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

Rosie nods.

“We wanted you to feel happy here, so we got you some fun things for your room,” Siggy tells her. “A big girl like you should have her own big girl bed.”

“I slept on the couch at my mommy’s house. Mommy and Kurt slept in the bed.”

I twist my lips and close my eyes.

“Well, now you’ll have your own bed,” Siggy says softly. “Right across the hall from Boone and Jaxi.”

My eyes fly open. Thank God Siggy isn’t looking at me.

My heartbeat races at the thought of sleeping arrangements for me. I hadn’t thought of this. Of course, I’ll sleep on the sofa, but why does Siggy think I’ll sleep with Boone? What did he tell her?

My insides wither.

“Hey, Mom,” Wade says from the doorway. “There’s a lady here from Halcyon. Ellie, I think? She said you have an order of children’s clothes that she’s delivering, and I don’t know what to tell her.”

Siggy stands. “Ah, yes. I’ll take care of that.” She slips out the door, her heels clicking on the tile down the hallway.

Wade turns to follow her. Rosie lunges forward.

“Can I see your watch?” she asks him.

He looks at me, his brow furrowed. “Sure.” He stretches his arm out for Rosie. She touches the face. “I like it.”

“Thanks,” he says.

He pulls his arm back. “I’m Wade.”

“I’m Rosie.” Rosie steps toward him.

He looks down at her like a caged animal. She smiles up and moves right along with him.

“Well, okay then …” Wade tries to sidestep her and fails.

“Okay then,” Rosie repeats, sticking right with him.

Wade backs out into the hall, looking at me warily. I just laugh.

“Hey,” Rosie says to him.

“Um, hey, what?” Wade says back.

“Do you like dogs?”

“I guess.”

“I like dogs,” she says as they disappear from my sight.

The moment I’m alone, the adrenaline from meeting everyone is stripped from me. My body aches with stress, and suddenly, the weight of the past few days sits ripely on my heart.

I run a hand down my face as I try to talk myself down from the proverbial ledge.

This is going to be fine. You can trust them. Take things one day at a time. 

I walk to the window and look outside. The afternoon is bright and sunny. Children play on the sidewalk. Beautiful houses and fabulous cars line the street.

It’s a picture-perfect vision.

One I don’t belong in.

This isn’t my reality. I screwed up and landed here by accident—quite literally. 

I press my thumb to the inside of my elbow.

Use this as a springboard, be grateful, and get out of here before they see you for what you are. 

My nail bites into my skin, and I wince at the pain.

“Hey.” Boone’s voice makes me turn.

He’s leaned against the doorframe, one long leg crossed over the other. He knows whatever I was thinking isn’t nice. I can tell by the way he holds his face.

“What are you thinking?” he asks.

I don’t tell him because I know what he’ll say. We’ve been through this.

Instead, I give him the best smile I can manage.

“Your family is great,” I say.

“They are.”

I wait for him to expound on that, but he doesn’t.

“How do they just accept people so easily?” I ask. “You would think they’ve known me and Rosie forever.”

He pushes off the doorway. Standing in front of me, he peers down.

“You didn’t answer my question,” he says.

“By design.”

“Why?”

I sigh. “I don’t know what I’m thinking, to be honest. I don’t know what to think. It’s like all of this stuff happened in my life at one moment.” I take a deep breath. “I think about it and how you, a man I didn’t know, were there to help me pick up the pieces. It’s wild, don’t you think?”

“Not really.”

I make a face. “How can this work out so perfectly?”

How can you be so perfect? 

My stomach flip-flops at the predicament I’m in. Having Boone and the whole Mason clan to lean on is a prayer I didn’t even have the guts to pray. Yet they aren’t my family. They don’t owe me a thing. Their kindness and willingness to include Rosie and me in their lives can be withdrawn as readily as it was given.

As glorious as this afternoon has been, I know that losing this would hurt more than not having it.

For Rosie.

And for me.

It’s a double-edged sword.

“My grandma Annabelle used to say that nothing happens by accident. Holt just reminded me of that,” he says, his voice gruffer than usual. “That’s how it can work out so perfectly, as you say.”

He’s so wide that I can’t see around him. He’s so tall I can’t see over him. He’s so all-consuming that I can’t focus on anything but him.

I should say something to use as a defense. It would be smart to throw up a few quick roadblocks because I can guess where he’s going with this. But the intensity in his eyes, mixed with the sincerity that routinely takes my breath away, has me rendered speechless.

“If nothing happens by accident,” he says, “that means everything that happens is purposeful.”

My blood begins to pound through my veins.

He takes a step closer to me.

“And that means you dropped into my life for a reason,” he says.

“I dropped into your life because you don’t lock your windows,” I say, hoping he’ll get distracted from where this is going.

He doesn’t. His eyes just burn hotter.

“I’m going to be honest—I don’t know what to think either. I like having you here,” he says quietly. “I liked having you here before Rosie, but I like her too. I can’t explain it. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I do.”

It doesn’t make sense knowing the risks, but I like being here too. It feels safe. It’s easy. He’s wonderful. But that doesn’t mean it’s anything I should put stock in—especially when everything is so new.

“It’s only been a couple of days, Boone. Let’s give it time.”

He nods. “Yes, let’s.”

I don’t know what that means. I’m afraid to think about it. He’s talking out of his ass,