“Thad. He asked her when he took her to work yesterday morning, and she said yes. Grant said he looked like a little boy who’d been given a shiny new toy. He wanted me to talk to Reese about Thad. He’s kind of a man-whore, you know, and Grant doesn’t want him to hurt Reese. But I figured I’d call you. Since you’re friends with her, maybe you could call her and give her a heads-up.”

She was so full of it. She knew this would piss me off. Harlow knew me too well. Like hell was Reese going out with Thad. If she wanted to date, then by God, she was gonna date me. “Thanks. I need to go. I’ll talk to you later.”

“OK, well, you will talk to her, right?”

I almost laughed at her fake concern. She knew good and well that I wasn’t about to let that date happen. “I’ll talk to her,” I said, before hanging up the phone.

I slung back the coffee and let it burn my throat. I had to make a call to get a flight and then call Major to get him to take over everything I was abandoning to make sure Thad kept his playboy hands off what was mine.

Reese

Why had I said yes to Thad? Sure, he made me laugh, and he was nice, but I didn’t want to go out with him. I wasn’t sure how to say no, either. I didn’t want to be rude. He had been so helpful all week, and after the first awkward day, we seemed to fall into an easy pattern.

Luckily, I didn’t need to work today, so I didn’t have to face him. But I would have to tomorrow night when he showed up for our date. It had been on the tip of my tongue to tell Mase last night, but something had held me back. Just because I had a crush on Mase, that didn’t mean the feelings were mutual. Even if he liked to know when I was in my pajamas, that didn’t mean he wanted to see me in them.

The idea made my cheeks hot.

Stop it, I scolded myself. I had to think about what I’d agreed to with Thad. A date. A real date. With a rich, attractive guy. Oh, no. What had I done? I couldn’t do this.

Jimmy had been planning on me going on a double date with him tonight until the shooting. Then he’d left, and now he wasn’t coming back until Sunday. I had talked to him two nights ago. When I realized he wouldn’t be back for the double date, I had been relieved to get out of it. Then this had happened.

Mase would call me tonight. Should I mention it? Probably not. He didn’t tell me when he had dates. Did he date? What if he’d been on dates lately? If he was dating, he got home early, because we talked at least by ten every night.

I looked down at my tank top and cutoff sweats and sighed. They really were worn out, but they were soft and comfortable. Women in Mase’s world wore expensive silk and lace. I didn’t own anything remotely sexy to sleep in. Until Mase, I hadn’t desired anything like that. He had changed a lot of things. Maybe he was even the reason I’d said yes to Thad.

A loud, sharp knock on my door startled me, and I put my phone down on the sofa and stood up to see who was outside. I wasn’t expecting anyone, and I really hoped that Thad wasn’t coming for a visit. Not when I planned on talking to Mase on the phone tonight.

I peered through the peephole and gasped.

As if I had dreamed him up, there he stood outside my door. His face looked determined, and his hair was pulled back so that I could see the hard set of his jaw. He was here. Shock was replaced by concern as I unlatched and unbolted the door and swung it open.

“Mase, is everything OK?” I asked.

He stared at me. He began moving toward me, but then he stopped. “No. Can I come in?” he asked tightly.

I nodded and stepped back to let him inside. “What’s wrong?” I asked, afraid to hear the answer. I was nervous.

Mase walked inside, and his gaze slowly trailed down my body, then back up again. Ever so slowly. When he made it back up to my face, there was a gleam there that made me shiver.

“That looks even better than I imagined. And trust me, baby, I’ve imagined you in that outfit a lot.”

His voice sounded like he was caressing the words instead of saying them. The dark tone in his voice made me shiver again. I couldn’t speak. Not now. He had taken all my words with those looks.

“I don’t want you going out with Thad,” he said firmly, snapping me out of my strange haze. His jaw was clenched tightly again, and that strange gleam in his eyes had returned.

“How did you know?” I asked him. And why do you care? I thought silently.

“He told Grant,” he replied. That was answer enough. “I was giving you time. You seemed skittish. I didn’t want to push you. But if you’re going on a date with someone, it’s gonna be me, Reese. Not fucking playboy Thad.”

He said the last part in a growl that caused me to jump.

“He doesn’t know the first thing about you. He won’t know how to read your expressions to know when you like something or not. He won’t know when he’s making you uncomfortable or when you need help reading something. He won’t know that you have two different laughs. One is real, and the other means you’re nervous. He won’t know shit. But I do.”

Was Mase Manning really trying to persuade me to go out with him? Did he think he had to give me a sales pitch so I would buy in?

“And he’ll make a mistake. He will do something to hurt you, and I’ll kill him. I’m not a violent guy, but fuck me, if he were to hurt you, I’d lose it, baby. Lose my mind. So the way I see it, you need to cancel that date with him and make new plans. With me.”

Before he could start trying to convince me again, I smiled. “OK.”