The Making of Matt (Souls of the Knight 3)

Impatient fingers nipped at each other’s pants. I got through his button first, urging his pants over his firm ass and pushing them down his legs as he kissed and sucked at my neck.

I groaned in anticipation when his thumbs dipped inside my waistband, then almost had a heart attack when Alex jumped off me, tripped over his pants and fell to the floor.

“That freakin’ dog licked my ass!”

My heart racing from a mix of fright and laughter, I looked down at Bruce, and cliché as it sounds, he gave us the damn puppy eyes – a guilty expression that was too adorable for me to even contemplate being mad at him.

“Maybe I can wait until we get to our bed after all,” Alex said, clambering to his feet and taking my hand. So much blood had rushed to my dick I wasn’t sure I’d be able to walk in a straight line, but I was determined to try as I pulled out of Alex’s grasp and raced him to the top of the stairs.

I wanted to stay in bed with Alex forever, missing him even when he went to the bathroom, but being the more sensible of the two of us, Alex insisted we head to the club the next day. I walked toward the building with his hand in mine, squeezing it tighter as we strolled past a scattering of photographers. Alex straightened his fingers, trying to pull away, and it stopped me in my tracks.

“This isn’t so much an announcement as confirmation,” I said, projecting my voice as I turned to the press.

“Matt, what are you doing?” Alex whispered in my ear.

I replied with a simple smile before continuing. “Confirmation that, yes, I am in a relationship with this wonderful man right here. I haven’t been hiding my sexuality from you all. I haven’t been living a lie or fighting being gay my whole life. Truth is, this has never happened to me before, and I don’t just mean falling for a guy. Yes, I’m in love with a man, but I didn’t fall in love with his dick…” Well, not just his dick. “…I fell in love with his heart.”

I looked to Alex and stroked along his flushed cheek with the back of my hand. “So follow me, don’t follow me, but know the Matt Carter you used to chase has gone. You won’t find scandal, exclusives, or photos of me fucking shit up. On an exciting day, if you’re lucky, you might just catch me doing this…”

Cameras clicked, lights flashed and a growing crowd started calling out questions as I took Alex’s shocked face in my hands, pressing my lips to his. Pulling back, I stared right into his eyes, into his soul. “I love you, Alex, and I want the whole fucking world to know that you’re mine.”

Turning back to the crowd, I wondered how the hell even more journalists had managed to arrive so quickly. “And, yes, you have my permission to use the headline ‘Sawyer Knight adds another member to his rim raiding crusade’.”

Alex swatted my shoulder. “You can’t say things like that!” he said quietly, hiding his embarrassment with a hand over his face.

Grinning, I winked at him. “I’m Matt freakin’ Carter. I can say whatever the fuck I want.”

“Matt! Matt!”

“Does this mean you’re gay?”

“What do you think of the new equality laws?”

“Are you officially coming out?”

“Matt! This way!”

“What do you think your mother would say?”

“Is this why you left Belle Anderson?”

With my hand on the small of Alex’s back, I ushered him toward the club entrance, ignoring the majority of the incessant, mostly inane, questions. Two of them caught my attention, though, and I felt compelled to answer for myself as much as the public.

My hand propping open the steel door, I briefly turned back to the clamor of the crowd. “My mom’s proud of me,” I said. “I hear her telling me every day. She loved Alex and, honestly, I think she’d be overjoyed that I’ve finally found someone willing to put up with my bullshit.”

Some scribbled ferociously on scraps of paper. Others shoved Dictaphones at my face. “Lastly, yes, I’m officially coming out. Coming out as a man in love. Interpret that however you want. The only label I give myself is…lucky.”

Clicks, flashes and questions continued to choke the air but I’d said all I needed to. Urging Alex inside, I followed and closed the door, punching the lock code into the keypad behind me.

Alex stopped, turning to me and placing his hands on my hips. “I think I just fell in love with you all over again,” he said, the blush fading from his cheeks.

“You’re not mad? I didn’t realize I should’ve asked you if you were prepared to have your name tossed all over the magazines until I’d already started. By then, I was on a roll and-”