He’d woken to a raging erection and hammering at his door. The latter had almost killed the former, but not so much that he hadn’t seen Iz’s pupils dilate when she’d looked down at his dick tenting his joggers.
Fuck.
He should just let her go. Chalk his moment of spontaneity down to Harry looking at Iz with hungry eyes that said he’d still prefer her over the chick on his arm.
And no, the idea of her calling Harry up and asking him to go solo like her was a recipe for disaster. What if he played on her vulnerabilities like Jase had? What if he caught her in a moment of weakness and somehow convinced her they still belonged together?
Shitballs.
Or he could just admit he wanted to be there for her. Be the guy she relied on. The guy she needed.
He jogged to the door and yanked it open. “Iz,” he called down the corridor.
She didn’t look around, so he shouted louder. “Iz. Come back here.”
He held his breath until she started to walk toward him, then he released it with a whoosh.
Now what, genius?
She checked the bags she always seemed to be carrying too many of. “Did I forget something?”
She patted the back pocket of her jeans, likely looking for her phone.
“No. Just come back inside.”
“Matt. I really need to get going to work.”
“I know. This won’t take a moment.”
He pushed the door open for the second time to let her in. “Where’s the wedding?”
She dropped her bags on the floor. “At a large hotel on the banks of Lake Windermere in the Lake District.”
Great. Iz, who already looked like a heroine from Wuthering fucking Heights, would be wandering the hills and water’s edge. She’d wear a pretty dress covered in flowers. Her hair free instead of the way she forced it into sleek lines every day.
Wild Iz was perhaps the hottest Iz there was.
“And when is it?”
“Two weekends from this weekend.”
Matt ran through gig dates in his head. They were miraculously free because Luke had booked it off for some reason he couldn’t remember right now. “Saturday?”
Izabel bit her lip and winced. “Yes. Well, no. There are events on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning.”
“Should be called your wedding week, not your wedding day. How are you going to get up there, Iz?”
He could tell by the lines on the bridge of her nose she hadn’t thought about that. “I’m sure there’s a train.”
“Yeah. And how much will that cost. Forty quid? Fifty quid? And what about accommodation? Izabel. Hotels on Lake Windermere likely cost a bloody fortune.”
“Look, I don’t know why the sudden interrogation. I’ll figure something out, Matt. I’ll see if someone will let me crash in their room with them. Or find a hostel or something cheaper close by. Hell, I can even camp. It’s summer. Why did you call me back here to talk logistics?”
“Because I’m taking you and I need to know what I’ve signed up for.”
“But you just agreed it was best if—”
“I was half asleep when you knocked on the door and offered me an out. And I wasn’t honest with you.”
“What? I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I. Bring me your bags that Friday morning. I’ll stick ’em in the car and pick you up from the shelter after work and we’ll head straight off. And if you can get out of there early so we aren’t stuck on the M6 in rush hour traffic, even better.”
“But . . . Luke.”
Yeah, Luke.
“I’m not lying to him. I’ll come up with something and sort it out with him.”
Izabel shook her head. “No, I should be the one to do it.”
Matt huffed. “I admire the spark of independence, but we both know when it comes to conflict, you’re like a fucking kitten. You’ve got claws, you’ve just not figured out how to use them yet. Luke’ll say no, and then I’ll be getting a text saying we’re not going.”
Wrinkles appeared across the bridge of Izabel’s nose, the closest she ever came to looking truly indignant. “You make me sound like a pushover.”
“Like I said, you don’t like conflict.”
“Not fair. I went toe-to-toe with our city councillors the day I ran into you on the tram. I can do conflict.”
Matt shrugged. “Yeah, because you’re fighting for someone else. Those claws come out when it comes to the people the shelter serves, or Luke. You’ve even defended Jase when he didn’t deserve it. But when it comes to you . . .”
Izabel folded her arms, and it pushed her tits together, making the urge to run his tongue between them even stronger. Suddenly remembering he was naked under his grey joggers, he forced himself to recite the lyrics to “Savoy Truffle” by The Beatles.
Fucking obscure lyrics were bound to kill a pending boner.
“Fine. Fair. Whatever. No, I don’t like conflict around me. It makes me feel like I’m gonna throw up.”
“So, we’re agreed. I’ll talk to Luke. I’ll tell him the truth.”
“Which is?”
“I saw Harry being a shit, flaunting his side-piece, rubbing your nose in it, and I stepped in to help you out. And how I also saw Harry looked at you like you were a lobster and steak dinner he couldn’t wait to sink his teeth into, and I didn’t think it was fair for you to have to deal with him alone.”
“Urgh. Do you have to make me sound so incapable, Matt?”
Matt reached forward and ran his thumb along her cheek, the friction setting him alight inside. “You’re not incapable, Iz. You’re just too good to see the bad in people.”
“Now you’re making me sound like freaking Mary Poppins.”
Matt looked at her bags by the door. “Well, you do seem to be able to pull anything required from those twenty-seven bags you carry around with you.”
Iz turned her face away, but he could see the upturned corner of her lips as she tried to hide her smile. “Fine. Whatever. But I’ll figure out somewhere for us to stay.”
“Not happening. I take you somewhere, I pay.”
Her eyes snapped back to his. “This isn’t a date.”
He heard the words, but the tone told him something different. There was longing. For a moment, he’d forgotten. It felt so natural to be around her, to want to protect her from her own good nature. Hell, he’d gotten buoyed by the idea the two of them were making plans. Plans that included just the two of them, and a hotel, and a beautiful location miles away from brothers.
“I’m still paying. Leave the hotel and ride to me. If it makes you feel better, you can pay to add me to some of those extra events if you need to. I draw the line at anything requiring extensive audience participation.”
Izabel smiled at him. A full on, bright-eyed, joyful smile. His world righted, and for a moment, it didn’t matter that there was every risk Luke was going to kick his head in when he told him, or Jase would give him shit for taking her. For the briefest moment, he felt as though he could take everything they could throw at him so she would smile like that for all fucking time.
Her eyes fixed on his, her chest rising and falling a little faster than normal, a comfortable silence fell between the two of them.