Cherish & Blessed Read Online Free PDF Page B

sweet, but we have obligations….”
    “You could take the kids over break if that works out better. I can’t really fly anymore, not until after the baby is born, at least.” Daisy reached down to fiddle with her bag. “Let me just e-mail the caretaker.”
    “Teasing, remember?”
    “Daisy’s right. You should use the house when we’re not there.” Bennett’s dark eyes twinkled at Matt. Their joking about the perks of Matt’s job went back a long way, but he knew Matt was uncomfortable with taking things too far. “An empty house is a security risk.”
    “Or, you know, it’s an empty house.” Matt put his empty beer glass down and watched as it was whisked away magically and replaced with a full one.
    “Still….”
    Matt put his hand up. He knew twin steamrollers when he saw them. “So anyway—the house.” He gave Bennett a little glare.
    “I love it, I love it, I love it,” Daisy said, sitting up with her phone in hand. “I love it.”
    “I guess that means I’m buying it.” Like there was ever a question.
    “Which I guess means the usual setup?” Matt got out his phone as well, wanting to take a few notes.
    “Maybe something a little more extensive.” Bennett’s tone was neutral. That meant “we’ll talk about it later.”
    Matt shared a sideways look with Daisy, who continued to tap out a message on her phone. She gave him a tiny smile.
    “Okay, I e-mailed the caretaker in the Caymans,” she said breezily. “And boring security talk can happen later. Matt, what are you guys doing for Thanksgiving?”
    He had to hand it to her—she was a pretty good actress off the stage too.
    “We’re having turkey and drama.” A waiter with a steak the size of New Hampshire appeared at his side.
    “Oh no.” Daisy tilted closer as another waiter deposited four pounds of salad on the table.
    “Miranda’s bringing a boy home. And his parents. And my liver can’t really handle the amount of liquor I’m going to need to survive the tension.” Matt picked up his knife and fork. “Wait, so the Cayman house is available now, right? I still have time to plot my escape.”
    “I can have the jet on the tarmac in two hours,” Bennett said over his steroid-pumped lobster.
    Matt twisted his lips into a smoldering smile. “I can’t help but find you incredibly attractive when you say things like that,” he deadpanned.
    Daisy’s giggles ended in a snort.
     
     
    F ULL OF food, beer, and a future filled with hefty paychecks and bonuses, Matt rode in the back of the limo with the air of a satisfied man. Bennett and Daisy were fun to be around. They spent money like water—and when was that not awesome? Plus, their relationship, which gave other people pause, made an odd sort of sense to him. He knew how many of their friends had abandoned them when their relationship came to light. Bennett had been long identified as gay, so his friends considered Daisy little more than an expensive beard. And Daisy’s friends—the ones she had left—saw Bennett as yet another grab for security at any cost. The gay guy and the gold-digger.
    And it bugged Matt, it really did, because he saw how honestly crazy about each other they were, but then labels were a hot button in his life, and he mostly wanted to know why the fuck it was anyone’s business who you loved in your lifetime.
    They didn’t discuss it, not openly, but there was a tacit understanding among the three of them that it just didn’t matter.
    His phone buzzed in his pocket, interrupting his fast-moving thoughts—memories of his problems with Evan about labels and perceptions and how dangerously close they had come to not figuring this out. If Evan’s job kept Matt up at night, the prospect of them not being “them” made him reach for the light to scare away the nightmares.
    “Yeah,” he said, not even checking to see who it was.
    “Maaaaaaaaaatt!”
    Katie, his favorite Cerelli child—a fact he would never reveal, even under