Claimed by the Alien Bodyguard - Tiffany Roberts Page 0,40
of his eyes.
I want him, too.
Then maybe it was time she allowed herself to reach out and take what she wanted.
Ten
After their trip to the grocery store, Mason took Gabriela and Ana to a couple other stores that had wider selections of clothes, shoes, and coats, telling them to get everything they needed. Gabby insisted it was all too much, that he really didn’t need to do all this. Mason—as big and unmoving as a mountain in this—would hear no arguments.
Though most of the stock available in town was winter wear and the typical outdoorsy stuff, Gabriela and Ana had enough clothing by the time they left the last store to feel almost normal, at least as far as their wardrobes went—especially once they changed into their new clothes. There were even items Mason had added himself, usually when he’d seen Gabriela look at something, see the price tag, and hurriedly return it to the rack.
And even having paid for all that, Mason took them to the little café he’d mentioned a couple days before, where he bought them steaming mugs of hot chocolate with whipped cream piled high over the rims.
When Mason lowered his mug after his first drink of hot cocoa, he had a thick whipped cream moustache left behind, complete with a few chocolate sprinkles that made Gabriela and Ana break out into giggles. He looked at them with narrowed eyes before attempting to lick away the whipped cream, contorting his face and wrinkling his nose to get at it all.
Gabriela and Ana laughed so hard it almost hurt, and for a little while, Gabby’s cares were forgotten.
Despite her humor, she couldn’t ignore just how long and dexterous his tongue was—and she couldn’t stop herself from considering other uses it could be put to. That thought sent a rush of heat to her lower belly, making her core clench and ache with sudden need. She squeezed her thighs together beneath the table, but that didn’t dull the sensation.
Thankfully, Ana provided enough of a distraction with her chatter to take Gabriela’s mind off more…intimate matters.
She never would’ve thought it possible to enjoy a date the morning after losing everything, but she did. Mason was reserved, as he so often was, but he was also incredibly attentive and engaged, allowing Gabriela—and more often than not, Ana—to steer the conversation wherever they liked. Mason laughed and smiled as often as Gabby and Ana, and whenever he did so, his eyes lit up, becoming impossibly more violet.
Gabriela left the café feeling a little lighter, and that was more than she could ever have hoped for. They returned to Mason’s house, and she didn’t allow herself to look across the street at the ruins of her former home. She had to keep moving forward.
Mason, unsurprisingly, insisted on bringing everything inside himself. After a bit of pushback from Gabby, he accepted help—allowing Ana to take a few of the lighter bags. The little girl beamed at that and proceeded to shoo Gabriela inside as Mason looked on with a smirk.
“You need rest, Mom. Go on,” Ana girl said.
“I slept in! That’s more rest than the mother of a crazy nine-year-old can ask for,” Gabriela replied as she stepped into the house.
“I’m nine and a half,” Ana countered.
Gabby chuckled. She paused in the middle of the living room to look back at Mason as he entered. “Where…should we put our clothes?”
He halted just inside the doorway, holding at least twenty bags stuffed with clothing, groceries, and toiletries, and furrowed his brow. There was no question that those bags were heavy, but he showed no signs of strain. “We’ll leave them in the bags for now and put them in the bedroom. I’ll figure something out.”
Mason and Gabriela put away the groceries as Ana hauled the bags of clothing to bedroom. When they were done, the fridge and freezer were full near to bursting, and the previously bare cupboards and pantry were well-stocked. Mason turned to Gabby, smiled, and told her to make herself at home before striding to the front door.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
He tugged open the door and looked at her over his shoulder. “Few more things to get. Be back in a couple hours.”
As though he’d not done enough already, now he was giving them free reign of his home, trusting them while he was away? Where was this man ten years ago, when Gabriela’s ex had abandoned her and her unborn child?