LainaI licked the rain from my lips as I looked back and forth between the two men who were staring each other down. I felt like I was on the brink of seeing something I could never unsee. I wasn’t sure if I should be curious or frightened. Ginny had her left shoulder pressed tightly against my right. She was shivering a bit from the cold and looked from Mason to me before muttering, “Isn’t that the guy you told me to stay away from?” I nodded. “Yeah. Sid Paul. He’s not a good guy.” Sid took a couple of steps forward, moving from the rear end of the Mustang to stop at the driver’s side door. Mason stood at the front of the car with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked like the last person I would want to pick a fight with. But Sid was crazy. Always had been. And he had Mark Denning at his right side, hovering over his shoulder like any respectable villain’s henchman. Had I not known how mean Sid really was, I might have found the whole thing

MasonTaps was a pub not far from the docks that my old racing team and I used to frequent back in the day. It was in an old rundown apartment that had been converted into an office building, and the pub consumed the entire bottom level. It also had a set of stairs right in the middle of the place leading down into a basement that was riddled with high tables and chairs. The walls were the original brick from nearly a hundred years ago, and although it smelled a bit musky down there, it was a perfect place to sit and have a couple of beers. It was open late on weekends, so when we showed up, we knew we still had a good few hours left before we’d have to clear out. We went straight downstairs because that’s where the dance floor was, and the girls found us a table while Benji, Rick, and I went to the bar and ordered drinks. I paid the tab and ordered everyone two shots of tequila along with some drinks packed with liquor sure to get us feeling good in no time. It was a cele

LainaMason and I finally spilled out onto the sidewalk. I was dizzy with lust and feeling good from the booze. Light. Free. Mason cut to the curb and threw his hand in the air to flag down the first cab that drove by. Unfortunately, it was full, and we ended up having to walk a couple blocks down the street to get away from the pub district. There were too many people also in need of cabs at this hour, and both of us were itching to get somewhere private. We made our way down a less busy street, and I leaned against the side of a shop front as Mason looked both ways, watching for a cab. He glanced over his shoulder at me as I ran both hands through my hair. I paused, catching the way he was eyeing the lines of my body, and stood there with my fingers in my hair and my shoulder blades pressed to the shop at my back. He licked his lips and turned from the road to come to me. I stayed where I was, my breath catching in my throat when he pl

Mason“Should I go?” Laina asked. Her chin was resting on top of her hands, which were flat on my chest as she looked up at me with tired eyes. I shook my head. “No. You should stay.” “You sure?” “Course I am. It’s late. There’s plenty of room in this bed for both of us. And what would happen if I woke up horny and you were gone?” Laina laughed and curled up on her side to press her cheek flat to my chest. “So persuasive.” I rubbed her shoulder and closed my eyes. It had been a long time since I felt the warmth of a woman in my bed. Six months, to be exact. The last time I’d felt this sort of closeness with someone was with Evelyn, and that had blown up in my face. At the time, I’d been sure I would never trust another woman again. But there was something different about Laina. Something trustworthy and honest. Something good. She took a deep breath beside me, and I opened my eyes to look d

LainaThe coffee shop I met Ginny at on Tuesday morning was our usual meetup spot. They served the best chai tea lattes, my favorite, and the pastries were made in-house fresh every morning. Today I was treating myself to a cinnamon roll coated with a thick layer of cream cheese icing. They’d warmed it up for me, as they always did, and as I cut through the doughy goodness, a waft of cinnamon and sugar rose up to meet me with the steam I unleashed from the center. Ginny sipped her hazelnut latte. “So is Rick out of the hospital then?” I had just finished filling her in on everything that happened on Sunday morning. I had told her he was jumped, and his memory was still pretty foggy. All he could remember was that he was cut off when he turned down a side street and boxed in when another car pulled in behind him. He’d locked his doors, but one of the guys broke the passenger window open, and they dragged him out. Then they waled on him until he passe