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Violet
My body erupted in tingles of anticipation as I stared at the three men who’d changed my entire life in one night. They hadn’t changed much in six years. If anything, they’d just gotten more handsome. It wasn’t fair. Staring up at them made my brain fuzzy.
Ben stood closest to me, his face carefully blank. Six years earlier, his blonde hair had been longer. He’d commented on letting it grow out after getting out of the military. It was neatly buzzed and I noted his beard was almost longer than his hair. The beard was new. As blonde as his hair, it highlighted his tan skin and deep brown eyes. He was bigger. His chest and shoulders seemed wider and he felt taller, even though I knew he probably wasn’t. It didn’t take much effort for my brain to recall the way his skin had been decorated all over with tattoos, or the way blonde chest hair had been coarse against my lips when I’d kissed my way down his body.
The way he’d grabbed me earlier made me feel like six years hadn’t passed. He still touched me like he owned me. My skin heated at that thought and I forced myself to shift my gaze away from him.
Justin walked closer and I swallowed audibly. Bracing his hands on his slim waist, he looked me over and one full eyebrow lifted. “I prefer you without the junk on your face.”
I automatically lifted my hands to my face and remembered the mask. Rubbing at my cheeks to hide my embarrassment, I shrugged. “I’m older and a single mom now. Skincare matters. At least, that’s what Margaret says. She’s seventy and looks forty, so I’m going to believe her.”
“A single mom…” Justin shook his head and a few strands of his brown hair fell forward. He shoved the chin-length locks out of his face and narrowed those hazel eyes on me. “It didn’t need to be that way.”
“It wasn’t what I wanted.” I wrapped my arms around myself and chewed on my sore lip.
All of my senses were overwhelmed. I could hardly keep up with the way my brain was cataloging changes in the men. Six years was a long time to hold onto a memory, yet I hadn’t managed to forget a single thing about them. I still knew the tattoos that covered Justin’s arms and while he’d grown a beard, too, I could still see the sharp lines of his jaw. I knew the fullness of his mouth hadn’t changed. I knew the exact spot on his chest my lips would rest against if he held me in his strong arms.
“It’s hard to not be angry, Violet. I imagined having a kid plenty of times. None of those involved me missing the first part of the kid’s life, though. He doesn’t know we exist. He doesn’t know who we are, at all. We’re just strangers.” Justin blew out a rough breath and looked down at his boots. “What’d you tell him about his dad?”
“He didn’t ask for a long time. He’s close with my dad and I don’t think he noticed anything different about our family for a while.” I looked up as the giant dog came into the room, licking his lips and dripping what I hoped was water all over. He came straight to me and pressed his wet face into my chest.
“Captain Asshole! Go use your towel.” Mason stood up and patted the dog’s butt. Looking down at my sweater, he winced. “He’s usually not that friendly.”
I looked down and saw that Captain had managed to soak me. Pulling the wet material away from my skin, I shrugged. “He’s sweet. Did you call him Captain Asshole?”
Ben grunted. “You’ll understand after spending time with him. The little one is General Farts-a-lot. Same explanation.”
I pressed my fingertips to my lips to stop a giggle. It didn’t feel appropriate, given our tense conversation.
Mason walked out of the living room and came right back with a towel. He came right up to me and pulled the neck of my sweater away from my body so he could drop one end of the towel inside. By the time I reacted, he’d let go of my sweater and had his hand pressed against my chest. He’d pressed my sweater between the two sides of the towel, but the act didn’t feel laundry focused when the warmth from his hand seeped through the layers and touched the swells of my breasts.
I took a shaky breath I knew he heard and probably felt. “Thank you.”
He flashed a dangerous smile, the same smile that had gotten me out of my shirt all those years earlier. The way his blue eyes crinkled was exactly the same. His deep brown hair was different, the sides shaved and the top longer and curly, and his beard was fuller, but that smile hadn’t changed a bit. Just as tall and strong as his best friends, Mason looked down at me and made me feel petite. He’d been able to pick me up and carry me around like I weighed nothing before, but I’d had Forrest and not all of the baby weight had gone away.
That simple reminder that I was different, made me want to cry. They’d changed and managed to get sexier. I knew the same wasn’t true for me. I couldn’t imagine what exactly they saw when they looked at me, but I knew it wasn’t the same thing they’d seen the first time around. I was older and I was tired. I felt like the years could be seen on my body.
“I can’t make sense of anything right now. Maybe I’m in shock about having a kid, but I’m having a hard time focusing when you’re standing right in front of me after all this time.” Mason stepped even closer to me. “You being here was the last thing I ever could’ve expected, but I’m fucking happy to be looking at you.”
I tried to look down at my feet but he hooked his finger under my chin and lifted my face. My breath caught when I met his gaze.
“You’re not going to sneak out in the middle of the night and leave town, are you?” Mason gripped my waist in his other hand. “I have so many questions and I know we have a lot to talk about, but I need to do something first.”
I spoke in a voice barely louder than a whisper. “I’m not leaving.”
He nodded. “Good.”
I opened my mouth to ask him what he needed to do but I didn’t get the chance to form words before he dipped his head and kissed me. His lips were warm against mine and his beard tickled my face as a swarm of butterflies erupted in my stomach. He shifted his hand to my cheek and then tangled it in my hair before he tugged me closer to his body with his other hand on my waist.
“Mason.” Ben’s husky voice was firm with disappointment and it was like ice water being thrown over my head.
I tugged away from Mason and moved behind the couch, putting it between us. I ran shaky hands through my hair and licked my lips, which was a mistake because I could taste him. I couldn’t look at them. I was embarrassed by my willingness to be kissed like that and concerned about how it made me look.
General walked over to my side and sat, leaning against me with so much weight I stumbled a bit. It didn’t phase the giant dog. He looked up at me and his tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth as he panted. I stroked his head, comforted by his presence.
“If you’re waiting for me to apologize, it’s not going to happen.” Mason’s voice was soft and when I looked up at him, he shrugged. “We have unfinished business.”
CHAPTER 6
