It had been three days since Mason stayed over at my apartment. Three days that we had spent every day together. I was getting so used to him being in my space, and that scared the crap out of me. But he hadn’t made a single move.

Not one.

We ate dinner. We watched movies. We laughed. Then he went home.

Every single night.

He never asked to stay. He hadn’t touched me in any way that could possibly be misconstrued as inappropriate, and even though I had told him that was what I wanted, told myself that was what I wanted, it was driving me crazy.

My phone beeped on the table, and I smiled as I saw his name on my screen.

“What’s that smile about? Who are you talking to?”

I looked up at Livy before tucking my phone in my back pocket.

“It’s nothing. It was just Mason.”

She grinned, and I pointed my finger at her. “No way. Get that little smirk off your face. Me and Mason are just friends.”

She put her hand on her chest. “I didn’t say you weren’t. Don’t get so touchy.” She took a bite of her lunch. “What are you all doing tonight?”

“What makes you think we’re doing anything?” I took a bite of my own burger and looked around the restaurant.

“Well, considering I’ve text you every night this week to do something and you’ve been with him, I just figured.”

“He’s cooking dinner for me tonight.” I popped a fry in my mouth as she almost choked on hers. “Are you okay?”

“My brother”—she pointed to her chest—“is cooking dinner for you?”

“Yes,” I said cautiously.

She just nodded her head.

“What’s that bullshit. Tell me what you were just thinking.”

“I wasn’t thinking anything.” She swirled another fry in her ketchup and avoided looking up at me.

“Livy, I am your best friend. I know when you are lying to me.”

She looked up at me then and studied me. “You’re not interested in hearing what I have to say.”

I rolled my eyes. “How could you possibly know that?”

“Because I’m also your best friend, and I know you.”

“So, what? I’m not supposed to eat dinner with him. Friends can’t do that?” I felt so frustrated, but I knew it wasn’t her fault that she was just being honest with me.

“No. I’m not saying that.”

“Then what are you saying, Livy?” I pushed my hair out of my face and looked at her.

“I’m just saying that I really like this whole you and Mason thing.” She shrugged her shoulders.

“Me and Mason as friends.” I reiterated the point.

“Yes.” She rolled her eyes. “But you seem to have to keep saying those words out loud a lot.”

“Trust me. I don’t. He’s made the point very clear.” I regretted the words as soon as they slipped past my lips.

“What do you mean?” She leaned closer to me.

“I don’t know. I think I just need to get laid.”

“By Mason?” She looked confused. Confused as I felt.

“No. Not by Mason. Hell, I don’t know what I’m saying.”

“Are you sure that you just want to be friends with him?” She asked the question without a trace of judgment, and it was one of the things I absolutely loved about her. It didn’t matter that it was her brother. Nothing mattered except the fact that I was her best friend.

“I just don’t really know how to do the whole friend thing.”

“That’s not true. You’re friends with Brandon and Parker.”

“Yes, but I’m not attracted to either of them.” I shuddered just at the thought. “They are more like brothers to me.”

“Plus, you’ve never slept with them.”

“That too.” I put my face in my hands.

“Just think about your friendship with Mason like you would with me.”

“That’s impossible.” I looked her over.

“How so?” She cocked her eyebrow at me.

“Because you don’t make my lady parts tingle when I look at you.”

“Eww, Staci.” She leaned back in her chair. “We are still talking about my brother you know.”

“Trust me, I know. But dear God.” I closed my eyes and she fake gagged.

“It doesn’t sound like you just want to be friends with him.”

“It’s not me.” I batted my eyes at her. “It’s my vagina. That girl can’t differentiate the difference between our good friend Mason and the Mason who rocked her world.”

“Then I guess you will have to be strong for the both of you.” She smirked.

“Lord help us all.”

Her laughter filled the restaurant as we finished our lunch.

I got out of my car and straightened my shirt. There was something about going to Mason’s house for the first time that made my stomach flutter. It didn’t matter that he had been to my apartment. I had the advantage there. I made the rules. But not here. Here I was in his domain.

My knuckles had barely touched the door before it was pulled open, and it left me with no time to school my features before my jaw hit the ground.

“You made it.”

I barely even heard his words. I just stared at him. Every freaking inch of him that was on display.

He wiped his hands on a towel, and I watched as what looked like powdered sugar or flour flew off his hands and landed on his very exposed abs. Abs that led down to that deep V of muscles that trailed beneath sweatpants that were slung low on his hips.

“Are you going to come in or are you going to stand on the porch staring at me?”

My gaze ran back up his body, very slowly, before finally meeting his. “Why don’t you have a shirt on?”

He opened the door wider, and I shook my head to clear it before finally taking a step over the threshold.

“I never wear a shirt at my house.” He shrugged before leaning into me. The smell of his cologne mixed with the hint of tomato sauce surrounded him, and I had to bite my lip not to groan. “But you better stop looking at me like that because we have a visitor.”

“A visitor?” But as soon as the question left my lips, a loud commotion from what I assumed was the kitchen echoed throughout the house.

“Shit,” Mason swore before taking off in that direction.

I watched as he ran through his house, and I shut the door behind me. I didn’t know what kind of visitor he could possibly have, but there was something about it that instantly didn’t sit right with me. If he had another woman here, I couldn’t do it. I knew that we were just friends, but there was still a line.

At least for me there was.

I took a deep breath and took a step in the direction Mason had just disappeared.

Was he still sleeping with other women? The question had bounced through my head over and over the last few days.

Not that they were truly other women since I wasn’t, I don’t know, anything to him really, but the thought of him hanging out with me all evening then leaving to go sleep with someone else made my chest ache.

But I couldn’t ask him. Definitely not in front of another girl.

I stepped into his kitchen and was knocked back a step when something ran straight into my legs. Not something exactly but someone. I barely caught him before he hit the ground.

“Who are you?” He didn’t even wait until I put him back on his feet before he asked the question.

“I’m Staci.” I glanced up at Mason who was stirring something on the stove. “Who are you?”

“I’m Finn.” He picked up the ball from between my feet that he must have been chasing. “I’m Mason’s best friend.”

“You are?”

“Yup.” He bounced the ball against the ground, and it flew back up into the air. “Are you his girlfriend?”

I glanced at Mason again and noticed the small smile that graced his lips before he turned toward his sink.

“No. I’m just his friend.”

Finn tossed the ball toward me, and I caught it before tossing it back.

“Do you want to be my girlfriend?” He grinned at me, an almost toothless grin, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

I sat down on the floor, and he sat down across from me. We began rolling the ball back and forth while I contemplated his question.

“How old are you?”

“Five.” He held up his hand with all five fingers proudly in the air.

“There’s a bit of an age difference. I’m twenty-four.” I tapped my chin. “Do you have any other girlfriends?”

His little cheeks turned pink as he looked up past the island toward Mason. “Yes.”

I shook my head and clicked my tongue.

“But only one more.” He quickly said while looking back at me.

“Are you taking your dating advice from Mason? I don’t date little players.” I bounced the ball toward him, and he scrunched up his nose.

“Don’t take it so hard, Finn.” Mason moved around the island and set a bowl down on the kitchen table. “She won’t date me either.”

He winked at me as Finn’s mouth dropped open and those damn flutters in my stomach started up again.

“My momma says that Mason’s handsome.” He threw the ball again, and it almost went past me.

“She does. Does she?” I cocked an eyebrow up at Mason.

“His momma is my next-door neighbor, by the way.” He pointed out the window to the house next door. “She got called into work tonight and had no one to watch him. I didn’t think you would mind.”

“I don’t.” I quickly shook my head.

Mason reached down and scooped Finn up in his arms which led to a fit of giggles that escaped the little boy. He nuzzled his beard against his neck and little arms and legs flew in every direction as Finn begged him to stop.

Mason finally sat him down in a chair at the table before he laid an inconspicuous kiss on top of his head then he turned to me. I was pretty sure he could actually see my ovaries throbbing.

“You ready to eat?”

“Yea.” I nodded before taking his hand he had reached out to me. His warm, callused hand gripped mine as he pulled me to my feet and right up against him. He leaned in close to me, close enough that Finn couldn’t hear him, and I cursed the chill bumps that broke out across my skin as he whispered words into my ear. “You look gorgeous tonight.”

“Thank you.” I looked over his shoulder to Finn who was hitting his fork against the table.

Mason pushed my hair over my shoulder as he walked past me to the stove. The warmth of his fingers sinking into my skin.

“What are we having for dinner?” I took a seat at the table next to Finn, and he smiled up at me.

“Spaghetti. I hope that’s okay with you. It’s Finn’s favorite.”

“I love spaghetti too.”

Finn held up his little hand to me, and we high-fived as Mason set a bowl of spaghetti on the table. He began filling our bowls with the pasta that actually looked delicious.

Finn reached his hand out for a piece of bread, almost knocking over his drink, and I noted little scratches on his elbow as he finally gripped the bread in his hand.

“What happened to your arm?” I reached for the bowl of spaghetti as Mason held it out.

Finn’s face lit up. “I had a wreck.” He lifted his elbow to try to see the small marks.

“What kind of wreck?”

“A bike wreck,” Finn said through a mouth full of spaghetti. “I’m practicing for when I have a motorcycle like Mason one day.”

My gaze jerked to Mason as he took a bite of his food.

“You have a motorcycle?”

He nodded his head and raised his eyebrows.

How the hell did I not know that?

“How the hell did I not know that?”

I stirred my own spaghetti and took a bite. The taste hit my tongue, and I groaned. It was so much better than I expected. It seemed Mason was full of surprises today.

“You never asked.” Mason wiped spaghetti sauce off Finn’s chin.

“That’s not usually a prerequisite question I ask.”

“For your friends?” He smirked.

“Yes. For my friends.” I rolled my eyes. “I can’t believe I didn’t know you had a motorcycle.”

“It’s his only love.”

“Shh.” Mason laughed as he quickly put his hand over Finn’s mouth.

“What?” He looked up at Mason like he was crazy.

“You’re not supposed to tell all of my secrets, buddy. Some things are supposed to stay just between friends.”

I grinned.

“But she said she was your friend.” Finn looked over at me, confused.

“She is.” Mason laughed. “But do you see how pretty she is.”

They both looked up at me, and I tried to hide the fact that I was just shoving garlic bread into my mouth.

“Yeah.” Finn nodded his head.

“When we have friends that pretty, we have to at least have some secrets from them.” Mason winked at me, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes but couldn’t hide my smile.

Finn studied me like he was trying to memorize every bit of advice that Mason gave him.

“Why do you have so many drawings on your skin?”

“I’m a tattoo artist. It’s what I do. I draw on people’s skin.”

“Cool.” He shot up in his chair. “Will you draw a tattoo on me?”

I looked to Mason, and he winked at me. A wink that did nothing to help me keep him in the friend-zone.

“After we eat, I will. Okay?”

“Okay.” He sat back down on his bottom and started shoveling his food into his mouth.

Mason laughed and patted his little hand that laid on the table next to his.

“Now that I know you’re so interested in my motorcycle, do you want to go for a ride tomorrow?”

“Seriously?” God, it had been so long since I had been on the back of a bike.

“Yeah. I don’t have any plans tomorrow. Do you?”

I quickly shook my head no.

“We could go for a ride through the mountains. It’s supposed to be nice tomorrow.”

“For sure.” Excitement filled me just at the thought.

“Then it’s a date.”

As soon as he said the word, another thrill went through me even though it wasn’t supposed to. Even though I didn’t want that from him.

“You can’t date her. She’s your friend.”

We both looked down at Finn and his face now covered in spaghetti sauce.

“Thank you for reminding me. I almost forgot.” Mason glanced up at me, and my stomach flipped.

“You’re welcome.” Finn tugged on my arm. “Can you draw my tattoo now?”

“Yeah.” I could barely move my eyes away from Mason. “What do you want me to draw?”

“A dragon.”

“Nothing simple then.”

Mason chuckled, and I took the last bite of my food.

“Where do you want this dragon?”

Finn pointed to his right bicep and I nodded my head.

“Your mom won’t get mad?” I glanced up at Mason.

“No. My mom is the coolest.”

“She is.” Mason backed him up.

“Okay. Then let’s get my pens out of my car and I’ll give you the most badass dragon tattoo ever.”

Finn’s eyes lit up then he turned to Mason. “She said ass.”