by Kaylea Cross
The thought was depressing beyond measure. She was freaking sick of being an object of pity, and had been looking forward to portraying something other than a single, forty-two-year-old woman with no life outside of her job, and no romantic prospects. It was no secret she’d become a workaholic to fill the void since her divorce, and her entire family knew it.
Dammit, she used to be fun and interesting. She loved to travel, loved animals, and she’d let work get in the way of all that. She needed to book a trip. Maybe she’d start fostering for the local shelter or something too.
“Avery needs a date for a wedding next weekend and Tate can’t go with her now,” Nina said to Mason.
Avery opened her mouth to deny it, but Mason turned those piercing blue eyes on her again, freezing her in place. “I’ll stand in for him.”
Chapter Three
The look on her face would have been funny as hell if it hadn’t felt like an insult.
Avery’s golden eyes widened for an instant, as if she couldn’t believe he’d made the offer. Then she snorted. “Yeah, no.”
Mason blinked, surprised at the blunt rejection. From the first time they’d met, Avery had been a major check to his ego, and apparently nothing had changed over the past few weeks. “I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
He frowned at her, a little affronted by her outright refusal. “Why not?” He might have his issues, but he was a decent guy, and he wasn’t bad looking. He had good hygiene, could carry on a decent conversation, and he was capable of being part of a social gathering without embarrassing her.
She stood and grabbed her wineglass. “Thank you for the offer. I just don’t think it’s a good idea. At all,” she muttered under her breath as she took a sip.
Mason tamped down his irritation, aware of Tate standing there pretending to ignore them, and Nina hanging on every word.
Mason didn’t care. Avery had captured his attention instantly the day they’d met. She was tall and lean with jaw-length strawberry-blond hair and killer golden eyes. The woman was flat out sexy. She was also a cop and could handle herself, which was insanely hot.
It wasn’t just looks or her being able to handle a weapon, however. Her independent nature appealed to him, because he couldn’t stand clingy, and Avery definitely had her shit together. Maybe part of his attraction to her was also because she didn’t seem interested, when normally he had the opposite effect on women.
Whatever it was, it didn’t much matter because the woman seemed to be doing her level best to ignore him at all costs and work herself to death. She was even more of a workaholic than Tate, and that was saying something, although Nina had helped him find a much healthier balance lately.
As for him, Mason was still struggling to find his footing. He was bored, edgy and restless. Unfulfilled and searching for a purpose. He liked Avery, though. Hanging out with her for an entire weekend at this wedding and forcing her to spend time with him sounded like the best thing that had happened to him in a long time. He wanted to get her naked and under him.
“You worried I’d embarrass you?” he asked, unwilling to let it go.
She met his gaze, and in that instant the pull she exerted on him was stronger than ever. “No.”
“Then why not? Because I’m moving in downstairs?”
“No.” She sighed. “If it was a one-day thing, I could probably get through it with you.”
Get through it? Wow. Talk about a swift kick in the ego.
“But it’s two-and-a-half days, and I just can’t. For various reasons.”
Mason bit back another demand for her to explain herself. Evidently, he irritated the shit out of her, and at this point he wasn’t sure why.
True, he’d laid the flirtation factor on when they’d first met, but he’d scaled it right back since then. Yeah, he still flirted a bit with her, because he couldn’t stop himself. He’d never hidden his interest in her, even though he’d been respectful about it.
She glanced away. “Anyway, let’s get this show on the road. I’m starving.”
“On it.” Tate took the steaks outside to grill.
Nina started prepping the veggies but Mason reached over and took the knife from her. “I got this. You go outside and relax.”
“You’re the best,” Nina said, then fished something out of a grocery bag. “Here. Bought this for you. It’s a local company in Missoula. Hope it’s good.”
He grinned and took the bottle of root beer from her. She’d never asked him why he didn’t drink, but Tate had probably told her. It was sweet of her to remember. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She patted him on the shoulder and picked up her wine, giving Avery a curious look. “Gonna go put my feet up for a bit. Call me if you need help.”
“We’ve got this,” Mason said, and started assembling the veggies.
Avery shot him a glance as she worked beside him at the counter getting her appie together while he chopped the peppers and zucchini. “You’re good with that knife. You cook?”
“Yeah.”
She stopped to stare at him. “Really? I didn’t know that.”
He met her gaze. “There’re a lot of things you don’t know about me, angel eyes.”
Her mouth tightened and her eyes narrowed slightly at the pet name he’d called her before. Mason hid a smile and kept working, not in the least bit sorry. The name suited her. She had the prettiest eyes he’d ever seen.
“So, who’s getting married?” he asked after a few moments of stony silence.
“My cousin.”
“And you had a date originally, but now you don’t?” Maybe she’d been seeing someone when the invitations had gone out.
“Tate was supposed to be my date but I forgot to finalize it with him, and now he’s with Nina. And I stupidly told my mom tonight that I was seeing someone.”
He arched a brow at her. “You lied to your mom about it?”
“Yep, and now I have to come clean, which is gonna suck, but there it is.”
The way she said it made it sound like she dreaded everything about it and the wedding. “Why are you uncomfortable going on your own?”
She scooped jam over the top of the wheel of cheese in the baking dish. “My entire family’s gonna be there. And my ex,” she added. “With his pregnant and much younger new wife.”
He stopped chopping to look at her, surprised. Tate had never mentioned anything about this, only that Avery’s ex was a loser, and that she never dated, didn’t do hookups or anything. Her ex must really have fucked her over. “You were married?”
She nodded and kept working. “This will be the first time I’ve had to see him since the divorce. And she’ll be there too.”
Hell. No wonder she didn’t want to go solo. “Look, you just said you told your mom you’re seeing someone. She’s never met me. We could pull it off.”
He braced himself for a quick and sharp denial, but one side of her mouth kicked up instead. “Why the hell would you want to give up an entire weekend to help me out by going to a wedding when my entire family and ex will be there?”
A witty comeback sprang to mind, but he killed it. She already kept him at arm’s length and he wanted the opposite. “Because you need someone to be there for you.”
She stopped in the act of scattering nuts on top of the jam, frozen for a second before she looked over at him. The surprise on her face couldn’t quite mask the flash of vulnerability in her eyes.
Seeing that from this strong, put-together woman made his heart squeeze. Sweetheart, what did he do to you?
She looked back at her dish and scattered the remaining nuts. “Thank you. Really. But it’s at a fancy guest ranch outside of Billings. The whole place was booked up months ago, and I could only get a room with one bed.”
Making excuses now. “So where was Tate gonna sleep?”
“On his side, on top of the covers,” she said in a no-nonsense tone.
He chuckled. “I can do that too.”
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br /> “Uh-huh.” She shot him an I-don’t-believe-that-for-a-second look and popped her dish into the oven.
He set the knife down and put a hand to his heart, feigning hurt. “Don’t trust me?”
“Not like I trust Tate.”
He inclined his head. “Fair enough.”
She nodded at the cutting board. “You about done there?”
“Yeah.” He threw the veggies into a bowl and drizzled them with olive oil before giving them a good seasoning of salt, pepper, garlic powder and oregano. “Let’s go make sure Tate doesn’t cremate the steaks.” He grabbed his root beer and the stainless steel bowl. “After you.”
She plucked her wineglass off the counter and shot him a little smile that made him hopeful the ice had thawed a bit between them. Avery Dahl wasn’t like any of the women he’d been with. She was prickly and he liked that she challenged him. If he wanted her, he was going to have to work for it.
He was totally up for that mission.
He sat at the table on the back deck, talking with her and the others while Tate manned the grill. When the oven timer went off, Avery went inside to get her appetizer.
“Did Tate tell you about the call they had today?” Nina said as Avery brought her dish out for them and placed it in the center of the table.
“No, what happened?” Mason glanced between Tate and Avery.
“Domestic abuse situation,” Tate said as he flipped the steaks. “Piece of shit beat his wife and made her hide upstairs when we showed up. Avery found her cowering in a fucking cupboard, too afraid to come out.”
Mason shifted his attention to her. “For real?”
“Unfortunately, yes. I got her to come out, but then the husband got combative, so I went downstairs and he pulled a sharp letter opener on Tate.”
“She hit him with a flying tackle,” Tate said with a proud grin. “Took him down like a linebacker and busted his wrist.”
“Oh, it actually fractured?” Avery asked with a hopeful expression.
“Yep, in two places.”
“Well, good. Now he knows a fraction of the pain his wife’s going through.”
Mason liked that satisfied gleam in her eyes. Except it made him wonder what it would take to put that same gleam there in bed. Taking away her control would be insanely hot, because she wouldn’t make it easy for him.
He jerked his thoughts out of the gutter. “This is why I could never be a cop. That guy would be in the hospital, and I’d be in jail.”
The approving smile Avery gave him made him want more of them. “I’d bail you out.” She leaned forward to hold her glass out to him.
Mason gently tapped his bottle to it and grinned, her allure growing by the second. Avery was awesome. “Good to know.”
Tate’s cell rang. He checked it, glanced up at them. “Work. Gotta take this.” He handed the tongs to Mason. “You mind?”
“Not at all.” He turned the steaks forty-five degrees to make a perfect diamond pattern with the grill marks while the ladies talked.
“What are you going to do about the wedding?” Nina asked Avery. “I’m guessing there’s a reason you can’t just cancel and not go?” She scooped up more melted cheese and jam. “This is delicious, by the way.”
“Thanks. No, I have to go, it’s a big family thing. It’s just so complicated.” Avery sighed, made an irritated sound and pushed her bangs off her forehead. “But that’s my issue, so I’ll just go and suck it up.”
“I wish you didn’t have to go alone,” Nina said. “Walking into that kind of situation for a prolonged period, sucks.”
“It’s fine. I’m just…tired of the whispers, you know? Of everyone feeling sorry for me, especially when he’ll be there. Of people wondering what’s wrong with me, why I’m still alone, when there’s nothing wrong with me.”
No, not as far as Mason could see there wasn’t. And he also understood how some of that felt. He’d struggled like hell during his transition out of the military and back into the civilian world. In some ways, he still was.
It surprised him how much he wanted to go with her to this thing and use the excuse to spend more time with her.
He took the steaks off the grill and put them on a platter to rest. “My offer still stands,” he said to Avery one last time. He didn’t want her to have to go alone to this thing, especially with her ex and the new wife there. “I’m happy to go and be your fake boyfriend for the weekend. Give ‘em something to talk about.”
She arched an eyebrow at him. “Because you’ve got nothing better to do with your weekend when you guys are busy getting your business set up?” Her voice was dry.
He shrugged. “Everything’s kind of on hold right now. Just waiting for my immigration papers and work visa to go through, and then the final word from the bank on the financing. All of that’s pretty much a done deal, but we can’t move forward until it’s all in place.” He needed a distraction, and that’s definitely what Avery was.
“What about Braxton, what’s his status?”
“Still overseas.” Mason had served with him on JTF2 for almost seven years. Braxton would be their third partner. “Hopefully he’ll move down here at least part of the year once he’s out of the military.”
“And when’s that?”
“Next spring.” He loved her sarcastic edge. Loved the way she didn’t back down around him, and gave as good as she got. “Anyway, think about it. I think we’d have fun.”
She gave him a pointed look. “Yeah? What kind of fun?”
“All kinds of fun.” He smiled at her because he couldn’t help it.
She held his gaze for a long moment, then inclined her head slightly. Not a yes, but a concession. “I’ll think about it.”
“Okay.” Battles were won with small victories, and he’d just scored one.
When dinner was ready, they all sat at the table and ate together. Avery was her witty, sarcastic self, and Mason found himself watching her more closely than ever.
After dinner she stayed to help clean up, then said her goodbyes to Nina and Tate before turning to him. “Guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You definitely will.”
At the door, she surprised him by stopping and turning around to face him, her golden eyes assessing him. “All right. If you’re serious and you’re really okay with it, then yes, I’ll take you with me this weekend.”
Mason hid his surprise while doing a mental fist pump. “Great, then it’s a date.”
A hint of humor danced in her eyes as she gave him a censuring look. “Don’t look so smug. You might wind up regretting this after.”
Nope. Not ever.
Tate came through the kitchen just as Mason was locking the door behind Avery. “What’d I miss?”
“I’m gonna be Avery’s fake boyfriend for the wedding.”
“Yeah? Good stuff.” Tate grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. “Treat her right, man, or else.”
“I will.” In and out of bed.
Whatever else happened next weekend, he was going to peel away that steely exterior and discover the woman hiding underneath it.
Chapter Four
Mason’s Jeep bumped along the dirt road on the way to the property they’d put an offer on for Rifle Creek Tactical. Hopefully the surveyor showed up on time, because he had a lot of other meetings to take care of regarding the business today.
With Tate still working a full-time job, Mason had taken on the tasks of website design, logos, interviewing architects and going over potential ideas for the buildings they had in mind. Getting everything set up was going to be a lot of work, but he liked to keep busy and he was also excited as hell to get the ball rolling on this thing.
“Fun, huh, buddy?” he said to Ric, reaching over to ruffle the top of the dog’s furry head.
Ric glanced at him from the front passenger seat and wagged his tail, a camo bandana tied around his neck. Ric loved adventure, was up for anything, and Mason couldn’t imagine his life without him.
Reaching the entrance to the property, he parked and got out to let Ric stretch his legs. The dog leaped out of the Jeep and immediately began sniffing around. He’d wander off a few dozen meters or so, then stop and look back at Mason, never straying out of sight.
Mason leaned against the front fender of his Jeep and sipped at the travel mug of coffee he’d brought, using the fancy coffee maker in Avery’s suite. He and Ric had moved in two days ago now, and he’d barely seen her since. She was avoiding him, maybe even more so because of the upcoming wedding this weekend, and he intended to put a stop to it then. He wanted to get to know her better.
Right now, he had business to attend to.
The sound of an approaching vehicle drifted through the tall evergreen trees surrounding the driveway. Mason whistled for Ric, who immediately ran back and parked his hind end next to Mason’s foot, staring up at him adoringly through mismatched eyes.
Mason rubbed the dog’s ears and watched as a white pickup with the surveyor company’s logo on the side turned into the driveway. “Morning,” he said when the guy got out.
“Morning. Ready to get to work?”
“You bet.” Once the official survey was completed, they would be one step closer to purchasing the property and making Rifle Creek Tactical a reality. Mason was stoked at the idea of having something concrete and fun to do again.
They walked the land together while the surveyor took precise measurements of the property boundaries and discussed details about the plans for RCT once it was up and running. Every day things were falling into place, and even if Braxton decided not to join them full time yet, Mason and Tate could run everything for a while.
Ric trotted around checking various things out, but never strayed far. The two-hundred-acre parcel was rugged and covered with a mix of evergreen and deciduous forest. Only one section had been cleared, and that’s where the main lodge would be built, close to where the property hugged Rifle Creek as it rushed down the mountain into the valley.
