Page 69 of Fallen Hearts

“I guess we weren’t meant to be.” Beck sighed dramatically. “It could have been amazing.”

Smiling, I called back, “I love you, Beck.”

“Love you more,” he said, teasing.

Mason backed me up to the island. When I couldn’t move anymore, he took advantage, grabbing my hands and pinning them to the countertop on each side of me.

“So you love Beck, huh?”

Although his tone was as teasing as mine had been to Beck, Mason’s eyes flashed in a way that told me there was a slight serious side to him too.

“In a brother-sister sort of way, yes.”

He closed the space between us. “I’m glad,” he said, his face just inches from mine.

“That I love Beck?”

“That you think of him like a brother.”

“Why?” I prompted.

“Because I’m a one-woman kind of guy.”

Before I could respond, he kissed me. My mouth opened for him, the now familiar taste and feel of his tongue as it tangled with mine a heady aphrodisiac. I couldn’t touch him, my hands still pinned as they were, so I put all of the longing he summoned into the kiss.

“Fuck,” Mason said when he finally pulled away. “We are screwed, Pia. Do you realize that?”

“Actually, that was earlier. I still can’t believe”—I lowered my voice—“that we had sex on my desk.”

Mason peered around me toward the island. When his eyes met mine again, he didn’t have to say a word.

“A bit more complicated, don’t you think?” I asked.

“Nah. Beck’s working tonight.”

“And Parker?”

“Will be told to stay away.”

Mason pushed my hair back, leaned down and touched his lips to my neck. I bent it to give him better access.

“So when you say you’re making me dinner, what you really mean is making me come on yet another table.”

Mason gently bit my earlobe before whispering, “I’m going to make you come on every table, in every room, in this entire inn, Pia. That’s a promise.”

I swallowed just before he kissed me. Knowing it wouldn’t last long, I reveled in every second until Mason stopped.

“Hate to do it,” he said, letting go of my hands, “but I have to get back if I’m going to finish up early.”

“And I have a lunch date,” I said just as Mason started to back away.

“Oh yeah?”

Maybe I should not have put it quite like that. Mason’s expression wasn’t jealous, exactly, but it wasn’t neutral either. A guy like him, with so much discipline… no way he was the jealous type.

“Yep. With Delaney. A last-minute thing.”

He stared at me for an extra few seconds and then said, “We’re definitely gonna need to talk tonight.”

---