Reckless (The Mason Family Series Book 3) by Adriana Locke (online e reader .txt) 📗

come a time—and I promise you that—when you’ll feel like I’ve taken advantage of you somehow, and things will go downhill. Fast.”

He smirks. “I know we’re being serious and all, but if you’d like to take advantage of me, I won’t be mad.”

I roll my eyes for his sake. Inside, I squirm at the innuendo I’m fairly certain—and that I hope—he’s making.

“You’re not listening to me,” I tell him. “I don’t have a job. I don’t have a car. I don’t even have a fucking plan now, Boone, and I have a kid. That’s a problem. A big, huge problem that I have to fix and I can’t complicate anything else in my life because I’m complicated out!”

I heave a breath.

He, however, seems unfazed.

“I am listening to you. I just disagree. But you need to hear me out too. Because of the fact that I hear you, I’m trying to help. I want to help. I’m offering this to you, and from my position, it’s the only answer to your problem right now.” He comes around the island. “If things get unbearable, I’ll tell you. Okay? Does that make you happier?”

I try to ignore the pull of my body to his.

“No,” I say. “Because there’s also the component of my pride, and I don’t want to be the girl who’s living with a guy because she needs to.”

“What are you afraid of? That I’ll hold it over your head?”

“Yes,” I say too quickly. “And then make me feel bad about it.”

The look on his face makes me regret saying that.

“Thanks for having faith in me,” he says.

“Look, I’m sorry. I just have had a lot of bad experiences with people, and I know I shouldn’t project that onto you. I’m just trying to take care of things as best as I can.”

The door opens down the hall. Little footsteps clamor against the tile.

“Boone? Jaxi?” Rosie shouts, panicked.

“We’re in the kitchen, Rosie. Keep walking straight,” I shout back.

I peek around the corner. Her eyes light up when she sees me.

“I thought you left me,” she says.

“Nope. We’re right here, sweetheart.”

Her steps pick up their pace.

When I turn back to Boone, his position hasn’t changed. Nor has his focus.

“Fine,” he says. “You want to vacuum and do some dishes? Cool. Go for it.”

I blow out a breath. “Thank you. Was that so hard?”

He grins.

Before I can ask him what it’s all about, we’re joined by Rosie. She pushes us away from each other and stands in the middle. Then, she looks up at Boone.

“I’m hungry,” she says, tilting her head back to look up at him. Boone winks at me before grabbing Rosie up and tucking her under his arm. Rosie shrieks as Boone carries her into the living room.

“Come on, then,” Boone says.

“Where are you going?” I ask, laughing.

“I’m going to get dinner.”

I walk to the corner and see him sitting on the couch with Rosie next to him. She looks up at him adoringly.

“You’re getting dinner from the couch?” I cross my arms over my chest. “This should be interesting.”

“Live and learn, babe.” Boone whips his phone out of his pocket and puts an arm along the back of the couch. “Okay, Rosie Girl. Let’s pick out our dinner.”

“I want cake!”

He looks at me and grins. It’s a different smile than he’s given me before. This one is more intimate, more personal. Definitely the most dangerous look he’s ever given me.

And then, as quickly as he tossed that libido-burner onto my lap, he plucks it away.

“We are having cake. Are you kidding me?” He points at the phone. “Should we order this one? Or that one. Oh, that one has—”

“Sprinkles!” Rosie shouts. “That one! I want that one?”

“Yup. I was thinking that too.”

I watch the two of them act like two children with a DoorDash account. It’s hilarious and sweet.

It’s also freaking sexy.

I have to keep my head on straight. This isn’t a budding romance. It’s a friendship that you’ll never be able to repay, and you better remember that before you screw this all the way up.

“Jaxi?”

I flinch at Boone’s voice. When I look up, I find them watching me.

“Do you like sprinkles?” Rosie asks, her little voice trailing into a yawn.

She rests her head on Boone’s side and looks at me with the sleepiest eyes. My heart squeezes as I imagine what this little girl has been through today, and she’s worried about me wanting sprinkles.

“I love them,” I say.

She nods, blinking her eyes in a futile attempt to stay awake. She’s asleep in five seconds.

Boone stills. “Now what?”

I laugh softly. “Let’s lay her down somewhere. The couch is fine.”

He stands and picks her up like she weighs the same as a feather. Her tiny legs dangle over his strong arms.

“Where are you going?” I ask as he walks by me.

“Let’s put her in my bed.”

“Is that safe?” I ask, curling my nose.

He looks at me over his shoulder. “That’s not nice.”

“Well, it might not be, but it’s warranted.” I follow him into the room I crawled into a few days ago. “You weren’t even surprised that a woman was in here. That doesn’t bode well for your sheets.”

With the gentlest movement, he lays Rosie in the middle of his enormous bed. She curls up on her side and doesn’t move again.

I walk to the corner where Rosie’s boxes are and grab her Glo Worm. Something tells me she’ll need this tonight.

Boone then covers her with a blanket from the chair by the door.

She looks like an angel curled up on his black pillows, her light-colored hair in stark contrast.

“I didn’t put her on the sheets,” he points out.

I make a face as if I’m grossed out and slip by him and into the hallway. He chuckles as he follows me.

“For the record,” he says as he closes the bedroom door behind him, “the sheets are fresh and clean. I changed them this morning.”

I pause in the foyer.

He stops in front of me and grins like the cat that