Page 40 of Forbidden Cravings

“You’ll have to see Mason,” she said in a whisper.

My heart stopped, my hands growing clammy, my stomach in knots. “I know, it’ll be fine.” I chewed my lip, not wanting to hear her answer to my next question. “How is he?”

She stayed quiet for a moment and my mind filled in so many answers that I had myself in a worried frenzy by the time she answered. “Burying himself in work, hiding behind that hard exterior he wears. I think he misses you. I’ve never seen him so flustered, especially around Tyson.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah. What happened between you two, Case?”

“You know what happened!” I hissed, my cheeks blushing even though I was the only one in the room.

“I know that! It still grosses me out, though!”

I laughed, telling her it was okay.

“I meant besides the sex.” The way she said sex sounded like she was holding a rotting corpse far from her body while her other hand held her nose shut.

“I…I don’t know.” But I did. It was the unspoken word that we’d avoided the day I left.

“Do you love my brother?” Leave it to Riley to get right to the point.

Sighing, I answered honestly, admitting what I’d been trying to hide from since the day I’d walked away, never looking back because I knew he hadn’t. “I think so.”

“You think so?”

“Fuck, Riley. Yes. Yes, I love him. And I hate it because he’s all I can think about. It’s consuming and no matter what I do, I can’t climb back out of the hole I’ve been stuck in since I left.”

“Well, that explains a lot. Damn, you two were just supposed to have sex, not fall in love. No wonder he’s so off-kilter.”

“Wait, what are you saying, Ri?”

I waited, my heart pounding erratically.

“I think Mason is in love with you, Case.”

Hearing it sent a flush of warmth through my chest, then tingling through the rest of my body. “You do?”

“I know love, Case. Trust me, I know how much it hurts and how good it feels. And I know what it’s like to have it be all-consuming. That’s why I’m going back to Greyson.”

I picked at a loose thread on my shorts. “What do I do, Ri?”

“I don’t know. Come home?”

I looked out my balcony window at the beach in the distance. Could I leave this place? I loved it like I now realized I loved Mason. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

“I know. Just think about it. I need to go. Your brother is dragging me to that titty bar they own again. When I see the wayTyson acts around those women, it makes me wish I didn’t know that aspect of the business.”

“Does Mason act that way?” I had a feeling after hearing him scold Tyson the first night I was there, that he didn’t, that he was the more grounded of the two.

“Ha, no. My brother made it a point to explain that he doesn’t mingle with his employees or anyone associated with their business affairs. It’s risky, and Mason doesn’t take risks.”

We said our goodbyes, my mind whirling with thoughts of Mason and the idea that he was just as devastated without me as I was without him. Riley’s mention of Mason not taking risks reminded me that he had taken a risk. Me. And it was one that could cost him everything.

The conversation stuck with me, my heart soaring each time I allowed myself to think that Mason loved me, that we could have something together. Then it would plummet again when I thought of the obstacles, namely my brother.

I was sittingin the office Donelli had for me at his mansion when his son, Tony, came in. Tony was full of himself and constantly hit on me. I had no intention of even considering fucking him, no matter how hot he was with his head of thick blonde hair and dark brown eyes. He was so similar to Angie that they could have been mistaken for twins, even though he was five years older.

“Looking sexy as usual today, princess,” he said in that smooth tone he had. He’d nicknamed me princess a few months after I started working for his father, and it always made mewonder if it was a name that came with commands in the bedroom.

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