Take Me Now (The Knight Brothers 3.5)

Rich held up both hands in defeat. “I’m sorry! I thought you’d drive it around town … that you’d stall. I didn’t think –”

Matt’s anger grew as he listened to the man’s explanation, and he grabbed him by the jacket and yanked him up so they were nose to nose. “I swear to God, if I catch you around Harper or her car again, you’ll wish you never set foot in this town. And if you pull this shit with another woman, I’m going to the cops. Now get the fuck out of here.”

Eyes wide, the other man nodded. “Going. I’m going.” He didn’t even look at Harper before running out of the lot and not looking back.

Matt took one look at his girl with her chattering teeth and wide eyes, wrapped his arms around her, and led her into the garage. He had a space heater running in the small office, and he slammed the door shut so she could warm up.

Pulling her against him, he enfolded her in his body heat, and she cuddled into him, where she belonged.

* * *

Harper waited until she warmed up, taking advantage of Matt’s big body and grabbing a few precious minutes in his arms before shoving him away. “Where the hell have you been all day?”

They both came in to work early, and he always, always came by the second she opened for his first cup of coffee for the day. And that was before they’d been intimate. Today, their first day back, he’d been conspicuously absent from her shop, and she refused to go back to the way things were between them. Not without a good explanation.

“I had a crazy busy day and … Fuck.”

She narrowed her gaze.

He looked her in the eyes and sealed his lips over hers, kissing her long and hard until she was out of breath. When he broke the kiss, he had a determined look in his eyes. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” she asked, perplexed and off-kilter from his behavior.

“To see your brother.” He grabbed his jacket off a hook and wrapped it around her shoulders before grasping her hand and leading her to his Tahoe.

“Why?” she asked once they were on their way. “I told you I’d handle him.”

He shook his head. One hand on the wheel, he glanced over at her. “This is my fight.”

“Okay.” From his curt tone of voice, she wasn’t about to argue.

They arrived at the gun shop, and Matt parked then came around and helped her out of the truck. “Any chance you’ll wait for me here?”

She tipped her head to the side. “Really? Umm, no.”

He set his jaw, grabbed her hand, and together they walked across the lot and into her brother’s store. Noah was alone, no customers in sight, for which Harper was grateful. She didn’t know what was about to happen between the men, but she didn’t want an audience.

“Harper? Matt?” Noah, with his Marine-style cropped hair and big body, would intimidate most men.

And Harper could see how he’d have pushed a younger Matt around. But the man by her side now? He was strong and proud, and she was equally proud of him as he strode up to her brother.

“Noah. About that promise I made you to stay away from your sister? I’m breaking it. I love her, and she loves me –”

A heady warmth settled inside of Harper at his words. Words they’d yet to exchange to each other, but she understood this promise had prevented them from moving forward.

“Look,” Noah began.

Matt shook his head. “I’m not finished. I love her, and I’m good enough for her. I might not have understood that when I was younger, but I do now. So, though I’d like your approval, I’m letting you know you’re not going to stand in our way.”

Harper wasn’t going to let him stop her from having the man of her dreams either, but right now, the two men faced off in a tense, silent battle of wills.

To her utter shock, Noah took a step forward and extended his hand to Matt. “All I ever wanted for my sister was a man who knew his own worth,” Noah said.

Harper narrowed her gaze. “You jerk! Do you have any idea how much you screwed up my life? How much all these years of him ignoring me hurt me?”

She was about to dive over the counter and attempt to beat up her brother like she did when they were kids, but Matt grabbed her around the waist.

“He loves you, Harper. He wanted someone who could love and provide for you. Who’d put you first. I can’t fault him for that. But if he gets in our way again? I’ll jump over that counter and go after him myself. Okay?” Matt asked her.

Harper’s heart beat hard in her chest. It wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough after the pain she’d endured thinking Matt didn’t want her. But if he could forgive her brother for acting like an overbearing jerk, she’d try and do the same.