Chapter 8 #2
Jordan couldn’t stop stealing glances at Mason.
Everything about him fascinated her, from his towering height, to the blond streaks in his brown hair, to his tanned skin and the way his large hands cradled the icy glass of soda.
And that he’d come right out and told her he was a recovering alcoholic gave him mad points in her book.
Most of the people she knew would never admit to being anything less than perfect and certainly wouldn’t have owned their alcoholism the way he had.
That was definitely something else about him to be admired, especially in light of what she’d been through with Brendan and his addiction issues, not to mention her mother’s struggles with drugs.
She liked the deep timbre of his voice and how handsome he looked in the light blue dress shirt that he’d rolled up to reveal strong forearms covered with golden hair. He wore a fancy-looking silver watch with complex dials and gauges.
And he smelled really good.
For fuck’s sake, Jordan, knock it off. You’re technically still married to Brendan and have no business cataloging another man’s features, even if his features are hella sexy.
She pulled herself out of her own silly thoughts to tune in to what he and Nikki were talking about.
“Where’re you from originally?” Nikki asked him.
“Upstate New York. I grew up in the Syracuse area and came to Rhode Island for college. I worked in Worcester, Massachusetts, before I came here.”
“Is your family still in Syracuse?” Nik asked.
“Two of my older sisters still live there with their families. My parents retired to Florida a couple of years ago, my younger sister followed them south, and my older brother is in Seattle.”
“Ever been married?” Nikki asked.
“Nik!” Jordan said. “Stop with the inquisition!”
“It’s not an inquisition. I’m getting to know Mason.”
Mason laughed at their bickering. “It’s fine. I almost got married once, but it didn’t work out. So no, never been married. What about you guys? Where’d you grow up?” Mason took a cracker and a slice of cheese from the plate Nik had put out.
“We mostly lived in the LA area growing up,” Nik said.
“Just the two of you?”
Jordan spoke up to answer that one. “We have numerous half siblings, but we aren’t particularly close to them. They’re a lot younger than we are.”
“We were the subject of a rather bitter custody battle that raged on for years,” Nik added.
“Yikes, that must’ve sucked.”
“That’s one word for it,” Jordan said. “Our family is pretty much each other, our amazing grandmother and our mom, who’s remarried and living in France, so we don’t see much of her.”
“I’m sorry you guys went through that.”
“It was a long time ago now, but suffice to say we were pretty thrilled to reach our eighteenth birthday,” Jordan said.
“Best day ever,” Nikki added.
“So it went on that long?” Mason asked.
“Right up until literally the day before we turned eighteen,” Nikki said, “and they haven’t spoken a word to each other in the nearly ten years since, which is fine with us. They put us through a nightmare.”
“Sounds like it. Thank goodness you had each other.”
“We say that all the time,” Jordan said, smiling at her sister. “My luckiest break ever was being born a twin.”
“Same,” Nik said. “Which is why I’ve never been more thankful to anyone than I am to you, Mason, for seeing the flames last night and acting so fast. I’ll never have the words to properly thank you for saving my sister.”
He glanced at Jordan. “I was in the right place at the right time, thankfully.”
She met his gaze and couldn’t look away, recalling the feel of his lips on hers as he revived her.
“I’m, ah, going to check on Riley,” Nikki said. “He’s taking a long time in the shower.” She left the room in a hurry.
Subtle, Jordan thought, suddenly unnerved to be left alone with the sexy firefighter.
“After dinner,” he said in a low, intimate tone that set her heart to racing, “do you want to go for a ride?”
“I do, but I, um, I should tell you that I’m still married.”
“Oh. Okay.” Did he seem disappointed, or was that her overly active imagination?
“Not for much longer, but technically.” She shrugged. “I’m waiting for him to get out of rehab so I can serve him with papers.”
“There’s no chance you’ll go back to him?”
“No chance in hell.”
“Then going for a ride shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
Jordan swallowed hard, wondering if going for a ride was code for much more than that.
She nodded, unnerved by the intense way he looked at her.
It’d been so long since her husband had paid her any real attention.
She could barely remember what it had been like to feel the heady sort of anticipation that came with understanding that a man was interested in her. And that she was equally interested.
“I’m kind of a red-hot mess, Mason, and you seem like a really nice guy. Things have been complicated and…” The words died on her lips when his big hand covered hers, infusing her with warmth that seemed to touch her everywhere.
“We’re just going for a ride, okay?”
Now she felt foolish for blowing it up into more, but he had a right to know her marital status in light of the attraction between them that couldn’t be denied. “I’m looking forward to it,” she said, smiling because she wanted him to know she meant it.
“Me, too.”
“And we’re going to find that sling.”
Before he could reply, Riley and Nikki came down the stairs with loud footsteps and conversation that had Jordan rolling her eyes at an amused Mason.
“Could they be any more obvious?” she whispered. Nikki must’ve tuned in to the sparks flying between them, or she wouldn’t be acting like such a loon.
Then again, Nikki would be thrilled to see Jordan attracted to anyone who wasn’t Brendan. Mason was so different from him that he might as well have been from another planet.
Riley followed Nikki into the room, his dark hair still wet from the shower. He shook hands with Mason. “Glad you could make it for dinner.”
“Thanks for asking me.”
“Where’s your brother?” Nikki asked Riley. “Dinner is almost ready.”
“I’ll text him.” Riley pulled out his phone. “Dad texted to send their regrets. Summer is fussy, and Finn said they’ll be here in ten minutes.”
“Text your dad to come get dinner to go,” Nik said. “I made a ton. I’ll box it up for them.”
Riley typed in the text. “He said you’re awesome, which of course we knew, and he’ll be over in a bit.”
“Congrats on your new baby sister,” Mason said to Riley.
“Thanks. She’s so cute.” Riley called up some pictures on his phone and handed it to Mason.
Jordan leaned in for a look and immediately wanted to get even closer.
This silly little crush on Mason was absurd, but after her near-death experience—not to mention the nightmare with Brendan—she didn’t care if she was being absurd or ridiculous.
Last night was a good reminder that life was a gift that could be taken away without any warning.
She’d been given a second chance, and being around him made her feel alive, and not just because he’d saved her life.
It was also because of the way he looked at her and listened to her. And, well, he smelled so good.
Brendan smelled like sweat, cigarettes and pot most of the time in the last few years.
Mason was the polar opposite. His scent was fresh and clean and spicy and suited him. Everything about him was strong and masculine and endlessly appealing. Twenty-four hours ago, she hadn’t met him yet, and now she was tripping into serious crush territory. Probably because he’d saved her.
But no, it wasn’t just that.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Finn and Chloe came in, apologizing for being late.
“It was totally my fault,” Chloe said. “My last client took forever.”
Jordan thought Chloe was one of the coolest, hippest women she’d met in a long time.
She was lean and sexy with dark hair streaked with hot pink and a sleeve tattoo on one arm.
Jordan admired the other woman’s resilience as she battled the ravages of rheumatoid arthritis while still occasionally working as a hairstylist.
“Thought you weren’t cutting anymore,” Riley said as he poured her the one glass of wine she allowed on occasion and got a beer for his brother.
Jordan wondered if it was hard for Mason to be at events where other people were drinking alcohol.
“I rarely cut anymore, but Cindy had a migraine today, so I filled in for her.”
“Which Cindy is working with you?” Mason asked.
“Cindy Lawry, Owen’s sister.”
“Ah, right. I hadn’t heard she was staying for the summer.”
“She is,” Chloe said, “and thank goodness for that.”
Finn put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.