For instance, Mason knew when Doc got that faraway look in his eye, he was thinking about his dead wife. And when Doc said he needed to go see a woman about a horse, he wasn’t really looking for sexual gratification, but instead seeking a little comfort in the arms of a stranger.
So, yeah. It wasn’t a surprise that Doc could read Mason as easily as Mason could read Doc.
“It’s not my pain I’m worried about,” he hissed from the side of his mouth, and then straightened because Alex now stood in front of him, flame hair wild around her face, hands planted firmly on her hips. She looked like a little tyrant.
Since they’d arrived in Key West in swim trunks or, in Alex’s case, a sexy-without-trying-too-hard set of sleep shorts, yesterday Romeo had made a round trip to Wayfarer Island to pack a bag for each of them. Typical of Romeo, he’d managed to find the hottest outfit Alex owned. A little sundress that molded to her pert breasts and hugged the nip of her waist.
Fucking Romeo, Mason thought uncharitably as a million and one images of Alex naked and writhing beneath him assaulted his brain. As if he wasn’t tortured enough already.
“Have I told you how much I love that dress on you, Baby Bear?” Doc crooned at Alex while covertly digging an elbow into Mason’s side.
She blinked down at her dress. When she glanced up, her expression was one of genuine confusion. “Really?” Her green eyes were guileless behind the lenses of her glasses.
On any other woman, Mason might have thought it an act. But Alex truly had no idea how beautiful she was.
And oh! How he loved her for that. Well, that and about a million other things.
“You look hot, little momma.” Doc waggled his eyebrows.
Before Mason realized his own intent, he slammed a retaliatory elbow into Doc’s side. “Fuck on out of here, why dontcha?” he growled.
Doc smirked and tipped an imaginary hat. “That’s my cue.”
A little line appeared between Alex’s eyebrows as she watched Doc saunter down the hall and disappear into Wolf’s hospital room. When she turned back, there were shadows in her eyes.
That M4 is looking tastier and tastier.
“You’re going after Rory Gellman,” she said, and Mason released the breath he hadn’t been aware he’d been holding. At least this subject wouldn’t break his damned heart.
He nodded. “Gellman has to be stopped.”
She didn’t argue, simply continued to frown. “When will you leave?”
“Today.” He wanted so much to smooth the line from between her eyebrows. And then smooth her eyebrows so he could feel once again how silky soft those arches were.
“So soon?” If he wasn’t mistaken, there was a hitch in her voice.
His own was a little scratchy. “Can’t let his trail get cold.”
She swallowed and nodded her understanding. “How long will you be gone?”
“As long as it takes.”
A long breath slid from her. She opened her mouth but he lifted a hand, hoping he could adios her plan to resume their previous conversation.
Time away would be good for her. And for him. It would clear their heads. Without their undeniable chemistry clouding their minds, she’d quickly come to see he wasn’t what she wanted. Not really.
“I know what you’re gonna say,” he told her. “And I wish you wouldn’t. I like you so much, Alex. I respect you so much.”
He didn’t tell her he loved her so much, but he wondered if the truth was in his eyes.
“I don’t wanna hurt you,” he continued. “I’ve hurt you enough already. So please, please let’s leave things where they are. Let’s quit while we’re ahead.”
For a drawn-out moment, her eyes searched his. There was a point in there when he thought he’d won. Then, crossing her arms, she tilted her head and demanded, “Are you finished?”
The hand he ran through his hair was shaky. He hadn’t succeeded in heading her off at the pass, and he braced himself for what would come next. His nod was slow, a mere dip of his chin.
“Good.” She dipped her chin too. “Now, I think your excuses are bullshit.”
He opened his mouth, but in true Alex style, she plowed right ahead. “You’ve convinced yourself there’s something wrong with you that precludes you having a ‘normal life.’” She made air quotes. “But what the hell is normal, anyway? You claim 2 percent of the population are natural-born killers? Yeah, well, 2 percent of the population has green eyes, did you know that? Also, 2 percent of the population are redheads. My point being no one thinks a thing about that because 2 percent is still a shit-ton of people, meaning it’s not actually that rare and is, in fact, quite normal for the human race.”
Again he tried to argue. Again she talked over him. “You claim the navy changed you. Well, of course it did. No one can see the things you’ve seen or do the things you’ve done without being changed. The change means you’re human. It means you’re normal. And if you really want to know what I think?”
Like she hadn’t been telling him what she really thought for the last two minutes?
“I think your ex-wife gaslighted you. I think she couldn’t take the blame for her infidelity and, instead, placed it on you by telling you you were the one at fault. Which is just awful and sad, and I’m so sorry she did that. But I’m even more sorry you seem to have believed her.”
He had nothing to say to that. Mostly because his mind was spinning around, trying to find a flaw in her logic.
“The simple truth is I didn’t know you before,” she continued. “I know you now. And I love you now. Just as you are. A man who’d rather grunt and growl than have a conversation.”
He found a place to jump in. “I talk more to you than I do to anyone.”
She ignored him. “A man who likes to sit in a quiet spot and paint pictures of the sea and sky. A man who hates crowds but loves dogs. A man who understands how dangerous the world can be and is always ready to guard himself and everyone else around him against it. Somehow you’ve convinced yourself this last thing is a bad thing. But I don’t see it. What I see is you, Mason. All of you. The good parts, the bad parts, and the parts you think aren’t worthy. And I’m here to tell you I love it all.”
Her words landed like hand grenades on his heart, hard and hot and painful.
There’s a flaw in her logic. Find it, a voice whispered through his head. Only this time, he thought he might recognize it as his ex-wife’s.
Was it possible Alex was right?
No. No, she couldn’t be. He wasn’t—