Mason shook his head and pulled me fully into his arms.His eyes scanned my face like he could inventory every nerve and find whatever was frayed.
“Are you okay?”he asked again, softer now.“I saw that guy talking to you, but I didn’t get over here fast enough.”
I slid my palm to his cheek, and my thumb brushed the corner of his mouth.“I’m okay.Really.Star got there before I even had time to think.”
We both looked at her then.She’d handed the busted cue to Cole like it was a trophy she didn’t want.Cole took it slowly as his eyes never left her face.Something like shock and something like respect fought for space in his expression.
“That was incredible,” I said.
Star shrugged, suddenly sheepish now that the adrenaline was ebbing.“You can thank my mom.She insisted before I went off to college that I needed to become a black belt.”
Mason slid his hand down my arm and laced our fingers.“Let’s remember that when our kids go off to college,” he said, casual as anything, like he hadn’t just dropped a future in the middle of the floor.
“Our kids?”I laughed, heart skipping once.“I’m not even pregnant.”
His eyes shimmered, yeah,shimmered, like the idea alone set off sparks.“Not yet.”
Heat kicked low in my belly.I would have kissed him stupid right there if we hadn’t had a bar to get back under control.Thorn was already moving down the rail, lining up small glasses, with the good tequila in his hand like a sword.Penny and Bay were spinning through the room, taking orders and dodging hugs from women who wanted to retell the last five minutes like they’d been the ones holding the cue.
Cole cleared his throat, still holding the splintered wood like it might give him answers.“Can I buy you a drink?”he asked Star, voice steady but curious.
Star tilted her head.“Depends.Are you going to try to grab my ass if I say no?”
Cole’s mouth twitched.“Hard pass.”
A small smile carved into her cheek.“Then I guess I’ll let you buy me one.”
They drifted toward the bar, side by side.
Mason tugged me close again.The chaos around us dimmed to something warm.
“You don’t seem too scared about kids,” he murmured.
I tipped back to look at him.“I’ve been waiting fourteen years for this,” I said, simple and clean.“I’m not flying away anymore, Mason.I’m here to stay.”
His mouth curved, relief and want and home all wrapped up in it.He cupped my jaw and kissed me, not for scandal, not to stake a claim just because he could.Because finally,finally, there wasn’t a single person in the room who didn’t know.
He pulled back with his eyes on mine.“About fucking time my little dove came home,” he said.
I laughed, and somewhere behind us Eden whooped, Bell clapped, Thorn banged a metal spoon against a bottle like a bell, and the Social Club did what it always did when something good happened.They lifted their glasses and roared approval.
After fourteen years Mason and I were right where we were meant to be.
Together.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Star
I tugged my jacket tighter as I pushed through the heavy door of the Lords Social Club.The night air hit me cooler than I expected, and for a second I just stood there, letting the quiet wrap around me.
Cole had bought me a drink.
Cole.
My lips curved before I could stop them.The guy was drop-dead gorgeous, and not in some pretty-boy way either.He had that rough, lived-in kind of handsome that made you want to look twice and then keep looking because there was no way one glance could cover all that.They didn’t make men like that back home.Hell, I hadn’t even met a man like that in college.
And the way he looked at me across the bar?Like he wasn’t used to anyone surprising him, but I had.
