pleasure, and saturate her with sheer sensation. Now, a quickie sounds perfect. I can still give her all that other stuff in round two, right?
There’s no way this is over after one quick tumble. Hell, the way I’m feeling now, I don’t see how this ever ends.
Shit, that’s a complicated thought in and of itself.
We’ll cross that bridge later.
“I can be in the bed, condom on, and ready by then.”
“Thank god.” She reaches for the hem of her dress and starts to pull it up.
I’m determined to watch her every move as I attack my button fly.
But my phone rings. I’d ignore it except it’s the chime I assigned my mother, and she never calls unless it’s important, especially this time of night.
“Fuck,” I hiss as I reach for the device.
“Do you need to get that now?” I hear the whine in Masey’s voice. She’s not happy.
That makes two of us.
“Unfortunately, yeah. Hopefully, this will just take a minute.” Maybe Ranger is just being fussy or she has a question about where I packed the extra diapers.
Please be simple, I silently pray as I press the button to answer.
Chapter Four
“Makuahine?” I mutter as I grip the phone, then hold up a finger to Masey and mouth, Give me a minute.
As I walk into the hall for privacy—where I won’t be tempted by the sight of Masey getting naked—my mother says, “I’m sorry to call. I know you’re…busy.”
Of course she knows. I didn’t tell her I planned to spend the night in bed with Harlow’s best friend, but my mother raised two boys with active sex drives. I haven’t been out in months. She doesn’t have to try too hard to guess what I’m up to.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“I put Ranger in his playpen in the living room with his toys while I finished my dinner dishes. Somehow, I splashed water on the floor, and when I turned to put away the clean pots, I slipped in it and fell. I think I broke my ankle. I can’t get myself up.”
Oh, shit. I can’t leave my mom hurting and stranded on the cold tile, and my son shouldn’t be unsupervised. What if he puts something in his mouth and chokes?
I tamp down worry. “Did you call an ambulance?”
“Not for a broken ankle. I’m not dying, keikikāne.”
I sigh. She’s right.
“Any blood?” Please, god, don’t let the fractured bone have punctured her skin.
“No. But it has swelled. And it’s painful.”
While I’m relieved it’s not a compound break, the fact she’s hurting isn’t good news.
“Okay, don’t move. I’m on my way. Can you call one of your neighbors until I can get there? What about Mrs. Palakiko?”
“She left for the mainland yesterday to visit her son.”
Damn it. “I’m on my way, but I’m at least fifteen minutes out.” I march back into the bedroom, where Masey has already flipped on a bedside lamp. I try to ignore the fact she looks deliciously disheveled as I reach for my shirt on the floor and send her a deeply apologetic glance.
“I can wait,” my mother says in my ear. “It took me that long just to crawl for my phone so I could call you.”
Fuck. That’s bad. This evening has gone from spectacular to shit show in two minutes.
“I’ll hurry. Just…don’t move. Call me back immediately if anything else happens. And call 911 if you need to.”
She agrees, and I hang up, already doing a one-handed shrug into my shirt and gazing at Masey with regret. “I’m so sorry. I have to go. My mom fell and hurt herself. She lives alone and…”
Harlow’s bestie doesn’t hesitate, just grabs her bra and panties off the floor. “Then you need to go. I totally understand.”
“Rain check tomorrow?” I don’t know how I’m going to make that work if my mom can’t watch Ranger. Maybe Noah and Harlow will volunteer?
“Sure. I’m here until the eighteenth, so whenever. I’ll just be doing some product testing and filming.”
“Thanks for understanding. I’m going to make this up to you, honey. I promised you pleasure, and I intend to come through.”
She waves that concern away. “It’s fine. Do you want me to come with you? Do you need help?
It’s tempting, but probably not a good idea. If I introduce Masey to Makuahine, she’ll start hearing wedding bells. I love Ranger more than anything, but he’s turned my life upside down. I still don’t know what day it is half the time. The situation is improving, but the struggle of going from bachelor to