Page 5 of Born Reckless

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Page 5 of Born Reckless

“I think it worked,” I say, low in his ear.

“Oh, I’m not done,” Mason growls. He spins me until my back lines up with his front. I feel his cheek brush mine as he slides his hands down my arms, and then laces his fingers through mine, pulling me close.

“Are you always this forward?” I ask. I try to keep it light, unconcerned. But I am. I really want to know because it will help determine how I proceed from here.

“I haven’t talked to a woman outside of work in about five months,” he says as we sway in time with the music. “But I’ll take any opportunity to mess with my sister. And… you’re not what I expected.”

I don’t know how to respond to that.

But his touch, the feel of another body against mine… it’s been ages. I’ve dated a few guys here and there in my twenty-eight years. But never very seriously. Most can’t handle me. Most run when they hear about my past. But for tonight, it’s kind of nice to pretend that none of that other stuff matters.

I decide to let it go. All the darkness that saturates my insides. All the weight my past pushes down on my shoulders. All the exhaustion in just trying to survive day to day. I let it go. I sluff it off of me, and for tonight, I’m just a woman having a good night, dancing with the very attractive and single brother of her best friend.

With a slightly bewildered look, Elena wanders off to talk to more people, leaving me to put my hands on Mason.

The music gets louder as others dance. All that red wine gets emptied and the glasses set aside. The music gets sultrier. I see dozens of hookups happening throughout the party. Lips on necks, caresses and tongues. No one is hiding anything in here. And the longer the night goes on, the worse it gets.

“It’s really not that hard to see why you and my sister are so close,” Mason says as the pace of the music slows. He pulls me in and wraps one hand around my waist and takes one of my hands in the other. Slowly, we sway back and forth to the rhythm. “You two have more in common than you might think.”

“How’s that?” I question. He pulls our connected hands against his chest, and my face gets a little hotter.

“You’re both sarcastic,” he says, that smile pulling on his mouth again. “You’re both adventurous. Neither of you cares what people think.”

“There’s no way you could tell that about me already,” I call him out.

“You haven’t looked in the direction of a single person all night, besides me and Elena,” Mason says. “You’re surrounded by wealthy, influential people. There have been dozens of men checking you out all night. But the only company you care about is my sister’s.”

I swallow once. Is he right? Have I really been ignoring every person around me? I don’t care about any of them. They’re strangers in a crowd, they don’t matter.

But it throws me off that Mason has figured this out about me this quickly.

“You’re unnervingly observant,” I say, pulling my hand from his and looping it behind his neck to join my other hand. Mason pulls me just marginally closer.

“Only when it comes to people who matter,” he says, his tone a little lower than before.

My eyes slide back to his, and the intense look in his eyes has me frozen.

“You really should come back to Chicago with us,” Mason says. He licks his lips, and I notice that his gaze shifts down to my own lips. “I know Elena would be really happy about it. And…”

He trails off and glances away, and this time, his face flushes slightly with embarrassment.

“What?” I encourage. I find I’m dying to know what he was going to say.

He shrugs and it takes him another few moments to look back at me. “I don’t know. Maybe Elena wasn’t wrong in trying to set us up. I haven’t had this much fun in… a really long time.”

The speed of my heart picks up, and I find I can’t look away from him.

This is stupid. There’s no such thing as insta-love. There’s simply infatuation which might evolve into the real deal.

But what’s wrong with a little infatuation? When was the last time I just… followed my feelings because it felt good?

Still, I shake my head. “There’s no way I can afford to take the time off work. I’m definitely not like Elena in that way. I have rotations I can’t get out of.”

“You know she’ll cover the pay you’d miss in a heartbeat,” Mason states.

“I don’t even get paid yet, but I know,” I say with a sigh, because it’s true. That’s already proven in the outfit I’m wearing. “It just feels… I don’t want Elena ever thinking I’m friends with her because the money matters to me. Because it doesn’t.”

“She knows that,” Mason says. His hands slide just a little farther around my waist. “What if… what ifIpaid for it? Would that be better?”




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