Page 69 of My Secret Bandit

“Shopping with Sierra.”

“Where are you? I’ll meet you.”

“No!” I yelled, louder than intended. I didn’t want to risk him seeing what I purchased, thus ruining the secret. “It’s kind of a surprise and we’re done anyway.”

Mateo laughed again. “Okay. I’ll just go to your place and wait for you. I love you, baby.”

“I love you too.”

Sierra held my bag in her hand and moved toward the exit by the time I ended the call. She said nothing, just gave me her favorite I-told-you-so smile and eyebrow dance.

We filled the drive home with talk about the upcoming photoshoot and doing it at Mateo’s to add to the sexiness of it. It’d be easy to do too, with a game the next day he’d be up at the field doing last-minute prep. And if I needed to, I could get Xander to keep him busy, although that meant telling him about the shoot.

Mateo’s car sat along the curb when we pulled up.

I found him in all his magnificent glory, sitting on the couch, phone in hand.

“Hey, baby.” He bounced up as we walked further inside. His movements were still stiff, and I was sure quick actions like that hurt more than he would ever want anyone to know.

“Hey,” I said, giving him a quick peck on the lips while moving the shopping bag behind my back.

Mateo said nothing. Instead, he raised one eyebrow while I moved so he could greet Sierra.

“Sierra!” he exclaimed, pulling her into a tight hug, his long body almost folding around her smaller one. “How are you?”

“Not bad. How are you? I saw what happened at the game.Ouch!”

He waved off her concerns.

“Nah, it’s just a bruise. I’ll be back to normal in a couple of days.” He smiled a blinding smile I’d swear had its own twinkle effect. “So… is this thekind ofsurprise?“ He turned his gaze back to me. More specifically, the bag I tried not to draw attention to.

“Hey, so Jamie said your birthday is in a couple weeks. You have anything planned?” Sierra asked, not-so-subtly changing the subject while pushing me toward my bedroom to stow my package.

Holding my breath, I waited for Mateo’s answer. Apart from knowing when they were, we never talked about birthdays. I had no idea if Mateo even wanted to celebrate his.

Like my own badass secret agent, Sierra asked the questions I didn’t even know I needed answers to.

“No. Not really. Usually, I’ll just go out with some of the guys or my parents will drive in for the day and we’ll have dinner at the house.”

I watched him from my spot against the doorframe. He was gorgeous, even in his relaxed jogger pants, plain t-shirt and boots. Just the sight of him caused my skin to prickle with goosebumps.

“When Mom comes down, she makes the best cheesecake. Or, well, that’s what I thought until I tasted Jameson’s,” he said with a sexy smirk as he caught me staring at him from the doorway.

“Oh, right. Her cheesecake.” Sierra snorted.

He winked. “Sen-fucking-sational.”

Oh, for the love of sweet baby Jesus.

Even if he hadn’t meant for the discussion to take this turn, his smile and Sierra’s quick wit landed it there, so he rolled with it.

Hoping to steer the conversation to anywhere but our bedroom activities, I shared the only bit of information I knew they both would be interested in. “Jeffrey got the article taken down. Or well, he says it’ll be down by the end of the day.”

“What? How?” Mateo asked, his eyebrows drew together, a little wrinkle forming between them.

I went into detail, replaying the conversation with Jeffrey. Mateo’s eyes went savage at the mention of Kyle.

“I guess it was their attempt at revenge or whatever,” I said, immediately regretting my decision to divulge that bit of information.

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