14. Lana
14
LANA
P hone sex had been nice, but I couldn’t deny the way I’d missed the man currently sitting at my kitchen table—the man with a lazy grin and his hair sticking up from where I’d dragged my hands through it over and over. The physical connection had settled something inside me, a restlessness I’d never had before.
“I like the way you’re lookin’ at me,” Mason says with a drawl that’s southern lite— his northern roots still alive and well.
“How’s that?” I ask, dragging my teeth back and forth over my bottom lip as I stir the pasta absentmindedly.
“Like you missed me.”
“I did miss you,” I tell him because I feel absolutely zero shame in that admission. “Is that not the right answer?”
“It’s definitely the right answer because I missed the fuck out of you.”
I laugh and he grins, an easiness settling over us as I drain the water and add the pasta to the skillet, folding it into the creamy vodka sauce. Mason’s gaze is attentive, like he’s learning something just from watching me work.
It’s a simple meal, one I’ve made a thousand times because it’s easy to make for me and the kids.
A little thrill races down my spine at cooking for two tonight. Mason had gotten plates and silverware and placed them on the counter, he’d poured us wine, and God it was so nice not to do any of this alone.
Plating our dinner, he follows me into the living room and takes a seat next to me on the couch as I curl my legs up under me and turn to face him.
“How are the cows?” I ask, and he smirks before moaning around a bite of food that has mine suspended in the air as I stare at him. The sound is erotic, and I want to toss my plate over my shoulder, jump into his lap, and do everything I can just to hear that noise again.
“What?” he asks, blinking at me like he’s coming back to his body, completely oblivious to the filthy things I was contemplating doing to him.
“Cows?” I croak because we’d already done the rip each other’s clothes off thing as soon as he’d gotten here and I genuinely wanted to just see him.
Spend time with him.
Using words.
Seriously, what is wrong with me? And had I ever been attracted to Jacob like this? The answer was a resounding no because he’d been rigid and pretentious, and the only things I have to thank him for are my two amazing children.
And my divorce.
“This is really good,” he says, twirling his fork and shoving another bite in his mouth.
“I’m glad you like it.”
“I’ve never had a woman cook for me before.” He pauses and adds, “Someone I’ve been involved with, I mean. Mama Thayer is a hell of a cook, and that woman has my undying love.”
I smile. “Well, I’m happy to be your first.”
His eyes sparkle at that, and my stomach flips because he’s not trying to turn me on but he’s doing it anyway.
“So Ellison bought cows at an auction or something, and she thought she could get away with it by making me be the fall guy.”
“Montana didn’t buy it?”
“Not even a little. I mean, to be fair, if I had stumbled upon a blind cow and her companion seeing eye cow, I probably would have bought them too.”
“Because why wouldn’t you?”
“Right?” he says seriously, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Glenda wears a bell so Clover can always find her. I saw this video about a blind cow at a sanctuary, and the owner installed these brushes near the doorway so the cow can rub against them, and there’s a constantly flowing water fountain so she always knows where her water is, and I thought it was such a good idea, you know? So, I made sure Clover had all of that too.”
Could his heart be any bigger?
“That’s incredibly sweet. I’m sure Clover and Glenda will enjoy their life here in Blackstone Falls.” Placing my empty plate on the coffee table, I add, “Montana wasn’t too mad, was he? I haven’t talked to Ellison.”
“No, they have an arrangement, ” he says, his eyebrows rising suggestively.
I snort. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
He goes on to tell me about the trip, the way he and Bodhi ribbed each other on the ride, and the overwhelming rightness he felt loading Clover and Glenda into the trailer to bring them home.
“I liked being a part of it—their story and the beginning of their new life. As much as Montana likes to bitch about all the animals that make a home on his farm, he’d never turn one away.”
“You know what they say about men with big hearts…” I trail off and watch his eyes flash with something as he places his plate on the table next to mine.
“Yeah?” he challenges, leaning into my space and caging me against the cushions. “What do they say?”
Keeping my eyes locked on his, I reach between us and palm his cock through his jeans. “I don’t know about the rest, but you definitely have a heart to match.” He grunts, his hips jerking into my touch.
“I thought we were just gonna watch a movie,” he groans, neither of us stopping.
“We can do that too. I just want to taste you after you already?—”
Ring. Ring. Ring.
My phone sounds from the kitchen and I push Mason back, scrambling off the couch to reach it.
“Hello?”
“Why do you sound out of breath?” Jacob’s voice is annoyed and is he in the car?
“I left my phone in the kitchen when I went to change the laundry over.”
He snorts. “Typical.”
Annoyance and a slight bit of panic have my words coming out harsher than I intended. “Did you need something?”
“Sheila has an event early tomorrow that we can’t miss.”
My eyelids flutter shut because how many times had her events trumped spending time with his kids?
“When are you bringing them home?” I say cooly, even as my blood boils in my veins.
“We’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.”
My heart drops to my shoes as my eyelids fly open and my gaze locks on Mason’s.
“Someday you’ll regret all this time you didn’t spend with them.”
I don’t bother waiting for him to respond before hanging up and tossing my phone on the couch as I scrub my hands over my face.
A spicy, woodsy scent envelops me at the same time his arms do, Mason’s strong hold anchoring me to this moment and giving me a reprieve from what I have to do.
“Mason.”
“I know,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss to my hair, “they come first.”
“How are you just so understanding? So inherently good when the man I married and divorced is singlehandedly destroying his relationship with his kids.”
Mason’s smile is sad as he lifts my chin with the side of his finger. “Because I was the kid who never had anyone give a damn, and you, Lana, love your kids harder because your ex isn’t being what they need—what they deserve. I will never stand in the way of that.”
Tears well in my eyes as we stand there, sincerity radiating from him as I let his words give me the strength to battle the emotions that await me when Holland and Beck come through the door.
Pressing the softest kiss to my lips, Mason sighs. “Thank you for dinner.”
“Thank you for being here.”
“Anytime, Dream Girl, anytime.”