“Are we still going to eat?” Wendy asked as they walked down the sidewalk. “My stomach is rumbling.”
Once there was a good block between them and the restaurant, Julie stopped and turned to the group. She peered down into Wendy’s pleading eyes.
“Yeah, we’re going to eat.” She put on a bright smile. “Do you think your stomach can wait a little longer?”
Wendy narrowed her eyes. “Depends. What are we going to get?”
Julie shrugged. “Your somach will just have to trust me. But first, we need to get to the car.”
“Are we going home?” Rick asked.
Julie shook her head. “Nope. We’re going for a drive.” As the kids perked at the new idea, Julie found herself caught in Mason’s brilliant gaze. His expression was masked behind a quiet deliberation. “You okay with that?” she asked.
His bottom lip disappeared between his teeth. His eyes narrowed slightly. “Are you sure you still want me around?”
The question was simple, but it was the well cloaked undertone behind it that made her pause. Thankfully, Wendy saved her from having to answer.
“I do!” She grabbed Mason’s hand with her free one. “I still love you.”
Mason smiled, but his eyes remained fixed on Julie. “Love you too, brat.” Finally, he lowered his gaze to the girl, but not before he had sent Julie’s heart racing in her chest. “And I am hungry.” He focused on Julie once more. “What’s the plan, Captain?”
She didn’t have one, but she smiled with all the confidence she could muster and got everyone back in the car. Then she just drove and kept driving until they passed the town sign thanking them for visiting Salmon Cove and hoping they returned soon.
Not if I can help it, Julie thought to herself.
She took the group to the next town over, not quite as picturesque a place, but no one glowered at them and that made all the difference. Even the kids seemed relieved when she parked the car outside a steakhouse and no one stopped to stare and point. They shoved each other in their mad haste to reach the doors first. It was good to see the smiles on their faces again.
The hostess at the front smiled widely at them without a shred of prejudice and ushered them to a booth in the corner. The kids darted after her, yelling about who got the window seat. Julie let them go and started to follow when her wrist was caught in a gentle restraint. Mason, watching the children scamper away, waited until they were out of sight before pinning her to the spot. His chest came up against her side. His lips caressed the curve of her ear. The thumb on her wrist lightly traced the soft skin over her pulse. She wondered if he could feel its erratic patter.
“You’re amazing,” he whispered into her ear. “You know that?”
Julie started to shake her head when his free hand slid over her waist and settled along the curve, just above her hip. The heat of his fingers burned her through the thin material of her top and her insides felt like she’d missed a step going down a set of stairs. The sensation was intensified when tapered fingers unfurled from her wrist and lifted to take her chin. Her face was tipped to his, brought dangerously close to his mouth and forced to watch his lips as they moved with speech.
“Promise me we’ll finish our talk,” he was saying when she struggled past the loud hum between her ears. “Please,” he whispered. “We only have three days and I need to know...” He sucked in a breath and held it. His eyes explored the hills and valleys of her face like the thing he most desperately needed was hidden somewhere in their lines. “Please promise me.”
His plea whispered feather light across her mouth, her chin and fanned across her cheeks. The skin everywhere it touched tingled. Her lashes fluttered, threatening to close.
“Promise.”
She expected him to pull away now that she had given him her word that they would talk, but he continued to hold her, continued to stroke the skin of her jaw with the tips of his fingers, gliding closer to the point of her chin until he was skimming delicately over her bottom lip. He seemed fascinated by her mouth and she was fascinated by the way his eyes had darkened and his every intake of air seemed ragged and unsteady. But most of all, by the rapid patter of his heart against the palm she had flattened unknowingly to his chest. She never in a million years imagined she could ever have that sort of effect on him. She didn’t want to pull away.
“Sorry! Excuse me.” The hostess, having dropped the children off at the table had returned and was offering them a small, apologetic smile. “Your table is ready.”
Flustered and starving for all the things Mason had promised with a single skim of his fingers, Julie pulled from the warm cocoon of Mason’s arms. Her heart was still going a mile a minute and her knees were shaking too hard to support her weight, but she followed the hostess to where the children sat coloring happily on the paper placemats. Dustin was flipping through his iPod for a new song, but he glanced up when Mason and Julie took a seat, Julie next to Wendy and Mason next to Rick and Dustin.
“I’m getting the twenty pounder,” he declared. “Ribs and a steak as big as my head.”
Julie laughed and winced when it came out breathless and weak. “Let’s stick to something a little smaller.”
“But I can totally eat that,” Dustin insisted. “Besides, if I do, I get my meal for free!”
“If you eat it in an hour,” Mason said, eyeing the little sign pinned to the table, announcing the specials, including the King Platter which was free only if you finished all of it in an hour. “You think you can eat all that in an hour, squirt?”
“Damn right I could!”
“Language!” Julie scolded. “Dustin, the thing is eighty bucks.”
Mason and Dustin stared each other down over Rick’s bent head.
“All right.” Mason pushed his menu aside. “We’ll make it two. You win and you get to stay up late and watch The Walking Dead marathon.”
Dustin’s eyes practically popped out of his skull. “Shut up! Seriously?”
Mason put up on hand and pressed the other to his chest. “Scouts honor. But if I win...” His grin was slow and wicked. “You have to drop the attitude for the rest of the month.”
“Deal!” Dustin shouted without a second of hesitation.
“Don’t tell him that,” Julie pleaded. “He’ll make himself sick. Besides, if he wins, his mom will kill me for letting him watch that show.”
Mason smirked. “Hear that? She doesn’t think you can do it.”
“Mason!”
Dustin straightened his shoulders. “It’s so on.”
The two bumped fists around the back of Rick’s bent head.
Julie rolled her eyes, but didn’t stop the pair when they made their order. Wendy and Rick both chose burgers and fries, and Julie got a steak with a side of potatoes and steamed vegetables.
They laughed and ate as they watched Mason and Dustin scarf down their enormous platters. Mason didn’t seem to be in any rush and actually took the time to cut his meat into neat cubs, while Dustin jumped in with his hands, gnawing and ripping at his meat with his teeth.
In the end, Mason won. Dustin got through half of his steak before calling it quits and sagging against his seat. He looked on the verge of throwing up, which Rick thought was amusing as he kept jabbing Dustin in the gut with his finger.
They paid their bill and headed back to the car, but rather than head back to Salmon Cove, Julie found the local mall and pulled in.
“Who wants to do some of that shopping?”
Grinning, she pocketed the keys and led the kids inside.
They didn’t stay long. Dustin bought his game, Rick got a motor boat for the lake and Wendy bought a pretty new dress and a pair of slippers. Hers was the longest to shop for.
“I didn’t think we would ever leave that place,” Mason muttered as they drove back.
In the back, Dustin had his head back, eyes closed as something loud and angry shrieked through his headphones. Wendy had her head against the car window as Rick slumped aga
inst her, both out cold. The sun had set behind them and the road was dark.
“Yeah, but at least they had fun.” She took one hand off the wheel to yawn behind it. “Sorry. I’m exhausted. I haven’t been sleeping very well.”
“Do you want me to drive?”
The thought was tempting. She would have given anything to pass off the wheel, recline her seat and shut her eyes for the next forty minutes, but she wasn’t ready to let go ... of the wheel.
“I’m okay.”
They drove for another mile in silence. Julie yawned again and the gesture sent a tremor through her that shook her arms. The car swerved ever so slightly over the yellow line. She righted it quickly, but Mason noticed.
“Okay, that’s it. Pull over, lady,” he ordered.
She didn’t argue this time. She turned the wheel and rolled to a gentle halt on the side of the road. Mason shoved his way out, left the passenger’s side door wide open and started around the hood towards her side. Julie was reaching for the handle when the door was jerked open. He offered her his hand.
“Come on,” he urged coaxingly.
With a reluctant sigh, she accepted his outstretched fingers and eased out of her seat. She was barely able to keep her eyes open when he pulled her to him. His grip was gentle as he rested his hands lightly on her waist, steadying her. His body was warm and cradled hers in such a way that it made her want to rest her head on his shoulder and close her eyes.
He led her around the car, keeping a gentle arm around her the whole way.
Julie chuckled as they reached the passenger’s side door. “I’m not intoxicated. I can walk.”
“I know,” was all he said.
Shaking her head in dull amusement, Julie started to pull away, to turn towards the passenger’s side door, only to be restrained by his arms. His lips found her temple. His hands slid across her back. She was pulled to his chest. The softness of her thighs pressed into the hard cords of his. His heart beat fast and wild against hers. She felt him inhale against the curls at the top of her head, felt his arms tighten. One hand lifted off her back and slipped beneath her chin, and for the second time that night, her face was offered to his. Her cheek was caressed by the same hand. The curve was traced by the tips of his fingers. Julie gasped. The harsh clap of her heart intensified to a painful crack inside her chest. She watched in wonder and anticipation as he studied her shadowed features. She wondered if he could even really see her when she couldn’t make him out at all.
“Let’s go home,” he murmured at last, pulling her from the spell he had so effortlessly woven around her. “Luis and Shaun probably think we’ve run off and left them there.”
With a weak laugh, she let herself be tucked into the car. He shut the door behind her and hurried around to slip behind the wheel. Julie leaned her head back and relaxed as they set off.
At some point, she must have dozed, because it was only mere minutes later when Mason was shaking her gently awake. They were parked in front of the cabin and the front door was open to the warm glow of the foyer.
Julie grimaced in embarrassment as she pushed straighter up in her seat. “I’m sorry,”
She resisted the urge to check her chin for drool.
“Don’t be.” He smiled sweetly at her. “You okay to walk?”
Julie nodded and threw open her door. Together, they put the kids to bed and found Shaun and Luis watching some horror movie on TV. Luis beamed when he saw them. He waved.
“Where did you guys take off to?” he asked.
“Took the kids shopping,” Julie said.
“Thanks for asking us to tag along,” Shaun muttered. “Sorry we couldn’t move our busy schedule around.”
“You guys had the keys to the truck,” Mason told them. “You didn’t need to stay here all day.”
Shaun shot him a murderous glower. “We came here to hang out together. Two seconds through the door and you were sucked up her vagina.”
“Jesus!” Mason snapped.
That was the second time Shaun had called her a vagina and Julie had had it.
“The only vagina in this room is you, Shaun,” she said evenly. “Stop being a little bitch.” She turned to Mason. “I’m going to bed.” She cast a glance towards Luis. “Goodnight.”
Without waiting for a comment from anyone, she started up. She was at the top of the stairs when the arguing downstairs erupted. Feeling way too exhausted to have to deal with any of Shaun’s bullshit, she went straight to bed. She was out the second her head hit the pillow.
Only, she didn’t stay asleep.
Chapter Eight
“Julie!”
The desperate wail sent Julie staggering out of bed. Her head rushed from the sudden motion and her stomach roiled in protest, but she stumbled to the doors and threw them open. A scream lodged in her throat when the shadow in the hall jumped, clearly as surprised as she was at not being the only one awake. It was only due to the lit bulb in the hallway bathroom, normally left on so Rick could find his way, that Julie recognized the figure.
“Mason?”
“I heard a scream,” he said, answering her unasked question.
“Who was it?” she wondered, darting anxious glances at the other doors.
“I think Wendy.”
Hand still pressed to her thumping heart, Julie sprinted past him towards Wendy’s room. She pushed open the door and hurried inside.
Wendy, in her My Little Pony pajamas, stood by the window. She spun around when Julie burst into her room, followed by Mason. Her face was pale, made paler by the harsh glow of the moon spilling through the glass.
“There’s a man outside!” Wendy said, pointing, jabbing at the glass. “He’s carrying a body.”
“What?” Julie ran to her and pulled her away to take her place at the window.
The world outside was dark. Not city dark where lights from streetlamps and apartments still illuminated even the places that seemed impossibly dark. No one knew the meaning of true darkness unless they’d ever gone camping. But that was what that was—absolute darkness. Everything was a violent smear of black. The light from the moon shone over the grounds only mere feet around the house like a spotlight. Julie squinted, straining to see even a glimmer of movement that wasn’t the trees, and saw nothing.
“Where?” she asked out loud.
“By the lake,” Wendy answered.
Julie felt the warmth and strength of Mason’s body come up against her back. His hand rested on her hip as he leaned to see over her shoulder. His weight rested securely on her and she had to resist the urge to lean back into him.
“I don’t see anything,” she replied.
“Are you sure you weren’t dreaming, brat?” Mason wondered.
“I’m awake,” Wendy insisted.
Julie turned to her. “What are you doing out of bed anyway?”
Wendy shrugged. “I heard a noise.”
Julie took the other girl by the shoulders and gentle guided her back to the bed. Mason remained by the window, looking up and down the yard with his hands cupped around the face he had squished into the glass. He must not have found anything, because he turned away and watched as Julie tucked Wendy into bed.
“There’s no one out there, squirt,” Mason promised as he tugged the curtains over the window, blocking the moon and yard from view. “You probably saw a deer.”
Wendy frowned. “It wasn’t a deer.” But she sounded unsure.
Julie smoothed back hairs off the girl’s face. “Whatever it was, it’s gone now, okay?” She drew the blankets more securely around Wendy’s shoulders. “Go back to sleep.”
With a sigh, Wendy turned onto her side and shut her eyes.
Mason crept out of the room. Julie followed, only after casting an uneasy glance in the direction of the window. Mason was waiting for her when she shut the door behind her.
“Coffee?”
Julie squinted at her watch and groaned at the ungodly hour. “It’s five in the morning.”
>
Stretching and pulling all of that glorious taut skin and sinewy muscle, Mason yawned loudly. “Apparently.”
Her weary limbs protested the idea of going anywhere that wasn’t her bed, but she knew sleep was only a distant memory. Even if she tried, it wouldn’t come and she would only toss and turn anyway.
“Fine,” she grumbled.
Mason started the coffee while Julie watched the shimmer of light reflecting off the surface of the lake through the patio doors. The sky was lit solely by a slash of orange just along the horizon. The color trickled through the navy blue, painting the peaks of the trees a brilliant gold.
Strong hands settled on her shoulders from behind. The fingers pulled on the knots tightening the muscles and Julie whimpered as every expert knead rolled her eyes up into the back of her skull. Her head dropped back against the hard corded muscles of Mason’s shoulder. Her eyes closed.
“Why don’t you get some more sleep?” he offered, letting his hand slid down her arms to hook around her middle. “I can take the kids.”
Julie shook her head, eyes still shut. “I’m okay. I just need some coffee.”
“Are you sure?” He kissed her temple with the most endearing skim of his lips. “I make a mean bowl of cereal.”
Julie laughed.
“Don’t laugh.” He nuzzled the side of her face, scratching her face with the soft bristle growing around his jaw. “My cereal could win awards.”
Her snort was met with a nip of his teeth against her jaw. She squeaked and tried to pull away.
“You promised we’d talk,” he reminded her, tightening his hold. “I need to know if you’ll give us a chance.”
“A chance at what?” Her voice came out an octave too high. “We live in different provinces. I’m still in school. You have your job. Now, unless all you want is a summer fling, I don’t understand what you want from all this.”
The arms cradling her protectively against his chest stiffened. “That’s not what I’m asking. That’s not what I want.”
“What then?” She turned so they were face to face and she could see the determination in his eyes. “Are you really willing to wait for me while I work my way out of school?”
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