Page 29 of Ronen (Sweet Alps Legacy #1)

Chapter Nineteen

Mason

Ronen made me laugh.

One, because he was genuinely funny, though admittedly, he had a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor. Some people might not get it, but I appreciated it. And his patience for people was genuinely thin.

And two, because he always looked like he was in a pissy mood, or annoyed by the world, and I liked teasing him. Even if he didn’t smile, his green eyes would light up with silent laughter, and I loved seeing that look in his eyes.

Oftentimes, I managed to get his eyes to light up with fiery anger, and I had to admit, I liked that look on him too.

“My turn,” I told him, shuffling my cards, taking my time to ponder which one I was going to ask him. Moving the order of them around in my hands, I peered at him with a serious look on my face .

“This date will be over by the time you ask whatever nonsense you are going to ask,” he took another sip of his wine, and drummed his fingers on the tabletop.

The restaurant was quickly filling up around us with couples, and I was glad I had opted for a six o’clock time, planning the movie for after dinner.

“Am I boring you?” Picking a card, I held it out to read it.

Ronen sat up straighter, and blinked at me, some kind of realization crossing his face. Whatever it was, he looked stunned by it.

“No, actually you aren’t,” he admitted, sounding slightly baffled by the fact that he wasn’t bored.

Hmmm, I had a feeling Ronen got easily bored by a great many things. The man was smart–really smart–that much was obvious if you spent any time around him. Not for the first time, I wondered what he was doing, spending his days in a library.

Not that there was anything wrong with being a librarian, because there wasn’t. It was kind of a dream job in my eyes. But then I loved books. Ronen clearly loved books too. Enough to dedicate his career to them.

“You sound so shocked,” I teased, and a pink hue flushed his cheeks, before he looked away.

There was something there; I had definitely touched a nerve of some kind, but it appeared it had taken Ronen unaware. I’d give him a few minutes to sort himself out before I poked that particular bear.

“Do you have any siblings, and are you the oldest, middle, or youngest child?”

I already knew the answer, at least I knew he had an older brother, but I really didn’t know if he had any other siblings .

There were a shit ton of Sinclairs in Sweet Alps, and even after living here for over a year, I still couldn’t put all the faces with names. Or who exactly belonged to who.

Ronen was always hanging out with Charlotte–Charlie–Sinclair, a local tattoo artist, and I knew they were cousins. But I wasn’t sure exactly how he was related to some of the other Sinclairs. Cousins, uncles, siblings?

“One older brother, Matthew, Matty. Which makes me the youngest.”

Putting the card face down on the table, I took a swig of my beer. “I’m gonna be honest, I’m still not always clear which Sinclair belongs to whom, or how you’re all related. Like siblings, cousins, uncles?”

“There’s a bunch of us,” he agreed. “My alpha dad is the youngest of a set of identical quads. They are all mated and spawned demon seeds. Some more than others. So uncles, cousins, and my grandmothers live here. Do you have any siblings, Mason?” he asked dutifully, at least playing the game, even if he wasn’t all that happy about it.

“I do,” I told him, keeping my tone light and making sure he knew I was enjoying myself with this game. “I too have an older brother, Connor. He’s three years older than me. I’m also the youngest. That’s two things we have in common.” I felt the need to point that out.

“Insignificant things,” he muttered, grabbing one of his cards at random, and quickly reading it. “What’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve ever done?”

“Hmmm,” I tilted my head, thinking hard.

“I guess probably joining the police academy. No, that wasn’t really spontaneous, because I knew I wanted to be a cop from a pretty young age.

It was more I sprang it on my parents after I had been accepted to the academy after college.

They weren’t exactly pleased with me. Let’s see most spontaneous?

” Nibbling my lip, I put some more thought into it.

Honestly, I wasn’t that spontaneous of a person. I liked knowing what I was doing well in advance. I liked routine, too. I didn’t really suffer from wanderlust, happiest at home in my space. “Probably accepting the job in Sweet Alps and leaving Colorado.”

Ronen peered at me over his wine glass. “Why did you apply for the job?”

“I didn’t,” I told him, “Grayson Beckett called and offered me the deputy spot, with the caveat of me taking his position when he retired later in the year. Obviously, he told me it would depend on how well I meshed with the team already established, and I guess him, and the town. And he explained that even though the town council had agreed to let him hire his replacement for the duration of his contract, I would have to campaign for the position when that time was up. If I chose to.”

Ronen seemed thoughtful for a minute, and I could almost see the wheels in his head whirling. “Huh, Uncle Becks must have come across your resume somewhere. He’s got contacts all over, so that’s not surprising.”

Uncle Becks?

“Wait, Becks is your uncle?” I was trying to work that out in my head, when Ronen shook his head.

“Not biological,” he told me, “but he and my dad go way back. Like way, way back, from before I was born. They worked together for years, and when dad retired and came home to Sweet Alps, Uncle Becks showed up one day. And just sorta never left. I have a handful of biological uncles, and a handful of found family uncles. Holidays are loud and ridiculous.” There was a fondness in his eyes though, and he tacked on, “But also fun.”

“It’s always just been my dads, me, and my brother,” I admitted, wondering what a family holiday like he had just described would be like. “We usually end up with a handful of ranch hands that don’t have family, but both my parents’ immediate families are gone.”

“I complain about my family,” he said softly, a small smile tugging at his lips, “but I wouldn’t trade them for the world. They are kind of the best. But don’t you dare tell any of them I said that. I will deny it.”

“Ranch?” He asked, perking up at the word. “So the boots and hat aren’t just a fashion trend?”

I snorted, running a hand over the back of my neck. “My family owns a little ranch just outside of Denver. We breed horses. Dad is one of the best horse trainers around too. Connor is about as horse crazy as Dad, so he’s at least fulfilling some of my parents' dreams.”

“You really are a cowboy,” Ronen sighed happily. “How many acres?”

“About six thousand, give or take.”

Ronen’s eyes were huge as he stared at me. “Six thousand? You made it seem like it was a tiny place, with a few horses. Fate really must know what she’s doing.”

“How about you, Ronen? What’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve ever done?” I steered us away from talk about my family.

He thought about it for a minute. “A couple of years ago, I took off for a weekend to heli-ski the Chugach Mountains in Alaska. That was pretty spontaneous. I’d never done it before, but it looked like fun. And it was. ”

Brows knitted, I asked, “What exactly is heli-skiing?”

I was totally going to skip over the fact that he had just randomly flown to Alaska to do something I had never heard of, on a weekend whim.

Just the thought of that gave me a twinge of anxiety, without throwing in the rest. I was a Colorado boy who hated skiing and paid no attention to any of anything that related to it.

This sounded like it might involve skiing from a helicopter? Hell to the no. No thank you.

“It’s off-trail skiing, or snowboarding, which is what I did.

Actually, I did both that weekend, but I enjoy snowboarding more.

Anyway, you go up to the top of the mountain in a helicopter, get dropped off, and make your way down.

The terrain is pretty rugged, it’s off-trail, like I said, but the adrenal rush is insane! ”

The man was certifiable. There was no other explanation.

The memory of him speeding down the highway on his motorcycle, combined with this new piece of unexpected information, and a realization dawned on me.

“You like danger,” I stated, just as the server brought our dinners.

Ronen waited to answer, until our plates had been situated in front of us and we’d been left alone once more. Leaning down, he sniffed his food, his eyes closing in bliss.

“I hope you weren’t wanting a good night kiss,” he twirled some pasta on his fork, “because this is loaded with garlic. It smells like heaven.”

“I have my own garlic over here,” I waved a piece of garlic bread at him. “I can handle a little garlic breath.”

He took a bite, moaned in happiness, and damn, if that sound didn’t go straight to my cock, before swallowing. “To answer your earlier question, I wouldn’t say I like danger. I do like the adrenaline rush. And I do tend to lean towards more extreme sports. It’s relaxing.”

Piercing a bite of my bubbling lasagna on my fork, I asked, “Such as?”

He shrugged, wiping his mouth with his napkin. “The usual, I guess. White water rafting, skydiving, fast bikes, racing cars, mountain climbing. That sorta stuff. Anything that gets my heart pounding, the blood rushing through my veins.”

It was such a contradiction to whatever I thought I knew about him; from some perception I had of him. It just cemented the feeling I had that there were two very different sides of Ronen.

“None of that sounds relaxing in the least,” I bit into my bread, chewing slowly while he grinned at me over his pasta like the maniac he clearly was. “Reading a book. That is relaxing. Taking care of my animals, that is also relaxing.”

Ronen shrugged one shoulder, grinning. “I’m a bit of a dare devil. You should come with me sometime.”

“Ummm, I’ll think about it,” I told him, knowing there was not a chance in hell I was doing any of that nonsense with him. “Thanks for the invitation, though.”

Ronen laughed. “You’re not gonna ever come with me, are you?”

“Not a fucking chance in hell.”

That really had him rolling in his seat. “It’s okay, my family and friends don’t want to come with me either. I’m used to doing that kind of stuff alone. I don’t mind.”

There was something about that statement I found sad, but when I looked into his eyes, Ronen seemed fine with it .

Maybe I would go with him next time. I could stay firmly planted on the ground and wait while he likely gave me a small heart attack, doing whatever dangerous stunt he wanted to try.

I doubted my dragon or I would be happy knowing our omega was off without us, putting his life in danger.

I was definitely going with him next time he planned a trip.