Chapter 7
When I came back in with Hudson, Mase and Sunny were gone. His disappearance wasn’t entirely a surprise, but I was a little disappointed.
Okay, a lot disappointed.
It was stupid. We were friends. We fell asleep watching a movie. The whole thing was completely normal, and I had no reason to constantly relive the feeling of his body against mine, his arm wrapped around me.
All damn day.
I was in a foul mood when Mom finally came down to make breakfast. She glanced around but didn’t say anything when no one else popped into the room. Hudson woofed at me in his playful tone when I left with my plate, but Mom was going to have to handle him. I had work I’d been ignoring.
Later, after way too many hours editing videos, I stood and stretched. My stomach rumbled, and the room had started to get dim as the sun shifted. Thanks to Mase and his hot/cold personality, I’d spent too much time messing around the last week.
Okay, it wasn’t entirely his fault I’d been alternating between two distinctly different fantasies involving him.
One where I smothered him in his sleep—ideally after a wild night of makeup sex—and the other just the sex without the smothering.
He was frustrating as all hell, but I definitely wanted to see him naked.
That was a problem for me.
I had some trust issues after the last few years, and I didn’t want to blindly let a guy close simply because he had impressive shoulders. Walter was a vivid lesson on not trusting humanity as a whole.
I had a live scheduled tonight to test out a new game, and I hadn’t even set up an account yet. As fun as it had been waking up next to Mase’s hulking form, the couch didn’t really lend itself to good sleep. My back was killing me.
My stomach got louder, so I went in search of a snack. Mom hadn’t been much of a homemaker before the attack, but being stuck in her house twenty-four hours a day gave her a lot of time to learn new skills.
Case in point, a pumpkin pie sat cooling on the counter. My mouth literally watered. The adult part of me knew I needed actual food, but the goblin part got out a fork. I went so far as to sort of slice the pie into eight pieces.
Mom would cringe when she saw the uneven lines, but I went in face first. I was working my way through piece number two when someone knocked on the door. Rude. Couldn’t they see I was having a low moment?
I tossed the fork into the sink, licked my lips, and decided to hell with it.
Whoever it was could deal with my slovenly appearance.
I swung the door open to reveal Mase in all his daytime glory.
He wore jeans and a hoodie with Wildcat Hockey emblazoned across the front. This time, he’d included shoes as well.
A harrumph, clearly audible from across the street, made Mase turn and stare at Mrs. Lipnicki’s house.
I studied his profile while he was distracted.
His short hair still looked like he’d just rolled out of bed—an image I banished from my mind reluctantly—and his full lips curled into a half smile. Something was different today.
The weight he’d carried before seemed lighter, his shoulders looser.
Since Mom’s attack and my own stalker situation, I’d become much better at reading body language.
Unlike before, Mase didn’t seem like he was there against his will.
He’d come over here for a reason, and he knew exactly what he wanted.
Across the street, a door slammed. Mase zeroed in on me, and I felt the intense eye contact all the way to my toes. For half a second, I considered closing the door in his face.
The knee jerk reaction came from the flutter in my belly and the warning in the back of my mind. A broken Mase I could handle, a confident Mase threw a giant wrench into my self-preservation instincts. If I was serious about not wanting a distraction, I needed to take a stand now.
Instead, I stepped forward to meet him in the doorway.
His gaze raked over me, warm and thrilling.
My body responded as if he’d touched me, clenching and tightening all at once.
Thank God I’d put on a bra after the breakfast debacle.
The last thing I needed was him reading something into my hard nipples.
No matter how truthful his observations might be.
Then again, I hadn’t shut the door, had I? Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to let my baser instincts lead the way for once.
While I argued with myself, Mase held out his empty hands palms up. “Sorry, no duck today.”
I hadn’t spared a single thought for Sunny, which made me feel a little guilty. “I don’t really have time to play with her right now anyway.”
“Do you have time for me?”
“Depends. What do you need?”
“I have a game tonight.”
I waited a beat, but he didn’t say anything else. “Okay…”
“I want to come over after.”
“Okay.” This time my response was confident, despite my inner back and forth.
Mase shifted his weight closer. “I want to stay the night. Don’t say ‘okay’ again.”
I snapped my mouth shut instead of replying. My first reaction hadn’t been to agree.
“Why?” I tried instead.
He ran a hand through his messy hair. “I slept better here on your couch than I have in months in my bed. I want to see if it was a fluke.”
I raised a brow. “You can crash on my couch, but I’ll be sleeping in my bed.”
“Fair enough.”
Weird—super freaking weird—but I was in. “Is that all?”
“No,” he hesitated, “I want to kiss you, but I’m getting some mixed signals.”
My pulse went from food coma to rocket boots in an instant. I hadn’t even brushed my teeth this morning. “That makes sense. I’m pretty fucking confused right now.”
“That’s not a no.”
A smile threatened to break free at his borderline smug tone, but I contained it. “You’re right, it’s not.”
He grinned at me, and the full confident weight of it nearly knocked me back. “I’ll wait for the enthusiastic yes.”
I blinked at him. “There might not be a yes.”
Mase leaned in and rubbed his rough thumb along my bottom lip. His finger came away with a smear of pie, and he slid it into his mouth. Fire spread from my belly, making my whole body melt. The sensation hit me like a tidal wave, and involuntarily, I swayed forward.
“There will be,” he said quietly.
Then he was gone. Again. Striding across the lawn with his long gait. I fanned myself, despite the chilly air, and glanced up in time to meet Mrs. Lipnicki’s eyes through her front window.
Perfect. If we kept having these moments on my doorstep, I’d need to start charging for admission. When had I even moved far enough to be in her full view? I waved as if I wasn’t still panting, then collapsed back on my side of the door.
My butt hit the floor, and I just sat there, breathing, until my body didn’t feel like I’d jumped into a volcano. I was wearing the same thing I’d slept in, I had pie on my face, and I didn’t have time for Mase’s games.
If he showed up, he could have the couch. I’d make sure Mom knew, and I’d simply follow through with my plans for the evening as if he weren’t here. As if I could forget the way he’d felt wrapped around me.
Hudson rushed toward me, doing his huffing bark at the door. The dog was a solid five minutes late for the intruder alarm, but after sniffing the area, he sat next to me with a whine.
“I know,” I told him, giving his ears a scratch. “I feel the same way.”
Was I relieved he’d left or excited he was coming back? My body and my brain were definitely at odds. The guy was clearly unstable. It seemed like a bad idea to start anything with a grumpy, insomniac duck daddy despite the allure of his nice shoulders and pretty face.
Did I want him to kiss me? The tingling racing through me screamed yes, please. But what did I really know about him?
He made bad decisions like driving while exhausted enough to pass out, but according to the local gossip, he’d gotten himself benched for defending his roommate’s girlfriend. It was hard not to let his protective side sway me.
I was fiercely protective of my mom, and I had the utmost respect for anyone who used their power to shield those without it.
Of course, that was before I’d found him passed out in a ditch. I’d thought drugs or alcohol, but he wasn’t under any influences. Just exhausted. I could relate, but I’d never get behind the wheel in that state.
And maybe I couldn’t relate. If sleeping with me squeezed up against him on a couch not fit for someone his size was restful, maybe he was at a whole other level of exhausted. How the hell did he play hockey?
Didn’t they play for like two hours? Was he out there in front of the net the whole time? Hudson licked my wrist, and I shifted my attention back to the dog.
“I need to do some research on goalies if I’m going to be entertaining some kind of hockey god.”
Hudson barked, a quick staccato as if he agreed with me. I didn’t really follow sports, but Mom liked to keep up on the university’s teams. She preferred watching the football team—and I couldn’t blame her for her love of tight pants—but there was something about the speed and brutality of hockey.
I’d only caught brief glimpses of the games on TV as I’d walked through the room. The action never seemed to end. It reminded me of a battle royale video game—always paying attention to everything happening around you and reacting in a fraction of a second. I loved the thrill, the challenge.
Maybe I’d watch tonight’s game if Mom had it on.
I let out a dry laugh, glancing at the stairs. Who was I kidding? The second I informed her Mase would be staying over tonight, she’d probably order herself one of his jerseys. The game would definitely be on.