Secured Sevenfold

Josephine’s POV
I tried to push back the thought of Matt’s big hands on my body, about his lips crashing down on mine, about his tongue in my mouth…
But tried was the right word, it wasn’t really working.
How dare he force himself on me like that!
I couldn’t believe him… even though the little voice in the back of my mind said, I have never been kissed that good, never had it nearly felt that energizing than that…
God, what was wrong with me, that I kept thinking about it…

“Hello? Earth to Josephine?” Liv waved her hand in front of my face.
“Hmm? What?” I frowned at her and she turned her back on me.
“Can you zip me up?” I looked at the gap in her dress and pulled the zipper up.
“So still thinking about Mr. Boss?” Liv smiled with a knowing grin and my cheeks grew hot, she knew me too well.
“I freaking knew it! So tell me, he dragged you to his room and gave you a lesson you will never forget?” Liv asked and I rolled my eyes, but well the kiss was something I would never forget actually.
“No, he… he is being all pushy and bossy about me. I hate that.” I tried to justify me.
“You totally love that. You are like that yourself, don’t try to deny it and you would need exactly someone like that in your life. Julian never was right for you, sweetie. You need someone strong… and I mean have you seen that guy, his shirtless naked chest and abs gave me the shivers and I mean the good ones.” Liv said and I remembered Matt’s naked upper body, he had exactly the same effect on me as well but I wouldn’t admit that.
I tried to forget him and the whole bad boy, tattooed and bossy aura of these guys.
“Don’t be ridiculous, he is not that… good looking.” I lied and my cheeks growing warm.
“Lie to yourself, but not to me. I can read you like an open book, sweetie. Now are you ready?”
I looked into the mirror, and tried to put my hair on the top of my head, like normally business like but then I felt the hands of my friend pulling it back down.
“You got such lovely hair, leave it down. We are not on a business meeting, you know?” She winked at me and I sighed.
She was right, this was my vacation, I should loosen up a little more and not let this small little incident with Matt distract me.
“You are right. Just give me a second and I will be ready.” I moved into the bathroom, put some make-up on and sighed.
I had no idea why Matt wanted to have dinner with us, that he insisted on having dinner with us.
I rather have gone alone with Liv, but I couldn’t change that now, could I?
A knock on the door sounded and I waited to hear Liv opening the door.
“Good evening, you look amazing. Are you girls ready to spend the evening with me?” Matt smooth and deep voice sounded from the door and I heard Liv chuckle lightly.
“Same to say about you, very handsome. So different to the beach wear earlier today.” Liv flirted back and I might have hated my best friend for a second right then, how dare she let herself be dragged under his spell.

I sighed loudly and opened the door, one last look in the mirror was making sure I looked more than presentable.
I went outside and saw Matt standing next to Liv, he did look handsome.
Black dress shirt, rolled up at his elbows and a black pants, his tattoo’s in stark contrast to his skin.
Damn it, why does he have to look so damn attractive?
“Ah there she is. I guess we can leave?” Liv asked and Matt turned his head towards me.
He smiled and showed his dimples, and I tried not to let it show how he affected me with that smile.
I held my head up and walked towards him. “Yes, I am ready.”
“Good evening, Joe.” Matt murmured and held his arms out to Liv and me so we could hook into, all gentleman like. I cringed at him calling me Joe again.
Liv lifted and eyebrow at me and gave me a slight push in Matt’s direction, I rolled my eyes but laid my arm into his and felt the hot skin of his arm underneath my palm and I suppressed the shiver.
Damn body, betraying me again.

Just a little while later we were in the middle of our dinner, the food was delicious and I watched Matt and Liv talk about some music event they both have seen in the TV.
I frowned a little, since I wasn’t home often I missed whatever show it was and maybe I should really grant me more free time?
To my surprise the evening was really enjoyable and there was never silence, I saw exactly how Matt was having Liv under his spell, and if I would have met him under other circumstances I would have reacted exactly like her, but we had a different history behind us.
Him being the boss of the watchdogs for me and my sister… which brought me to another thought.
“Matt, how is my sister doing?” I asked and he turned his attention back on me.
“You want the truth?” He asked a small smirk on his face.
“Of course, I want the truth.” I told him and frowned a little.
“I will go to the restroom, be right back.” Liv excused herself and Matt nodded with a small smile.
“She is as much as a handful as you are, princess.” Matt said and his eyes swept over my body like a caress.
“What..” I steadied my voice “What do you mean?”
“She escaped as well, 2 times. But we have her safely back under control.” Matt smiled.
“Okay.” Sure, my sister would make an attempt to flee, after all she was a wild spirit and even though we shared the same DNA, most of the time we were acting and behaving and also looking very different.
“You look amazing, Joe.” Matt said and his eyes were glued to mine and gasped a little not really sure why he would point that out.
“I.. well.. thank you.” I smiled and looked away from him, knowing he would get me with all his charm offensive.
“You are welcome.” He smiled “You want some dessert?”
“No, thank you. But Liv will want some, she loves desserts.” I told him and tried to guide the conversation into another direction.
“Alright, let’s wait for her then” Matt smiled and I prayed Liv would come back soon, I just couldn’t take being alone with him anymore. He annoyed me like crazy, but why did I wonder how it would be if he kissed me again?

Matt’s POV
“Ah there she is” I looked over Joe’s shoulder and saw Olivia walking back to our table. She was nice, Olivia, we got along. We had a lot in common , listened to the same music, watched the same television shows and had the same humor. I was wondering if Joe would have the same interests, I didn’t get the chance to get to know her any better, seeing she kept away from our conversation the whole night. I guess she was still mad at me for the kiss.

I might be a little mad at myself for that kiss too. She is a client and I should have known better than to break rule number one. The one rule I always push my guys for to better keep and now… Now I broke it myself. But I just couldn’t help myself. She was so mad at me, her eyes burning with fire, her cheeks red and she was just too close. I sighed and looked at the two women, bending over the menu, deciding on their desserts.
“I’ll just have a coffee” Joe said, putting aside the menu
“You sick?” Olivia asked her with a confused look on her face. Joe shook her head and fidgeted with her bracelet.
“Well, I will have the grand dessert, I have a hard time choosing” She smiled at me “How about you Matt, what will be your sin for tonight?”
“I’ll follow Joe” Olivia let out a small chuckle and my breath got stuck in my throat “With the coffee” I added quickly, letting out a smile, dimples full throttle, that would make her think about something else for a while.
“You two are no fun… Well, I’m not eating alone” She turned to the waiter that had just arrived at our table “We will have three coffee” she ordered.

After the coffee Joe had wanted to go to her room, so I brought them to their room and I withdrew to my room too. I changed my dress clothes for some shorts and opened my laptop to check my email. I got some updates about a few jobs that were going on. I looked at my watch, it was still early, I grabbed my phone.
“Arin, Matt. How are things over there?”
“Everything is quiet, other jobs are not giving any problems, I send you an update, don’t you have email there?”
“Of course I do, I just wanted to hear your voice” I chuckled.
“Well…” Arin stuttered a little, he still wasn’t used to us fooling around, it made making a fool out of him so much more fun “I… uh.. Now I have you on the phone anyways. I wanted to ask you something. I need Zack back at the mansion to perform some credit card checks and run that program over the taps we are keeping on that two jobs in Las Vegas. Is it okay if I get him away from the Jacky job for one night? I kinda need the checks yesterday”
I thought about the request for a little, for some reason I didn’t like Brian being alone with the woman, she got a way of misleading him and getting away without him noticing.
“Okay, call him, but only for tonight, I want him on that job too, I don’t want to leave anything to coincidence with this job anymore”
“Right, boss! How are things at your end?”
“Good, good” My mind wandered to how good it was going, what would she be doing right now? Would she be thinking about the kiss too?
“Great, I will call Zack then” Arin’s voice broke my train of thought again.
“Wait, Arin… I will call him myself, I want an update, haven’t heard from them besides a text this morning. I will send him over. Talk to you later, keep me informed.”
“Sure, bye”

I touched Zack’s speeddial button and waited for him to pick up. I let it run all the way through until I got voicemail. What is wrong with these guys?! I tried again, this time Zack picked up after the first ring.
“What is it with you and Brian on that job and not picking up your phone immediately?!” I rushed out before he could even say his name
“Don’t get your panties in a twist, I was just too late, don’t make a big deal about it” Zack replied annoyed
“I want an update Vengeance, that is something you two seemed to forget over there too” I grumbled
“Nothing to update really, everything is fine. Jacky had a friend over this afternoon, Brian was out for a while, he needed to refocus, we just had dinner with the three of us. How are things over with you? Where are you? How did she like the big boss coming from her? Must have been a big bummer for her, huh?” Zack kept rambling on
“Zack, rewind a little. Why the hell did Brian need to refocus? What is wrong with his focus, what happened?”
“Nothing happened, he was just annoyed she got away from him two times, he just needed to take a little distance, that’s all, now tell me about you and Josephine”

I decided to let it go for a bit, but I would find out what these two were hiding from me. They were my best two men, but if there was something to hide, you didn’t want them to be together. They had such a close friendship, they only needed a split-second to get their stories aligned and you would never ever find out the truth, but that wasn’t happening now, let them think I was believing them.

“Joe is enjoying a vacation at the beautiful island of Hawaii, of course she wasn’t happy to see me, but I think we reached an understanding. And hell, it’s not exactly a bad thing having to hang out here at the pool”
Zack growled “Why couldn’t she just take me along? I wouldn’t have mind a little pre holiday”
“Well, you can forget that now” I chuckled, but quickly regained seriousness “Zack, I really need you two at your best, I don’t want her to get in danger anymore. Is Brian up for it too?”
Silence. Zack seemed to think, but then quickly replied “Yes, of course he is!”
“Good, because I need you at the mansion tonight, you need to do a few jobs for Arin. Show him right away, okay? He needs to learn too”
Zack hesitated “Sure, I will get over there right away” and he hung up.

I looked at my phone and sighed. There was definitely something going on there, I just needed to find out what.

Notes

Oh that Matt, keeping an eye on Joe, being nice company during a dinner AND keeping an eye on everything that is happening at home... Damn, is there anything the man can´t do ;-)

Merry Christmas to all of you here.... We wish you all the best and a very nice few days with your loved ones.

A special Christmas wish for my lovely co-writer; Enjoy your holidays, Mei. I'm a lucky person I got to know you this past year <3