Page 140 of They Break Beauty

We both jolted at the sound of the voice, and we swung our heads to see Mason now leaning against the open door.

“Mason, I just—” Levi started.

“You just wanted to show Brianna that thing you made for her? That secret present you’ve been keeping from her until it was completely finished and polished to perfection?”

I frowned as Levi hesitated and even more so as a look I couldn’t decipher passed between them.

But then Levi gave a nod and brightened again as he looked at me, then rose to his feet. “Come on. It’s in my workshop.”

Before I could get a word out, or question what was going on, which seemed to be beyond the mere surprise of a present, Mason told us, “We’ll have that talk right after, yes?”

“Sounds good,” Levi said all too quickly.

Okay, then.

Mason fondled my hair as Levi and I passed on by, sending a tremble of awareness through me and sparking that need I’d been feeling toward him increasingly so over the last couple of days with us being in close quarters.

“Dark angel,” I heard him breathe as Levi and I headed through the mansion toward his workshop.

“He’s up for it too, you know?” Levi said, eyeing me as we walked side-by-side. “He’s just really sexually-repressed, not at all open like Colt and me.”

I arched an eyebrow at him. “Why are you being so cool with the possibility, almost wanting it to go in that direction, really?”

“I want you to have everything that you desire. Despite our recent issues, Colt and Mason are my brothers, the closest people to me. To bring you closer, I need to make you a part of that world, of the three of us. Besides, my possessiveness doesn’t extend to the two of them. It’s completely different.”

“I see.” As complicated as it was. “So, why is Mason like that? So repressed?” I asked. “It seems to be more than his staunch need to be in total control of every little thing at all times.”

“You’ve read him well. It is more than that. A lot of it is his old man. He’s all about maintaining an infallible reputation and ensuring his son doesn’t impact Peter Hall’s pristine, straight-laced image in any way. Mason thinks that his sexuality plays into that, that Peter wouldn’t accept it. So he tries to repress it, but it’s a part of him, and it keeps rising up when he tries to shove it down, hence him turning to Colt to take the edge off that’s always so desperate at that point.”

“That’s really sad to hear. Especially in this day and age. Jeez. What about Colton?”

“His parents are the direct opposite, especially his dad. They’re so free and completely supportive of everything Colt does. His dad is a former frontman of an 80’s hairband, Epica. His mom heads a successful Wealth Management firm, Sharp Wealth, but she used to be a groupie—that’s how she met Oakley Sharp.”

“Wow, that’s an awesome meet-cute.”

“Meet-cute?” he chuckled. “Yeah.”

We reached his workshop that he’d shown me around yesterday, and he opened the door and gestured chivalrously for me to go on in ahead of him.

He walked in and made a beeline for a locked cabinet in the far corner.

“Present time,” he called over his shoulder, as he opened it, then lifted something out.

He turned and placed it on a nearby workbench.

The moment I took it in, my breath caught in my throat.

It was absolutely exquisite.

So beautiful.

The skill that had gone into carving it was incredible. He’d clearly put so much effort into it.

“Wow,” I breathed. “It’s amazing.” I took in the twelve-inch standing wooden butterfly, the intricate details of its wings, the beautiful wood he’d used to fashion it.

“It’s a nightlight,” he told me, flipping the switch he’d hooked up to it and I watched a warm, yellow light bathe the workshop. “I know you don’t like the dark. I figured this would help and it can be programmed to go on when it suits your sleep schedule precisely. You can even switch it on via your phone before you get home, so you don’t have to walk into a dark apartment ever again.”

I couldn’t contain myself for the life of me, and I was throwing my arms around him in the very next second and hugging the life out of him.

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