Page 55 of Untroubled Heart

I think I’ve felt more from him treating my injury than anything else I’ve ever felt with a man.

Liv’s speech not long ago about fantastic sex slams into me. You feel it everywhere. I’m fairly confident anyone lucky enough to sleep with Mason Heart wouldn’t just feel it, they’d become it. The very definition of no longer existing without him.

As he fixes a bandage in place, his thumbs run along the edges, smoothing it down.

“All better,” he murmurs.

“Thank you.”

He tips his head, studying me. “If something’s going on, you can tell me. Is it your parents?”

I sink into the chair, inadvertently pressing my knees further into his chest, and when his hands cup my calves, thumbs brushing back and forth, I don’t make any move to stop it. If anything, it makes it easier to breathe.

“My ex got out of jail this morning.”

Mason’s eyebrows jump up. “That was quick.”

I nod, watching as my leg takes on a mind of its own and gently swings back and forth against Mason’s side. I take another deep breath.

“Is there a reason that’s got you so shaken?” he asks, eyes narrowing as his jaw clenches and his fingers flex against my skin. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“No.” My other leg moves, too emboldened with this guy locked between them.

This is a dangerous position to be in, but my mind is not in control right now. As much as I want to push away from Mason, my body revolts.

“Derek’s been away since I found out I was pregnant. I guess I didn’t realise that made me feel like Navie was untouchable. I don’t want to share custody with him.” I shake my head, my heart thundering in my chest. “I don’t want to spend a day away from my baby girl, I don’t want to have to play nice, and I don’t trust him around her. I don’t want him to break her heart.” My voice cracks, and then I’m pulled into Mason’s chest.

One hand strokes my hair while the other rubs up and down my back. “Let me get my lawyer on to it. She can be real scary when she wants to be. I guarantee his lawyer has a lot less sway than mine.”

My forehead rests against his shoulder, and I shamelessly inhale his cologne. “How come it feels like you do more for me than anyone else ever has?”

His chuckle rumbles against my cheek. “I don’t know, but I’m happy to keep doing it.” He squeezes my side like he’s bolstering my confidence back up. “Hey, do you want to read another letter?”

I nod, blowing out a deep breath as I sit back. “Sure.”

Mason plucks the next letter from the tin we leave on the table, then sits in the chair beside me so we can read it together.

My dearest Florence,

Foolish of me to believe the absence of your touch was the highest degree of torture, for in its place can only be your tears. The pursuit of your rapture is my only purpose each day, even when the denial of our love feels destined to obliterate my heart.

Your father’s actions, though appearing self-serving, only seek your security. You are to be wed, and it is my failure alone that I am not worthy of you. Yet. I will not surrender your affection. Until my dying breath, I will hold it, as you hold mine.

Yours, Greyson.

“Wait.” I shake my head. “Her father’s trying to marry her off?”

“I guess that wasn’t unusual for that time period.” Mason sets the letter on the table.

I slump in my chair, defeated. Is anyone destined to live happily ever after?

There’s a ringing in my ears, like the absence of sound. It feels as though the Earth stops spinning seconds before heavy rain falls all around us.

“Shit. The power saw.” Mason scrambles to his feet, racing down the porch steps.

I chase after him, watching as he grabs a tarp from his ute and starts unfolding it. I take the other end, then help him drape it over the workbench on the grass where he’d been cutting timber earlier, ready for the new frames to go up next week.

I hold it down as Mason grabs a large strap and secures it around the table, protecting the tools.