Jude’s expression softened. “I’m not your enemy. If you have good ideas, I’ll admit it and ask to use them. If you slack off, I’ll let you know it as well.”
Mason decided to give it one last try. “And like it or not, you’re also family—we’re family. It goes both ways. So I’ll ask you again: what’s wrong?”
Jude’s gaze grew steely. “Nothing. I have to go to a meeting.” He pocketed his phone and picked up his tablet, all indications the talk was over, but Mason wasn’t finished yet, even though Jude waited with his usual impatient expression.
“I know. I’m the one setting your calendar, remember?” He closed his laptop but left it on the table to stop Jude from leaving the office. “Why’re you lying?”
Anger flared in Jude’s eyes. “Lying? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Something is upsetting you—oh. I bet I know.” It hit Mason like a brick to the head what was wrong. That morning he’d seen Doug’s Instagram post that he’d surprised Ilana with a trip to Monte Carlo and they would be off-line for the next five days. No social media at all. “It’s Doug and Ilana.”
“Stop it. Just stop talking.” Jude’s growl should’ve clued Mason in that he should shut up, but he kept pushing. The time had come to let his sister live her life.
“You’re upset they’re going to be unreachable and that they didn’t let you know or call you at all. Have you spoken with her?”
He didn’t miss the pain clouding Jude’s eyes. “No.”
While he understood Jude’s close relationship with Ilana, Jude needed a wake-up call to move on, and brutal as it might be, total silence for five days might finally cut the cord.
He shrugged. “Get used to it. I mean, they’re married now. Ilana doesn’t need her big brother to watch her every move.”
Looking like an enraged bull, Jude bore down on him, and Mason took two steps away, wincing when his head hit the door, and the handle dug into the small of his back.
“I said I’m fine. They’re adults. They can do what they want.”
“Yeah? So why’re you so angry?”
Jude’s breath hit his cheek, and he shuddered. Damn, he smelled good, all hot and something cinnamony and…fuck. A pissed-off Jude heated his blood like wildfire. Jude in any state had become impossible to ignore. In the years since his intense crush on his brother’s best friend, Mason had never lacked for lovers. And yet there was Jude…
Blood rushed to his groin, and his dick swelled and throbbed in expectation. Alarm flared in Jude’s eyes.
So he feels it too.
Mason’s breath hitched as he watched Jude’s expression transform from furious to intense. Dark. Almost predatory. Tendrils of fire tingled through him, and he recalled in vivid detail the night of the wedding and how skillfully Jude had taken him apart and wrecked him.
“Jude,” he whispered. Their lips barely touched, but Mason almost whimpered from the tangible tension between them. He could practically taste Jude’s lips, feel the softness of his tongue, and when Jude’s fingers tightened, digging into his shoulders, Mason’s eyes slid shut in anticipation of the kiss he craved.
“Get out of here,” Jude snarled, pushing him aside. “Get the fuck out of my officenow.”
Mason, reeling from embarrassment, shock, and anger, rubbed the sore spot where his head had banged against the door. “Don’t act so fucking high and mighty when you wanted it as much as I did.”
Jude turned pale and spun on his heel, returning to his desk. “You’re delusional.”
“Yeah?” Mason crossed his arms. “Better stop wearing such tight-fitting pants, then, ’cause you can’t hide Mother Nature.”
Twin spots of red blazed on Jude’s cheeks. “It’s a natural reaction. Don’t flatter yourself.”
“I got pissed off at Pryce and didn’t get a hard-on. And fine. Shove it under the rug like you do everything else. I don’t give a fuck. I’m more concerned about Ilana and Doug. She’s a grown woman and has a husband now to pay attention to.” Seeing Jude flinch at his words, Mason hated being so blunt and cruel, but Jude needed to hear it.
“I know that,” Jude bit out.
“Then it’s time you leave her alone. Let them live their lives.”
Jude’s lips thinned to white lines. “I do. Now leavemealone. Let me get some work done. And you have a meeting with Pryce, don’t you?”
Mason gave him a curt nod and walked out of Jude’s office and across the hall to his own, where he set down his laptop and ran his shaking hands through his hair.
Why didn’t that idiot understand he was only trying to help? Mason loved his brother to death but agreed with him putting a little distance between himself and the rest of the clan. Jude had spent almost twenty years protecting Ilana. Now it was time for him to back off. The last thing newlyweds needed was family watching their every move.
