Page 8 of If You Could Only Imagine
“For who?” he asked.
I let out a deep sigh. The fucker was going to make me say it. “For us,” I clarified.
“Goddamn it, Aiden,” he sighed, but he didn’t seem angry.
“I know, I know,” I said, holding my hands up in a surrender motion. “But-”
Mason held his hand up to stop me. “Just tell me one thing, Aid.” I nodded for him to go on. “Are your feelings for her enough to keep your head from being turned by someone else?”
A low growl escaped from my throat. I knew Mason wasn’t trying to insult me-given my appreciation for the female species-but I’d never felt this way before.
Ever.
And, yeah, it may be too soon, and I probably shouldn’t be reading so much into one kiss that lasted only a matter of minutes, but it was real. Iknowit was.
I took a deep breath. “Do you remember when you first told us about Shane?” Mason just arched a brow, as I continued. “You tried so hard to put it into words, but you couldn’t. Do you remember that?” He just nodded. “Your words failed, and because we’d never seen you care about anyone else but us, we couldn’t grasp what you were trying to say. But we believed you. Webelievedyou, Mase, because we trusted you and weknowyou. Do you really think I’d be in here telling you I’m in love if I wasn’t?”
His lips pulled in, and after a few seconds, he said, “Okay, so tell me what happened.”
I recited what had happened between me and Denise, ignoring Mason’s occasional wince. When I finished, I said, “You’ve got to give her to me, Mason.”
He let out a barking laugh. “Give her to you?Jesus Christ, Aiden, I don’t own the woman.”
Now, I winced. “That’s not what I meant, Mase. I just mean I need your permission to go after her.” I shrugged a shoulder. “I know there’s potential for…uh, issues, what with her being our employee and all.”
Mason gave me a quick nod. “If she’s the one, Aid, then don’t let anything stand in your way. But just be careful, okay?”
I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. “I will be,” I promised.
He pointed a finger at me. “I mean it, Aiden. No extortion, no bribery, no kidnapping, no nothing. From the sound of it, she came to her senses and…uh, might be a little opposed to a relationship with you.”
I waved away his concerns. “Oh, it’s going to be the battle of the century, I’m sure, but that’s not going to stop me.”
He shook his head. “I’ll be sure to tell Shane. There should be at least one other Buchanan in the building who knows what’s going on in case Ms. Hart kills you on company property.”
I smiled. “She’s not going to kill me, Mase. Well, I don’t think she will. I mean, I don’t know much about her apart from that kiss,” I grudgingly admitted.
“I’ll back you, no matter what, Aid,” Mason said. “I just have to admit, I never thought there’d come a day where one woman would be enough for you.”
I was shocked myself, truth be told. My appreciation for women was well known amongst my brothers and to the chagrin of my sister-in-law.
When we were younger, I struggled a lot with my weakness. Our father was…well,isa misogynist, and he spent our youth warning us against the perils of women and their satanic lures.
He went to extremes to make sure we didn’t have time for girls and there weren’t any liaisons that resulted in an unplanned pregnancy. Mason and I would travel a few towns over whenever we needed to take the edge off, and we made sure to always pick up women who knew the score.
And we were fanatic about protection. The only condom that ever went on my dick was the one I bought, inspected and put on personally.
I didn’t think women were evil, but I wasn’t going to be the one to have to explain to my dad that I knocked someone up.
High school had been a special kind of torture, but Gabe helped me out a lot by warning me away from the girls that were trouble. His ability to read people came in super handy in keeping me out of trouble during those first few years when I learned what to do with a hard cock.
I’ll never forget the feeling that rendered me stupid the first time I ever slipped my dick inside a tight, warm pussy. The sensation was unlike anything I ever imagined. It was a high I wanted to chase to the ends of the earth. It suddenly became crystal clear why men fought wars over women. And why our father was extreme in his vigilance of our relationship with the female species.
However, once Mason and Shane got together, and we cut our father’s puppet strings, I dated more freely and openly.
Okay…maybedatedis too strong a word, but I was still careful and still made sure my cock was protected and the women knew the score.
The others didn’t struggle with sex the way I did. Mason has always had ironclad control and so his dick didn’t rule him. Well, up until Shane, that is. Gabriel had a girlfriend he’s been with since they were 16 years old, so he didn’t have to go looking for it. And Michael is a virgin. Or at least, I think he still is.
