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“It’s going to be okay,” I promised even though I spoke out of my ass. “You’re going to be just fine. My name is Jasper, and I’ll be here with you until the cops show up. You aren’t alone.”
He blinked, his hazel eyes seeming to latch onto mine with desperation. Fear and pain radiated from him as though his soul cried out for someone to save him.
The sirens faded from my awareness. My pulse thrummed in my ears. Like a poignant moment in a movie, time slowed, and warmth spread through my veins alongside the anxiousness from our situation.
The man clasped my wrist. Heat from his touch zapped through me like a live electrical volt, jolting my groin. “I’m M-Mason,” he rasped his name, his lips barely moving.
He had quite a few years on me…late-forties, maybe? A sexy silver fox with a strong jawline covered by a groomed, graying beard. A grimace curled one corner of his lips, and I pushed aside thoughts of how soft his whiskers would feel on my skin…how perfectly he fit my daydreams of happily-ever-afters. By appearances, at least. God knew I’d seen hundreds of such men in my time only to be disappointed to learn they wouldn’t bottom for a guy like me.
Clearing my throat, I glanced down over his trim but muscular body. He wore a dark green button-down stretched over wide shoulders and tight-fitting jeans that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Thick thighs suggested he spent time in the gym, and a bulge worthy of drool ensnared my gaze. My mind wandered into instantaneous lust and the fact I hadn’t felt fulfilled sexually in far too long.
Focus on the present, you twit.
I forced my gaze back on Mason’s face, once more struck by his eyes emanating a sense of being lost, as though he was adrift and in need of someone of help him tread water. My instincts kicked in.
“Where else are you hurt?” I asked, awareness of our surroundings returning to include the noise around us.
Sirens taxed my ears, echoing through the alleyway, and flashes of blue and red lit the sky, but no cops had arrived on the scene.
Mason’s grimace remained. “I—I’m not sure?”
The attacker had a knife…
“Did he stab you?” I asked, once more doing a quick scan of Mason’s body.
“My shoulder.” Mason still clasped my wrist, his focus on my eyes. “Hurts.”
“I got you.” I cradled his neck with my free hand, hoping to help steady him. The warmth of his skin seeped into my palm, snaking its way up my arm and toward my chest. “Help will be here soon.”
Cops appeared at the alleyway’s entrance, guns drawn. “Hands up!” one hollered. “Get your hands up where we can see them!”
I tore my fingers from Mason’s nape but kept the other hand against his temple. “I’m putting pressure on this man’s head wound!” I called back, my heart racing. “He was attacked and is bleeding.”
“Don’t move!” An officer approached hesitantly, gun trained on me, and I shivered, my stomach clenching up tight. He got close enough he could see I spoke the truth, and he barked orders to get an EMT to our location immediately.
I gave Mason my full focus, our gazes once more locking. “You’re going to be okay.”
The pain in his eyes remained, but he continued to cling to my wrist as though afraid letting go would send him adrift once more.
“I have you, Mason. Promise,” I whispered, wanting nothing more than to soothe the gorgeous man who’d been thrust into my life.
It seemed hours later that two men arrived to care for Mason, and I grabbed my cell and moved slightly off to the side to give them room to work. My ears strained as I fought to listen to Mason answer questions about where he hurt. His gaze kept flitting my way, making my entire body ache to crowd in close—to be near to him.
Once strapped to a gurney, Mason held his hand out toward me as though he sensed the same draw.
His need hauled me in like a well-greased pulley, and I found myself reaching for him. Our palms clasped, fingers entwined, sending that volt through me once more.
“Can I come along to the hospital?” I asked the EMT readying to roll Mason up the alleyway.
The man glanced down at Mason.
“He’s my—mine,” I heard myself declare, strangely at peace over how right the word of ownership felt on my tongue.
“Sure thing,” the EMT said. “Let’s get your partner to the hospital.”
Partner.
The label hit me like a punch to the gut, but I didn’t bother correcting the man. I believed in lust at first sight. Maybe even love for some people. Time would tell for Mason and I, but too many unknowns lay unspoken between us. We were mere strangers, and yet I felt a strong tie to his well-being. His eyes radiated emotions toward me as though hoping I would soak them up by osmosis.
