Page 67 of Fallen Hero

Safe.

He’d make it safe for me to touch.

To kiss.

I lifted my forehead off his chest. As soon as I did, I caught his green eyes staring down at me.

He was serious.

Dead-ass serious.

He’d bend his rules for me.

Ten years, no women by his own vow, and he’d let me touch and kiss him.

“Mase—”

My phone ringing cut off the rest of what I was going to say.

He gave me a squeeze and stepped back. “You need to answer that.”

I twisted, grabbed my phone, checked the caller ID, and answered, “Hello?”

“Miss Hawthorne,” the British woman greeted. “Under the circumstances, Mr. Bakir will make an exception for you. One guard may accompany you into the dining room. The others must be discreet and not enter the restaurant.”

“That will be fine.”

“Is there anything else you require?”

“No. Thank you.”

I dropped my phone, made sure the call was disconnected, and informed Mason, “One guard in the restaurant.”

“That’ll be me,” he informed me back. “Fallon will post outside the door. Pete will stay with the car.”

“Is it weird the restaurant Amir picked is one we can see from the apartment?”

“If you’re asking if he knows where you’re staying, possible but unlikely. But it wouldn’t matter if he did. You’re in a luxury penthouse. If we were staying at the Best Western in a shitty thirty-dollar-a-night room and he knew, that’d be a problem. But you up in the sky with your three guards, not unusual, nothing to question. And the restaurant he chose is a hot spot, a place to throw money around and be seen doing it. I’d have questions if he wanted to take you someplace quiet. He also knows taking you to a club like he does with the men isn’t going to work. Women and booze won’t impress you.”

Mason was right. I was being paranoid because Jason was already in Dubai and close.

“Okay.”

“Are we straight with everything else?”

I would not blush like a schoolgirl.

“We’re straight.”

Mason’s smile came slowly, and when it fully formed, it was lazy. Pantie melting. Dangerously sexy. Thigh-clenching, mind-dizzyingly beautiful.

“You’re gonna stop avoiding me?”

Um. No. I was going to avoid him the rest of the afternoon while I took a long, hot bath and gave in to the fantasy of Mason and what his mouth could do. Then I’d get down to mission prep. But before I could concentrate on my assignment, I needed to relieve the ache. I had to find a way to release the constant throbbing that wasn’t only between my legs but around my heart.

Vagina first.

Mission second.