And the hope that this is only the beginning.
12
MASON
The last two weeks turned out to be far busier than Lana or I anticipated. The good news was that I talked to her every day. The bad news was that I hadn’t been able to snag more than ten minutes with her since the weekend of the photoshoot.
I’d always been patient, but not being able to see her was driving me out of my mind. Bodhi had made more than one comment about the mood I’d apparently been in, but I didn’t have a good reason except I’ve never craved a woman like this before.
Body.
Mind.
And soul.
“You ready?” Bodhi asks as he shoves his duffle bag into the back of the truck.
“Yeah.” I do the same and barely stop myself from slamming my door as I climb into the passenger seat.
I’d roped Bodhi into going with me to retrieve Ellison’s cows because the trip would suck doing it alone, and I’d never transported cows before.
Or any other farm animals.
Normally, I wouldn’t care, but it’d been too long since I’d seen Lana—touched her, felt her skin on mine—and everyone around me was paying the price.
In this case, Bodhi got the brunt of my bad mood, but I just couldn’t help it.
“You gonna be like this the whole time?”
“Like what?” I snap, instantly regretting my tone when my brother’s jaw tics. “Shit, I’m sorry. I just… I care about Lana and Iknowit’s been a week and I’m acting crazy but she’s…”
“Special,” he supplies, and I swallow hard, thankful I didn’t have to utterthe oneout loud. Not because I don’t believe it but I don’t want to jinx it. It’s one thing to say it via text, but putting that into the universe is something else entirely.
“I’ve never done this, and it feels like I have so much to learn—about her and relationships, how to be a partner. And she’s got kids, which is awesome, but I know our age difference is going to be a thing and I’m just?—”
“In love with her already?” he says, his lips twitching even as he keeps his eyes on the road.
“Fuck.” I scrub my hands down my face. “Yeah.”
His shoulders shake with silent laughter, and it makes me chuckle too because the whole thing is kind of ridiculous for a normal person.
But Bodhi and I are anything but normal.
We’ve never had the luxury of getting to know someone because time was almost never on our side. People had constantly been ripped from our lives.
Some more violently than others.
I rub at my sternum, a physical reminder that I’m still here.
“You need to tell her,” Bodhi says, his eyes flicking to me and then back to the road.
“We had a mini trauma dump after the photoshoot.” Bodhi snorts and I sigh as I let my head fall back against the headrestbecause he’s right—the highlight reel of my life barely scratches the surface of what’s lurking underneath. “I’m sorry I snapped at you,” I say honestly as I let my head loll to the side.
“I know.”
Bodhi Maxwell and I don’t fight.
We never have.
