She glanced at the cosmetics as they passed. Though she’d owned various shades of eyeshadow and lip gloss for those rare special occasions, she didn’t normally wear makeup other a little coverup and mascara. There wasn’t much of a reason for her to primp when all she did was work and hang out at home with her daughter. Makeup was something she could do without.
On the far side of the store was the clothing department. Most of the items catered to tourists—t-shirts, hoodies, coats, and even socks with McCall printed on them with various fonts and designs.
Gabriela almost blanched when she looked at the price tags. “Ana, see if you can find anything that’ll fit that’s been marked down.”
“Okay, Mom.”
As Ana proceed on to the girls’ clothing, Gabriela sought the intimates section. She found a small package of underwear and socks for Ana, which she tossed into the cart, and added two pairs of underwear, a bra, and a two-pack of socks for herself. She’d have to ask Mason to take them to a thrift store for everything else; her money would go a lot further there than it would here. The items she’d already chosen were adding up too fast. She was afraid to even glance at the prices of the shoes.
Mason stepped up beside the cart and leaned down, reaching in to spread out the meager items within. “This doesn’t seem like much.”
It’s not, but oh, is it going to drain my account anyway.
Tears stung her eyes, and her bottom lip trembled. “I can’t afford the clothing here.”
He turned his head to look at her. His brows were drawn low, his lips downturned. “You don’t have to worry about that, Gabriela.”
“I do, Mason. I know you’re paying for everything today, but I only have so much to pay you back with right now.”
His frown deepened. For a moment, he looked away, searching the clothing racks until his eyes settled on Ana, who was looking through some shirts nearby. Seemingly satisfied with that, he turned toward Gabriela fully. His long stride ate up the distance between them in a flash, and then he was right there. His scent, which she’d smelled faintly off and on through the store, washed over her.
Mason placed his palms on her elbows and guided her to face him. “Tell me what you are thinking, Gabriela.”
She blinked and ducked her head, tears escaping to flow down her cheeks. She was glad for the high racks of clothing on either side of them to hide her breakdown from the other shoppers.
“I’m broke,” she said in a quiet, strained voice. “I have seventy-two dollars in my bank account. That’s all. I have to pay you back, I need to get a new copy of my license and all our documents, I need to buy food and clothes and hairbrushes, I need a car, a-a hotel room, and I have seventy-two—” Her words broke off in a sob. “Ana won’t have any Christmas gifts. They burned up with everything else. Everything. I have nothing left, n-nothing t-to provide for my daughter. We’re homeless.”
“No,” Mason growled. “You have a place with me. Don’t need a hotel.”
“I just… I don’t know what I’m going to do, Mason.”
He lifted a hand, curled his finger under her chin, and brushed the pad of his thumb beneath her lip, making a shiver run through her. “You are going to get whatever you and Ana need.”
“I won’t be able to pay you back. Not for a long, long time.”
“I don’t want you to pay me back.”
Her brows furrowed. “Mason, I…I can’t let you do that. You’ve already done so much for us. We’re basically strangers still, and—”
Mason pressed his thumb over her lips, silencing her. There was a warm light in his eyes—kindness and compassion, yes, but something more, too. Something that sparked heat low in Gabriela’s belly. It was as though the rest of the world had fallen away, and there was only the two of them here in this moment.
“I will do everything I can for you, Gabriela,” he said, his voice low and rumbly. “Everything.”
Her watery eyes searched his as emotion tightened her throat and her lips quivered under his thumb. “Why?” she breathed as more tears spilled down her cheeks. “Why would you do this for us?”
He shifted his hand to brush away her tears with those big, surprisingly gentle fingers. “You have always been kind to me. You’re the only one who treats me like…a person. And I have wanted you since the moment I first saw you.”
Gabby’s eyes flared and she drew in a small, sharp breath, stunned into silence. He…he had?
“I have watched over you and Ana since I moved into my house,” he continued, “and I’ve done all I could to help you from afar, never knowing how to get close. But I know you are unclaimed. I want you to be mine, Gabriela. I want you for my mate, and I want Ana to be my kit. I want to care for you, to protect you, to be your male. You are so strong, but…you don’t need to carry your burdens alone. Not anymore.”
Mason again wiped the moisture from her cheeks, and when his thumb grazed her bottom lip, his eyes dipped to her mouth and remained there. That heat in his eyes intensified. “I crave you, female. And I will make you mine fully. In time.”
His violet eyes met hers, and for a brief instant, she could have sworn they glowed.
He dropped his hands from her and stepped back. “Put everything you need and want in the cart, Gabriela. I will check on Ana.”
Gabriela stood there, dumbfounded, as Mason turned and walked away from her. Her heart fluttered, and her breaths came short and quick. She could almost still feel his touch upon her face, could almost still feel those gentle, careful caresses of his fingers. It had been so, so long since she’d been touched by a man, but she’d never been touched like that. She’d never been treated as though she was the most precious, delicate thing in the world. She’d never been treated as though she were someone’s everything. But Mason looked at her as though she was.
I want you to be mine, Gabriela. I want you for my mate, and I want Ana to be my kit.
Mate? Kit? Female?
He had an unidentifiable accent, and sometimes his word choice was odd. Was he from another country originally? She barely knew anything about him. Shouldn’t that have been a sign that they were moving too fast?
But hadn’t she already wasted so many years alone? And when she was around Mason, she felt…safe. Despite virtually being strangers, she never felt threatened by him, and she trusted him around her daughter. Every time he looked at Ana, there was only patience and fatherly affection in his eyes. And when he looked at Gabriela…
She’d seen his desire. Even a year ago, when they’d first spoken, it had been there, but she’d been so oblivious to it then and every time after when they’d interacted, even though she’d felt no shortage of attraction to him. But she’d been focused on her duties as a mother, focused on her work, her schedule, on taking care of her daughter’s needs. Gabriela had brushed aside her own needs and loneliness as though they weren’t important.
Now…now her eyes were open.
She tilted her head as she watched Mason interact with her daughter. He asked Ana something, and she pointed at several items of clothing—each of which he lifted from the rack and draped over his arm. Ana’s face broke out in delight and she jumped up and down excitedly.