“Thanks, it has floppy ears,” he exclaims with a grin.
“You’re welcome. This is my friend, Mason. He wanted to come and wish you a happy birthday.”
“Thanks,” Matty repeats, staring up at Mason in awe. I can’t blame the kid. I feel like a shrimp around him and I’m grown. “Dinos! Look, Danny!” A smile brightens his face as he displays his new toys. “And soldiers!”
“Awesome, buddy,” Danny says, ruffling his hair.
After a piece of cake, I spend a few minutes chatting with Stacey, one of the girls counselors. “Good Lord, Ev, where’d you find that wet dream?” she exclaims.
“Shh! His head is big enough.” I give a little nod at her sideways look. “Both of them.” Mason glances up and smirks like he knows we’re talking about him when we start laughing. He’s sitting on his knees surrounded by a clutter of dinosaurs and army men, looking perfectly comfortable playing with Matty and the other two boys.
“I owe him a lasagna for dinner, so I guess we should go. Have you seen Danny? I wanted to see next week’s schedule.”
“He left before we cut the cake. Must’ve had a date.” After the asshole guilted me into coming.
“I’ll just check with him tomorrow.”
The boys groan with disappointment when Mason announces we have to go. “Well, aren’t you Mr. Popular,” I tease as we return to his car.
He wraps his arm around my shoulders. “Aw, don’t be jealous, love. No woman can play soldiers versus the zombie dinosaurs like I can.”
“Zombie dinosaurs?”
“Created from the soldier’s supersonic death rays, duh.” He smiles at me. “I love your laugh, Evie. It’s adorable.”
His sincere compliment catches me off guard and I feel my cheeks flame. His smile widens and he runs his palm across my jaw. “I made you blush.” I’m saved from my struggle to respond when his lips land on mine. The kiss is slow and soft and makesme want to climb into his seat and straddle him. When we break apart, he murmurs, “So sweet.”
I don’t know if he means me, my blush, or the kiss. Not that it matters since I seem to be incapable of speech again. He starts the car and moves us smoothly into the flow of traffic. “So, am I still invited to dinner?”
“And breakfast,” I reply, squeezing his firm thigh.
“Only if you have Cocoa Pebbles.”
“Park in the lot if you’re staying the night,” I advise as we approach my building. “My spots are in row C.”
When he pulls in beside my Mini, I hear him curse. It takes a second for me to register my car is sitting on four flat tires and the windshield is shattered. “What the fuck!” I’m out of the seat and jerking open my driver’s door before Mason can get the keys out of his ignition.
“Evie! Wait, damn it!”
“Someone trashed my car!” Anger streaks through me. Mason comes up beside me as I pick up a piece of paper from the seat. It’s a note, written in bright red ink.
A little warning, bitch. Next time it’ll be your face.
Cold fear trickles down my spine. Who would do this? I don’t have any enemies.
“Evie.” Mason’s voice is calm. “What’s the note say? Give it here.”
I need to deal with this. He needs to go. This isn’t his problem. “I’m sorry, but we need to cut our date short. I need to get a hold of my insurance company and…”
He huffs and snatches the paper from my hands. “I’m calling the police.”
“No, it’s probably some pissed off parent of one of the kids at BTC. They don’t realize I’m not the one keeping them from their kid.”
“It could also be some psycho husband from Striking Back. I don’t give a shit who it is. They know where you live. You need to get inside.” Mason pulls me to my feet and wraps his arm around me, keeping me tucked against him as he hurries us inside. “Are there cameras back here?”
“I have no idea. Slow down, you’re overreacting.”
“Just stay close to me.”
