Captain gave me a smirk, stepped over to one of the leather chairs, and sank down into it. He stretched his long jeans-clad legs out in front of him, then crossed them at the ankle. “I was told to wait here for Piper. She’s with a client. I need her signature on some forms, and Arthur is in Austin today. Piper has to sign when he’s gone.”

Great. I didn’t know that seeing Captain . . . River . . . whatever I was supposed to call him was part of my job description.

I turned my attention back to the computer screen, but I could feel his eyes on me. I had a hard time concentrating. It felt like he was trying to memorize my every feature.

“Your man still running around with that cousin of his?”

I stiffened. Why was he so intent on making me think something that wasn’t true about them? I knew that Mase loved me. I also knew that he didn’t have a thing for Aida. Although she might very well have a thing for him. “No, but that’s not your business.”

“Don’t reckon it is. But I don’t want to be too far away when he screws up. He’s got something I want.”

All the words on the screen blurred, and my head pounded. What was he talking about? Mase had something he wanted? Me? Was he talking about me? No. He liked to say things to upset me. He didn’t flirt with me. He was an asshole. “You’ll be waiting a long time. Mase doesn’t mess up. He’s the best man I know,” I said, staring at the jumbled words on the screen. My focus was completely gone.

“No man’s perfect, sweetheart,” he drawled.

I didn’t like him calling me sweetheart. I also hated him insinuating that Mase could do something wrong. Something to hurt me. He wasn’t like that. Just because Captain River Whoever was a jerk, that didn’t mean all men were jerks.

“Mase is,” I replied tightly.

He didn’t respond right away, and I tried to take a deep breath and focus on the words. Pretend he wasn’t there. “He saved you? Is that why you trust him so much? You needed a savior, and he came along at the right time. Is that it?”

Yes, he saved me. He loved me. But that wasn’t this man’s business. Nothing in my life was this man’s business. “He changed my world.”

Captain let out a sigh that caught my attention, and I turned to look at him. He stood up, and I hoped that meant he was leaving. I had work to do. He was messing with that. “I can change your world, too, sweetheart. But I’ll wait my turn,” he said, then walked out the door without another word.

I stared at the closed door with mixed feelings of disbelief, confusion, and anger. Who did he think he was? And why was he interested in me? It wasn’t like he couldn’t walk into a room and crook his finger at any girl he wanted. He needed to find someone who was actually available.

Mase

The smile that lit Reese’s face when I opened her office door made all the pain of missing her and worrying about her fade away. To see her smile like that, sitting behind such a nice desk, made it all worth it. She was happy.

“I did it. I did everything on my list,” she said, with pride in her voice.

I walked over to her as she stood up and reached for her purse.

Pulling her into my arms, I held her close and inhaled her scent before covering her mouth with mine. I needed a taste before we went back to my truck for the ride home. Her hands came up and clung to my arms. I loved it when she did that. Like she needed to hold on to me.

When I had enough to get me home, I pressed one last kiss to her lips and moved my head back so that I could take her in. “I’m so proud of you.”

She beamed at me. “I’m proud of me, too.”

That. That was all I needed. Anything she wanted to do, I’d make it happen if I could hear those words from her mouth. She had a lot to be proud of. I never wanted her to doubt herself again.

“Ready to go home?” I asked.

She slipped her purse over her shoulder. “Yes.”

I put my hand on her lower back, and we walked out the door. She turned and locked it with her new set of keys, then glanced up at me. “Piper left early. She said she’d see me tomorrow, so I don’t have to let her know I’m gone.”

Good. The sooner I got her home, the better.

On the ride home, she talked about her day and all the e-mails and phone calls she’d gotten. She sounded excited, like she had enjoyed every minute of it. I let her happiness push away my own feelings about the day I’d had out of my mind. Aida had stayed gone all day. Momma said I just needed to give her some space to deal. She said it was time Aida got over this crush she had on me. Major bringing it up was the best thing that could have happened to her. She had to get over it now and move on.

That didn’t make it easier, and I was concerned about where Aida had run off to. She was young and so naive and silly about things. The fact that she had a crush on me proved that even more. I didn’t want her going out and getting hurt because of this. I’d blame myself.

When we pulled into the driveway, Aida’s truck was sitting there. Looked like I was going to face this sooner rather than later, and I didn’t want Reese hearing any of it. Aida was sitting in the driver’s seat with her head on the steering wheel like she was crying. Great.

I parked the truck and looked over at Reese, who was staring at Aida. I never wanted Reese to know that Aida had a thing for me. That was something I had to shut down now so we could get on with things. Reese’s emotions weren’t going to be messed with here. I had to protect her first.

“I need to talk to her. She’s going through something right now, and I’m the only one who can help her move on,” I explained. I wanted to go inside and eat dinner with Reese, then enjoy a long shower together before we curled up and she read to me. But that wasn’t happening tonight. I had to put this behind us.

She nodded. “OK. I’ll go fix us some dinner.”

The tone in her voice sounded off, but I was probably imagining things, since I was already worried about this shit with Aida. I leaned over and kissed her before getting out of the truck.

Reese climbed down before I could get to her. “Go do what you need to,” she said, and she walked up the stairs without looking back at me.

That wasn’t like Reese. Maybe she was just tired and ready to go inside. I wanted to go with her. Shit, this was all kinds of fucked-up.

I walked over to the driver’s-side door of Aida’s truck and opened it. “Move over, I’m driving,” I said when she lifted her tear-streaked face to look at me.

She didn’t question me. Once she was on the other side, I climbed in. “Put on your seat belt,” I told her when she didn’t reach for it.

Once she was buckled, I pulled out of the driveway and drove to the main road. We needed to talk, but I was going to drive while we did it. I needed something to do other than look at her and face this shit.

“Talk, Aida. Stop crying, and talk to me.”

She sniffled, and I watched her wipe at her face. “What do you want me to say? Major said it all.”

Well, that clarified that. “What the hell, Aida? Seriously? How did this happen?”

She let out a shaky sigh. “You were . . . are my everything, Mase. You always have been. You’re there when I need someone. We have fun together. We laugh. We fit. I just don’t know why you can’t see that. She . . . she doesn’t fit you. I do. I know you so much better than she does.”

Motherfucker. How had I missed this? I felt so blindsided. “You’re my cousin. Hell, Aida, I saw you a couple times a year growing up. It wasn’t like we were inseparable. The way you talk about us sounds like we did everything together. I don’t see how you cooked all this up in your head. I’ve never once given you reason to think we have something or even had something. We hardly see each other.”