The Only Reason: A Novel (Trident Trilogy: Book Two) Read online

  “Ah, no. It’s all done when we move. It’s just me and her. No women allowed,” Mack said as he pulled up a chair. “After Millie graduates from college, I might even find a nice girl like Mariel and settle down.”

  “First of all, you know damn well Mariel isn’t a nice girl,” Chase said, laughing. “And second, you think you’re going to be celibate for four years?”

  “Well, maybe not that long, but I can be for a while. I just want to enjoy my time with Millie. No distractions.”

  “Maybe when Millie is out on a date, you can sneak in a woman or two. I wouldn’t want you to lose your touch.”

  “I will never lose my touch,” Mack laughed. “And like I’m going to let Millie date.”

  “Brother, I have brought two daughters through the teenage years and sent them off to college. They date. They date assholes. You’re going to have to grin and bear it. Living with her all the time is going to be an eye-opener for you.”

  Mack sighed. “Man. I can’t wait. It’s going be the best time of my life. Bring on the problems. Bring on the asshole boyfriends. I’m ready to be a full-time dad.”

  “Hey!” Mack and Chase looked up to see a man standing over them. He pointed at Mack. “Did you take my girlfriend outside?”

  “Depends,” Mack said, taking a long drink of his beer. “Who’s your girlfriend?”

  “Speaking of asshole boyfriends.” Chase rolled his eyes as he stood up and pushed the man back away from Mack. “Believe me, brother. You don’t want any part of him.”

  The man shook Chase’s hand off and stepped toward Mack again. He pointed at the brunette across the bar. “My girlfriend is the one with the red shirt. I saw you walk in behind her.”

  Mack stood up slowly. The rest of his team started gathering behind him. “First of all, I didn’t take anyone anywhere. And second, you’ve got about five seconds to back off.”

  “You need all them to fight me?” the man said, gesturing to the team.

  Mack laughed, not turning around. “They’re just here to watch. You want to fight? Take your best shot.”

  The man started walking away before he turned back suddenly and ran at Mack, trying to tackle him around the waist. Mack stepped slightly to the side and caught the man around the neck. He pushed him back roughly.

  “I’ll let you get away with that one, but that’s the only pass you get,” Mack said.

  Chase walked between them, looking at the man. “Take the pass,” he said, shaking his head. “Save yourself. She ain’t worth it.”

  “Get out of my way,” the man growled at Chase.

  “All right, brother,” Chase said, sighing. “Go get ’em.”

  The man squared up with Mack—his fists in front of his face—as he began to shift from foot to foot. Mack rolled his eyes and remained relaxed.

  “Stay away from my girlfriend,” the man growled, finally taking a very wild haymaker at Mack.

  Mack easily grabbed his arm, held it high in the air, and put a quick uppercut into his ribs. The force of the blow lifted the man off the ground. Mack let go of his arm and let him fall to the floor.

  “Damn, Mack. I think I heard at least two of his ribs break,” Harry said from behind him.

  The man rolled over, crying out as he grabbed his ribs. Mack sighed and walked away.

  Chase lifted the man off the floor, putting his arm around him. He walked him to the door and patted him on the back. “You’re going to want to go to the emergency room.”

  Mack shook his head as Chase walked back over to him. “I tried to warn him. I always give them an out.”

  “You can only do so much. There’s no fixing stupid,” Chase said as he sat down. “Karma’s a bitch, though. You know Millie’s going to bring home some guy just like that.”

  “Man, shut the fuck up.”

  “My grandma always told me your kids give you back what you put out. If that’s true, then Millie’s going to date someone just like you. Lord help us all.”

  “First, we both know there’s no one quite like me—“

  “Thank God,” Chase said, finishing the last of his whiskey.

  “And second, if she did happen to find that rarest of all men,” Mack said, grinning, “I would be happy to welcome him into the family with open arms.”

  “Be careful what you wish for,” Chase said as he headed to the bar for a refill.

  Chapter Five

  Millie

  San Diego, California

  2020

  “Mills? Where are you?” I hear Mason yelling from inside the house, and I already know I’m in trouble again. I’m usually done showering by the time he gets home from work. “Millie?”

  He sounds like he’s starting to panic. He’s been overly protective of me since the day we met, but he’s gone into full-on bodyguard hyper-drive since I was kidnapped. Despite doing everything in his power to be there to stop it from happening, he wasn’t there and I almost died. Surprisingly, that’s taken way more of a toll on him than it has on me.

  “Millie!” I know he saw my car in the driveway, so there’s no use trying to hide from him.

  “I’m in the back, babe!” I yell over the sound of the water streaming over me from the outdoor shower on my back patio. I’m rinsing my hair when he walks through the French doors. He turns toward me and throws his hands up in exasperation.

  “Millie! What did I tell you about showering naked outside?”

  “That it’s perfectly fine and I should definitely use my own judgment on the matter,” I say, tilting my head and doing my best to smile sweetly.

  “That’s not even a little bit right,” he says. He tries to keep his face stern, but his expression changes rapidly as his eyes start exploring my body. His voice lowers into a growl. “Can you please keep your swimsuit on until you get in the house?”

  “I mean, I guess I could, but I don’t really want to,” I say, purposely challenging him again. My attempts to break him of his protective obsession have absolutely failed up to this point. From the look on his face, this one is failing, too. “Besides, no one can see me when I’m in the shower. These walls are like ten feet tall.”

  “They’re eight feet tall, and if someone breaks into the backyard, it doesn’t matter how high the walls are,” he says as he starts to slowly walk into the shower.

  “Apparently someone did just break in, and all he’s doing so far is lecturing me.”

  He raises his eyebrows as he starts to smile. “Millicent. You’re being very bad right now.”

  “Don’t call me that.” I made the mistake of telling him my grandma used to call me Millicent. He knows I don’t like it. He uses it when he’s scolding me.

  I back up under the protection of the stream of water as he starts to close in. He’s calculating each step like a cheetah stalking a gazelle on the Kenyan plains. He’s still fully clothed from work, right down to his combat boots.

  “Stop!” I say, laughing as I flick water at him from the shower stream. “Stop. You’re going to get wet.”

  “Yeah. So are you.” He lunges at me, coming directly through the water—spinning me around and pinning my frontside to the shower wall. He immediately puts his hand between my legs and strokes me with his fingers. “Hmm. Feels like you already are. Does just the sound of my voice make you this wet?”

  “You know, when you’re this arrogant, it’s really a turn-off,” I say, panting and trying desperately to sound convincing.

  “Is that right?” He slowly snakes his hands around my body and starts playing with my already fully erect nipples. He starts gently kissing my neck, knowing just how to make me squirm. His hands move down my body and press my hips backward as he starts rhythmically grinding me into him. I nudge his kisses away from my neck and onto my lips. He pulls me closer to him as he starts exploring my mouth with his tongue.

&n
bsp; He stops kissing me for a second and whispers, “You know your neighbors are going to hear us.”

  “Maybe,” I say defiantly. “That depends entirely on if you can make me moan.”

  “Yeah. Like that’s ever been a problem,” he says as he strokes me between my legs again. I let out a low moan.

  “See?” he whispers.

  “There’s no way anyone heard that. You’re going to have to try harder.” I barely get it out before he pushes his fingers inside me. “Ahh!” My moan echoes off the shower walls.

  “That’s my girl,” he says softly as he starts to kiss my neck again. His fingers start to pump in and out of me. He lets me enjoy the ride for a few minutes before he rubs his thumb directly on the spot he knows will make me finish the most quickly. My body shudders up against him after only a few expertly executed strokes.

  With my body still tingling, he turns me around to face him. I pull off his drenched T-shirt and run my hands over his chest until I get to his belt. I quickly free him of his pants and start stroking him. He lifts me up and I push him inside me. I wrap my legs around his waist as he starts pumping himself into me. My body is so stimulated that it only takes a few strokes for me to cum again. He follows with a groan that slowly rumbles out from deep inside him.

  He pulls me even closer—breathing heavily into my ear as the water continues to stream over his back. “I love you,” he says, nuzzling my wet hair with his nose.

  I bite his earlobe playfully. “I love you, babe.”

  He lifts me down gently and pushes me against the wall again. He places his arms on either side of me—his fingertips resting lightly on my head. He does this when he’s trying to get me to conform to his way of thinking—like he’s attempting a Vulcan mind meld.

  “Millie. I don’t want to have this argument again, but will you please stop showering outside when I’m not here? Please. Just rinse off the sand and go inside to take your full shower.”

  I put my hands on his cheeks and kiss him. “Mase, you’ve got to back off a little. We’ve talked about this. Between you and Chase, you’re smothering me. I love you. But I took care of myself pretty well for twenty-five years.”

  He releases me and backs away as he pulls his pants up. “Eight years. You took care of yourself for eight years. Your dad took care of you before that, and Chase would have taken care of you those eight years if you wouldn’t have been playing hide-and-seek with him.” He nods his head as he grabs my towel off the hook and throws it to me. “Yeah. He told me how you unsuccessfully tried to shake him for all those years. I will go to my grave not understanding why you put up such a resistance to people trying to take care of you.”

  A chill runs through me as I hastily wrap myself in the towel. “Okay, first, I’m not really liking the bromance you and Chase have started. Stop talking to him about me. It makes me uncomfortable. And second—again—I don’t need you or Chase to take care of me. I appreciate it. But I don’t need it. You’ve got to start trusting me to take care of myself. Then what you offer can be an added bonus.”

  “Millie. God. I don’t want to argue about this again,” he says, rubbing his hands roughly over his face. “You know who I am. You know what I do for a living. I protect people. It’s my job. I’m trying really hard to crank it down when I’m with you, but it’s never going to go away completely. You can’t get frustrated with me for being who I am.”

  I take a deep, cleansing breath and start toward the door. “I need to get dressed.”

  “Mills.” He catches me by the arm and turns me back around to him.

  “Mase. I don’t want to argue about this, either. Can we just drop it? I’m not mad. I know you’re working on it. And I know it’s not easy. I appreciate the effort. Really, I do.”

  I smile weakly at him. He lets go of my arm. “Okay.” He sighs as he turns toward the kitchen. “We’re supposed be at the bar in an hour. Do you still want to go?”

  “Yeah. It’s fine.”

  I shut the bedroom door and slide down it until I’m curled up in a ball at the bottom. These past two months with Mason have been the most exhilarating days of my life. The way I love him makes me feel crazy. He fills me so full of emotion that most of the time I feel like an overly full balloon about to burst.

  That’s a good thing, right?

  Chapter Six

  Mason

  San Diego, California

  2020

  When we get out of the car, Millie takes my hand and starts leading me toward the bar. I lag behind so I can watch her long blonde hair as it sways back and forth—giving me little peeks of the tanned skin her backless sundress exposes. She knows this is my favorite dress. It’s the one I want to rip off her the second she puts it on. The sheer-blue material cascades off her butt and flows all the way down her long legs. When she walks, it looks like gently rippling ocean waves. I’m thinking about how I’d like to be swimming in those waves when a jarring voice brings me out of my haze.

  “Mason! So nice to see you!” Mariel laughs loudly as Millie and I walk to their table. “Chase, isn’t it so nice to see him again?”

  Annie and Charlie are already there, lounging at the other end of the table. They’re laughing, too. Everyone is laughing except Chase, who has his head buried in his hands.

  “Uh, what’s happening here?” Millie wags her finger suspiciously at them.

  I share her suspicions. Since I moved to San Diego, Chase and his friends have slowly accepted me as Millie’s boyfriend, but they’ve never been this excited to see me.

  “It’s just that Chase saw you an hour or so ago, and here you are again,” Mariel says, shoving Chase on the shoulder. Chase straightens up in his chair and shakes his head violently like he’s trying to get rid of everything inside of it.

  “Wait. You saw Mason an hour ago?” Millie says. She hasn’t caught up with the conversation yet. I unfortunately think I have. Millie’s been trying to break Chase of his habit of showing up to her house unannounced. I’m guessing by the anguish on his face he finally learned his lesson about an hour ago.

  “Chase. Are you going to tell her?” Mariel is staring at him with her perfectly honed I-told-you-this-was-going-to-happen face. Chase shakes his head, again.

  I pull Millie back against me and wrap my arms around her—partially to try to shield her from what she’s about to hear, but mainly because I don’t want her to hurt Chase. “Babe,” I say quietly, “I think Chase might have walked into your backyard again. Unannounced. Where the shower is. An hour ago . . .”

  I don’t even have to look at Millie’s face to know it’s tensed up as violently as her body has. “Oh my God! Chase! Did you see me showering?” She presses her body back against me. I wrap my arms a little tighter around her. “Please tell me that didn’t happen! Chase!”

  Chase puts his face back in his hands—massaging his temples—as he lets out a groan that sounds like something you’d hear from an animal caught in a trap.

  Mariel stops laughing just long enough to say, “Well he didn’t exactly see you showering . . .”

  Charlie walks over and hands me what looks like a double shot of whiskey. I shoot it quickly.

  Chase finally looks up. Through tightly clenched teeth, he says, “I came into the yard and heard a scream and . . . oh fuck. I can’t do this. I’m going to go gouge my eyes out.”

  As Chase chugs the beer in front of him, Mariel says, “Mason. Chase saw your backside as you had Millie pressed up against the shower wall.”

  “Oh my God,” Millie says, groaning. “Were we having sex? Chase! Seriously. I’ve told you to stop letting yourself into my yard.”

  She breaks free of me and shoves Chase on the shoulder on her way over to the chair on the other side of Mariel. She’s glaring at him when he finally looks up at her.

  “I will never go to your house again—even if I’m invited. I w
ill never unsee what I saw today. The image of Mason’s butt is permanently burned into my retinas,” Chase says, rubbing his eyes vigorously.

  Millie leans back in her chair, crossing her arms and shaking her head as she continues to glare at Chase. Mariel hands her a martini. She slams it and starts aggressively pulling the olives off the pick with her teeth.

  “You know, to be real honest, I’d like to see Mason’s butt,” Annie says enthusiastically.

  “Girl, cosign!” Mariel says as they exchange an air high-five across the table.

  “C’mon, Mason. It will make Chase feel less awkward if you show all of us your butt,” Annie says.

  “Annie, I’m sitting right here,” Charlie says, looking at her incredulously.

  “I know, baby,” Annie says, patting her husband’s arm.

  “Seriously, I don’t know what the big deal is,” Charlie says. “It’s not like you two aren’t all over each other all the time. Really, we’ve all seen way too much.”

  “We’re not all over each other all the time,” Millie says as she whips her head around to Charlie.

  “All. The. Time. Everywhere.” Charlie leans back a little in his chair to clear himself out of Millie’s slapping range. “I mean even when you’re not touching, you’re eye-fucking each other.”

  “All right. End of discussion,” Millie orders. “Find something else to talk about.”

  She stands up and starts walking past me toward the bar.

  “I’ll get you another one,” I say as I grab her empty martini glass.

  She takes it back. “Thanks, but I can get it.”

  I pull her back gently and put my arms around her waist. I rest my head on her shoulder as we both look at the bar.

  “Mills. Look at the situation,” I say, pointing at the group of disorderly men that are currently covering every inch of the bar. “Who’s going to have a better chance of getting you a drink without getting touched? You or me?”

  “Definitely me,” she says without hesitation. She pulls at my arms to try to release them from around her.