“Eric called me around the time it broke down,” she said, a look of recognition creeping over her face. “Actually, he’d shown up that day, too. Just to drop off some of my things that he still had, so I didn’t think that much about it. This was before he kept coming over all the time. He called when I was on the side of the road with car trouble, and he assured me his friend would come and give me a tow. I was relieved actually, because I was scared. That bastard,” she muttered.
Mason smirked despite himself.
“Don’t laugh,” she protested, lightly swatting his chest.
He captured her hand in his and held it against his chest for a moment, his large hand wrapping around hers. She flushed prettily, and he brought it to his mouth, brushing his lips across the back of it. “I’m not laughing at you,” he assured her. “Well, just the fact that you called him a bastard. He’s been manipulating you. I wouldn’t put it past him to have messed with your car. And the fact that you were stranded on the side of the road because of it makes my blood boil.”
“I was pretty freaked out,” she admitted. “I was so glad his friend came to help me out, I didn’t even question the cost.”
“Hell, if I ever called and found out you were stranded, I’d pay for the damn tow truck myself if I couldn’t get there.”
“You wouldn’t have to do that,” she said, looking surprised.
“Of course I would. It’s my job to take care of you.”
“Mason, we just started dating.”
“I know,” he said, taking on a more serious tone. “And I plan to keep dating you. I’d do everything in my power to make sure you were safe.”
“You’re sweet,” she said.
“There we go with you calling me sweet again. We can’t let word get out about that, all right? What would the other guys say?”
She smiled up at him, making his heart pound in his chest. Jesus. You’d think he’d never been with a woman before. The way Taylor looked at him sometimes made his chest fill with pride though. He felt ten feet tall as he put his arm protectively around his shoulders.
“So, should we head to the police station now?”
“Absolutely. We’ll fill a report, and then I’ll take you home. I have to be on base early for PT, but I can stay with you, if you don’t mind my slipping out by five a.m. I’ll make sure to lock up behind me.”
“Okay, I like having you stay there.”
“Me too, sweetheart. I know things have gotten off to a rocky start, given the situation, but hell. There’s nothing I love more than being with you. Holding you in my arms when we sleep.”
“Or don’t sleep,” she quipped.
Mason resisted the urge to groan. He didn’t need to be thinking with his dick right now. He had his woman to protect. A police report to file. But once they got home for the night, he planned to have his hands all over her.
To make her come on his mouth and his cock.
To hold her so close she’d never be frightened again.
To make her forget about everything and everyone but him.
***
Two hours later, Mason and Taylor walked out of the police station hand-in-hand, and Mason’s stomach rumbled.
Taylor giggled beside him, and without thought, he playfully bent down and swung her up into his arms. After two hours of talking to the detective, listening to Taylor recount every detail of the past few weeks, he was done. Done thinking about it. Done worrying about it.
Mason was exhausted from his day on base and starving, but at the moment, he wanted nothing more than just to hold Taylor in his arms.
“Mason, put me down!” she shrieked as he carried her to the car.
A police officer walking in chuckled, and Mason grinned.
“The officer inside the precinct said for you to be careful,” he teased. “I’ll stay the night and inspect every room in your apartment to make sure it’s safe. After that, I’ll kiss every square inch of your body with the same thoroughness.”
Taylor squirmed against him as his cock hardened. The side of one of her breasts rubbed up against his chest, and he resisted the urge to groan.