Mason slung two garbage bags of what he suspected were clothes over his shoulder and pushed the truck’s door shut.
This was the last of it.
Six hours, four vehicles loaded to bursting, and buckets of sweat later—Hannah was safe.
He trudged up the stairs to her new rental, a two-story condo in the better part of town, and let himself in through the front door. Zain, Travis and Ethan had taken off, leaving Mason on his own to finish unloading. From their long, hard looks, he knew he was in for it. Once Mr. Stevens got back, Mason would be lucky to come out of this with just a new asshole. There wasn’t a single one of the guys willing to cover for him, not that he expected them to. No, he’d pay for this little stunt all on his own, because it was better for Mason to get chewed out than for Mr. Stevens to put another brick in the wall he was building between himself and Hannah.
He could still smell the sweet mint gum Stevens had chewed that first day Mason was going through his interviews to join Aegis. The background check had gone off without a hitch. His physical therapy was going well. For ten minutes, he was alone with Stevens. He’d sat on the desk and leaned in close, right up in Mason’s face and said, “Stay away from my daughter.”
The rest hadn’t needed saying.
Stay away from Hannah, or Mason’s opportunities were done for. Just like his SEAL career.
“Hey, let me help with that.” Hannah’s feet beat out a rhythm on the stairs. She grabbed one of the two bags from him and bounded up the stairs to her room.
“Where’s your roommate?” He eyed the stack of boxes on the first floor that had been there when they arrived.
“She’s a flight attendant, so she’s somewhere in the air right now. Should be back tonight sometime I believe, unless she got stuck somewhere.”
Mason hung back on the landing, holding a bag of stuff that smelled like Hannah. He caught a glance of her darting across her room, back and forth, arranging things. He’d managed to avoid actually going in there by hauling around the furniture. Now, one little bag to go, and he could escape, back to his empty apartment.
“You can put that on the bed,” she called out from deep inside the room.
Right.
He’d rather cut off his left nut than go in there, but he couldn’t explain that to her. That she was the best—and worst—thing that had ever happened to him. One foot in front of the other, dragging all that dread with him. It took what felt like an eternity to cross the threshold into her room.
Boxes and bags were everywhere, but the bones were set up. White furniture, frilly curtains and everywhere—Hannah. Her smell. Her things. Bits and pieces of her. This was where she’d sleep, talk on the phone, fuck another guy even.
“Just put it on top of that stuff. I’ll sort it out later,” she said from the closet.
He plopped the bag on the mattress and turned, poised to leave. Except Hannah was standing on a box in the damn closet, wrestling clothes out of other boxes to hang.
“What the hell are you doing? Give me that. Who the fuck puts the clothes rod this high?” He took the hangers from her hands and jammed them on the rod. It was up there even for him.
“Thanks. I just figured I’d hang stuff I don’t wear that much up here.” She smiled, her cheeks pink, and handed him more clothes on hangers. The rod was tall even for him.
Mason swallowed his grumbling. The sadness was gone. One day of labor and she looked like his Hannah again. Well, not his. She’d never truly been his. It’d never gone past harmless flirting. But in his mind...they were more.
“I didn’t know you and Zain were related. Keeping secrets?” She continued to hand him clothes, putting him to work despite his best intention to leave.
“Yeah, my father and his mother were siblings. Our dads were best friends in the Navy.”
“Navy? Was it like, a family thing?”
“Something like that.”
“So did you and Zain serve together or something?”
“There were only two years we overlapped before his accident.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t know that. You never mentioned it.”
“It never came up.” And he hadn’t wanted to get into Aegis on his cousin’s clout.
He hung the fourth set of clothes on the rod, painfully aware of how silent the house was. That they were alone. Together.
Mason felt her eyes on him, sensed her stillness.
He straightened a few garments and steeled himself for whatever was coming next. It wouldn’t be clothes, that was for sure.
“We never talk anymore.” Her voice relayed every drop of sadness he’d seen in her eyes that morning. Now who was the asshole?
“We’re talking now.” He turned to face her. He briefly contemplated fleeing, but she was between him and the door. There wasn’t a way out except through her.
“That’s not what I mean. We used to hang out and stuff.” She stared at his chest, bits of stray hair sticking to her forehead. “Did I do something wrong?”
“What? No.” Your father is just a dick.
“Then what happened?”
“Things got busy at work. You know how it is.” God, he was lame.
“Yeah.” She sighed and pivoted, her disappointment palpable.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, you know that, right?” That’d been all on him. He was the fuck-up here, not her.
“I guess.” She ripped open the very plastic bag he’d just brought upstairs. Whatever easy rapport they’d just had was gone. She was dismissing him, which was exactly what he’d wanted. Until he had it. “Thank you again for helping me. I know you probably had other plans for your day.”
“Not really. It was downtime. I’m glad to help.” He hung back, leaning against the doorframe. In her closet like a creeper.
It was time to leave. Things had been good between them. As good as they’d ever be. And yet, he didn’t move. Normally, he avoided her. He liked having a reason to get up in the morning and something to do with his life, now that the Navy was closed to him. Without Aegis, he didn’t know what he’d be good at. None of that could move him from the spot though. This was a rare opportunity to bask in her presence. He’d pay for it later, so might as well make it count, right?
“What’s your next job?” Hannah dumped the contents of the bag on the bed. “Whoops.”
He blinked at a pile of lace, satin, and more frilly, girly material. It took him about ten seconds too long to realize what he was staring at.
A giant pile of panties.
“Uh...”
“Come on, Mason, you’ve seen underwear before.” She scooped up a handful and waved them at him. A single black thong dangled from one finger.
Christ on a cracker, that was an image he didn’t need in his head.
“When’s Dad getting back?” she asked.
“A week, I think.” He wasn’t firing all cylinders yet. There was a great visual forming in his mind, one that would be burned there forever. Hannah’s ass. Black thong. Yeah...he needed to go now.
“Good.”
The suddenly perky way she said it sent warning sirens clamoring in his head.
“Why?” he asked.
“No reason.”
“Hannah.”
“Mason.” She tilted her head to the side and stared right back at him.
“Why?” he asked again.
“Because—Mexico tickets, remember?”
Shit.
“Does your father know about this?”
Hannah tipped her chin down and leveled a glare her old man would be proud of Mason’s way. She took two strides and poked him in the chest.
“I’m an adult, you know?” She followed the statement up with another jab to his chest.
“Yes, but your dad—”
“Is not going to Mexico with me.” She threw her hands up, her cheeks flushing red. Man, she sounded like her dad when he was pissed. It was the tone, not the words. They could both do angry pretty damn well. “I’m a
n adult. I’ve lived on my own, worked, and put myself through school. He does not get to approve me going on a trip. I’m not like you.” She paced the room, all the way to the window and back.
Like him?
He might work for Aegis—but they didn’t own him. What did she think he was?
“Wait a second—”
“You liked me.” She stopped less than a foot away, chin thrust forward, her angry gaze telling him to deny it. To deny that for a short time, there’d been a spark.
Mason swallowed.
He should say no, squash this here and now. There was no arguing with the logic that Hannah deserved someone who would be there for her. Who wouldn’t be on the road or on a job or...putting honor and country above family. He’d grown up with the Navy sewn into the seams of his life, knitting his family together. It made them closer, while driving Hannah and her father farther apart.
Aegis Group wasn’t the SEALs, but for all the danger they faced, it might as well be. The paycheck was better, but there wasn’t the same kind of pride mixed into it like there was with the Navy. It wasn’t bad or wrong, just—different.
“You liked me, and my dad said something, didn’t he?” Her voice was quiet, but in the silence of the house it was deafening. “God damn it.”
She shook her head and turned away, running a hand over her ponytail and pulling at the ends.
“Leave, Mason. Just, leave.”
“No.” The word ripped out of him, nearly breaking bones in the force to escape his ribs and his better judgment, a chest-bursting, undeniable admission.
No, he couldn’t leave her.
No, he couldn’t give her up.
No, he wasn’t good enough for her.
But none of it mattered.
She turned, her forehead wrinkled, and her eyes narrowed. Distrust, anger, hurt, and more sadness. Because of him. Because she couldn’t trust him to be there when he’d led her on, because for the better part of a year they’d danced around this spark, this pull between them.
Mason took a step toward her, and then another. He needed to touch her, hold her, tell her he’d figure it out. That there was a solution out there. Anything to make her smile. He wrapped an arm around her waist and she moved, lifting up on the balls of her feet. In that moment he knew he was about to take a critical hit, the likes of which would ruin him forever—and he didn’t even try to dodge it.
Hannah’s lips were soft and the hands she wrapped around the back of his head were unyielding. She kissed his mouth, suckling his lower lip, teasing him. Mason wasn’t strong enough to resist her. He’d held onto his resolve for months, and in a second it crumbled.
Mason hauled her closer, pressing their bodies together, and drinking her in. Nights of fantasies couldn’t measure up to the sweetness of tasting her. She was better than a cold beer or his favorite homemade funnel cake. Finally. She groaned, and her hands slipped to his shoulders, her nails digging in. Her tongue was in his mouth, his hands in her hair. He pulled her closer, tangling his tongue with hers. Everywhere she touched tingled. His nerves burned.
Kissing shouldn’t be this potent. But he’d never locked lips with Hannah before, so it only made sense it was different and new with her.
His head spun, and his knees threatened to buckle under him. It was too much.
She worked her hands up under his shirt, pushing it northward. Fuck, he wanted to let her strip him, ease the ache in his cock with her hands. He wanted her worse than he wanted to live, more than he feared for his job. But this wasn’t the way. It wasn’t right. She deserved better than right here, right now. And the reality was that was all he could give her.
Mason gently pushed her hands away and stepped back, putting much needed space between them. She swayed on her feet, lips glossy, eyes dilated. He’d seen lust before, but never a lust that threatened to gut him like this. Back then, he knew she wanted him, even when he didn’t have a job, a hope, or a prayer to his name. She’d wanted him, for some crazy stupid reason.
“Mason?” The way she said his name, all breathy, was a verbal stroke to his balls.
He should leave. Stevens wasn’t the top dog at Aegis. He couldn’t fire Mason, but he could make life hell. But life without Hannah was already hell, so what did he have to lose?
“You’re leaving again, aren’t you?” The edge in her voice cut him. He’d betrayed her trust, and he had to pay for that. Just like he’d paid for his other sins.
“No, I’m not.” He didn’t know what they were doing, there was no road map, no plan, no course of action, just a feeling that being with her was right.
She pursed her lips and gave him The Look.
“Then what? What’s happening here?” she demanded.
“I don’t know.” He spread his hands, wanting to reach for her, but she was too far away.
“You can’t kiss me and push me away.” She wrapped her arms around herself, wearing anger like a robe.
“Yes, your dad has something against me.” Mason knew what the something was, though Mr. Stevens shouldn’t have known. No one was supposed to, but he’d found out Mason’s secrets.
“So what? That’s it?”
“No, it’s...Hannah, when we met I had nothing. Zain was the only family I could ask for help, and I know he pulled strings even though I asked him not to. I never came here thinking Aegis would hire me, that we’d be where we are.”
“And my dad changes things.” She didn’t need to ask the question they both already knew the answer to.
“No. I mean, he did. I had no options, nothing, and when Admiral Crawford offered me a job—he was a drowning man’s savior. I made a lot of decisions out of fear because...because doing what was right hasn’t always worked out for me. I made the wrong call letting your dad bully me like he did.”
“He is a bully.”
“And he’s your dad.” Knowing what Stevens knew about Mason, he couldn’t argue that the old man was right. Mason should stay away from Hannah. It would be better for her. And yet, here they were.
“So what? He wins.” She turned her back on him.
“No, he doesn’t.” Mason reached out and tugged on her arm.
She didn’t come easily, but she didn’t jerk away from him either. He wrapped his arms around her again, his body recognizing how she fit him.
Was this what he’d wanted? What he’d been waiting for?
Ever since the mess overseas, he’d been lost, drifting through life. Was she his anchor?
Being with Hannah would come with a high cost. He didn’t know if he could pay it, but right now all he wanted to do was focus on her.
Mason lowered his head, pressing his mouth to hers in a sweet, chaste kiss. Her posture relaxed, and she leaned into him. He’d betrayed her trust with his actions, it would take more than that to build anything between them. And that was if there was a chance.
He cupped her cheek and stared at her face, the soft crescents of her eyelashes against her cheeks.
“What does it mean, Mason?” Her voice was rife with frustration, and rightly so. That she’d remained stubborn in her affections for him was a wonder. He didn’t deserve her.
“I just need a little time.”
Time to make a plan for how to deal with her father and how he would make it right with her. Because he would make it right, her father be damned.
“Well, make it quick. I leave for Mexico in a few days.”
“You’re seriously going?” It wasn’t as dangerous as it used to be these days, but everything that could go wrong flashed through his mind. All the rescue missions, the poor victims...
“Yeah.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s a resort. I’ll be fine. I just want to know if I should mingle or not.”
Hannah’s phone blared from the dresser. She sidestepped him and dug it out from under a pile of clothes.
“Who is going with you?” he asked. Hadn’t she mentioned two tickets?
“Don’t know yet.” She tapped at the screen. “Roommate sh
ould be here in an hour.”
Time enough to get into real trouble.
But Mexico?
Sandy beaches. Cocktails by the ocean. With Hannah. It was too much temptation. But her, vulnerable and alone in a foreign country, had less appeal.
“I’ll go with you,” he blurted.
Hannah slowly looked up from her phone, brows lifted.
“Seriously?” she said slowly.
“Sure, why not?” It was a bad, bad, decision. But if he were there, nothing could happen to her. He’d make sure of it. On the other hand, her dad would be on a campaign to staple Mason’s dick to his wall by the time they got back. It was too soon, but if she was determined to go, she couldn’t go alone.
“Mason, you’ve ignored me for over half a year. You practically run away from me when we’re within ten feet of each other. And now you want to go to Mexico with me?”
“Yes.” Okay, when she put it like that, he was an ass, and he had no idea why she’d come to him for help. But she had and they were here. She’d kissed him. Of course, he’d reached for her first, but it didn’t change the order of things.
“Fine. Okay. I’ll email you the flight info. It’s like, Thursday at ten or something.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Then no Mexico for you.”
“Wait. Just—wait. I have a day gig that day. What if we use my flyer miles instead and take a later flight?” In theory it would work, right?
“Okay. Fine.”
Mason’s phone buzzed.
“Shit. It’s work, probably Zain.” And Zain had the ability to track Mason’s phone and see that he was still at Hannah’s house. Hours after he could have left.
“I guess you aren’t staying for dinner?”
Not if he was going to make a plan to swing Mexico, keeping his job and the girl.
“Not tonight, no.” He tipped her chin up with a finger and buzzed her lips with a kiss. Anything longer and they’d be back to tearing each other’s clothes off. Not that he didn’t want to see Hannah in that black thong, but the order of operations needed to be followed. And first was laying a good defense.
Hannah flopped on the sofa, cradling her plate of pizza to her chest. The butterflies had finally settled enough she could eat.
Dangerous in Training (Aegis Group, #2) Page 2