Long Shadow (Veiled Intentions #2) - Elle Keaton Page 0,29

heartbeat into orbit. Fenrir’s ears pricked, and he started to stand. Niall considered ignoring the knock. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe someone walking down the hallway bumped the door. The tap came again, more insistent this time.

Through the door, Niall heard Mat’s voice. “Niall, I know you’re in there. Your car is parked in the lot.”

Twelve

Mat

Mat lifted his hand to knock on Niall’s door again. Impatience and the sense that this time he couldn’t let Niall run away had propelled him to pass his house and continue to the motel where Niall insisted on staying. When the door opened, Mat swallowed at the sight of him; Niall wore his jeans and nothing else except mismatched socks on his feet, one green, the other black. Mat’s gut tightened, and he repressed a chuckle—he had it bad if sock feet were turning him on.

Right, because it wasn’t Niall’s thickly muscled chest covered with a dusting of dark hair that had Mat needing to adjust himself. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to start drooling, and wouldn’t Ella have the last laugh then? A door at the far end of the hallway banged, and the ice machine clattered as they stood there staring at each other.

“May I come in?” Mat asked.

Niall opened the door wide enough for Mat to slip past him. Niall’s anger from earlier had disappeared. Mat smelled salt air on him and knew he’d been out at the beach.

Mat had stayed at Lulu’s for a good half hour after Niall left, slowly drinking his coffee and finishing his meal, making sure Martin Reynolds understood Sheriff Dempsey would not be cowed. Martin had tried to rile up his buddies after Niall left, but they brushed off his attempts, instead focusing on the motocross race being replayed on the TV.

“What’s up?” Niall asked.

Mat shrugged. “Our dinner was interrupted.” And he’d obviously lost his mind.

Niall frowned and closed the door. Mat took in the room. It was small, not really big enough for Mat, Niall, and the dog—in fact, it was downright cramped. The only place for Mat to sit was on the bed. The mattress bowed a bit under his weight. Fenrir huffed and shut his eyes, not interested in humans at the moment.

“Did something happen after I left?” Niall asked.

He had no idea what he was doing in Niall’s motel room. He had no plan. He just hadn’t wanted to go home yet. The evening had ended too quickly and on a negative note. Mat toed off his shoes and unzipped his jacket, tossing it to one side, where it fell down onto the carpet. No, he corrected himself, he knew what he was doing here—he just didn’t know if his overture would be accepted.

Niall snatched a T-shirt from a pile on the chair and sniffed it. He grimaced but pulled it on anyway.

“I just thought it was a shame we didn’t get to finish our conversation. I know, I know… I said I’d be patient. I didn’t come over expecting anything to happen—I mean, no doubt there was a part of me that was hopeful, but.” He shrugged. Niall could come to his own conclusions.

“Why did you come over? Did something happen?” Niall asked again. His tone wasn’t angry or accusatory, merely curious.

Mat lay back on the bed, his arms crossed underneath his head, and stared at the ceiling. “At Lulu’s? No, those guys are a bunch of cowards.”

The mattress sank further as Niall perched on the edge, pulling one knee up and keeping one foot on the floor for balance.

Neither of them said anything for a moment. Mat shut his eyes and let the silence flow into him. Niall was an easy person to be quiet around; he didn’t demand conversation. A memory came to him, an incident when they were children. Another kid had confronted Niall on the playground, asking him if he was deaf and dumb. After a pause during which Niall looked the accuser up and down very slowly, he’d answered, “No,” and walked off.

“I guess I came because I wanted to be somewhere no one needed me an hour ago, no one wanted my opinion when they could’ve just made a decision themselves, no one needed a signature for a form that should’ve been turned in two weeks ago, and also where no one actively hated me.”

“And you couldn’t get that by going home?”

“Don’t misunderstand when I tell you this. I love my sister and my niece. I’ll do just about anything short