Gabriela pressed her palm over her heart.
Mason wanted her to be his mate. He wanted Ana to be his…kit.
The corner of her mouth quirked.
What if this—if Mason—was too good to be true? It was all so much, and everything in her life seemed to be happening so quickly lately…
But part of her said she’d be a fool not to accept this. To accept him.
Maybe it was a leap of faith, the biggest she’d ever considered taking in her life, but she was tempted to do it.
Mason turned his head and met Gabriela’s gaze. Her core clenched. He didn’t hide the hunger that burned within the depths of his eyes.
I want him, too.
Then maybe it was time she allowed herself to reach out and take what she wanted.
Ten
After their trip to the grocery store, Mason took Gabriela and Ana to a couple other stores that had wider selections of clothes, shoes, and coats, telling them to get everything they needed. Gabby insisted it was all too much, that he really didn’t need to do all this. Mason—as big and unmoving as a mountain in this—would hear no arguments.
Though most of the stock available in town was winter wear and the typical outdoorsy stuff, Gabriela and Ana had enough clothing by the time they left the last store to feel almost normal, at least as far as their wardrobes went—especially once they changed into their new clothes. There were even items Mason had added himself, usually when he’d seen Gabriela look at something, see the price tag, and hurriedly return it to the rack.
And even having paid for all that, Mason took them to the little café he’d mentioned a couple days before, where he bought them steaming mugs of hot chocolate with whipped cream piled high over the rims.
When Mason lowered his mug after his first drink of hot cocoa, he had a thick whipped cream moustache left behind, complete with a few chocolate sprinkles that made Gabriela and Ana break out into giggles. He looked at them with narrowed eyes before attempting to lick away the whipped cream, contorting his face and wrinkling his nose to get at it all.
Gabriela and Ana laughed so hard it almost hurt, and for a little while, Gabby’s cares were forgotten.
Despite her humor, she couldn’t ignore just how long and dexterous his tongue was—and she couldn’t stop herself from considering other uses it could be put to. That thought sent a rush of heat to her lower belly, making her core clench and ache with sudden need. She squeezed her thighs together beneath the table, but that didn’t dull the sensation.
Thankfully, Ana provided enough of a distraction with her chatter to take Gabriela’s mind off more…intimate matters.
She never would’ve thought it possible to enjoy a date the morning after losing everything, but she did. Mason was reserved, as he so often was, but he was also incredibly attentive and engaged, allowing Gabriela—and more often than not, Ana—to steer the conversation wherever they liked. Mason laughed and smiled as often as Gabby and Ana, and whenever he did so, his eyes lit up, becoming impossibly more violet.
Gabriela left the café feeling a little lighter, and that was more than she could ever have hoped for. They returned to Mason’s house, and she didn’t allow herself to look across the street at the ruins of her former home. She had to keep moving forward.
Mason, unsurprisingly, insisted on bringing everything inside himself. After a bit of pushback from Gabby, he accepted help—allowing Ana to take a few of the lighter bags. The little girl beamed at that and proceeded to shoo Gabriela inside as Mason looked on with a smirk.
“You need rest, Mom. Go on,” Ana girl said.
“I slept in! That’s more rest than the mother of a crazy nine-year-old can ask for,” Gabriela replied as she stepped into the house.
“I’m nine and a half,” Ana countered.
Gabby chuckled. She paused in the middle of the living room to look back at Mason as he entered. “Where…should we put our clothes?”
He halted just inside the doorway, holding at least twenty bags stuffed with clothing, groceries, and toiletries, and furrowed his brow. There was no question that those bags were heavy, but he showed no signs of strain. “We’ll leave them in the bags for now and put them in the bedroom. I’ll figure something out.”
Mason and Gabriela put away the groceries as Ana hauled the bags of clothing to bedroom. When they were done, the fridge and freezer were full near to bursting, and the previously bare cupboards and pantry were well-stocked. Mason turned to Gabby, smiled, and told her to make herself at home before striding to the front door.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
He tugged open the door and looked at her over his shoulder. “Few more things to get. Be back in a couple hours.”
As though he’d not done enough already, now he was giving them free reign of his home, trusting them while he was away? Where was this man ten years ago, when Gabriela’s ex had abandoned her and her unborn child?
“Okay. You don’t want us to come?” she asked.
Mason chuckled. “No. Settle in and relax. Treat this place like your own.”
He stepped outside and started pulling the door shut, only to pause and ease it open a bit. He leaned across the threshold and said, “Lock the door.”
And then he was gone.
Gabriela heard his truck start in the driveway. She walked to the front window just in time to see him backing out. He caught sight of her and lifted his hand in a small wave. Smiling, she returned the gesture before he drove off.
Gabby still hadn’t quite shaken her shock from what he’d said in the grocery store. He was moving in on her hard and fast, and well…she wasn’t put off by it in the least. And it wasn’t simply because of her current situation. She would never, ever take advantage of Mason. She’d always been attracted to him, since the moment she saw him moving into this house.
There’d been many times when she’d stopped what she’d been doing—whether cleaning house, helping Ana with schoolwork, cooking, sorting through her bills—to catch a glimpse of him, usually shirtless, mowing his front lawn. To watch his muscles flex and bulge, to watch sweat drip down his skin, to stare at his jeans clinging to his shapely ass. He was a gorgeous man.
She’d just never dreamed he would want her in return, especially knowing she was a single mother—and that she therefore came as a package deal.
Though he sometimes spoke strangely, Mason was a good man, and he instilled her with…hope. Hope that she had a chance at a real relationship with a man who wanted her and her daughter. Hope that Ana could have the father she so longed for, and hope that they’d be…a family.
Jeez, we really are moving fast.
“Can I watch TV?” Ana asked.
Gabriela jumped back from the window, casting a guilty look at her daughter.
Ana grinned. “You do like him.”
“Oh, shush you, and go ahead.”
Ana laughed and plopped down on the sofa, dragging down one of the blankets folded across the back to cover herself. She turned on the TV, selected the YouTube app, and surfed through her favorite content creators.
She’d be entertained for hours watching them.
So what could Gabby do to occupy herself?
She glanced around. She…could get to know Mason a little more by exploring his home. Not that she’d was nosy or anything, but he had said to treat this place like home. Maybe she could even tidy things up a little. His house wasn’t filthy, but there was a thin layer of dust gathered on the edges of the shelves and atop the carved bear in the corner. It could be Gabriela’s way of paying him back, if only a little, for all he’d done for her and Ana.