A muffled voice breaks through the haze in my head and reminds me that I can’t get involved with him, and my heart sinks. I have to get away from him.
Mason was supposed to be a one-night stand, just an itch for a scratch that I’ve needed for the past two years since that scumbag touched me.Liar.
He could have done anything to me after my brother left that room. If that other man hadn’t told him not to, he would have raped me and enjoyed it.
Sometimes I can still feel him touching me and it makes me want to vomit. Then I remember I stabbed him, I don’t even know if I killed him or not.
Mason can’t know any of this, I can’t take the chance of him making me leave.
“Where’d you go?” Mason’s deep voice brings my focus back to him. “What were you thinking just now that put the fear in your eyes?”
My mom used to tell me my thoughts were written on my face. Damn it. My gaze drops to his lips once more, my body fighting with my mind for dominance, and I wrap my fingers around his wrist, enjoying the warmth of his palm on my skin for just one more second.
Taking a deep breath, I straighten my shoulders and say, “I can’t do this.” I push his hand away from me and step to the side to escape the warm bubble he created around us. Iimmediately miss his warmth when I do.
His hand loosely grasps my wrist as I start to walk away, and I stop and turn.
“Tell me why.”
I need to get away from this man. Cocking my eyebrow up, I loosen my wrist from his grasp and say, “Maybe I’m just not interested.”
His eyes move over my face for a moment before he smiles and says, “Nah, that’s not it.” He closes the space between us so I have to tilt my head back again, his chest touching my arm, “I remember how your body responded to me, every touch, every kiss. Every time I made you come. You wanted me.”
I still do.
So bad.
I audibly swallow and say, “I was drunk.” I wasn’t.
The smile doesn’t leave his face as I turn and leave the room. I almost bump into Kinley as I cross through the door, her head cocks to the side and she looks at me with an eyebrow raised in question.
My stomach drops and I take a step back, I know my eyes are round as saucers and I look guilty.
Did she hear any of that?
Trying to wipe the surprised look off my face, I swipe my sweaty palms on my jeans and paste a smile on my face.
“Excuse me,” I say and walk around her
Her gaze stays on me as I walk next to her and I hear her say, “Sure.”
Shit!
Taking a deep breath, I walk faster to my room. I need to change my panties and maybe my jeans because I’m soaking wet.
But more importantly, what did Kinley hear?
Just freakin’ great. I’ve not really got to know Kinley; she spends most of her time in her cabin about a quarter of a mile north of the main house. It used to be the foreman’s cabin until Gray took over the role and he stays in the main house, so Kinley moved in there a few years ago.
Do I have to worry about her saying anything to anyone else in the house? Panic skates up my spine as I worry what everyone would think of me. In every TV show I’ve seen; the maid never comes out with her job or an unscathed reputation.
Oh, God, I put my hands over my face as I get to my room and close the door, leaning on the cool wood. Fear makes my heart beat harder as I think about moving from job to job and hotel to hotel before I got this job, compared to where I’m at now, I was so exposed then.
A knock on my door makes me jump. Did one of them follow me? I put my hand on the knob and take a deep breath to calm myself before I pull the door open.
“Hey, Sloane,” Marley says. Her big blue eyes look me over, “Did I catch you at a bad time?”
When Opal was training me, she gave me the rundown on all the siblings. Even though she didn’t give a lot of detail, I know that Marley was attacked when she was in high school, and Mason almost killed the guy who attacked her. It’s why Mason left the ranch and joined the Army.
