“No,” was my clipped response.
He looked amused. “I thought we called a truce. We were going to be friends. You aren’t acting very friendly.”
I had never said I was going to be his friend. “I agreed to work with you. I didn’t say I’d go out to eat with you.”
“You liked the picnic yesterday,” he reminded me.
“I liked Henry,” I corrected him.
He nodded as if he already knew that. “I knew you would. He’s a great kid.”
I also got why he had brought Henry to meet me. It had been a nice thing to do. I appreciated it, but I still felt wrong about having anything other than a working relationship with him. Something about the way he looked at me made me feel he wanted more. I didn’t care what he said.
“Why don’t you drive?” he asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Because I haven’t been able to read and write until recently. Couldn’t take the driver’s test.”
He reached into his back pocket, pulled out two thin books, and leaned over to place them on the table. One was a driver’s handbook for the state of Texas. The other was a permit handbook. “You can read now. Read these.”
I reached for them. I had meant to get these. The idea scared me, but now that they were here on my desk, it wasn’t that terrifying. Captain had gotten them for me before I had even told him why I didn’t drive. Why did he have to do such nice things for me?
“I don’t expect a thank you. Just read them. You can pass the test, Reese. I know you can.”
He didn’t expect a thank you. I stared down at the books in front of me. I wasn’t sure what to say. He was going out of his way to help me. He didn’t need to be thinking about me. He didn’t need to help me. But he was, and I wasn’t sure how to stop that.
“Thank you,” I said, because he did deserve that. “I’ve been meaning to pick these up.”
He nodded. “Good. I’m glad you’re ready to take another step in that direction.”
I’d started to say something when the door opened, and I looked up to see Mase’s face. My heart leaped at the sight of him, but as his gaze swung to Captain, I went from giddy to sick to my stomach.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he asked as he stepped into the room, filling it up with his presence.
Captain dropped his propped-up foot to the floor and stood up. He was at eye level with Mase. “Came to drop something off for Reese,” Captain said, as if he wasn’t bothered at all.
“Doesn’t look like that,” Mase snarled. He swung his gaze to me. “He bothering you?”
This was a trick question. If I said no, then Mase would think something that wasn’t true. But as I glanced down at the handbooks on my desk, I knew I couldn’t very well throw Captain under the bus.
“Mase, it’s OK. He was dropping off some handbooks he thought I might need. Nothing more,” I explained.
I shot Captain a quick glance, and he looked surprised that I hadn’t said he was bothering me. Mase was frowning—at me or my response, I wasn’t sure.
“Does he visit you often to bring you things he thinks you need?” Mase asked, his voice holding a warning. He wasn’t happy, and this was not the way I wanted to explain my relationship with Captain to him.
“I just bring her lunch a couple of times a week,” Captain said.
The fire that lit in Mase’s eyes didn’t bode well. Why had he said that? “You do what?” he asked slowly as he turned his glare to Captain.
“I have to bring her paperwork to file, and I sometimes bring her food, too. Better than those damn turkey sandwiches she eats.”
Mase stood so still I was afraid of what he would do next. “I think it’s time you leave,” he said in a hard, clipped tone.
Captain glanced at me. “Guess it is,” he replied, and winked at me. He freaking winked at me before walking past Mase with a smirk on his face. I wanted to kill him.
Mase turned to me. He just stared at me silently for several moments, and I started to open my mouth to explain several times, but nothing came out.
“You didn’t think that telling me another man brought you lunch was important? Or that he visits you so often?”
I had been planning to tell him. Tonight. I had planned it all out. “I wasn’t . . . I was . . . I didn’t . . .”
He held up his hand to stop me. “Never mind. I’m not listening to this. I just went through some emotional shit, and I don’t need this right now. I need a fucking break,” he said, then turned and stormed out of my office.
I stood there, watching the door slam behind him as tears spilled free and ran down my face. What had I done?
Mase
My heart was pounding in my ears as I stalked from my truck down to the stables. What the fuck had I just walked in on? Was I overreacting? I’d given Reese a chance to explain herself, and she’d stammered. She hadn’t been able to explain. She had almost seemed to be defending that asshole.
Did I trust her? Yes! I never had a reason not to. She was my Reese. She was so damn sweet. How the fuck did this happen? What was wrong with that motherfucker that he thought it was OK to bring her lunch? He knew she was taken. What was the purpose behind it?
He wanted what was mine. I picked up a saddle, slung it against the wall, and shouted a string of curses. This was not what I had wanted to come home to. I should be kissing Reese and holding her close so I could smell her. But she’d been hiding something. I could see it in her eyes.
Fuck me. Was I that blind? Did I assume because I had found her lost and broken that she would never want to explore more? Had I just been a way for her to heal? Was she curious about others? I felt sick as I even thought about it. I didn’t want her to be fucking curious about other men.
That stupid motherfucker wasn’t ugly, either, and he knew it. He was using his looks to rattle her, too. And she was rattled. It was working. I leaned back against the wall and inhaled a painful breath. I was her first everything. She’d never let anyone else get this close.
Was I being selfish to not let her go, if that was what she wanted? Was I caring for her like a possession and ignoring her needs? “Fuuuuuuck!” I yelled as pain sliced through my chest.
I wanted to be overreacting. Was it because I was mentally exhausted from dealing with Kiro? Everything replayed in my head.
“I just left her there,” I whispered out loud, knowing she had no way to come after me and explain. I hadn’t even given her a moment to get her thoughts together. She had looked as surprised as I was.
I couldn’t leave her there all day to worry about this. She hadn’t done anything wrong. Sure, she hadn’t told me that she was having lunch brought to her by fucking River, Captain, whoever the hell he was, Kipling. But demanding an answer from her and then storming out when she couldn’t verbalize one wasn’t the way to handle it.
This was Reese. My Reese. There had to be a reason she hadn’t said something before now. Maybe she was afraid I would react the exact way I just reacted. Or she could have been worried that I’d make her quit her job. She loved her job. She was proud of herself, and watching her blossom under Piper’s obvious approval was beautiful.
I had to go back. I stalked back to the door, only to be stopped by Major, who was looking at me like I’d lost my mind.
“Move,” I snarled, and started to push past him, but he grabbed my shoulders and stopped me.
“She’s not there,” was all he said. He sounded annoyed.
“What?” I asked him, shoving him back so he would let me go.
“She called Maryann. Your momma went to get her.”
Reese. “Shit. Is she OK?” I asked, moving fast to get around Major and head up the hill toward my momma’s house.