“We’re not,” I said, feeling a surge of the same protectiveness for him that he usually did for me. “They wouldn’t even fucking recognize us, Chase.”
I didn’t say who. I didn’t want to even mention their names on a day as good as this one. And I didn’t have to, because Chase knew.
“Yeah,” he agreed with a crooked grin. “Fuck them.”
We fist bumped.
The door of the bakery swung open and Lee stuck his head out and waved at me, ignoring Chase completely. “Hey, Cash. Is that brother of yours ever coming back to work?”
Chase rolled his eyes. “My boss is an asshole.”
“Yeah, but you like him that way.”
“I saw him first,” Chase said. “So I already called dibs.”
I shrugged. “Got one of my own, so I don’t want yours.”
Chase snorted, but the smile he gave me was secretive and pleased. “We’ve done pretty good, haven’t we?” He stood up and gave Dog a pat. “See you.”
“Okay.”
Chase gave me a little wave and then, to counteract the sweetness of that, the middle finger. He hurried back inside Gobble de Goose and Lee gave me another wave as the door jingled closed behind both of them. I could see Chase laughing at something Lee said as he approached him.
I scratched Dog behind the ears.
“We have done pretty good,” I whispered to Dog. “You have too, you know.”
Dog’s tongue lolled, and his tail swiped back and forth against the pavement in happy agreement.
Mason arrivedwhile I was peeing.
I’d spent the last hour pacing the porch and watching for him, but I’d also drunk three cups of coffee while I waited, and finally I couldn’t wait for the bathroom any longer. So of course it was while I had my hands full of dick that I heard the front door open and Jim say, “Welcome home! How was the drive?”
“Good,” Mason said, and then a moment later, “Is Cash here?”
I grinned and hurried to finish peeing and wash my hands. I bolted down the stairs, coming to a stop at the bottom as I drank in the sight of him. Mason lookedgood.And not just in the way pizza looked good when you were extra hungry. He was genuinely attractive. His hair was pulled into a bun with a few loose tendrils framing his face, and his beard was longer than I’d seen it, but more than that, something in his attitude had changed in the few weeks he’d been gone. A lot of the strain that he’d always carried around his eyes was gone and the constant furrow in his brow had disappeared. And when he saw me, his entire face lit up in a way that made my heart trip and tumble over itself in the best way.
“You’re here,” I said, and then the words dried up in my throat as it hit me that he reallywashere for good. These last few weeks I’d been bouncing between hope and caution, trying to temper my excitement just in case it didn’t work out for some reason. What if Mason had gone back to Cincinnati and decided when he was there that it was too much hassle to upend his life for Goose Run and for me? Even thinking that had flown in theface of everything I knew about him, but I’d had to try to prepare myself for the possibility just in case. One of the first things I’d ever learned was that wanting things was the surest way to get your heart crushed. And Mason wouldn’t do that to me—Iknewthat, but maybe I hadn’t fully believed it, not until he was here again and the wave of relief at seeing him was so powerful that it almost took me out at the knees. I launched myself at him, pulling him into a hug and burying my face against his shoulder. He hugged me back, his chest vibrating with what might have been laughter, but I didn’t care, because he washere.
He was here, and everything was going to be okay.
We stayed like that while I got hold of my feelings, and then Mason cupped my cheek, tilted my head back, and kissed me softly. And even though he was the one who’d left, it felt like he was welcoming me home.
I would have kept kissing him all day, except there was the clicking of claws against floorboards and Dog came barreling into the room, standing on his hind legs against Mason’s knees and whining excitedly. Mason pulled away from me and gave me an apologetic smile before crouching down and scritching Dog under the chin. “Hey, did you miss me, buddy? It’s okay, I’m back now. For good.” He looked at me when he said it.
I couldn’t even be mad that Mason had stopped kissing me to say hello to his dog, because shit like that was what had drawn me to him in the first place. I wasn’t sure I would have wanted someone who ignored his pet for the sake of kissing. That wasn’t to say we weren’t locking Dog out of the bedroom tonight, because we totally were. It had been a long three weeks, and I was greedy for Mason to touch me in a way that I only wanted from him and nobody else.
Sex was a little weird, but not weird like with tentacles or stuff. It was weird because I was still mostly uncomfortable—not with the level of intimacy, but with the level of scrutiny. I likedit better in the dark, I guessed. Mason didn’t make a big deal out of my scars, but I knew he saw them. I’d felt him trace the edges of them more than once. And I wasn’t ashamed of the scars, but I didn’t want Mason to look at me and feel sorry for me. I would have preferred for him not to notice them at all, but that was impossible. So until they didn’t trip us both up just when we were trying to get hot and heavy—nothing killed the mood faster than a scar broadcasting loudly on all frequencies, “Hey, Mason! Check out this exciting new evidence of Cash’s abusive childhood!”—then the dimmer switch was our friend.
It was a lot to work through, but that was okay. I liked and wanted sex, and so did Mason, and it was okay that the guy I liked having sex with actually saw the parts of me I would have preferred to keep hidden. Because I trusted Mason, and I knew his heart, and I’d seen his scars too—they weren’t visible like mine, but they were still there.
Mason straightened up again.
“I’m glad you’re home,” I whispered.
“I’m glad I am too,” he said and kissed me again.
Jim cleared his throat theatrically, and Mason gave a silent laugh that reverberated through his body and mine.
