Page 11 of Mace

“Thank you,” his father said, opening the door to the motel room. “I really did this to try to help you, Mace. I’ve never forgiven myself for leaving you the way that I did.”

Mace didn’t bother to look over at him. “That makes two of us,” he whispered. The motel door closed, and Mace knew that he was gone, which was fitting because his father had never really been there for him in the first place.

Brooke

Mace was still sitting next to her on the bed, squeezing the life out of her hand. “Mace,” she whispered.

“Yeah,” he growled. Brooke could tell that he wasn’t taking the news about his half-brother or his father, but he was trying to keep it together.

“You’re hurting my hand,” she breathed.

“Shit,” he said, releasing her hand, “I’m so sorry. I guess I was more pissed off than I thought that I was.”

“I got that,” she grumbled, rubbing her hand. “I’m sorry that you had to find out that he was your father that way. I promise you that I didn’t know that he is your dad, Mace.”

“He was a sperm donor,” Mace insisted, “and nothing more.”

“I understand why you are saying that, but he could help to find Reece’s real killer and you can get your life back,” Brooke said.

“What if I don’t want my past life back?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I don’t want to go back to having sex, in my office at the bar, with random women. What if I want more?” he asked. Mace slid closer to her so that their bodies were touching again. Brooke felt as though her heart might beat right out of her chest and all she could think about was Mace kissing her. He was looking at her mouth and Brooke just wanted to lean in a little bit and let him take it from there.

“More what?” she shyly asked.

“More of this,” he whispered. “I like you Brooke and for the first time in my life, I want to take things slowly.”

“What do you usually do with women?” she asked. She really didn’t want to know any details, but she needed to know exactly what she was getting into.

“I fuck them and leave them,” Mace admitted. “I never have sex with the same woman twice, so she won’t get attached to me.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s difficult for you, Mace,” she teased.

“Ever since I met you, I’ve thought about taking you on a date and actually getting to know you, Brooke,” he admitted.

She nodded, “While that’s sweet, I can’t accept. I don’t date clients.”

“Did you take an oath or something? Like, I solemnly swear that I won’t fuck my clients.” Brooke giggled and Mace smiled—something that she assumed didn’t happen often.

“You are very handsome when you smile, Mace,” she said. “You should do that more often.”

“Thanks, but I haven’t had very much to smile about lately,” he grumbled.

“I get that, but I still can’t date you, Mace,” she insisted. “I wish things were different.” She actually did feel that way and if she was being honest with herself, she would admit to Mace that she liked him too.

“Okay, how about you get me off the hook for murdering my half-brother and then, I’ll take you out to dinner,” he said. He technically wouldn’t be her client anymore and it wouldn’t go against her rule of dating clients.

“I’d like that, Mace,” she agreed, “but, you have to understand that proving your innocence now might be tough. Reece being your half-brother gives you motive to kill him. A jury would consider his murder a crime of passion.”

“How so?” he asked. “You’ll be painted as a man who found out that Reece was your half-brother and then, you went crazy and killed him.”

“That’s complete bullshit,” he growled.

“Well, it’s what will happen if we don’t get a lead in this case,” she said.

“Have you been able to trace down, Julie?” Mace asked. She hated even thinking about Mace having sex with the waitress.

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