Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
Audrey
The bakery was flooded with people not long after the Black Fox team sat down to enjoy their food.
Word spread quickly that the hot, muscular guys were there.
Not just that, but several men had shown up for the gorgeous women as well.
Even through the rush, Audrey could see Grant glaring at the two men who were sitting with Darcie, Claudia, and Jennifer.
Unlike the other men who had dared to attempt a conversation, these two seemed to know Claudia—one of them looked enough like her that Audrey guessed they were related—and weren’t chased off so easily.
At some point, the team started trickling out, either bored and accepting that the FBI search was going to take longer than expected or because they had things they could do elsewhere. Eventually, it was just Claudia and Mason left, and the press of customers had slowed down to a trickle again.
The other two men were still sitting there, and Audrey was curious enough to go say hello.
“Well, hello there,” the handsome man who didn’t resemble Claudia said, twisting in his seat to give her a flirtatious look up and down.
He had blond hair and warm hazel eyes that sparked with intelligence and mischief.
His clean-shaven chin showed off his square-cut jaw, and she was pretty sure the way his shoulders filled out his suit jacket needed no padding.
If she wasn’t already enamored of Mason, she would have been blushing. She wasn’t sure she wasn’t.
“I hear you’re the owner of this fine establishment.”
“I am.” Audrey wiped her hands on her apron, bemused, and very aware of the way Mason’s eyes were now narrowing at the other man.
“Yes, this is Audrey,” Claudia said. “Audrey, this pain in the ass is my brother’s best friend, Ian, and this is my brother Miguel.
” Confirmed. The man who looked so much like Claudia was her brother.
He was just as handsome as Ian, though with a browner skin tone and dark hair and eyes, and his smile as he said hello wasn’t full of flirtation.
“Hello,” Audrey said again with a little wave, starting to sidle closer to where Mason was seated. He was on the other side of the table—he’d been watching her while she was working, and she’d been very aware of his gaze the whole time—but it meant that he was across from her now.
It required her to move past Ian, though, and he grabbed her hand as she did.
“I just have to tell you, I love your buns.” He grinned up at her and winked, tilting his head to the side to where half a cinnamon bun was left.
Audrey pressed her lips together to keep from bursting into laughter because Mason was now gripping his plastic knife and looking like he might actually be pissed off.
“Leave the poor girl alone, you walking venereal disease. She has a boyfriend,” Claudia snapped, whacking the back of the hand Ian was using to hold Audrey’s with the plastic fork she was holding.
“Ouch!” Ian released Audrey’s hand and shook his fingers out, still grinning, and apparently, completely as unperturbed by Claudia’s insult and minor violence as he was by her rebuke. “Careful, Claudia, you know I like it when you talk dirty to me.”
She rolled her eyes and looked between Mason and Audrey as Audrey scooted closer to him. Immediately, his arm went out and around her waist, pulling her down onto his lap. She squeaked in surprise, but she wasn’t unhappy about it.
“Ignore him,” Claudia advised. “He’d flirt with a coat rack if it had boobs.”
“Hey, now,” Ian protested. “I’d want it to have an ass, too.” He cupped his hands in front of him, like he was cupping a woman’s bottom. “A really nice one.”
Claudia eyed him like she’d eye a particularly gross piece of trash on the ground, and Ian grinned back at her.
From the way her brother was ignoring them, Audrey assumed this was how they usually were together.
There was a little something different about the way Ian flirted with Claudia than he had been with her, though. Something in his eyes.
Were they exes? Or had they hooked up once?
Maybe she’d asked Mason later.
If she dared. Getting into Claudia’s business seemed like a dangerous proposition. And Mason might not know, anyway.
But there was something there; she’d be willing to swear it.
“Ignore him,” Mason murmured in her ear. “Claudia’s not wrong about him.”
Actually, what she really needed to ask Mason about was Claudia calling him Audrey’s boyfriend and him not correcting her.
She wasn’t sure she dared to do that either, though.
Was he her boyfriend? They hadn’t talked about that. She would like it if he was. It wasn’t like everyone didn’t know about them now. And he was acting very boyfriend-y. She liked texting him. She liked sleeping with him. She would like to spend more time with him.
Audrey shifted on his lap, and his grip on her tightened, as if he was worried she was going to get up, which she would need to do, eventually.
“Any word about the office?” she asked.
“Lincoln and Harris are there now with Jordana. They’ve told us to just do our own things until tomorrow and to come back in then.” Claudia shrugged. “I just don’t have anything to do.”
“I volunteer as tribute,” Ian quipped with a wink.
Miguel made a gagging noise. “Bro, you do not want to even go there. You have no idea what she likes to do to men, and I seriously wish I didn’t.” He shuddered, which made Claudia snicker.
“But you learned your lesson about letting yourself into my house without giving me a heads-up, didn’t you?”
“There’s not enough bleach in the world to clean out my eyeballs,” Miguel grumbled. “I still have nightmares.”
“What does she do?” Audrey whispered in Mason’s ear.
Claudia hadn’t really talked much about her preferences during book club or anything.
She knew Claudia was the dominant, so she was in charge in her relationships…
maybe Miguel had just seen her having sex with someone, but it seemed like more than that.
“She likes cock and ball torture,” Mason murmured back, and Audrey felt his tiny shudder, although she wasn’t sure if she would have noticed if she hadn’t been sitting on him.
He hid his discomfort well. She stared at Claudia, fascinated.
What would that even look like? “Don’t even think about getting any ideas.
I get to torture you, not the other way around. ”
Audrey giggled as he gave her a squeeze.
Maybe he was her boyfriend? She hoped he was.
Mason
The next few days, Mason’s life felt like it had changed completely.
The entire team was on edge, but also feeling triumphant after getting one over on Devlin.
Of course, Mason couldn’t help but wonder if Zeus had been the one to find the planted information because he’d been the one to plant it…
He seemed to be the only one who was that paranoid, though.
Even Drew was making more of an effort to exchange greetings with the man.
None of that changed Zeus’ demeanor. He was the same as ever. At some point, Mason wanted to do a deep dive with him, but short of forcing him into a chair, he wasn’t sure how to make it happen. He couldn’t prove Zeus was avoiding him… but somehow he managed to never be alone with Mason.
Mostly, though, there was a new focus of determination, especially with an upcoming event for the senator where they would be providing her with extra security.
MacLeod would be there too, which meant Devlin would most likely be there with him.
Hopefully, frothing at the mouth at being thwarted and not smugly satisfied that his trick to make them trust Zeus had worked.
That wasn’t the biggest change, though.
The biggest was Audrey.
The daily texts.
The fact that he missed her on the nights they weren’t together.
That he couldn’t stop thinking about her, even at work, where he’d always been good at compartmentalizing his personal life away from where his focus needed to be.
Part of him was freaked out about it. He’d never been like this with a woman before… but that had been true about her from the beginning. And he couldn’t stop. Couldn’t get enough of her. It felt like he was a plant and she was the sun, and he finally knew what it was like to bask in its warmth.
But he really couldn’t stay away, which was how he ended up at her bakery Tuesday evening, waiting for her to get off work so they could spend the evening together.
Brenda was there with her friends when he walked in, and she immediately waved him over.
Ashley smirked at him from behind the counter.
Audrey was nowhere in sight, which meant she was probably in the back with Alexis.
“Hello, Mason, have a seat.” The gleam in Brenda’s eye could mean a lot of things, but Mason found himself oddly intimidated.
“Uh, well, I was going to get… something.” He waved his hand toward the display case of goodies to his side.
He was met by three gimlet stares.
“Sit,” Brenda ordered.
Mason sat. When Brenda was being serious, he wasn’t going to mess around.
She reminded him of an old-time gangster with the way she folded her hands in front of her and leaned forward to give him a hard-eyed look, regardless of the sky-blue sweater with a giant rooster she was wearing.
Especially with Mary and Karen on either side of her, also giving him their best stern gazes. Mafia grandmas, all of them.
“I would like to know what your intentions with my granddaughter are.” Brenda arched her eyebrows at him.
“Well, we’re still getting to know each other-“
“Skip the flummery, Mason. I expect I don’t have much time with you before she comes out,” Brenda said, waving her hand.
Well, there was a word he’d never heard used in real life before. But he knew what she meant.