She smirked. Ana must’ve mentioned that movie to Mason this morning. God, she’d felt like such a terrible mother when she’d let Ana watch it a year ago and had found out the girl had told all her friends at school the next day. What had the other mothers thought of Gabby?
Fortunately, she’d quickly realized she didn’t give a damn what the other mothers thought. If her daughter loved The Terminator, good for her. Sarah Connor was probably a better role model than some of the princesses in the movies they watched.
Gabriela cleared away the graphite dust and continued cleaning—though by now far more of her attention was turned toward studying Mason’s room.
When she spotted the little bears on the nightstand, she probably shouldn’t have thought much of them. They were the kinds of knickknacks that were popular in the region, especially in vacation homes and rentals, the kinds of things that tourists bought at the giftshops in town. And she knew she was probably reading into them too much, but…
There were three carved bears, black with brown snouts. A big bear, a little bear, and a medium bear. The two smaller figures were close to one another, but the big one was several inches away from the others—and it was turned very slightly toward them.
Frowning, Gabriela stared at those bears. She stared at them for much too long, but something about them—that bit of extra space, the way the big bear seemed to be looking at the others—nagged at her. What had Mason said earlier?
I have watched over you and Ana since I moved into my house.
Loneliness. Just as she’d realized in hindsight that Mason had always looked at her with desire, she realized now that he’d always carried a faint air of loneliness. He wasn’t the mopey sort who made a show of it, didn’t seem the kind of man who complained about it or grew angry because of it, but she knew he’d harbored it all along.
Gabby’s heart ached for him. She could’ve easily taken his confession as a red flag, but she didn’t see it that way. She recognized his loneliness for what it was—because she felt it too. And it wasn’t like she hadn’t been checking him out from afar at every opportunity.
Mason’s words, combined with his actions, proved that he’d only been looking out for Gabriela and her daughter.
If it weren’t for Mason, I would have lost Ana.
Her chest constricted further, making it a little harder to breath, and her eyes stung with the threat of tears. She placed her hand over her heart, willing it to ease as she took in several deep, calming breaths.
Ana is here. She is fine.
Gabriela slowly exhaled. Once she’d pulled herself together, she looked back down at those bears. Placing her hand behind the big bear, she slid it toward the smaller two, making their little family unit whole. She smiled.
After she’d finished cleaning, she grabbed the hamper and carried it out of the bedroom. She peeked in on her daughter, who’d lain down on her side and had the blanket drawn up to her chin. Ana giggled at something on the TV.
See, Gabby? Ana is totally fine.
It didn’t take long for Gabriela to find the laundry room, which was located past the kitchen. Mason’s laundry room was larger than the one she’d had. The cubby shelves lining one wall were filled with tools, extra lightbulbs, flashlights, extension cords, and other random items. There was even a red fire extinguisher, the sight of which produced a pang in Gabriela’s chest.
She shoved aside that flare of emotion; by the time she’d realized what was happening in her home, it had been much too late for a fire extinguisher to have done any good.
Gabby hefted the hamper and started transferring clothing into the washer, picking out the whites to wash separately. When she pulled one of Mason’s shirts out of the hamper, she paused. For a few moments, Gabriela worried her lower lip, struggling with a new urge she’d never anticipated.
She lost that struggle. Lifting Mason’s shirt to her nose, she closed her eyes and breathed in his earth, pine, and spice scent.
“Oh, my God,” she groaned softly, burying her face in the fabric to muffle her voice. She inhaled Mason’s scent again, deeper this time. How the hell did the man smell so damn good? Her pussy clenched. His scent was like an aphrodisiac, making her feel warm and aroused, fogging her mind with lust.
Ana’s sudden laughter coming from the living room snapped Gabriela out of it. Feeling like a teenager who’d been caught doing something naughty, she quickly threw the shirt into the washer. Her face burned with mortification.
She’d never done anything like that before. Not even with James’s clothing.
What I’m starting to feel for Mason is nothing like what I felt with James.
This was just so…powerful.
Before she could give in to the temptation to steal his shirt out of the washer again, Gabby turned back to the hamper and finished sorting the clothing, leaving all the whites for the next load. She added detergent to the washer and closed the lid a bit harder than she’d intended, startling herself with the metallic bang.
She stood with her hand on the washer’s lid long enough to catch her breath, long enough for a little of the heat to fade from her cheeks. Then she started the washing machine and hurriedly retreated from the laundry room.
Gabriela busied herself by cleaning the kitchen, deciding a thorough deep-cleaning was in order—not because his kitchen was filthy, but because she needed the distraction. If she was getting all worked up just doing some laundry for him, how was she supposed to control herself when the man was actually standing in front of her, and his scent was coming directly from his skin? When his unique, intense eyes were staring down at her…
By the time she was done with the kitchen, only a little over an hour had passed since she’d begun cleaning the house. And it was too early yet to start preparing dinner. She’d give herself thirty minutes to relax, maybe to check her e-mail on his laptop and see if her parents had replied yet, and hopefully by then Mason would be on his way back.
Gabriela walked to the sofa, smiled at Ana, and crawled onto the cushions, maneuvering so she was behind her daughter. Ana scooted forward, allowing Gabriela more room to lie down behind her.
After drawing the blanket over the both of them, Gabby wrapped her arm around Ana and hugged her close. “I love you.”
Ana settled her hand over hers. “Love you, too, Mom.”
Eleven
As Broxen shut off the truck’s engine, he lifted his eyes to glance across the road. It was a natural thing to do by now, a habit developed over the last year—any chance at a glimpse of Gabriela was worth taking.
But, of course, Gabriela wasn’t over there. Broxen’s gaze fell only upon the charred remains of her home, which were accompanied by the blackened car still in the driveway. Something about the fast-fading daylight made those ruins seem even lonelier and more sorrowful.
With a grunt, he opened the truck door and stepped out of the vehicle.
Though his circumstances had been quite different from what Gabriela and Ana were facing now, he knew well what it was like to suddenly lose a home, to look back on a place that was once safe and comfortable and see nowhere to go. To feel utterly, impossibly alone.
He didn’t intend to let his females go through that.
Broxen walked around to the back of the truck and lowered the tailgate. As his eyes swept over the objects in the truck bed, his excitement brushed aside any lingering traces of sorrow. He hoped these things would bring smiles to his females’ faces. He hoped this surprise would ease Gabriela and Ana’s worries a little more, that it would help them settle in.