Chapter 24

 

Cassie couldn’t sleep, and it had nothing to do with her fear of Dylan finding her. Matt assured her he was behind bars and would be there for some time.

No, the reason she couldn’t sleep was because she missed Mason.

She hated how hurt he looked as he stepped away. Hated that she didn’t try to stop him. She was in shock, but she knew then just as she did now that he was only protecting her. Terry was right. Everyone had darkness inside of them, and she didn’t hold it against him for falling into it for a moment, especially given the circumstances.

He could never live in the dark; he was filled with too much light. His smile practically sparkled, his green dark gaze could electrify an entire room. Someone like Mason would never intentionally hurt someone unless he had good reason, and dammit, he had good reason.

Dylan was going to kill her. She saw it in the black holes of his gaze, felt it in the unrelenting grip of his hands on her throat. She might have fought Dylan off, but Mason made sure that he wouldn’t get away. He saved her life by giving it back to her.

She sat up in bed. She couldn’t sleep until she saw him. Until he knew that she wasn’t scared of him. That she loved him, including the dark crevices of his mind.

She pulled on her jeans and slipped into her leather coat, running for the door. The only problem was, she didn’t have a car. The night was dark, but the full moon cast a glow that helped break up the blackness.

Her eyes landed on Terry’s leopard print bike propped up against the house. Walt had picked her up a few hours ago and too tired to fight with the bike to get it in his car, he’d said he’d come back for it in the morning.

Terry wouldn’t mind if Cassie used it. Without Mason’s reassuring words, his hand holding her seat, the warmth of his body near hers, she wasn’t sure if she could do this. She took a deep breath. “For Mason you can,” she said to herself as she kicked her leg over the seat.

She recalled everything he had told her, remembered how she raced along the back road of the brewery and pedaled. Remembered the freedom she felt as the wind tossed her hair and Mason’s cheers as he caught up with her.

She thought of his smile, focused on the strong lines of his face, his beautiful dark green eyes and the way they lit up whenever she walked into a room. She pedaled, refusing to look back only ahead as she made her way to the brewery.

The bike picked up momentum, and she pedaled harder when the wheel hit a jagged spot in the road, causing the handlebars to jerk to the side. Her body flew off the bike and she flung her hands out to break her fall. She landed with a hard thud, her hands and knees scraping across the roughened road.

The last thing she was going to let stop her was a bump in the road. She ignored the stinging burn spreading up her arms and legs and hopped back on the bike.

When she reached the parking lot, she was winded, gasping for air, but she wouldn’t stop, not when she was so close to him. She leapt off the bike and rested it against the wooden structure. She could see light seeping out from beneath the door, and knew he was in there working. Probably unable to sleep like her.

She fished out the key he had given her only a few days ago and slipped it into the lock. For a second, she thought about knocking, but ignored the thought and pushed the door open. She stepped into the brewery and saw Mason behind the bar, wiping down the shelves that held Kate’s growlers.

His hair was messy like he had run his hand through it a million times. His shirt was wrinkled and disheveled like he had taken it off and crumpled it in a ball only to scoop it off the floor and put it back on. His biceps stretched the sleeves as he reached for an upper shelf, and she silently watched him, soaking up all his muscular goodness.

He was so consumed in what he was doing that he didn’t hear her move across the room until she was feet away from the bar. He turned around, his eyes lightening, concern and relief fighting it out across his features as he stared at her.

“Cassie,” he said and went to step toward her but stopped. “What are you doing here?” he asked, swallowing his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay.”

She held her hand up and his eyes widened. “You’re bleeding,” he said, coming out from behind the bar and taking her hand in his.

“It’s nothing.” She wiped her hands on her pant legs, realizing the knees of her jeans were ripped and stained with blood spots.

“What the hell happened to you? He didn’t come back, did he?”

Mason’s features tensed, his eyes wild as his attention turned toward the door.

She reached up, grabbing his face and forcing his face to hers, but he wouldn’t look at her. “Please, Mason. Look at me.”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before that beautiful shade of green was staring down at her. “I had to see you, so I borrowed Terry’s bike. I’m not as good as I thought I was.”

“How are you joking right now?”

“Because that’s what we do, and I don’t want Dylan to take that from us, not when he’s taken so much else from me. I’m okay, just a few bumps.”

His finger ran down the curve of her neck where Dylan’s hands had tried to squeeze the life out of her. “He hurt you.”

“It’ll heal, and he can’t hurt me anymore.”

“Matt said he’ll be away for a long time.”

She nodded. “I’m sorry,” she blurted, and as the words came out so did the tears. Every emotion she had sucked up and pushed down bubbled to the surface and exploded.

He took her in his arms and held her close, running soothing strokes up and down her back.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he said.

But she did, and he needed to understand that. She wasn’t this perfect creature he believed her to be. She made mistakes, and sometimes she was wrong, and she was woman enough to admit that.

“No,” she said, pulling back and swiping at the pesky tears. “I do. I shouldn’t have let you walk away.”

“I lost control,” he admitted. “I saw him choking you, and I felt like he was squeezing the life out of me. I would have killed him if Matt didn’t show up, and you deserve someone better than that.”

She laughed because he was so ridiculous. He had no idea how he was the only person she needed. How if she died tomorrow her only regret would be that they didn’t have enough time together.

“I don’t care what I deserve,” she said, running her fingers through his hair and fixing the messy spikes. “All I want is you.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. After all they’d been through, he was still making sure she had complete control. He was kind and considerate, sexy, and could turn her on with a single glance. He was everything to her and more. She didn’t need to be sure. Every part of her already knew the answer.

“Do you trust me?”

“You know I do.”

“Then trust me when I tell you that I’m in love with you, and I only want you.”

He laughed then crashed his lips to hers, not holding back, taking as much as she was willing to give, and she was willing to give him everything.

He pulled back resting his forehead on hers. “I’m sorry I didn’t get there sooner.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “We’re not going to do this. It doesn’t matter when you got there.”

“He could’ve killed you.”

“But he didn’t. For the first time in my life, I fought back.”

“You kicked his ass,” Mason said and she laughed.

“I tried. There was a point when I didn’t think I had it in me then I thought about you. I wasn’t ready to leave you.”

He pulled her close wrapping his arms around her neck, and kissing her head.

When he let her go, she looked back into his eyes. “Dylan is in jail, and now I can finally put the past behind me where it belongs, and I can start living for the future with you. If that’s what you want?” He had always made things about her, giving her the choice, giving her the power, but she didn’t want it right now.

Right now, she wanted to know that he wanted her as much as she wanted him, that when he thought about the future, he pictured her by his side, making beer and maybe even making babies. She wanted it all, but only if he wanted it, too.

“Are you kidding?” he said, moving her back against the bar his beautiful green eyes darkening with lust and desire. “You are my future.”

“Kiss me,” she said and he didn’t waste a moment, crashing his lips to hers and kissing her into sweet oblivion.

Falling in love was the last thing she expected when she stumbled on the small town of Red Maple Falls, but that’s exactly what she did. With the land, the people, and most of all this sexy, kind man, who showed her not just how to love others, but how to love herself.

 

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~Keep reading for an excerpt from Catching Cooper

(Book 4) in the Red Maple Falls series~