Chapter 13
M ASON PARKED IN THE fire lane at the corner of Anchors, jumping out of the car. He slammed the door shut, not even bothering with the alarm, and ran to the sidewalk. “You can’t park there!” an older gentleman walking down Atlantic Avenue shouted, and Mason waved him off.
Can’t park there his ass.
Taylor had been inside frightened and crying because of her asshole ex. A little thing like a ticket from the Virginia Beach PD wasn’t enough to stop him from rushing to her.
Hell.
It was either that or double parking by the cars on the street. And then he’d be blocking traffic.
He shoved open the door and hurried in, not realizing he’d been holding his breath until he spotted Taylor coming back from the kitchen.
Her dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail again, her eyes were slightly red from crying, and her face was pale.
Her eyes lit up as soon as she spotted him, and then she was rushing across the restaurant, straight into his arms.
“Who-hoo!” a group of rowdy young sailors near them shouted as he lifted her into his arms.
Taylor wrapped her legs around his waist, clinging to him as she buried her face in his neck. Mason ran his hands over her back and hair, soothing her. Assuring himself that she was okay. She was safe. Her ex had scared her, yes, but she wasn’t physically harmed.
He took a deep breath, inhaling her coconut and sunshine. Hell, the last time he’d been with her, she’d smelled like him. Like his soap and shampoo, his sheets.
His mouth had been all over her, his cock deep inside her.
And now his only concern was holding her until she stopped shaking.
Gently, he set her back on the ground so he could look into her eyes. “Thanks for coming,” she whispered, swiping away a stray tear that appeared.
“Like I would be anywhere else? Your safety is my first priority. Always. Let’s go talk to your manager. We’ll see what he says and then call the police.”
“I already talked to the manager. They’ve seen Eric around some other days, apparently. The bartender had to cut him off at one point. They’re fine with telling him to leave when he shows up.”
Mason nodded, clenching his jaw. His eyes raked over Taylor again. She had on her usual Anchors tee shirt, a pair of ripped-up jeans that were so popular with the women nowadays, and plain Converse chucks.
But damn.
She looked sexier than if she’d been in an evening gown—her jeans hugging her hips and ass. Her tee shirt just snug enough to show off her chest and remind him of what was underneath. Her smile when she looked at him was what really slayed him though.
She trusted him. Felt safe when he was near.
The way she’d sounded on the phone earlier had chilled him to the bone. She’d been crying. Scared. And Eric hadn’t technically even done anything illegal. Saying you wanted someone in your bed wasn’t exactly against the law.
But Taylor had been shaking when he’d arrived. And just knowing that that asshole wouldn’t give up, wouldn’t let her move on, had him seeing red.
“Do you have to finish your shift?” he asked in a low voice, his eyes meeting hers.
“No, they think I should go to the police, too. I explained why I hadn’t shown up to work a couple of times—because Eric had been at my place.
It’s kind of a relief to get it all out in the open now.
I was embarrassed before, because he kept coming over and wanting me there with him.
Saying he needed me. I felt like I didn’t have any control.
But telling everyone here at work was liberating in a way.
It’s like I have more people watching out for me now. ”
“That’s a good thing,” Mason assured her. “And my team always has your back, too. If you couldn’t have gotten ahold of me, you could’ve called any of the other guys. They’d have been here immediately.”
“I understand,” she said softly. The worried look in her eyes slayed him.
“Are you ready to go to the police station? Or do you need to finish some things up here first?”
“No, we can head out,” she said untying the half apron around her waist. “I just need to grab my purse and stuff from the back. I’ll feel better getting my car back tomorrow. I just feel sort of helpless without it—like if Eric shows up or comes over, I can’t leave.”
“He’s doing that intentionally,” Mason said in a low voice, his gut churning.
He didn’t like that she didn’t have transportation either.
Eric could pretty easily guess she’d be at work or at home.
“What exactly was wrong with it, anyway? Jake told me he needed to order a part. I’m starting to wonder if Eric did something to it. ”
“I don’t know,” Taylor said with a shrug. “It wouldn’t start, and Eric happened to be over here. This was after it broke down on the side of the road that one time.”
“How did his friend end up towing it anyway?”
“Eric called me around the time it broke down,” she said, a look of recognition creeping over her face.
“Actually, he’d shown up that day, too. Just to drop off some of my things that he still had, so I didn’t think that much about it.
This was before he kept coming over all the time.
He called when I was on the side of the road with car trouble, and he assured me his friend would come and give me a tow.
I was relieved actually, because I was scared. That bastard,” she muttered.
Mason smirked despite himself.
“Don’t laugh,” she protested, lightly swatting his chest.
He captured her hand in his and held it against his chest for a moment, his large hand wrapping around hers.
She flushed prettily, and he brought it to his mouth, brushing his lips across the back of it.
“I’m not laughing at you,” he assured her.
“Well, just the fact that you called him a bastard. He’s been manipulating you.
I wouldn’t put it past him to have messed with your car.
And the fact that you were stranded on the side of the road because of it makes my blood boil. ”
“I was pretty freaked out,” she admitted. “I was so glad his friend came to help me out, I didn’t even question the cost.”
“Hell, if I ever called and found out you were stranded, I’d pay for the damn tow truck myself if I couldn’t get there.”
“You wouldn’t have to do that,” she said, looking surprised.
“Of course I would. It’s my job to take care of you.”
“Mason, we just started dating.”
“I know,” he said, taking on a more serious tone. “And I plan to keep dating you. I’d do everything in my power to make sure you were safe.”
“You’re sweet,” she said.
“There we go with you calling me sweet again. We can’t let word get out about that, all right? What would the other guys say?”
She smiled up at him, making his heart pound in his chest. Jesus. You’d think he’d never been with a woman before. The way Taylor looked at him sometimes made his chest fill with pride though. He felt ten feet tall as he put his arm protectively around his shoulders.
“So, should we head to the police station now?”
“Absolutely. We’ll fill a report, and then I’ll take you home. I have to be on base early for PT, but I can stay with you, if you don’t mind my slipping out by five a.m. I’ll make sure to lock up behind me.”
“Okay, I like having you stay there.”
“Me too, sweetheart. I know things have gotten off to a rocky start, given the situation, but hell. There’s nothing I love more than being with you. Holding you in my arms when we sleep.”
“Or don’t sleep,” she quipped.
Mason resisted the urge to groan. He didn’t need to be thinking with his dick right now. He had his woman to protect. A police report to file. But once they got home for the night, he planned to have his hands all over her.
To make her come on his mouth and his cock.
To hold her so close she’d never be frightened again.
To make her forget about everything and everyone but him.
***
T WO HOURS LATER, MASON and Taylor walked out of the police station hand-in-hand, and Mason’s stomach rumbled.
Taylor giggled beside him, and without thought, he playfully bent down and swung her up into his arms. After two hours of talking to the detective, listening to Taylor recount every detail of the past few weeks, he was done. Done thinking about it. Done worrying about it.
Mason was exhausted from his day on base and starving, but at the moment, he wanted nothing more than just to hold Taylor in his arms.
“Mason, put me down!” she shrieked as he carried her to the car.
A police officer walking in chuckled, and Mason grinned.
“The officer inside the precinct said for you to be careful,” he teased. “I’ll stay the night and inspect every room in your apartment to make sure it’s safe. After that, I’ll kiss every square inch of your body with the same thoroughness.”
Taylor squirmed against him as his cock hardened. The side of one of her breasts rubbed up against his chest, and he resisted the urge to groan.
He lightly set her down on her feet again, loving the smile that lit up her face.
It had been a stressful couple of hours reporting everything to the police.
Imagining how frightened she was every time Eric came over to her apartment.
Although she’d told him about some of the times Eric had been coming over, he hadn’t realized the extent of it.
Hell.
He’d been off on missions with his team while she was stuck in her apartment with her ex.
His blood boiled that she hadn’t had anyone to turn to. Sure, she had her best friend that lived across town, but it’s not like she could do much aside from offer Taylor a place to stay.
“Goodness, it’s already after eight,” Taylor said as she glanced at her phone.
The sun was just beginning to sink lower in the sky, and Mason again thought how one of these days he’d love to be at the beach at sunrise with her.
They’d have to hit up the west coast to see the sun sink over the Pacific, and Mason wasn’t averse to that thought.
Damn.
When had he ever wanted to travel with a woman?