Forever Driven: Forever Bluegrass #4 (6 page)

“Then what happened?” Matt asked.

Riley told him what she’d told Officer Tandy and her father. She was already getting sick of telling the story. “But I won’t be intimidated. I have a meeting this morning, and you can bet I won’t sit quietly by not saying anything about this incident.”

“You will do no such thing,” Matt and her father said at the same time.

Riley’s feeling of wanting to curl up and cry on Matt’s shoulder died instantly. “Excuse me?”

“You were just attacked. You will not be going anywhere alone. You just pissed whoever is behind this off even more. And . . .” Matt grabbed her hands with his. They completely encased hers and were so warm and strong that the desire to crawl into his arms came rushing back. “I’m so proud of you for handling yourself. They weren’t prepared for you, and they underestimated you. You’re your father’s daughter, but now they are smart and will not come softly again. I don’t think you should be alone in Frankfort. There are too many chances for something to happen to you.”

Her father looked impressed at Matt’s assessment. “I agree. I told her if she insisted on going, then I would take her.”

“Yes. You’ll be safe with your father,” Matt said, thinning his lips. Reluctantly, he took his hands from hers and stood up. “I’m glad you’re not more seriously injured. Let me know if you need anything. Anything at all.”

Riley felt empty when her hands dropped in her lap. Instead of hugging him, she looked down at her hands in her lap. “Thanks,” she said, keeping an eye downward. Had they somehow changed just by being held? “But you need to take care of you. Every woman in Keeneston will be bringing you casseroles, pies, and cakes as soon as they see how skinny you’ve gotten.” Riley finally looked up at him and gave him a wobbly smile. “Goodbye, Matt. Thanks for checking in on me. It means a lot to have a friend like you.”

Riley saw the muscle jump along his scruffy jawline, but he didn’t say anything else to her. Instead he looked to Cy and repeated his offer to help if he was needed. “I have a month’s worth of time off before going back on duty. I’ll just be sitting here fattening up.”

Riley watched her father stand and shake Matt’s hand. They walked to the door with their heads down as they talked to each other, and then he was gone. It took everything she had not to chase after him. But her father started planning the rest of the week, and Matt wasn’t mentioned again.

M
att stopped
at the door to his truck and glanced back at the two-story house. It had been a punch to his gut to see the swollen and bruised eye on Riley’s beautiful face. Her hazel eye was barely peeking out from her puffy eyelid. He had wanted to gently kiss her and tell her he would protect her. He wanted to keep her safe, but then she had called him
friend
and her father had said he had everything under control. Riley simply didn’t need him.

“
Psssst
!”

Matt took his eyes from the porch and swung toward the sound. There, in a pair of flannel pajamas with big red lips on them, was Riley’s mom. She tiptoed to the side of the house and waved him to her. Gemma Davies was a former gossip reporter who bought
The
Keeneston Journal
after marrying Cy and moving to Keeneston from L.A. But then she’d written a book. Then another and another. Her books had been bestsellers and had been picked up for movies with the hottest stars in the leading roles.

Matt looked around again as he moved to the side of the house. “Good morning, Mrs. Davies. Are you okay?”

Gemma peeked around the corner and then hid against the side of the house once again. “Oh yes, dear. I’m fine. I just wanted to talk to you about Riley and my husband. See, I heard Riley come in and tell her father what happened. They were trying to be so sneaky, hiding it from me. As if you could hide that from a mother! Anyway, I heard you all talking. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love my husband and have every faith in his ability to protect our daughter. But,” Gemma looked nervously around again. “He’s not as young as he used to be. I can see him falling asleep while Riley works late or running out of steam by the end of the week.”

Matt nodded as if he understood what Mrs. Davies was talking about.

“I heard you offer help.”

Matt perked up. “Yes, ma’am. Anything.”

Gemma smiled and patted his arm. “You’re such a good man, but bless your heart. I agree with my daughter. You need fattening up. And rest. It must have been very hard doing and seeing the things you did while undercover. I’ll send Nora Owens from the Fluff and Buff to your house tomorrow, too,” Gemma said, eyeing his hair.

Matt felt useless again. Did he really look that bad?

“But I need your help.”

The exhaustion fled. “Just tell me what you want me to do.”

“Give my husband today. As you know, it takes a lot of energy being so observant. If you promise me you will do nothing but eat and sleep, then I will ask for your help in protecting my baby.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll do just that. I’ll pick her up for work tomorrow. Will any of her cousins be helping?” Matt asked. Ryan Parker, the eldest of the Davies cousins, was the head of the Lexington FBI office. His brother was FBI hostage rescue and their cousin Dylan was something mysterious. He never said, but he was something that involved danger and the military.

Gemma shook her head. “It would be too obvious if Ryan, Jackson, or Dylan showed up. Besides, Jackson and Dylan are both working somewhere. I heard you’re off duty, so I was hoping you would go as a reporter for
The
Keeneston Journal
. Maybe do an in-depth profile—a week-in-the-life type of story. I can get you cleared with security and a press pass that will allow you to go almost anywhere with Riley except behind closed-door meetings.”

Matt felt his lips split into a smile. “You’re sneaky.”

“You’re just now figuring that out?” Gemma winked. “Now, here’s what I want you to do.”

* * *

T
rue to his word
, Matt did nothing but sleep and eat for twenty-four hours. He’d taped a sign to his front door begging for sleep and when he first awoke at noon he opened the door to find a stack of casseroles held by Nora who had come to cut his hair and dye it back to its original color.

The cakes and pies started arriving at three. Matt would bring them inside, heat one up, and eat. He’d stumble back into bed and would wake up three or four hours later to find more desserts waiting for him. This process repeated itself throughout the day.

In twenty-four hours, he had eaten two whole casseroles, one pecan pie, and one marble cake with chocolate icing. At nine o’clock that night, Gemma had texted him to let him know Riley was back home, and Cy was asleep on the couch. Riley had followed through with her threat and had taken the opportunity to stand up in the cafeteria and tell everyone there if they were behind this, they’d have to kill her to stop her from voting down the highway proposal.

The plus side was, she gained support for an amendment to kill the highway proposal and created a great opportunity to have a reporter hanging around. The bad news, it wasn’t just the highway funding that was looking to be killed.

D
idn’t tell
R that you were picking her up, but she’s expecting her dad at seven. I talked Cy into letting you handle things tomorrow. He wanted you to know he still likes shooting things, but I think he was just irritable from being bored. Politics was never his thing. Look outside and thanks for your help – Gemma

M
att read
Gemma’s text again and shook his head while softly chuckling. Cy had either defended his manhood or threatened to kill Matt if he didn’t do a good job. Either way, it amused Matt. He liked Riley’s parents. They were unlike anyone he’d ever known before. Well, except for the rest of his friends’ parents. They were all a mix of sweet and scary.

He looked at the clock. It was midnight. A perfect time for a snack and a little more sleep. He opened the door and found an envelope with press credentials, a Capitol badge, a notebook, pens, and a summary of journalism terms. Matt brought it inside and flipped through everything while heating up a baked spaghetti left by Nikki Canter, the president of the Keeneston Belles. The Keeneston Belles was supposed to be a charitable organization for women out of college, but it was really a husband-hunting organization. And they were perfect shots. They nailed down the best bachelors Keeneston had to offer—most of the time. Nikki was in limbo after thinking she was a shoo-in for Zain Ali Rahman’s wife, who would become a princess of Rahmi. Instead of fulfilling Nikki’s desire to be a princess, Zain had married a German interpreter named Mila. The couple had just gotten back from happily traveling the world on diplomatic and charitable projects, which had left Nikki needing to find a new victim, er, husband.

Being a lowly state trooper, Matt hadn’t thought he would be in her sights, but when he found a G-string in the notecard welcoming him back to town, he knew he’d been wrong. However, the fear of being hunted by Nikki didn’t outweigh his desire for baked spaghetti.

Matt ate while standing over the small island in his kitchen. He pulled up pictures and layouts of the Capitol and the nearby annex to study them. He wanted to know where every possible exit or ambush location was. He took notes on the pad Gemma had left for him before polishing off the spaghetti. Matt yawned, and with a full stomach and an initial game plan on how to protect Riley, he headed back to bed for a few more hours of sleep.

* * *

R
iley smashed
her alarm with her hand. Yesterday had been a disaster, even though her father had kept her safe. How could he not have when he wasn’t more than two feet away from her at all times? But then he’d rolled his eyes during a meeting, and she was pretty sure he’d hidden the word
bullshit
under a cough during floor debates. Sure, she agreed with his assessment, but the representative presenting the bill had heard him and Riley had wanted to hide under her desk.

And today was another day to spend with her father—a father who had growled when a handsome staff member had approached her and offered to escort her to her car. Riley rolled out of bed and was thankful Reagan was busy flying these next couple of weeks. Reagan was transporting horses to England so they could start preparing for the spring races. Afterward, she’d be flying horses from all over the world to Aqueduct, Santa Anita, and Tampa for horses to prepare and qualify for the Derby in May. If Reagan were here, she would be just as smothering as their father. Reagan was the business-minded sister. While they were both wild, to an extent, Riley was the more carefree of the two. Her sister would want to take charge with her very practical nature.

Riley tossed her oversized
Got Bourbon
T-shirt to the corner of the bathroom floor before kicking off her underwear and turning on the shower. While the water heated up, she looked into the mirror and tried not to cringe at the ugliness of her eye. Riley was not overly concerned with her looks, but this was hard to stomach. The swelling was going down and the colors around her eye now resembled abstract Goth art.

The steam from the shower covered the mirror, preventing her from wallowing further in self-consciousness. Riley stepped into the shower and let the hot water relax her. She was rinsing the conditioner from her hair when she heard the doorbell. Her dad was early. “Door’s open!” she yelled as she stuck her head out the shower door.

When the door closed, she yelled again, “I just need one minute!”

Riley hurried through washing her body and turned off the shower. She wrapped the towel around her and secured the corner between her breasts. She’d pick up her clothes that night. Now she raced out of the bathroom and into the hall heading toward her bedroom.

“Take your time. I’m early.”

Riley stumbled upon hearing Matt’s voice come from the living room. She reached out quickly to grab the wall and fell clumsily to the floor, landing hard on her butt. The towel came unwrapped and fell on the ground around her, right as Matt raced from the living room.

“Are you all right?” he asked as he fought his lips from spreading into a grin.

Riley sat frozen for a second as he ungentlemanly took his time looking at her sitting on the floor naked. His eyes took in her breasts, and when they dipped lower she finally snapped out of her shock and grabbed at the towel. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m filling in for your dad. He thinks politics is boring,” Matt said, no longer fighting the grin.

“Oh no,” Riley shook her wet hair, “it was bad enough with my dad there. How can I explain why there is a trooper by my side the entire day?”

Matt dug into his pocket and tossed something at her. She instinctively dropped her death grip on the towel, causing it to fall again as she caught the object. “You’re an ass,” Riley mumbled as she covered herself again.

Matt just chuckled as she looked at what he had tossed her. “A press pass for
The Keeneston Journal
?”

“Yup. I have a month off work, and your mom hired me to do an in-depth story on your fight to save Keeneston. It’s a real personal piece that will require me to spend all day, every day with you until the matter has been resolved one way or another.”

“She did not! You did not! But, but . . .” Riley sputtered.

“You’re making it seem as if you don’t want to be around me, Red.”

Riley paused as Matt stared at her. He seemed to be searching for an answer to some internal question. “Fine, but don’t call me Red,” Riley huffed as she stood up with the towel clenched to her body.

“There’s my firecracker. Now, get your cute butt moving or we’ll be late.”

Riley stood with her mouth opening and closing, not knowing what to say to the order or the nickname as Matt spun around and whistled his way back to the living room.

“Ugh!” Riley groaned in frustration before slamming her door to the sounds of his laughter.