Return to Her

by Alexandra O'Hurley

  Cheated on and dumped, Cassie Summers feels nothing but relief. She’d stayed too long, and honestly, it was her attraction to her ex’s roommate, Mason, that kept her hanging on past the expiration date. Mason makes her heart beat faster and her panties damp. Too bad he’s only a friend, as she’s not his type.

  Mason Parker’s Southern charm and good looks let him through a lot of doors—and into beds. A protective instinct a mile wide pushes Mason to be Cassie’s shoulder when his roommate skips town, and he has to face his real feelings for her. Can he find the patience to just be the friend Cassie needs while she gets over her ex?

  When Mason’s called for duty and has to ship out for a year, he knows he can’t leave without telling her exactly how he feels. Amid the fireworks on the Fourth of July, they’ll make their own sparks and give in to the crushing need both have for one another.

  Return to Her

  by

  Alexandra O’Hurley

  A RED HOT AND BOOM! BOOK

  Return to Her

  Copyright © 2014 by Alexandra O’Hurley

  Edited by SM Firefly & Marie Medina

  First E-book Publication: June 2014, SMASHWORDS EDITION

  Cover design by K Designs

  All cover art copyright © 2014, Covers by K

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  DEDICATION

  To Aliyah – for your help, your friendship, and for listening.

  Return to Her

  Chapter One

  Mason Parker unlocked his front door, the woman behind him a random victim of his Southern charm and lust. She was beautiful, but there was something missing. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but whatever it was, it was lacking. As soon as he pushed the door open, he knew he was making a mistake.

  When had he grown a conscience over bedding women?

  Damn it, it’s all Cassie’s fault. His roommate’s girlfriend had been letting her feelings on the subject be known for quite some time now. Of course, most of her other advice had been spot on, so why wouldn’t she be right about this? Don’t you want something more than one nighters and casual relationships? He could hear her voice asking the question in his head as he looked over his shoulder at the evening’s new one nighter.

  Yeah. He did. Someday.

  Just not now. He was young and supposed to be having fun, right? Cassie’s voice came to mind again. Do you really enjoy a different woman every month? That’s got to get boring. Mason looked over his shoulder one more time. The woman behind him was pretty enough, but he’d barely spoken to her at the club, the music had been too loud. It had been a purely physical thing and he had no idea if there was a brain in that pretty head. She’d been fairly quiet on the ride over, answering his questions with one or two word answers. Boring.

  Why was he letting Cassie twist him up like this? If she hadn’t started this whole line of questioning this morning, he’d have no problem continuing on the path of least resistance.

  When he finally did settle down, he’d find someone special, with all the depth the girls he’d been dating didn’t have. He’d find someone who saw the man he was inside, someone he could talk with about anything—a woman who wasn’t boring and he could see himself growing old with. Someone like…

  A face came to view and he pushed it away. That face had a boyfriend, one she seemed happy enough with, which Mason didn’t understand at all. Mason wasn’t the kind to poach another man’s girlfriend, no matter how wonderfully perfect she was or how undeserving her boyfriend.

  He opened the door and flipped on a switch as he turned to urge the woman inside. Mason frowned for a moment. Heather? That was her name, right?

  “Come on in,” he said, leaving her name off his lips.

  Heather, or whatever her name was, frowned as she glanced inside his place. “Have you been robbed or does it always look like this?”

  Mason whipped his head around and looked into his apartment. The place was trashed, with drawers askew, his CDs knocked over, and books scattered everywhere. He turned to Heather. “Go over by the car and let me check the place out.”

  “Shouldn’t you call the cops,” Heather asked. “It’s chilly out here.”

  “Just go by the car where it’s safe,” he said, rushing through the door. It looked as though someone had been searching for something, but what? Reaching for a baseball bat beside the open closet door, Mason lifted it and peered inside. After ensuring it was empty, he passed the kitchen, which was also clear, and then opened the bathroom door. The medicine cabinet was open and items were strewn about the counter. Mason checked every room, one by one. Mason’s room had been untouched. Weird. He finally ended with Dave’s bedroom.

  It was completely bare—the furniture, the clothes, everything gone.

  Except for an envelope taped to the end of the ceiling fan’s pull cord. Mason took it down and opened it, wondering what the fuck was going on.

  Mason –

  Sorry dude, but I had to bail. Things were getting a little too crazy for me. I’m leaving town, so I guess this is goodbye. If I can send you money, I will.

  –Dave

  Mason stared at the note another moment, as if more meaning would be wrung from it if he looked a while longer. Dave was officially two months behind on rent as of that morning and had been promising to pay up for days. Mason walked out of Dave’s room and looked at the drawers sitting out, the stuff strewn about. His roommate had apparently been in such a rush to get the hell out that he’d nearly destroyed the place in his search for his belongings. Mason was ditched and his house left a wreck. And not to mention…

  Cassie.

  Mason halted in his tracks, his heart pumping. He needed to find her, make sure she was alright. The need to protect her was powerful, almost overwhelming. He had no clue where it was coming from.

  Don’t lie to yourself. You know exactly where it’s coming from.

  Mason needed to get a hold of himself. Just because Dave was gone didn’t mean she needed another man in her life so soon. Cassie was his friend, too, and he would make sure she was okay. She didn’t deserve to be hurt, no more than Dave had deserved her in the first place.

  Crumpling the note in his hands, Mason rushed out the door, locking it quickly before heading to his car. He glanced at Heather and dug into his pocket for his keys. “I’m taking you home.”

  The woman didn’t move toward the door, just stood there staring. “What happened in there?”

  “It’s fine, but there’s somewhere I need to go. Get in the car and I’ll take you home.” Mason climbed inside and revved the engine.

  Heather stood by the car, not moving. He lowered the passenger window and leaned across.

  “Are you getting in, Heather, or are you going to stand there all night?”

  She leaned down to glare at him. “My name is Jennifer.”

  My bad. “Do you want a ride home or not?”

  Jennifer snarled at him, as she legitimately had a right to at this point, and finally got into the car. He felt even worse about the whole fiasco. Mason shouldn’t have asked her back to his place, he wasn’t sure why he’d done it in the first place. But then, when a man wanted another woman, one he couldn’t have, he did stupid things.

  Mason threw the car into drive and squealed out of the parking lot, his focus laser sharp. Hopefully, Cassie wasn’t a total wreck.

  * * * *

  Cassie heard the car pull up into her driveway. She glanced th
rough the blinds, her initial instinct telling her it wasn’t Dave’s truck. Breathing a sigh of relief, she glanced through the darkness. There was no way she was ready for round two tonight. In the low light of the street lamps, she struggled to see who it was, and her heart started to beat harder once she recognized the form of the man.

  Mason.

  Running an absentminded hand through her hair, she went to the door. Cassie opened it and watched Mason approach. He stepped into the circle of the porch light and stopped a couple of feet away from her.

  “Are you okay?”

  Cassie nodded. She actually was, now that Dave was gone. A weight was lifted off her shoulders. “Yeah, I think I am for the first time in a long while.”

  Mason didn’t say anything. He just watched her closely, as if assuring himself she spoke the truth.

  “Did you want to come in?” she asked, tugging her cardigan around her a little more tightly. It might be May, but the evenings were still cool.

  “Yeah, I’ve got some questions, if you’re up for it.”

  Cassie didn’t really want to talk about it, but the thought of Mason being there soothed her. She backed away from the door and let him pass, his cologne doing funny things to her head. Mason always smelled good. Looked good, too, not that she’d usually go for that type. He was a little too Adonis for a girl like her.

  Mason sat down on her couch, leaning his elbows on his knees. He looked a little funny sitting there, his long limbs appearing too big for the proportions of her small sofa. Yet she couldn’t explain how much it mattered that he was there, checking in on her.

  “So what did you need to know?” Cassie asked, sitting across from him in a comfy chair.

  “I got home tonight. The apartment’s been trashed and all of Dave’s stuff is gone. I got a note, saying he had to leave with no reasons why. What happened?”

  Cassie looked down at her hands, tugging on the edge of her sweater. “He’s been cheating with some girl at his job. I caught him in bed with her today,” Cassie said, her voice sounding like a separate entity. The words came out emotionless, almost robotic. It stung that Dave had cheated, that she’d been duped for however long he’d been unfaithful.

  But it was also her way out.

  It had been months since she’d been happy with Dave. She had no idea why she’d stayed as long as she had.

  Her gaze drifted up and she looked at Mason. Now she wouldn’t be spending time at Mason’s apartment, getting to see him almost every single day. Her breath caught in her chest. Cassie suddenly knew why she’d stayed well past the expiration date of her relationship.

  And he was sitting across from her.

  “I’m so sorry, Cassie. He’s an asshole.”

  She averted her gaze, shocked that the first thought she had after Dave leaving was how much she’d miss her time with Mason. “Yeah, he is that.”

  Mason rose and crossed the gap, kneeling before her. Cassie’s heart sped a little faster as she looked into his deep chocolate gaze. The frown contorting his brow showed deep concern, more concern than her ex-boyfriend had shown earlier that day.

  “You deserve better.”

  Cassie smiled, wondering if he really meant it. For all his womanizing and smooth charm, she knew there was a good man deep inside him. She’d sensed it from the moment she’d met him. He talked a good game, but the man had a heart. Mason was a hero, a soldier who ran into danger to protect his country, but there was more to him than just that.

  Early on in her relationship with Dave, she’d assumed Mason was all pretty and no soul. When her women’s group had decided to volunteer at a local soup kitchen, she’d been surprised to see Mason there. She’d joked, asking him what he’d done to deserve community service, and had apparently wounded him. The look he gave her had spoken volumes. Later that day, she’d learned from the chaplain who ran the kitchen that Mason volunteered twice a month, every month for the past year.

  At that moment, she’d realized that she’d assumed the worst and she’d felt terrible. There was another man hidden inside the Mason everyone else saw, one she saw glimpses of here and there that made her heart beat faster and her body stand up and take notice.

  “Hindsight is twenty–twenty,” she said, smiling.

  When he took her hand in his, she could feel a spark of electricity between them. She looked up and he caught her gaze. “I don’t think you should be alone tonight,” he said, his voice low and steady.

  A soft sigh left her lips. “It’s Saturday night. I’m sure you’ve got plans with the ladies. I’ll be fine.” With the ladies came out a little more sarcastically than she’d anticipated.

  Mason shook his head. “No. You’re more important than all that. Tonight you need a friend.”

  More important? Her? Cassie swallowed the lump in her throat. Which Mason was she seeing right now? The Casanova or the other, hidden one? The Casanova? No, he doesn’t see me like that. Why couldn’t she be that girl? “A friend would be great.”

  For the first time all night, tears threatened. Not because of Dave, but how considerate Mason was being. A friend. He was only being a friend.

  Mason grinned, and it did wicked things to her body. “How about we make some popcorn, find a funny movie to make you laugh, and sit here until you’re ready for bed? I’ll sleep on the couch and in the morning, I’ll make some breakfast.”

  That sounded amazing. “If you’re sure.”

  “I’m sure,” he grinned and leaned in to hug her.

  Cassie was shocked by the embrace, but quickly took advantage of it. She wrapped her arms around his neck, inhaling a little of his scent. His heat invaded her body and his muscular arms felt so good. Her knight in shining armor had arrived, even if she hadn’t really needed him. His caring still meant the world.

  She leaned back and handed him the remote. “You check Netflix while I go make that popcorn.”

  Chapter Two

  The following morning, Cassie sleepily wandered toward the smell of fresh brewed coffee, rubbing her sleep filled eyes. As she started to see more clearly, she stopped at the edges of her kitchen and saw a shirtless Mason standing over her stove. He was in his boxer-briefs and dog tags, which left nothing to the imagination. Nothing. And, my God, the man was chiseled out of marble.

  Her gaze followed a tattoo curving up one large bicep and onto his shoulder. Another piece of impressive ink graced his muscular back, and crept to the other side, out of her line of sight. His skin was dark and tanned from hours of being in the sun, even his dark hair was a touch lighter at the tips, she noted. When he turned to get something out of the fridge, she saw a light smattering of hair over his chest, arrowing down to the waistband of his boxer-briefs and disappearing.

  Cassie’s nipples tightened as she watched him move about her kitchen. Wetness pooled between her legs and a telltale throb started there as well. Her mouth salivated over more than the delicious smelling food.

  Mason looked over his shoulder, his lips widening into a smile. “Good morning, Sleepy Head. How did you sleep?”

  Cassie scuffed into the kitchen in her slippers and robe, suddenly feeling very plain compared to his gorgeous face and body. “I slept better than I expected.” She went to the coffee maker and poured herself a cup, watching him flip over a couple of pieces of French toast. “I didn’t know you were such a good cook.”

  “One learns a thing or two, especially working at the kitchen. I make a mean pot of stew now.”

  She smiled a little at the reminder of how wonderful he could be. But then her brain reminded her that the Casanova had probably perfected his breakfast culinary skills to cook for all those women he took home. Stop being so negative when he’s being so nice!

  Cassie finished adding sugar and cream to her coffee then, took a sip, eyeing him over the rim. He had been incredibly nice. He’d come to check on her when there had been no reason he had to. And then he’d sat with her all night, watching silly movies to make her laugh when he could’ve been
out carousing. Mason had kept his end of the bargain, sleeping on her little couch, even when she’d offered him the bed instead.

  Now he was making her a nice breakfast in only his boxers, definitely brightening her day.

  “Thank you,” she said suddenly.

  Mason cast a glance her way, a tender smile on his lips. He lifted the French toast out of the pan and onto a plate. “You needed a friend. What else was I supposed to do?”

  He walked over to the table and lowered the plate down before moving her chair out and motioning for her to sit down. No one had ever fussed over her this much, except maybe her mother. It felt nice to have someone take care of her a little.

  Cassie moved to the spot and sat. Mason helped push her seat in. He went back to the stove, loaded another plate, and brought that and his coffee cup over to the table and sat down. “Is this enough? You want some eggs? I think I saw some strawberries in your fridge if you want some.”

  “This is plenty,” Cassie said. “You’ve already gone above and beyond.”

  Mason caught her gaze. “You deserve a lot more.”

  That tell-tale lump came back into her throat and her chest tightened. The way he looked at her made her heart beat faster, and suddenly she wanted the Casanova to come out. She’d never been wooed like that by a man and the desire to be swept off her feet, to forget the last few months, sounded wonderful.

  Mason looked down at his plate, breaking the spell she’d started to fall under.

  Cassie felt dazed. How could she expect to jump from one man to the other like that? She’d just been cheated on and dumped. She had no business drooling over Mason.