and down to her breast.

Matt went to his knees, trailing his lips down her stomach. He pushed her panties to the floor and let his lips follow her curves. With his hand splayed across Riley’s stomach, he pushed backward and she fell laughingly onto the bed. Matt started his kisses with her ankle and sucked, nibbled, and kissed his way up to the sweet spot between her legs.

Hearing Riley’s moans of pleasure and feeling her spear her fingers into his hair had him struggling to move slowly. When he felt her orgasm near, he moved up her body and surged inside of her. The feel of her tightening around him, the sounds she made, and the way her hand grasped his arm, rocked him to the core. Love just didn’t seem to be a strong enough word to convey the feelings he felt for Riley.

R
iley didn’t want
to move for the rest of the night unless it was to make love to Matt again. She had her body wrapped around his, her injured hand resting on his muscled chest. “You’re gaining your weight back,” she said absently as she traced the contours of his abdominal muscles.

“I’ll be glad when my pants don’t sag anymore. Another week of eating all this food the town brought over, and I’ll have to lose weight. Speaking of food . . .”

“Noooo,” Riley whined. “Don’t say it.”

She felt Matt’s chest rumble with laughter. “It’s your family. Don’t make me have to explain why we are late. I still don’t know how I escaped with my life after your father heard about us having sex.”

Riley smiled as she absently ran her fingers through the light smattering of light brown hair on his chest and let her fingers follow the nice little path that led straight to his . . . “Riley,” Matt warned, “if your fingers continue on that path, we will be late and I’ll be forced to tell your father it was your fault.”

“Fine,” Riley huffed as she sat up, giving him a good view of her breasts.

“I could be quick,” Matt said before sucking a nipple into his mouth. His tongue swirled around it, and Riley thought being late wouldn’t be too bad.

“Oh no,” Riley complained as she pulled away. “My brothers are in town. I totally forgot they’re here for the night before leaving on spring break.”

Matt shrugged as he watched her leap from the bed. “So? If your dad likes me, your brothers shouldn’t be a problem. They already like me.”

“That was before you started sleeping with me,” Riley cried as she pulled on a pair of jeans. “Do you have your body armor in the car?”

Matt laughed at her and Riley just shook his head. Moron, didn’t he know her younger twin brothers were the hellions of Keeneston? It didn’t matter that they were now twenty-one and about to graduate college in a few months. They were still beyond mischievous.

“I’ll be fine. I’ve known your brothers since they were in high school. Stop worrying,” Matt said as he tried to calm her.

“At lease promise me you’ll pack your gun.”

“I’m not going to shoot your brothers for no reason,” Matt chastised.

“It would be in self-defense,” Riley warned.

Matt buttoned his jeans and attached his service weapon to his waistband. “There. Happy?”

“I’d feel better if you put on your body armor,” Riley muttered as she pulled on a University of Kentucky sweatshirt.

Matt buttoned up his lightweight navy flannel shirt and grinned at her. “You’ll see. Tonight will be fun. I’m practically part of the family already.”

H
e’d been wrong
. Matt was ambushed before he even entered the Davies house. He had opened the door for Riley, who had gone inside. But before he could step foot over the threshold, her brothers, Porter and Parker, had appeared out of nowhere to block him. They still had a youthful appearance in their faces, but their bodies were not those of little boys. They stood at almost the same height at Matt’s six-feet-two inches, with muscled arms crossed over their wide chests.

Unlike the newly married Zain and his identical twin bachelor brother, Gabe, Porter and Parker didn’t look alike. They were fraternal twins. While they were approximately the same height, their hazel eyes were on the opposite ends of the spectrum. Porter had more green color to his eyes compared to the darker brown of Parker. They both had brown hair, but again, there were differences. Porter’s hair was highlighted with blond while Parker had a touch of deep red highlighting his darker hair.

“Hey, guys,” Matt smiled. They didn’t smile back. “Where are you going on spring break?”

“We’re riding in a rodeo tournament in Miami. Beach, babes, bulls—is there anything better?” Parker asked while he kept his face serious.

“Good luck.” Matt smiled and then tried to step into the house. He would have to shove his way between them if he wanted to get through.

“Let’s go for a walk,” Porter suggested without any real alternative. It was a command.

“What about dinner?” Matt asked, suddenly wondering if he should have put on his bulletproof vest after all.

“We have a couple of minutes,” Parker said as each brother took an arm and pulled Matt from the porch.

“When we were younger, we used to come out here and shoot before dinner. You know, have competitions to decide who got the biggest piece of dessert and whatnot,” Porter explained as they walked farther from the house to where the shooting range was. It wasn’t elaborate. Just a couple of targets set up with a mound of dirt behind each one to catch the bullets. There was a small open-air building with a table and some chairs along with lights. Farther out was basically a high school football field light that allowed them to shoot at night.

“We thought it would be fun to have a little chat while we took some shots.” Parker grinned as he and Porter pulled out the guns concealed by their long-sleeved T-shirts.

Matt shrugged. He would have been more worried if one of the elderly Rose sisters pulled out a gun, which they had before. Their cataracts had caused their aim to go all out of whack. Everyone in Keeneston had a gun, though. Miss Lily had told him it came from their history of being a frontier town and just never went away. Until recently, there was never a state trooper in the area, and the sheriff’s office was half the size it is now. You had to depend upon yourself and your neighbors if anything went wrong. Even though parts of Keeneston were modernizing, that mindset hadn’t changed over the centuries.

“Well, I’m glad I brought my gun then,” Matt smiled as he pulled out his gun and saw a brief flash of disappointment in the twins’ eyes before Porter flipped on the lights.

“I’ll go first.” Parker stepped up to the line and aimed. “Are you sleeping with our sister?”

Bang.

“Yes,” Matt answered as he waited patiently for his turn.

“Do you love her?” Porter asked as he stepped up to the line next.

Bang.

“Yes.” Matt stepped up to the line and looked at the target. There were two holes near dead center.

“You know we’ll kill you if you hurt Riley, right?” Parker asked as Matt took aim.

“Yes.”

Bang.

Matt smiled as his bullet split the difference between the brothers’ bullets.

“You going to marry her?” Porter asked while waiting for Parker to take his shot.

Matt paused a bit. Marry her? He knew the idea had been floating around in his mind, but he hadn’t taken it too seriously since he and Riley had taken so long to get together. But they already knew they didn’t want to be apart. They would be moving in with each other, even if it was unofficial.

Bang
.

Parker’s question was like a blow to the heart. It was so obvious. Matt wanted to marry Riley. He wanted to love her, to share his life with her. He wanted to fix things when they broke around the house, to kill spiders and snakes for her. He wanted to have her show him up in hand-to-hand combat, to make love whenever and wherever they wanted. He really wanted to see Riley glow with pregnancy and to share that moment at three in the morning standing over a crib watching a newborn sleep.

“Well, are you going to marry Riley?” Porter asked once more before taking his own shot.

Bang.

“Yes,” Matt just answered as he lined up his shot, almost giddy with excitement. He knew down to his toes that marrying Riley was what he wanted. It felt comfortable and adventurous at the same time. There was no one else he’d rather share the adventure of life with than her.

Bang
.

Matt clicked the safety on and put the gun back in his holster. “Good talk, boys.” Matt clapped his future brothers-in-law on their shoulders and left them staring at his bullseye as he headed back to the house.

R
iley slammed
the meatloaf onto the table. “Where did the twins take Matt?” she asked her mother for the tenth time.

“They just said they wanted to hang out with your boyfriend for a moment,” Gemma smiled and handed Cy a bowl of rice.

“Your mother wouldn’t let me go,” her father complained.

“They’re young men, Cy. They need to bond,” her mother said for what Riley guessed was not the first time.

“The last time they told you they were going to ‘bond’ with the guys, they set fire to a bale of hay and shot Pam Gilbert’s garden gnome for ratting them out to Uncle Marshall.” Marshall, the sheriff of Keeneston, had taken them to jail. It had happened the previous summer when they had turned twenty-one.

“How did I forget that?” her mother asked as she almost dropped the bottle of wine and pulled out her phone.

“Honey, what are you doing?” her father asked, shaking his head. “You know boys will be boys.”

“That’s so unfair!” Riley accused. “You didn’t say girls will be girls when Reagan, Layne, and I were busted for breaking into the high school to prank our principal.”

“Cyland,” her mother snapped, “rascals are rascals no matter their gender, and our children are rascals. We just let two of them take a state trooper out into the woods. Alone. I’m calling 9-1-1.”

“Why are you calling 9-1-1? Is everything okay?”

Riley spun toward the door and let out a sigh of relief. “You’re alive!”

Matt looked confused. “Of course I am.”

“The twins . . .” Gemma hedged.

“Lost to Matt at target shooting,” Parker complained as he strode in with his brother.

Riley stared at them. There was no blood. No bruises forming. What had they done? “What did y’all do?”

“Bonded,” the three of them said at once as they took a seat at the table.

“Is anything on fire?” Cy asked.

“Nope,” Porter responded.

“Did you shoot anything besides the target? Say, a gnome?” Gemma asked as Riley took a seat next to Matt at the table.

“No, Ma,” Parker said with a roll of his eyes. “It happened
one
time. You’re never going to let me live that down. I tell you, I did us all a favor. That was the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Riley whispered to Matt as he took a slab of meatloaf.

“I’m great. I told you there was nothing to worry about,” he smiled.

What the hell happened? Matt looked elated, the boys looked satisfied, and nothing was destroyed. Something wasn’t right. Riley let it go, though, as the table quickly filled with news of the day. She told them about her plans for Frankfort, the defeat of the highway bill, and that the real battle was coming in a couple days. The twins talked about the rodeo and who was going to be there. The hotel they were staying at was apparently a favorite of celebrities, so Gabe, the bachelor prince of Keeneston, had hooked them up with VIP access to all the clubs. Riley saw her mother down her glass of wine. Keeneston could barely contain Porter and Parker—heaven only knows what they’d do to Miami.

Finally dinner was over and Riley tried to usher Matt out the door as fast as she could. So far so good, but she wasn’t going to press her luck with hanging around any longer.

“Your house will be ready for you to return to tomorrow night,” her father told her as she tried to escape.

“I’m staying at Matt’s tonight,” Riley called out as she dragged Matt down the porch. As she got into the car, she heard her mother soothing her father and the familiar low growl of his displeasure.

“
W
hat really happened
when you were with my brothers?” Riley asked as they pulled out of the farm.

“Nothing. Just did some shooting. I’m glad you told me to bring my gun,” Matt said as he kept his eyes on the road. He was lying.

“Did they threaten you?”

“Riley, relax. It’s all good. There’re so many more pleasurable things we could be talking about.”

“Like what?”

Matt looked at her then and she didn’t need him to answer. The way his dark blue eyes traveled over her body told her what he was thinking. Riley reached over and rubbed her hand along his upper thigh. She enjoyed the ability to make him squirm in the seat as his erection grew.

“See, I told you there were more pleasurable things to talk about,” Matt said, his voice graveled with arousal.

“We’re not talking, though,” Riley said with a quirk of her lips.

Matt floored the gas pedal and shot through the sleepy streets until his house came into sight. Riley moved her hand to rub his erection through his pants and the car jerked to a stop as Matt let out a low hiss. Tonight she felt powerful. She had not backed down from the political bullies. She had shot a den of snakes. She had survived the boyfriend dinner at her parents’ and could make the man she loved fall to his knees in passion.

Tonight she was in control, and by the noises Matt was making as they stumbled into the bedroom, tearing off their clothes, he didn’t mind. She pushed him onto the bed and straddled him. Looking down, she saw passion, lust, love, and respect in his eyes. And when she took him inside her and they moved together as one, she knew this wasn’t just another boyfriend, but someone she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.