Page 7 of Forbidden Cravings

The thought sent my heart pounding, and I flopped down on the soft pillows, cursing myself for letting my mind wander back to him. I needed to keep Riley in my forethought. I was only here a few days. There was no way to avoid Mason during that time, but I could tone it down and stop my flirting. The question was, did I want to?

I smackedmy phone as my alarm buzzed, chastising myself for not changing it. This province was two hours ahead of mine, and I should not have been up this early. The morning sun filtered through the light curtains, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. Especially when Mason popped back into my mind.

“Dammit,” I groused, rising.

Throwing the curtains open, I took in the snow that covered the ground. I’d forgotten how beautiful snow was. It made me want to run out and play in it like I had when I was a child. I hopped in the shower, taking time to fix my hair and check my appearance before I left my room. This time, I made sure to cover my skin, choosing a long-sleeved shirt of a soft pink that fell just to the rim of my jeans. My figure was still prominent, my breasts pushing above the neckline to provide the perfect cleavage, but it was more conservative than most things I owned.

Ty had shown me where Riley’s room was, so I stopped by and checked on her first. Peeking my head in, I couldn’t believe the shape she was in. This was not my friend; this was the ghost of that person. She was unkempt, her hair matted and dirty, her clothes hanging on her because she’d lost weight. My heart broke, and I knew when her eyes turned to me, there was no recovering from this. Those green eyes that had once held the same life as her brother’s did, a beautiful emerald that was hard to turn from, were dull and lifeless. There was a twinkle of life when she realized it was me and not Mason, but that faded quickly.

I talked with her, eyeing the rock that Greyson had sent her. My friend had broken the most ruthless boss in the provinces and from the looks of it, he had broken her. I vaguely wondered what Mason would do if she accepted Greyson’s proposal. If she returned to him. When I asked her if she still loved him, I knew she would go back to him. I’d known Riley since we were children. Knew her well enough to see that this kind of love wasn’t the kind you gave up on. And like I told her before I left, Greyson had risked everything to come see her and Tides didn’t take risks. It was something that made him the most feared boss, the one all the others wanted to be. He held the power in thisentire province, no matter what Mason or any other family in the province thought.

I closed the door, hearing her grossed out response to my mention of Mason’s sex-appeal, and hoping my chat with her would wake her up. Maybe having Riley around would distract me from Mason. I doubted it and as I padded through the house, finding my way to the kitchen, I discovered that wouldn’t be an easy feat. Mason was leaning against an island that took up the entire kitchen, the black marble shining in the sunlight from the large windows that lined the room.

“You know for someone who lives on the edge of constant threat, you’d think you would have fewer windows in your house,” I teased, ignoring how hot he looked with his damp black hair, his white button down partly unbuttoned, the sleeves rolled up again.

He took a sip of his coffee, peering over the ridge at me. “It’s the living on the edge part that encouraged me to add them.”

His gaze was intense, warming my entire body, and I was finding it difficult to breathe.

“I see you found something more covering,” Tyson said, walking into the room.

He headed straight to the coffeemaker, fixing himself a cup while Mason and I continued to stare at each other. I couldn’t tear my eyes from Mason, feeling the heat in them as if he was touching every part of me. He gave me a sexy smirk before his eyes dropped to my cleavage, his jaw clenching. Grabbing the paper, he turned from me just as Tyson brought his cup to the table and sat.

“Tell me what happened with Rinala and Thompson,” he said to Mason. They were family names, but ones I didn’t know well. Their territories sat north of Mason’s, on the outer edge of the province.

Mason took another sip of his coffee, and I forced my legs to move. Turning my back to them, the air returned to my lungs. I found some bread and toasted it as they talked.

“They’re worried,” Mason said.

“They should be.”

There was a moment of silence before Mason spoke. “I’m not entirely sure that’s true. Clint Randall was an anomaly.”

“Are you shitting me? Fuck, Mason, wake up,” Tyson argued. “He was a warning. He infiltrated us and…well, you know the rest. He’s the first step. The Bad Omens will return and we’re the target.”

“But why?” I asked as I spread some jam on my toast. I turned, licking a spot of jam from my finger. Mason had turned toward me, his eyes following my finger before they looked away.

“Because they’re nasty rats who like taking families down,” Tyson said.

“I know that, dipshit. Why Mason? Why not another family? Why not Tides?”

I came around and sat next to Tyson, doing my best to avoid being close to Mason. This was for the best. Keeping my distance so I wasn’t a temptation for him, and he wasn’t a temptation for me.

“It’s a good point,” Mason replied.

“You’re powerful, Mace,” Tyson said. “A threat to other families.”

“Sure, but Tides is more powerful than I am. And I have a truce with the others in the province and many across the country. Look at Donelli. Casey’s been keeping that alliance secure and with it comes a peace with the others in that province who align with him.”

“Tides holds the most power in the province. Shit, maybe even of all the families,” I said, taking a bite and seeing Mason’seyes follow the swipe of my tongue over my lips. I was trying my best not to be sexy and flirty, but it wasn’t working. He was just as enamored with me as I was with him. This was bad.

Tyson brought his elbows onto the table hard, making me jump and look away.

“We’re missing something. And I bet Tides knows what it is,” he said.

“Well, we’re not getting any answers from him. And I’m not calling him. That ball is in Riley’s court and I’m not interfering.”

I sat back. “She’ll go back to him,” I said, watching the way Mason’s eyes hardened at my words. “She loves him too much and from the fact that he braved coming here to talk to her and the size of that ring, he loves her just as much.” His jaw clenched, his eyes darkening. “It’s not the worst thing that could happen, Mason.”

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