Chapter Four #3
“You’re welcome. This is my friend, Mason. He wanted to come and wish you a happy birthday.”
“Thanks,” Matty repeats, staring up at Mason in awe. I can’t blame the kid. I feel like a shrimp around him and I’m grown. “Dinos! Look, Danny!” A smile brightens his face as he displays his new toys. “And soldiers!”
“Awesome, buddy,” Danny says, ruffling his hair.
After a piece of cake, I spend a few minutes chatting with Stacey, one of the girls counselors. “Good Lord, Ev, where’d you find that wet dream?” she exclaims.
“Shh! His head is big enough.” I give a little nod at her sideways look.
“Both of them.” Mason glances up and smirks like he knows we’re talking about him when we start laughing.
He’s sitting on his knees surrounded by a clutter of dinosaurs and army men, looking perfectly comfortable playing with Matty and the other two boys.
“I owe him a lasagna for dinner, so I guess we should go. Have you seen Danny? I wanted to see next week’s schedule.”
“He left before we cut the cake. Must’ve had a date.” After the asshole guilted me into coming.
“I’ll just check with him tomorrow.”
The boys groan with disappointment when Mason announces we have to go. “Well, aren’t you Mr. Popular,” I tease as we return to his car.
He wraps his arm around my shoulders. “Aw, don’t be jealous, love. No woman can play soldiers versus the zombie dinosaurs like I can.”
“Zombie dinosaurs?”
“Created from the soldier’s supersonic death rays, duh.” He smiles at me. “I love your laugh, Evie. It’s adorable.”
His sincere compliment catches me off guard and I feel my cheeks flame.
His smile widens and he runs his palm across my jaw.
“I made you blush.” I’m saved from my struggle to respond when his lips land on mine.
The kiss is slow and soft and makes me want to climb into his seat and straddle him.
When we break apart, he murmurs, “So sweet.”
I don’t know if he means me, my blush, or the kiss. Not that it matters since I seem to be incapable of speech again. He starts the car and moves us smoothly into the flow of traffic. “So, am I still invited to dinner?”
“And breakfast,” I reply, squeezing his firm thigh.
“Only if you have Cocoa Pebbles.”
“Park in the lot if you’re staying the night,” I advise as we approach my building. “My spots are in row C.”
When he pulls in beside my Mini, I hear him curse. It takes a second for me to register my car is sitting on four flat tires and the windshield is shattered. “What the fuck!” I’m out of the seat and jerking open my driver’s door before Mason can get the keys out of his ignition.
“Evie! Wait, damn it!”
“Someone trashed my car!” Anger streaks through me. Mason comes up beside me as I pick up a piece of paper from the seat. It’s a note, written in bright red ink.
A little warning, bitch. Next time it’ll be your face.
Cold fear trickles down my spine. Who would do this? I don’t have any enemies.
“Evie.” Mason’s voice is calm. “What’s the note say? Give it here.”
I need to deal with this. He needs to go. This isn’t his problem. “I’m sorry, but we need to cut our date short. I need to get a hold of my insurance company and…”
He huffs and snatches the paper from my hands. “I’m calling the police.”
“No, it’s probably some pissed off parent of one of the kids at BTC. They don’t realize I’m not the one keeping them from their kid.”
“It could also be some psycho husband from Striking Back. I don’t give a shit who it is. They know where you live. You need to get inside.” Mason pulls me to my feet and wraps his arm around me, keeping me tucked against him as he hurries us inside. “Are there cameras back here?”
“I have no idea. Slow down, you’re overreacting.”
“Just stay close to me.”
As soon as we’re safely in my apartment—and Mason has checked every room—he’s on the phone to the cops. “They’ll be here in the next hour,” he tells me, obviously frustrated they didn’t consider it an emergency.
“Okay, I may as well throw the lasagna in the oven. I’m starving.” Two officers show up at my door nearly two hours later. They ask a few questions and fill out a report. Mason glares in their direction as they leave.
“Indy’s finest,” he growls. “They were a lot of help.”
“Not much they can do. They dusted the car and the note for fingerprints. There are no cameras back there,” I reply with a yawn.
“I have a security company that works with me. I’ll put them on it in the morning. They can keep an eye on you, too. You need to be careful, Evie. Keep your phone on you, and don’t go anywhere alone.”
“Mason, it’s sweet you’re so worried about me, but really, you’re overreacting. I don’t need some bodyguard following me around.”
“Fine, but I’m having them investigate.”
“Uh-huh,” I agree. I’m sleepy and it’s easier than arguing.
His face softens. “Let’s get you to bed. We’ll talk about it in the morning.”
Mason watches me with hooded eyes as I strip off my jeans and sweatshirt. Warm hands run up my sides before unclipping my bra and letting it fall to the floor. His lips are on my neck before I can take a breath. “So soft,” he murmurs. “Such beautiful skin.”
God, that voice. I turn around and seal my mouth to his, drinking in his taste as we remove his clothes.
A growl rumbles through his chest when I squeeze his ass, and I’m scooped up and placed on the bed.
I’ve never had a guy carry me to bed before him, and being swept up in those strong arms is a major turn on.
I lay on my back as he pulls off my lace panties and straddles my thighs, kneeling over me. “You have any clue what you do to me, Evie?” he asks, lust filled eyes sweeping over my body.
“I have a pretty good idea,” I reply, my eyes on the rock hard proof bobbing over me.
His eyes slam shut when I sit up and wrap my lips around him.
I want to see this sexy confident man lose control.
I want him at my mercy, and I get my wish.
He’s too big for me to take all of him, but I do my best. Judging by the unrestrained moans and the way air hisses through his clenched teeth, he’s far from disappointed.
I love the way his hands cup my face, his fingers stroking lightly over my cheeks. Before he loses it completely, he pulls back and pushes me back onto the bed. His brow is furrowed as he quickly rolls on a condom, and my legs wrap around his hips, urging him on.
A wicked little half smile curls his lip when his fingers find me soaking wet. “So wet from sucking me,” he teases, and I feel myself flush. I love and hate his dirty talk. No, I love it.
“Shut up and fuck me.”
I barely get the words out before he obeys my order.
Oh, does he obey it. It doesn’t feel like fucking this time.
Even when he’s pounding into me, his eyes are on mine, and there’s an undeniable connection.
It relieves an ache, a loneliness I didn’t even realize I had, and it scares the living shit out of me. I knew he was going to be trouble.