“This is Gabby,” he said. “My girlfriend.”
Silence crashed over the group.
I forgot how to breathe.Girlfriend?
Mason came around and opened my door. Cold hit my legs, but his hand was warm and sure as he helped me down.
“You will be respectful,” he said to them, calm as a warning bell. “She’s not a joke. She’s not a story. She’s mine.”
Mine.
Conner’s grin faded into something else—surprise, maybe even a little awe. Hux stared at his boots. The others suddenly found the snow fascinating.
“Sorry, Gabby,” Conner said. “That was out of line.”
“Yeah,” Hux muttered. “We’re idiots. But no disrespect.”
My heart was still sprinting. “It’s…okay.”
“Not with you,” Mason said quietly. “Not anymore.”
Something warm bloomed in my chest. I looked up at him—this huge, quiet, impossibly protective man—and felt my eyes sting.
He meant it. He actually meant it.
“Come on,” Conner said. “Let’s get out of here before we all freeze to death.”
“What about getting her home?” Mason asked. “That’s why we were out here in the first place.”
Conner shook his head. “Mountain road’s a no-go. There’s two more trees down past the curve, and the snow’s drifting bad. Even the rescue truck isn’t making it up there tonight.” He shot me an apologetic look. “Sorry, Gabby. You’re stuck with us for the duration. Kameron’s already setting up cots at the roadhouse for the staff.”
Stuck at the roadhouse. Across the street from the firehouse. Across the street from Mason.
I tried very hard not to smile. “I think I can manage.”
Mason’s hand tightened on mine. When I glanced up at him, he wasn’t even trying to hide his satisfaction.
“Gabby, you can sit up front,” Conner added. “It’s warmer.”
The ride back was cramped and quiet. Mason’s thigh stayed pressed to mine, his hand warm around my fingers, steadying me with each slow brush of his thumb.
“You okay?” he murmured.
“You called me your girlfriend.”
“Yeah.”
“We met officially, like…two hours ago.”
“I’ve known you longer than that.”
“Creepy,” I whispered.
He smiled faintly. “Persistent.”
“And I get a vote in this, right?”
His jaw tightened. “Do you not want to be my girlfriend?”
