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“Loners don’t actually want to be alone.”

Mason had felt alone for a long time, even though he’d been surrounded by people. His job meant no one really knew him.

Hawk had his family, most especially his brothers, but he kept them all at a distance, not wanting his pain to become their burden. Though it did, because they loved him. And seeing him unhappy and isolating himself weighed on them. Just like it did on Hawk.

Lyric rubbed her hands up and down his chest. “You said he’s been through a lot. I’m not his family.”

“You heard him. You are.”

“I’m a connection because of you, yes, but I’m also new to him. I don’t know his past. I can meet him where he is now and be a friend who accepts him as he is.”

“You make my life a million times better. Hawk could use your kind of light in his life.”

“He got me to Nick today so he could help you.”

Mason didn’t tell her Nick would have come when Mason didn’t check in, but maybe if things had gone a different way today, Nick getting the heads-up from Lyric and arriving sooner could have made all the difference.

“What do you think of this place?” Lyric glanced around the room they were standing in.

“It looks like someone started a remodel.” The wiring had obviously been replaced. There were still some supplies, including the wire used to tie him up, in the corner of the room.

“It’s four bedrooms and two and a half baths. There’s a formal dining room through those doors that could be your office. The kitchen needs to be gutted and redone.”

He eyed her. “How do you know all this?”

“This is the property I thought about buying a while ago. It’s between my parents’ place and the bar. But it was too much house for just me. But for us...”

Yeah. For them, it could be perfect. “I like Shaker cabinets in the kitchen. Clean lines. Simple. What kind of countertops do you want?”

Her smile brightened. “White quartz, the ones that sparkle a little. And a big farmhouse sink.” She nipped at his chin. “But first, I’m taking you to the hospital.”

Chapter Thirty-Five

Lyric wanted to give Mason more of the normal days he’d longed for while undercover. So two days after the doctor checked him out at the hospital and declared him fit and fine—and yes, he was—and they’d rested and decompressed at her place, they did all the date things he’d wanted to do with her since they met months ago. They went out to eat, saw two movies, went shopping downtown to replace some of the things that had been smashed in her apartment, and even went horseback riding at the ranch.

The pure joy on Mason’s face to be up on a horse and in the saddle, out on the land, lost in the quiet beauty of it all... It did her heart good to see him finally relax like that and find peace in the moment.

And on that ride, she’d let everything go, too. Rick was out of her life. He’d lawyered up and would probably make a deal with the prosecutor, but that was no longer her concern. Maria was facing serious charges. More than likely, Lyric and Mason would have to testify, but then Maria would be in prison for a long time, maybe forever. And Lyric planned to live her life. With Mason.

She never knew it could be this easy, this right, to be with someone.

Mason was a piece of her heart she didn’t even know had been missing.

Tomorrow she was back to work at the bar.

Mason started his therapy in the morning and wanted to plan a trip home. She sensed how desperate he was to reconnect with his mom and dad.

But tonight, she wanted to give him something special. Something that was theirs. Something to make him smile. A gift he’d inspired.

She left the bathroom where she’d been getting dolled up and found him sitting on the sofa with his laptop, writing his final report on the case. “Hey, M, come down to the bar with me. I’ve got something I want to give you.”

He closed his laptop and looked up over his shoulder at her. “Wow. You look amazing.” The blaze in his eyes told her she looked sexy as hell and he wanted her.

She grinned. “Thank you. I thought I might make you want to see what I have on under this dress later.”

“I like the dress. I love what’s under even more.” He placed his laptop on the couch, stood, and came around to her, his loving gaze moving over her, leaving behind hot ripples of desire coursing through her. “We could just stay up here.” The sexy suggestion tempted her, especially when he dropped his voice like that and looked at her like he was stripping her bare in his mind.

“Date night first, then me and you dancing in the sheets.”