Page 55 of Broken Trust
Well, almost everything.
Because even as she worked, part of her brain kept circling back to cold sheets and empty beds and the way Liam hadn’t uttered a word to her.
This is all he wants from you. Enjoy it while it lasts but don’t catch feelings.
Too late. Way too late.
She ignored the thoughts and kept working.
She would exhaust herself into not thinking.
Not thinking about Liam.
Not thinking about how much she wanted something he couldn’t give.
Not thinking about how badly this was going to hurt when it inevitably ended.
TWELVE
Mason had been awake since 0500, running drills with Con and Steele, and he still couldn’t get the smell of Elin out of his head. Sweet shampoo and something uniquely Elin. The scent had lingered on his pillow when he’d forced himself out of bed, and on his skin when he hit the showers.
He’d left her sleeping—he hadn’t known what else to do.
Wake her up and…say what? Last night was incredible and I never stopped loving you, but I don’t know how to do this and I’m terrified I’ll fuck it up?
Yeah, that would go over great. He’d already fucked things up by disappearing once.
So he’d done what he always did when things got complicated—thrown himself into work.
Now he sat in the command center, a converted library on the mansion’s main floor, reviewing supply manifests with all the enthusiasm of a man facing a firing squad. He went over ammo counts, MRE inventory and replacement parts for comms equipment. The kind of tedious shit that kept a team operational but made his eyes cross.
His mind kept drifting to the way Elin looked in his T-shirt, fresh from the shower—something he never thought he’d see again.
And he’d tried to show hereverythinghe couldn’t say. Every touch, every kiss, every time he’d made her come apart in his arms, that was him trying to tell her she mattered. That this mattered.
But this morning, she barely looked at him.
When he walked into the kitchen, still high on endorphins and lack of sleep, and she’d met his eyes for maybe two seconds before looking away like nothing had happened. Like she hadn’t spent the night in his bed, in his arms, wrapped around him in ways that made his chest tight just remembering.
There was no arguing that women were complex, and what Elin must be experiencing after finding him alive was far more complicated. Since they had yet to talk,reallytalk, he could be reading the situation wrong.
“You gonna stare at that clipboard all day or actually check the inventory?”
Mason looked up to find Con leaning in the doorway, arms crossed, smirking.
“I’m working.”
“You’re brooding. There’s a difference.” Con’s boots thumped as he crossed the room and dropped into the chair across from him. “What’s eating you?”
“Nothing.” Mason held back a sigh and returned to his manifest. “Just trying to figure out why we’re going through rounds like candy. Are the guys practicing or just wasting ammo?”
“Sounds like a little of both.” Con was quiet for a moment.
Mason fixed his attention on the list.Here it comes.
“So. You and Elin.”
Mason’s pen stopped moving. “What about us?”
