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“You did your job. You saved them.”
“I can’t help thinking that if Kenna had died because I didn’t stop that asshole before he got to her, I wouldn’t be in your bed, let alone your life.”
She shifted onto her elbow and stared down at him. “That’s not true. I would still feel like you did everything you could to protect them.”
Mason raked his fingers through his hair, groaning because he’d used his sore arm.
“Be still.” She kissed his chest. “Let that arm rest.”
“You don’t understand.” His frustration felt like a living thing inside him.
“I know if you keep moving it, it’s going to hurt more.”
“It’s not about my damn arm.” He held her gaze and gave her the truth. “I think Maria was the one who tried to kill you because she was jealous about me coming to the bar all the time to see you.”
The silence that followed was deafening.
The blank look in Lyric’s eyes turned his gut and tightened his chest with worry.
“Did you and her...”
He slid his hands into her silky hair on both sides of her head and held her close. “No! Never. In all the months I was with the Wild Wolves MC, we barely interacted.”
“Wait.” She shook her head. “My mind is still trying to catch up. You’re FBI, not a contractor at all.”
He grinned and kissed her softly, liking that all those pieces she had were falling into place for her and creating a truer picture of him. “No. My dad is good with his hands and taught us how to fix things around the house. Construction comes easy to me. I like fixing and building stuff. Whatever I couldn’t do, I had the other guys in the MC who knew what they were doing, so I’d take on the easier stuff while they did the work that required permits and inspections.”
“Smart.”
He chuckled. “I’m a good liar, remember?”
“It’s your confidence and attitude. People don’t question you because of it.”
“Fake it till you make it.”
She shook her head. “It’s more than that. Not everyone could pull it off the way you do.”
He kissed her softly. “You saw what everyone else didn’t.”
“They were looking at you to confirm you were who you appeared to be. That’s what you showed them. You lived that persona, so that’s all they saw. I knew there had to be something more behind the intelligent eyes, because I caught glimpses of the wanting in them.”
“I was so desperate for you, I couldn’t hide it all the time. And now I don’t have to anymore.”
“So why do you think it was Maria who tried to kill me and not Rick? I had rejected him quite publicly and definitively.”
“Right before we made the arrests yesterday, we were leaving the MC. I hung back to call Nick to let him know the op was a go. I overheard Maria outside the club talking to Rick.”
Her brows went up. “What was he doing there?”
“That’s exactly what I wondered when I saw him through the window. I’d never seen him there before, but it was obvious he and Maria had some sort of acquaintance or relationship.”
“Maybe she’s how he found me at the ranch when he came to town?”
“She works at the hair salon next to the diner—” He abruptly cut off his sentence.
“What?” she asked.
He squeezed her arm. “The car that hit you... Someone took the keys out of the owner’s purse while she was paying her bill at the diner counter.”
