by Inara Scott
Tess was leaning against the counter, staring at her phone and biting her lip. Worry had creased her face, leaving circles under her eyes and lines around her mouth.
“Everything okay?” He leaned in to glance at her phone and plant a kiss on her unresisting lips. Even with the stakes as dire as they were, there was something about seeing her that unclenched a muscle somewhere in the vicinity of his heart.
“There are a couple of apartments in Oakland that look like they have space. I don’t know if I have enough income to qualify, but maybe with references they might waive that.”
Her hair was tangled around her face like a dark halo, backlit by the morning sun spilling into the room. She wore his T-shirt, the soft folds clinging to her breasts. Her legs were bare, and for a moment all he could think of was those same legs wrapped around his hips, urging him deeper, harder.
He removed the phone from her hand. “You’re not thinking about this right now, remember? You have a place to stay as long as you want it.”
As long as you want it? What exactly are you offering, Mason?
He cut off the nagging voice in his head—this is not the time to think about that!—but it seemed like Tess had heard it anyway, because she smiled without really smiling and touched his cheek the way one might acknowledge a small child spouting utter nonsense.
“That’s sweet of you. But don’t worry. I’ll be out of here as soon as I can get a place lined up. If I can’t get an apartment right away, I found a couple of motels.”
He could imagine the kind of hotels she would find, and they weren’t exactly the Ritz. “We will figure this out together,” he said firmly, setting the phone on the counter as a plan occurred to him. “Now you go take a shower while I make some coffee.” He gestured toward the bathroom.
“Mason—”
“Shower.”
“But—”
“You are the most ornery woman I have ever met.” He made a show of sighing and cracking his knuckles. She opened her mouth to protest, but all that came out was a squeak as he swung her into his arms. “I’ve never seen a woman argue so much about maintaining her personal hygiene.”
“I can handle my personal hygiene all on my own,” she grumbled, though he noticed she leaned against him and didn’t struggle. “No caveman need apply.”
“Sorry, sweetheart, but the audience seems to be on my side, caveman or no.” He glanced down meaningfully at their audience of two—tall and small, standing just on the other side of the kitchen, tails wagging, mouths open with delight. Tess glanced at the dogs, and a reluctant smile creased her mouth. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll let you carry me to the shower. But only because I still can’t figure out how to use your damn fancy coffeemaker.”
He carried her into to the bathroom and set her down so she was sitting on the counter. She rested her forehead against his chest for a moment, and he could feel her fighting with herself over something, though he wasn’t sure exactly what. Something she wanted to tell him?
“I know this is a stupid question,” he said, “but is everything okay?”
She laughed, but there wasn’t a lot of humor in her tone. “Right as rain. Now go make me some coffee.”
He searched her eyes for signs of tears, or some fresh indication of her thoughts, but saw only sharpness and determination. Which was really just her everyday look.
Concern warred with a desire for subterfuge. Subterfuge won. “If you say so.”
With a quick step, he backed out of the bathroom. Closing the door behind him, he jogged back to the kitchen. Feeling more than a little guilty, he grabbed her phone and slid his finger across the screen, relieved to see that it hadn’t yet locked. He grabbed a pencil and slip of paper from a drawer and then scrolled to her recent call list, jotting down the names and numbers of people she’d talked to already this morning, and a few from yesterday. He recorded Cecilia’s number and Gracie’s. He knew her boss at the vet clinic was named Erica, so he searched through old calls and voicemails until he found a number for her, too. Then, feeling only slightly more guilty, he checked her browser history and looked at a few of the apartments she was considering renting. They made him recoil, so he closed the browser and set the phone on the counter. He tried to think logically, as he went through the motions of making coffee.
She was going to run, and he wasn’t going to allow it.
It might take a little deceit, but he figured he could keep her in his apartment for a couple of weeks, at least. For now, that would have to do.
Of course, she was an adult and fully capable of handling things on her own. And it was incredibly wrong of him to try to interfere with her decisions. But at the same time, he simply couldn’t let her suffer through this alone.
Not to mention that he, quite simply, didn’t want her to leave. The thought of it made his stomach clench in a dark, miserable knot. He could blame it on his worry for her safety—those apartments she was looking at were enough to make anyone worry—but there was more than that. Starting with the day they’d met, she’d become an instant, inseparable part of his life. He wanted to see her every morning before he went to work and every evening when he came home. He looked forward to making her coffee, walking the dog with her, and eating Mrs. Walsh’s reheated casseroles with her. He didn’t avoid coming home on days when he was tired and out of sorts because he knew she’d be there and her smile would make him forget whatever crap had happened at work.
Jesus, he sounded like a fool.
He knew he wanted her. In his bed. By his side. For a very long time. The problem was figuring out exactly what that meant. Which would have been hard enough even before the fire, and was infinitely harder now, so he decided instead to focus on his short-term strategy and plan out his next moves without considering the future. He sent a handful of text messages and emails as the coffee brewed, then got out the cream and sugar to prepare Tess’s cup. When she emerged from the bathroom, wearing his T-shirt, with a towel wrapped around her hair, he handed her the cup of coffee and her phone.
“Did you call Cecilia yet?”
She took the coffee but gave him a squinty-eyed look that loudly proclaimed, Mind your own business. “It’s still pretty early.”
He shrugged. “Up to you. I thought you might want her to bring you some clothes.”
Reflexively, she looked down at her bare legs. Then she looked back up at him and frowned suspiciously. “Wait—why do you want me to call Cece so badly?”
He conceded the point with another shrug. “Because she’s your best friend. I think she would want to know. And I think you want to tell her.”
She snorted. “You’re a busybody, you know that?”
“I’ll accept that.” He pulled her into his arms. “Now, I have a standing date to play basketball with the guys. Are you okay here without me, or are you going to do something crazy while I’m gone, like pack up all your possessions and move to Mexico?”
“Since I am still currently without funds to travel to Mexico, and happen to have a ridiculous amount of homework to do this weekend before I can even start to look for an apartment, I suppose I will stay here.”
He grinned. For once, Tess’s three jobs and busy class schedule were working in his favor. Which should give him just enough time to make a few moves of his own.
…
“You went shopping on your way over here, didn’t you?” Tess sighed as she sorted through the pile of suspiciously crisp clothes—several pairs of jeans and a handful of T-shirts, a warm sweatshirt and a pair of soft fleece pajamas, all of them a size larger than Cece wore. Not to mention a lacy white bra and pile of silky new panties.
They were sprawled on the white leather couch in Mason’s living room. Cece had appeared a little less than an hour after Mason left, her arms full of bags. Tess had started to cry all over again the moment she arrived. It had been like the day when she’d returned home after the pregnancy, and Cece had found her on her front porch, nervous about going inside and seeing
her grandmother for the first time in years. Just seeing her friend had been enough to break down all her pride and all her stupid reasons for trying to go through everything alone. And just like that day in high school, Cece understood completely, holding her when she cried, letting her talk when she was ready, and offering only the gentlest of rebukes when Tess tried to wave off her offers of help.
“I wasn’t going to bring you a bunch of my used underwear,” her friend sniffed over a cup of coffee. “And your boobs are bigger than mine. At least a cup size. Maybe two, but we aren’t talking about that because it’s depressing.”
“But all this?” Tess held up the jeans. “I thought you weren’t going to go fairy godmother on me. You promised.”
Cece had gotten Tess’s voicemail just after she finished her morning spin class. Even with no makeup and her hair scraped back into a ponytail, she managed to radiate princess levels of perfection. “Fairy godmother would be buying you a new house,” she said. “Which I am fully prepared to do, by the way. All I did was stop at Target and buy you an entire wardrobe for about two hundred dollars. Which says more about the size of your wardrobe than the quality of the clothes at Target.”
Tess shrugged, ignoring the mention of a new house. “What can I say, I’m a cheap date.”
“Speaking of dates…” Cece leaned back and sighed. “Tell me again how you just left Mason and didn’t even tell him what had happened? And he came and found you anyway?”
“Please,” Tess rubbed her eyes. “My house burned down last night. Any chance we can talk about that instead of my relationship with Mason?”
“There’s really not a lot to talk about, unless you’re going to let me loan you the money to rebuild.”
Tess drew her fingers across her mouth. “Zip it with the loans.”
Cece tossed her ponytail. “Fine. Then we’ll talk about Mason. And your relationship. Which, by the way, is your word, not mine.”
Tess threw a pillow at her. “Shut up.”
“I’m pretty sure once you start living with someone full-time, it’s hard to call it anything else. But you can go ahead and try if you want.”
Grabbing a pair of jeans, T-shirt, underwear, and bra, Tess rose and headed for the bathroom. “We are not discussing this right now. We are discussing the total collapse of my life plans. Which do not include Mason.”
Cece followed Tess to the bathroom. “I’m not sure why not.”
“We both know he’s not boyfriend material.”
“Maybe he is for you.”
Tess spun around, shaking the clothes in front of her to emphasize her point. “People don’t change. No one knows that better than you and me.”
“Maybe it’s not changing as much as finding the right girl.”
“I’m definitely not his right girl,” Tess muttered. She shook her head in frustration and turned back to enter the bathroom.
Cece leaned against the doorframe. “You’ve fallen for him, haven’t you?”
“That would be a really stupid thing to do.”
“I’m pretty sure you don’t get to pick who you fall in love with.”
Tess almost made a sarcastic comment about Cece’s lack of experience in this particular department, but a quick glance at the shadowy depth of her friend’s eyes stopped her. “Seriously. Falling for Mason Coleman would be the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. It would top the motorcycle guy, the high school drug use, dropping out of school, and getting pregnant at age sixteen. Which is a pretty impressive list of stupid things.”
“I think he’s a good guy,” Cece said.
“I know he is,” Tess replied, savagely jerking on the new underwear and jeans. “He also doesn’t do relationships.”
“Have you given him a chance? Told him how you feel?”
Tess winced as she caught her skin in the button of her jeans. She forced herself to slow down and adjust the new bra with slightly more care. “That sounds like a great plan. I know just what I’ll say: ‘Mason, now that I’ve lost everything I own, please let me also rip my heart out of my chest and offer it to you.’”
“I’m not saying it isn’t a risk. But maybe it’s worth it.”
Tess felt tears building behind her eyes. “You know, I’m not exactly feeling strong right now. Forgive me if risk-taking isn’t high on my to-do list. And is there any chance we can change the subject? This is great fun, but maybe we can find some other, equally miserable topic to focus on this morning?”
Cece bit her lip. “Okay, fine, but only because you’re being incredibly pathetic and I have never been good at tough love.”
Tess rolled her eyes. “Um, thanks?”
“And I have to say that I am so relieved you weren’t home last night. Honestly, your house has terrified me for years. You could have been killed, Tessie!”
“I know. I’m very glad not to be dead.”
“Any chance we can talk about where you’re going to live—other than here?” Tess could tell from the hesitant way she spoke that Cece was trying to find a delicate way to broach the topic. “I was thinking maybe we could get a place together somewhere, maybe close to downtown. It would be nice for you to be closer to the city now that you’re getting more clients around here, you know? And I sure would love a roommate.”
Tess slipped a light blue T-shirt over her head. Everything fit perfectly, of course, because Cece had done the shopping, and she never made mistakes when it came to shopping. And, because the clothes hadn’t been rescued from a thrift store clearance rack, they were a considerable step up from what Tess normally wore. “Thanks for getting me all this stuff,” she said, deliberately not responding to Cece’s suggestion. “I wasn’t dying to put back on my dirty clothes. I think Mason might have done something with them, anyway. I couldn’t find them this morning.”
“We would both pay rent. It wouldn’t be a fairy godmother thing, I swear it.”
“I could never afford a place that you’d want to live in,” Tess said, knowing Cecilia would keep bringing it up until she dealt with it.
“But…”
She held up her hand. “Honestly, I thought about it all night, and there’s really only one solution. I’m going to sell the lot. The money won’t last forever, but it might be enough to put a big down payment on something else. Maybe with the income from the vet clinic, I could even qualify for a little loan. Enough to buy a tiny house or something.”
“That’s ridiculous. You adore that land, and I have more money than I can spend. Why not let me pay the rent while you save up money to rebuild?”
Tess sighed. “We’re not going to do that. You are my very best friend in the world, and I know better than anyone how much it wrecks you when you think people are using you for your money.”
“I would never think that about you.”
“You never have to think about that with me because I’ve never used you that way and I never will.”
Cece stamped into the bathroom and made a show of looking in the mirror and fixing her ponytail. “I don’t know what all this damn money is for if I can’t use it to help my best friend.”
“You do amazing things with that money and you know it.” Tess turned Cece to face her. “Your money made it possible to build the Open Heart shelter for women escaping domestic abuse. You fund women-owned business start-ups. You teach financial literacy classes at the shelter. Don’t you think you can stop feeling guilty now for being born?”
Cece tightened her lips, which were starting to tremble. “You’re the only one I care about. When I got your message this morning, all I could think of was what I would do if you’d been hurt.”
“But I wasn’t,” Tess said softly. “And I don’t care a bit if you do cry. I’m still not moving in with you.”
Cece’s eyes narrowed, and then she broke into a reluctant smile. “Fine. Be that way. But just for that, I’m going to buy you more clothes.”
“Cece!”
“And maybe a car.”
Chapter Twenty
Nate threw the basketball to Mason. They were warming up before their regular game against Luke, Rafe, and their associate, Austin. Though the men liked to believe they were relatively enlightened, they weren’t quite enlightened enough to invite five-foot-tall Zoe to play with them on the weekend. “So you want me to do what, exactly?”
Mason gritted his teeth and passed the ball back. Nate understood perfectly well what he wanted; the bastard was just trying to get him to grovel for it. “You’ve got contacts at every real estate firm in the city. You’re going to make sure that before any of them list Tess’s lot for sale, they call you. And you’re also going to make some discreet inquiries through one of your agents to see if you can get her agree to a private sale. Offer her whatever she wants, at or above market. I’ll pay it.”
Nate owned a substantial amount of real estate and had a group of attorneys and agents who represented him in land deals. A single residential lot wasn’t his usual target, but there was no reason he couldn’t use his contacts to get ahead of whatever Tess might be planning.
Connor interrupted, grabbing the ball away from Nate. “Forgive me for being a little dense here, but didn’t you just say Tess is staying at your apartment? And haven’t you two been practically in each other’s pocket for the last few weeks? If you want to buy the lot, why not just ask her directly, rather than playing some kind of spy game about it?” He dribbled the ball while he spoke, then turned and made a smooth three-point shot. For all his awkwardness off the court, Connor on the court was surprisingly agile and effortlessly competent. He’d played in college, and now scored the vast majority of their points for every game.
“Because she won’t sell it to me.”
“And you know that because?” Nate interjected.
“Because I know her, okay?” Mason ran to retrieve the ball and dribbled back to the half-court line. “How about for once you don’t argue and just do this for me.”
Nate held up his hands in surrender. “You know I’ll do it in a second, but can I suggest that if you like this woman, maybe going behind her back may not be the best way to show it?”
