to dismiss him yet. He nodded and scooted over so Mason could sit beside him, propped against the headboard.
Oliver jumped out of his bed and climbed up onto Mason’s lap, lying down his chest, his head on Mason’s shoulder.
Mason opened the first book and started reading about pirates and treasure. He got the words out, but his focus was on Oliver and Danny so trusting and sweet, pressed against him.
He loved these boys.
He already thought of them as his own. He wanted a thousand more nights like this with them. And Sierra.
He read one book and then another. The boys settled in and relaxed, their eyes drooping by the time he started book three. They were asleep before the last page, but he read it through anyway, wanting the boys to know he was there watching over them. He settled into the quiet, one arm wrapped around Oliver on his chest, the other around Danny at his side.
Nothing had ever felt this right and poignant and like a wish come true.
If only—
That thought cut off when Sierra appeared in the doorway, fulfilling his thought.
She was finally here.
She stared at him, trying so hard to hide her feelings, but he saw the longing that she wanted this to be their lives and the disappointment that he’d kept something important from her.
Determined to fix it, he gently slipped his arm from Danny’s back, letting him settle into the pillow. He adjusted Oliver into his arms and rose from the mattress, laying Oliver in his own bed and settling him under the covers. Filled with love for the boys, he leaned over and kissed Oliver’s brow, then turned and did the same to Danny.
With one last glance to be sure the boys were settled and sleeping peacefully, he headed to the door and caught up to Sierra at the stairs. He couldn’t help reaching out and brushing his hand down her hair.
She flinched and glanced over her shoulder, giving him a warning glare.
Undeterred, he looked her in the eye and hoped she saw the remorse overflowing from him. “We need to talk.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Sierra walked down the stairs, barely spared her mother a glance, and went right out the front door onto the porch.
“It’s not fair that you come over here and cuddle with my kids and think that will soften me up.” Okay, it had, because, damn, the scene she walked in on was sweet and filled with sincerity because she’d seen the way he held the boys and kissed them good night and it was . . . perfect.
“I came here to talk to you. Spending time with Danny and Oliver was a bonus I didn’t expect, but they knew I was here waiting for you and wanted me to read them bedtime stories. And you know what, I loved it. I love them. And I love you.” He paused.
She stared out at the yard with him at her back, fighting the urge to turn and face him, but knowing she had to because they couldn’t leave things like this.
She tried to mentally prepare herself to look at him and not feel anything, but the second she turned and saw the agonizing pain in his eyes she caved and her heart swelled with the love she couldn’t deny and didn’t want to let go of without giving him a chance. “You lied to me. I asked you to look into the loan, but you already knew what David did with the money.”
“No, that’s not true. I suspected, but I had no facts to back it up. It would be wrong to make an accusation like that to you, not knowing if it was really true or not. What if I’d told you I thought David and Heather had an affair and Hallee belonged to him and it wasn’t true? Do you think I wanted to put you through that without being absolutely certain?”
Sierra sighed. Everything he said made sense. She’d been so obsessed with thinking about David and Heather, what they did behind her back, she hadn’t really thought it through.
Mason had been trying to do the right thing, the right way.
“I’m guilty of withholding my suspicions, and yes, not telling you the second the investigator had all the proof to back them up. I didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t want what they did to hurt you the way it has. I wanted to figure out a good way to tell you, but there wasn’t one. The few times