Page 50 of Chief's Addiction

Chapter 12

Cora

“Hey, baby. Something wrong?”

Staring, slack-jawed, at the scene unfolding in front of me, I couldn’t even focus on Mason’s voice. When Javier, or Shade as everyone apparently called him, and I walked into Ocean Palms, I’d expected the usual routine of signing in with Charlie, heading up to Aunt Connie’s apartment, maybe having a cup of coffee while we caught up, and then going back to Mason’s.

What I hadn’t expected was for my aunt’s face to light up like a teenager spotting her high school crush in the hallway when she locked eyes on Mason’s grandfather.

“Javier Sosa,” she’d purred. Yes, she actually purred while smoothing her silver-streaked blonde hair. “It’s been... what? Forty years?”

“Forty-two, Consuelo,” he’d answered with a smile that took twenty years off his weathered face. “You’re still as beautiful as ever.”

And now they were flirting.FLIRTING!

My seventy-year-old aunt was batting her eyelashes at Mason’s grandfather while he leaned against her kitchen counter looking like some silver fox biker from an AARP calendar.

“Hello? Cora?” Mason’s concerned voice penetrated my horrified trance.

“Your grandfather is hitting on my aunt,” I blurted, unable to tear my eyes away from the train wreck of senior citizen seduction happening three feet away from me. “She’s giggling. And they’re touching each other’s arms. Now she’s offering to show him her... knitting room.”

Mason’s deep chuckle rumbled through the phone. “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

“Mason! This is not funny. They’re practically undressing each other with their eyes!” I whisper-hissed, the geriatric love-fest making me more uncomfortable by the second. “I think your grandfather just winked at her. Who even winks anymore? And oh my god, are those finger guns? Did he just shoot finger guns at my aunt?”

“Sounds like the old man still has some game,” Mason replied, amusement thick in his voice.

I moved out into the living room and snapped into the receiver, “Game? GAME? They’re too old for... for... whatever this is!” I gestured wildly with my free hand, even though Mason couldn’t see it.

“I’m old, not dead, honey,” Aunt Connie called over her shoulder, proving her hearing was still annoyingly perfect. “And neither is Javier.”

Shade winked at her again.Seriously, with the winking.Then he said something in Spanish that made my aunt giggle like a schoolgirl.

“Oh god, now they’re speaking Spanish to each other. This is a nightmare,” I groaned, covering my face with my hand.

Mason’s laughter filled my ear, rich and deep, and despite my horror at watching my aunt’s golden girl romance blossom before my eyes, I felt my lips tip up. Mason didn’t laugh enough. He was always so serious, carrying the weight of his club and who knew what else on his broad shoulders.

“Let them have their fun, baby,” he said, his voice softening. “Life’s too short for regrets.”

We both knew how true that was, but, I glanced over at Connie and Shade. “That’s easy for you to say, honey. You don’t have to watch the woman who raised you make goo-goo eyes at a man who probably has boots older than you.”

That earned me another laugh. “I’ve got to handle some business here, but I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Fine,” I sighed dramatically. “But if I come home with emotional trauma from witnessing more of this senior citizen foreplay, you’re paying for my therapy.”

“Deal,” he agreed, still chuckling before turning more serious and adding, “Stay with Shade. I mean it, Cora.”

“I will. Be careful with... whatever you’re doing.”

After we hung up, I turned back to find Aunt Connie pouring three cups of tea—actual tea, not thespecial teashe usually offered, which included a hefty shot of bourbon.

“So,” Connie said with a mischievous grin. “You and Javier’s grandson, hmm?”

“Don’t change the subject,” I countered, crossing my arms. “You and Javier, hmm?”

Shade grinned, settling into one of Aunt Connie’s floral armchairs as if he’d been visiting for years. “Your niece is feisty, Consuelo. Reminds me of you in the old days.”

“The old days?” I repeated, accepting the cup of tea Aunt Connie pressed into my hands. “You two knew each other... before?”

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