“Broke my back in two places, messed up both my knees. Minor burns on my arms. I had a few surgeries, spent a few weeks in the hospital and then started rehab.”
She hugged him tighter. “I’m so glad you made it.”
Mason closed his eyes, her words hitting a tender spot deep inside. For so long he’d grappled with survivor’s guilt. Wondering why he’d lived when almost all the others hadn’t. “Thanks. I’m starting to be too.”
She lifted her head to stare at him. “Starting?”
He nodded, holding her gaze. She was beautiful, inside and out. “Until I came here, I felt lost. The world just didn’t make sense to me anymore. I didn’t understand people, and they didn’t understand me.”
“I can see why you’d feel that way. Not a lot would make sense after going through something like that.”
“No.” He smiled a little, his chest seeming lighter now that he’d told her. “I’m better now than I used to be. Ric’s helped me a lot.”
“I’m glad.”
He was done talking about himself. “Now, your turn to tell me something.”
She looked surprised. “Like what?”
“Like what happened with Doug.”
She grimaced at his name. “To give you the backstory, I didn’t want to get married in the first place, but he just wouldn’t give up. He was relentless, wooing and courting me, doing and saying all the right things. So I finally said yes. Things were good at first. But within a year of getting married, I was miserable.” Her expression was wistful.
“Did he cheat on you?”
“Not that I know of. He just…stopped caring or trying at some point early on. Almost as if he wasn’t interested anymore because he’d won me, and the thrill of the chase was over so he was bored and didn’t have to try anymore. I knew we’d made a big mistake.”
His loss, my gain. Mason would fight for her, always.
She shrugged, heaving a little sigh. “He wouldn’t talk to me about it, would just gaslight me and tell me it was all in my head, because he didn’t want to admit we were a failure. But it wasn’t just all in my head, and finally one day I woke up and realized it was never going to change. I decided I wasn’t going to stay married to someone who didn’t want or really love me, so I kicked him out and filed for divorce.”
Mason shook his head, dumbfounded. “Like I said before, he’s a fucking idiot. But I’m glad you ended it. You deserve so much more than that.” She deserved better than him, too, but he hoped she would overlook his shortcomings and give him a chance.
Her lips curved. “Thanks, I think so too.”
He cupped her face in his hand and kissed her. It started out sweet and tender, but quickly turned to something more. She pressed to him and curled a hand around his nape, her tongue gliding along his. Mason gripped her hip and pulled her tight to his erection, straining against his fly.
She moaned and pressed her face to his chest. “God, Mason, what do you even want from me?”
“You sure you want me to answer that?”
She lifted her head and met his eyes. “Yes.”
All right, then.
He curved his hand around the back of her head, his heart thudding, his body on fire. “I want your heart to beat faster when you see me. I want you to get all hot and wet whenever I get close. I want you to crave me the same way I crave you.” I want you to let me in.
Avery stood frozen, staring at him in shock. “I…”
He dropped a kiss on her lips, trying to lighten the mood. “You asked.” He wasn’t sorry he’d told her. He just hoped he hadn’t scared her away. “Come on, let’s head back.”
She didn’t pull her hand free when he took it. They reached the end of the trail and turned onto the road where he’d parked his Jeep. Ric paused a few yards in front of them, his ears perked, nose quivering as he sniffed the air.
Mason stopped Avery, automatically stepping in front of her as he looked around for any sign of a threat. When his gaze swept over his Jeep, he cursed and stalked forward, ready to draw his weapon from the holster on his hip.
Avery was silent as they read the message someone had sprayed onto the side of the Jeep.
Get Out Or Die.
Chapter Fourteen
To hell with this.
Avery whipped out her phone and strode up the road into a small clearing for a better signal to call Tate, watching for any sign of trouble as Mason prowled around, his face livid. “Tate, I’m with Mason up at the trailhead near the property you guys put an offer on. Someone spray painted a warning on his Jeep while we were on the trail.”
She turned to Mason, now standing next to her, and put Tate on speaker. “Any idea who might have done this?” she asked him.
“Ray,” he growled, still looking around. “Old bastard must have followed us here.”
“He lives in a trailer over on Ridgeline Drive,” Tate said.
Not far from here. It was possible he’d seen them and waited for them to disappear up the trail before vandalizing Mason’s Jeep. “We’re heading over there now,” Avery told him, heading back to Mason.
“That’s a conflict of—”
“I’m just gonna talk to him. If I need you to come up, I’ll call.” She ended the call and strode to the Jeep with Mason.
The short drive took them further up into the hills, to an area Avery had only been to once before. Ray’s trailer was parked apart from the others.
“His truck’s not here,” Mason said.
She got out and marched up to the door with Mason right behind her, but there was no answer. They circled the trailer, looking for any sign of him. “Probably hiding out, waiting for us to leave,” she muttered.
“Or he’s at the bar in town.” He caught her shoulders and turned her to face him. “Look, let’s just head back home. The old man is just angry and frustrated. I’ll file a report, and then Tate and I can deal with him in the morning.”
“Are you sure? Because I’ll go find him now.”
A smile softened the rugged planes of his face, his cool blue eyes warming, even more vivid against the dark stubble on his face. “I know you would. But yeah, we’ve got this.” He set a hand on her waist as he led her back to the Jeep. It made her think of what he’d said on the trail.
I want you to crave me the same way I crave you.
She did. So much it frightened her. He was damaged inside. Would he ever be able to give himself emotionally to her? She’d committed herself to one emotionally unavailable man already, and never wanted to go through it again.
It wasn’t until Mason reached over to curl his hand around hers that she realized she’d been rubbing it up and down her thigh. “You’re quiet all of a sudden,” he said.
“Just thinking.” About what would happen once they got home.
He had her all twisted up inside. One minute she was convinced he was just trying to get into her pants, and the next he made himself vulnerable by sharing the most intimate details of his past trauma.
It was like she had emotional whiplash, and they’d been dancing closer to the edge every time they were alone together. Once they got back to her place, she wasn’t sure she had the strength to stop what would happen between them. And honestly, she wasn’t even sure she wanted to stop it.