He sighed. He could already hear Wes’s voice in his head, telling him he wasn’t thinking clearly and how being too close could jeopardize Mason. Normally, Colt would agree. If it were his brothers in the same situation, he’d tell them the same thing, but on this, with Mason, he didn’t agree.
He and Mason would just have to keep this new development on the down low for now. Which meant he needed to get his ass out of Mason’s bed and into the shower before one of his brothers came bursting into the house and found them twined together.
He inhaled deeply of Mason’s intoxicating scent and then softly kissed his shoulder before carefully extracting himself. Mason mumbled and burrowed into the blankets but didn’t wake.
Colt padded silently to the kitchen in his socked feet after a quick shower and then pulled items out of the fridge to make sausage and eggs with toast for breakfast. He paused. Mason was mostly vegetarian. He replaced the contents and then opened a cupboard to grab the tub of premixed oatmeal that Mason usually ate. He’d watched Mason make it enough that he knew to add cinnamon, hemp hearts, and raisins to the mix. Then he added water and put it on the stove to bring to a boil before simmering.
The coffee maker sat quietly on the counter, and when he checked, it was empty. Katie hadn’t been home the night before to do her usual timer programming. He went about getting the coffee brewing, then prepared the dogs’ breakfast, stirring the oatmeal occasionally while waiting for the coffee to brew.
He’d just added fresh strawberries to the oatmeal when Mason came up beside him—bleary-eyed with mussed hair and sleep warm—and poured himself a cup of coffee.
“You made breakfast.” Mason stated the obvious, but there was a wary note in his voice, and he hadn’t yet made eye contact.
Colt attempted fighting the urge to lean into Mason and kiss his cheek, but fuck it. They were alone, and he didn’t want Mason thinking he regretted anything that had happened last night.
He stepped into Mason’s space and, with a finger under his chin, guided his head around for a soft morning kiss.
“Good morning,” he said and smiled.
Tension leeched from Mason’s shoulders, his eyes softened and brightened at the same time, and the corners of his mouth lifted. “Morning.”
Mason took a sip of his coffee, black as midnight, and then walked over to the front door to let the dogs out.
Colt dished an equal serving of the hot breakfast into two bowls, sprinkled brown sugar on top, and carried them to the table as Mason lowered himself to his chair. Colt served Mason first and then sat across from him.
“Thank you,” Mason said as he picked up his spoon and dug in. He hummed an appreciative sound. “This is good.”
Colt nodded as his inner child preened at the compliment. “Not much to it, really.”
They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes, all the while giving each other furtive looks, even though they were alone. Keeping this new thing between them on the down low was going to be difficult.
“Sooo . . .” Mason’s eyes sparkled. “That happened.”
“Did it ever.”
“I think a repeat may be in order though,” Mason said, his voice low and morning rough, and a shiver of excitement arced through Colt’s groin.
He shifted on his seat. “Listen, Mason—”
“So help me, if you say this can’t happen again . . .”
“No!” Colt sat up straighter and reached across the table for Mason’s hand. “I don’t want that at all. It’s just you’re my client, and if this were anyone else, I’d be off the case. Getting too involved can cloud judgment and lead to potentially fatal mistakes.”
“Are you saying you have to leave now?”
Colt shook his head sharply. “If this were anyone else, yes. But you and me, no. I’m not going anywhere until I know you’re safe.”
Colt wanted to pull his last words back as soon as they left his mouth, given the way Mason’s eyes dropped to the table and the faint frown that pulled at his lips. Yes, this job would come to an end when they caught whoever was after Mason, but then what? They both had their own lives. Would they mesh? Could they? Or was this time with Mason the closure they both needed to move on?
And now was not the time to be making any kind of plans. They’d had sex. It was inevitable, but it didn’t mean they were bound together for life from this moment on.Doesn’t it though?
He ignored the hopeful little voice in the back of his mind.
A loud knock on the front door might as well have been a bomb going off. Colt’s heart shot into his throat a split second before the door swung open. He dropped Mason’s hand and launched from his chair so fast it almost tipped over. He reached instinctively for his Glock—and it wasn’t there.Shit.
Levi stumbled inside with the dogs dancing around his legs, and Wes followed behind with his laptop tucked under an arm. Relief hit Colt so hard he swayed on his feet.
“You need to see this,” Wes said as he kicked off his boots and absently petted both dogs on the head before crossing the room and making space at the kitchen table for his laptop.
