Delivering His Gifts (Mountain Men of Liberty #10)- K.C. Crowne Page 0,18
back in long ringlets. She was gorgeous and likely just old enough to be working in the bar. Most of the men in the place were staring at her body, but not Mason. His eyes were on me. Attention like that could do wonders for the self-esteem - not that mine was low or anything. I knew I was pretty. But I also wasn't a twenty-one-year-old redhead with a tiny waist either. I’d had a kid and at least ten years on the waitress.
“So you never answered my original question.”
“What question was that?” he asked, taking another pull from his beer.
“Why did you go into the service and decide to become a medic?”
“Oh yeah, well, it’s not the most interesting story, let me tell ya,” he said with a shrug. “My dad and grandpa were both in the military, and my brothers and I always looked up to them. My oldest two brothers - Graham and Sam are twins and they went into the Navy like our father. The rest of us followed suit when we were old enough to join. For me, I wanted to follow our grandpa, who I was really close to. He was also a medic and his stories about serving in World War II always fascinated me, so when the time came to enlist, I figured why not follow in his footsteps?”
“And was it a good decision?”
Mason sighed and leaned back into the booth. He stared off into space for a second, not focusing on anything. I thought he might not answer me, but eventually, he said, “Yes and no. There are experiences that made me who I am today. Good experiences. I learned a lot. But there were other experiences I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I’d prefer to leave it at that.”
“And you’re certainly within your right to do that,” I said.
He’d not asked me much about my life or Greg, and I appreciated that he didn’t dig into my personal life. I owed him the same respect, even if I did have a desire to know more about my handsome, strong client.
“So you’ve always liked dogs?” he asked, obviously happy to change the subject.
“Not just dogs, all animals,” I said. “My family ran a small farm, and I grew up with chickens, turkeys, goats, and a couple horses too. We had several acres of land, and my mom was a softie. She always took in stray dogs and cats. We had so many, most of them animals that were overlooked or abandoned. Dogs missing limbs, cats missing eyes, you name it.”
“Sounds like you take after your mother then,” Mason said with a genuine, sweet smile.
“I did. She was an amazing woman.”
“Was?” Mason cocked an eyebrow.
“She died of breast cancer five years ago, sadly,” I said softly.
“I’m sorry to hear that. It’s never easy losing a parent.”
“You’ve had that unpleasant experience as well?” I sipped my Coke, and because of the seriousness of the topic, I wished I had some rum to put in it.
“Yeah, my dad died not that long ago,” he said. “Which is what brought me to Liberty, in fact.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yep. He was looking for my half-brother, Jack. He never found him, but my brothers and I did - it was my father’s dying wish.”
Mason averted his eyes, staring at the beer bottle in front of him. There was a sadness there, one I wished I could wipe away.
“Alright, let’s change the subject to something not so depressing,” I said.
Mason looked up at me, and there was a curious look on his face. He studied me for a second before saying, “You made me promise I would only talk about work and I—”
The way my name rolled from his tongue sent chills down my spine. His southern drawl was so damned sexy, he could recite the alphabet and I’d go weak in the knees. But something about hearing my own name… well, that was a whole other level of hot right there.
“You’ve been a perfect gentleman, Mason. Thank you.”
Mason turned the bottle around in his hands.
“What?”
“Well, I need to drive at some point, and since it’s getting late, I figure I better stop drinking.”
Again, I didn’t want the night to end. Even though I knew, at some point, we’d have to part ways and I’d have to go back to my lonely house without my daughter and try to sleep. It had