Chapter 1
Chapter One
Six Months Later
Audrey
Looking around the lobby of Black Fox Security while she waited for her brother, Audrey felt a rush of exhilaration. She was really here and not just to visit. No longer under her parents’ thumb. No longer dodging Cash’s calls and impromptu visits. No more pretending.
The lobby of the security firm was spacious and quiet since it was a Saturday.
No one was working. She was looking forward to meeting his team, though, at the welcome party he and his girlfriend, Cassidy, were throwing for her tonight.
It looked like a regular lobby—not that she knew what security firm lobbies were supposed to look like.
But she hadn’t been expecting something like an accounting firm.
She was leaning her elbow on the counter of the receptionist’s desk—it was two-tiered, with the desk part lower than the counter side where she was standing—facing the hallway David had gone down.
There were a few small piles of fliers and cards for local businesses on the counter.
Audrey wasn’t sure how much foot traffic security firms got, but maybe she should bring something in for her bakery once it opened.
At the very least, it wouldn’t hurt to go around to other businesses in the area and see if they would let her leave some kind of flier or card.
It was a good idea. The kind of thing she needed to be thinking about now that she was opening her own business.
She needed to make it work. While her grandfather had left her a hefty trust fund, she only had access to a small part of it right now.
The rest would come to her after her parents passed.
As frustrated as she was with them right now, that wasn’t a day she was looking forward to.
Which meant she had a safety net for the future, but it wouldn’t be there to catch her in time if she was one of the businesses that failed in its first five years… which was something like fifty percent of businesses. Almost twenty percent failed in the first year.
Stop thinking about that. Visualize success. Visualize people loving your baking and coming in regularly. Visualize all the special event cakes you’re going to make and how happy you’re going to be here in your new life.
Yes.
She could do this.
She was a damn good baker, and she knew it. She was smart. She could figure out the business stuff.
“I can do this,” she muttered under her breath as the door to the office beeped, the same sound it had made when David had used his keycard to get in.
Audrey jumped, straightening and turning.
She felt her eyes widen as one of the most gorgeous men she’d ever seen in real life came through the door.
Even though he must have seen her through the glass, he still looked surprised to see her there.
Tall, broad-shouldered, with a swimmer’s muscled build that made his body look like an upside-down triangle.
The grey turtleneck he was wearing hid whether he had that hot little ‘v’ at his hips, but Audrey would bet her bakery that he did.
The wire-rimmed glasses did nothing to detract from the handsomely sculpted lines of his face.
Tanned skin, black hair, black piercing eyes…
he looked like a model, not a former military turned security guy.
But that’s exactly what he was.
It took a moment for her floundering brain to recognize him from the pictures David had sent her of his team. He looked different out of uniform and with the hair on top of his head grown longer.
Mason. That was his name. The one who liked baklava.
“Mason?” She beamed at him, trying to cover up her immediate reaction—which would have been full of drool if she hadn’t controlled herself—with the bubbly excitement of meeting one of David’s team members.
In fact, David had often referred to Mason as the closest thing he had to a best friend.
“Oh my God, it’s so nice to finally meet you! ”
Taking several steps forward, Audrey flung out her arms. If she hugged him, he wouldn’t be able to see her expression, and she could have a moment to control herself.
Sure, she’d seen plenty of handsome men in real life, but there was something about this man that was affecting her in an entirely different way.
Cash had never made her feel an immediate surge of lust when she looked at him, and he was incredibly handsome.
If looking at Mason had been good, touching him was electric.
He was taller than her, even in her heels, and rock hard.
Granted, her brother was rock-hard muscle when she hugged him, too, but this was nothing like hugging her brother.
Mason was slimmer, with leaner muscles, and it felt like her entire body lit up.
Touching him might have been a mistake. Now, she didn’t need to just get her face under control; she needed to get her whole damn body under control.
“Audrey?” He didn’t sound certain, and she realized he hadn’t immediately recognized her.
Giving him another squeeze as cover to give her a moment to get herself together, Audrey released him and stepped back.
She tilted her head back to smile up at him, her brain frantically reaching for the first thing she could think of to say.
Baklava. David had passed on the message that Mason had particularly requested baklava at the bakery because it was his favorite.
“I didn’t know I was going to be seeing you here, or I would have brought your baklava—I made three different kinds, so you can tell me which one you like the best.” Oh crap, she was babbling.
Of course, she hadn’t known she was going to see him here.
No one was supposed to be here right now.
She and David had been just stopping by so he could pick up something.
She must sound like a complete idiot.
Also, admitting she’d made three types of baklava made her sound way too eager to please.
That’s what her mom would have said. She was trying too hard.
As usual. Maybe it was good to tell him now, though.
She’d made them before she’d met him, so he couldn’t misinterpret it as her meeting him, then trying to impress him because she was attracted to him or something.
Even though she was.
Wildly.
But she didn’t want to look pathetic. Or desperate.
Because she wasn’t.
“Thank you.” Mason smiled at her, and Audrey did her best not to melt. Good grief. Did he know how lethal that smile was?
Of course, he did. Guys like him always did. But he probably didn’t mean to use it on her that way. She was just… needy and pathetic.
Get out of my head, Cash.
“Sorry.” She wrinkled her nose, stepping back. Her hand drifted up to the end of her ponytail, giving it a little tug, hard enough to sting a little. “I know I come on kind of strong. I’m trying to get better about it.”
“I like how you come on. I didn’t mind.” The smile still seemed genuine, not as if he was trying to placate her. Audrey relaxed a little.
Mason was nice. Of course he was.
She wasn’t back home with her parents and their friends and their expectations.
If she’d reacted this way to one of their friends’ sons, they would have been horrified and embarrassed.
Audrey wouldn’t have had the chance to apologize because her parents would have been pulling her back and apologizing for her brashness.
And then she would have been scolded about improper behavior and minding her manners and not making such a show of herself.
But she wasn’t in Philly anymore; she was in Pittsburgh, and Mason was nice. And insanely hot.
“Hey, Audrey, ready to go?” David’s voice almost made her jump, because for a moment she’d forgotten she was waiting for him. She wasn’t sure whether she was relieved or disappointed he’d interrupted the moment. “Oh, hey, Mason. What are you doing here?”
“Uh, I just had to pick some stuff up.” Mason’s focus was now entirely on David, and she was not feeling bereft just because he wasn’t looking at her anymore. Nope. Because that would definitely be pathetic.
“Same.” Her brother came up beside her, slinging his arm around her shoulders as he held up a folder in his other hand.
Audrey smiled up at him. She was so glad she still had some family and that he’d been welcoming to her, even though she’d been trying to get him to talk to their parents for months after he’d cut them off.
“Audrey and I are headed over to brunch with our grandmother now. Cassidy is driving her and meeting us there.”
“I love Cassidy,” Audrey chimed in, because she loved seeing the happiness on David’s face every time she said it.
She truly did love Cassidy. She hoped David and Cassidy got married and lived happily ever after.
If anyone deserved it, it was the two of them.
“So does Grandma. We stayed up ‘til two o’clock last night talking. I adore her.”
The poor girl had been worried about whether Audrey would hate her, since her stalker ex-boyfriend had shot David while trying to kidnap her. As if that was Cassidy’s fault.
Now her stalker ex was dead, and they could live happily ever after without him hanging over them.
That was a big part of what they’d talked about last night, and Audrey had been happy to reassure Cassidy that she didn’t blame her at all.
“She’s pretty great,” Mason agreed, making Audrey want to melt even more.
She just wanted to stand here and stare at him.
Which meant she needed to get away from him right now.
She couldn’t be lusting after one of her brother’s team members.
She had a bakery to get up and running. She wasn’t looking for a relationship.
“She’s so great. But we do need to go so we can meet her.” Audrey smiled. “Will you be at Jensen’s tonight?”
She hadn’t met Jensen yet, but that’s where her welcome party was going to be. David’s apartment wasn’t big enough to hold everyone comfortably, according to him, and Jensen’s was where they usually gathered. Apparently, the house was incredible. Audrey was looking forward to seeing it.
Something changed in Mason’s expression, his smile faltering. Audrey felt her heart falter, too.
“Yeah, he’s coming,” David said, frowning at Mason when he didn’t answer right away.
“Yeah, I’m coming,” Mason echoed.
Something was going on there, and Audrey wasn’t sure what. Maybe it wasn’t any of her business.
“Great.” She smiled brightly. It couldn’t have anything to do with her; that was one thing she was sure of. She’d just gotten to town after all. There was something else going on, and it must have to do with him. “See you there!”
“See you there,” Mason said as she and David walked out of the office.
The elevator arrived right away, and Audrey turned inside, hoping to catch another glimpse of him, but he’d already moved out of the lobby and gone to do whatever he’d shown up to do. She sighed internally. It was only natural to be disappointed when the eye candy disappeared.
The elevator started to move.
“So, that’s Mason.”
“He was nice.” She smiled at David. “I’m looking forward to meeting the rest of the team.”
“They’re all nice. Well, mostly.” David frowned. “Zeus is a little stand-offish. I don’t think he’s coming tonight, anyway.”
“He’s the new one.” Which was easy to remember because he was the only one who hadn’t been part of David’s team when David was still enlisted.
“Yeah, he has a thing with his girlfriend tonight that she wants him to go to instead.”
“That’s okay, I’ll meet him later.”
“If he even lasts on the team.”
“Why wouldn’t he?”
The doors to the elevator opened, and David shrugged as he started to walk out.
“Not everyone makes the cut.”
Audrey had a feeling there was more to it than that, but she didn’t want to push.
If David wanted to talk about it, he would.
Things were good between them right now, despite the fact that their parents were reaching out to him again now that Audrey had moved here, and she didn’t want to mess with that.
“Well, if he lasts, then I’ll meet him,” she said teasingly, tucking herself under David’s arm again and giving his hard body a squeeze. Yup, definitely not the same as Mason’s. “In the meantime, we’ll have fun tonight.”
“Yes, we will. You and Mick will be able to trade baking tips—although make sure that his doesn’t include adding weed to the brownies,” David added a little grimly, making Audrey laugh.
Mick was Jensen’s cousin, who also baked, mostly as a side hustle for the local farmers' market on weekends. She’d heard the story about how Cassidy had eaten two of his special brownies before going to the job interview where Grandma had hired her.
She’d been high, David had been pissed, and Grandma had been delighted.
“As long as you’re not trying to set me up with him.” She was looking forward to meeting him, but not like that.
“I pinky promise I’m not.” David held out his free hand with his fingers tucked in except his pinkie.
Audrey curled her pinkie around his, and they shook on it.
She couldn’t keep the smile from her face.
When they’d been kids, pinkie promises had been the ultimate agreement, and she loved that David remembered that.
It wasn’t that she’d sworn off men or anything after Cash. She did want to date. But she wanted to get the bakery open first, and then she’d think about dating.
And it was just a coincidence that Mason’s face flashed through her mind again.