Boarlander Beast Boar (Boarlander Bears #4)(7)

Beck pulled her phone out of her back pocket and scrolled through her pictures to her recent favorite. In it, Ryder was squatted down by a patch of weeds, blowing dandelion seeds into the wind. She loved taking pictures of him. Mason stared at the screen, his expression unreadable.

“I thought I wouldn’t be able to have a kid,” she rambled. “And then I got Ryder, and I wanted ten more of him.” She pursed her lips. “Me and Robbie tried. A part of me thought another baby would fix what was wrong with us, but that was just desperation in the end. He got a job traveling, working on pipelines right after we got married. He only came home on Saturday nights, and by Sunday morning he was off again.” She shrugged as she remembered the pain of not being enough to keep him home. “It was mostly just me and Ryder, so being separated from Robbie didn’t feel much different. And being divorced just feels like a failure, you know? I don’t miss him because I never really had him, but taking the ring off means admitting defeat. I was in it one hundred percent, but he had…” She forked a tomato to death and sighed. “Sorry. I don’t talk about this stuff either.” She scrunched up her nose. “It’s pretty embarrassing to admit that I gave half a decade to that man.”

“He had what?” Mason asked, handing her back the phone.

“Robbie had other girls who kept his attention better. He said I was boring in the bedroom. He said I was boring at life.”

“Oh, shit,” Mason muttered, chucking his half-eaten burger back into the bag. He draped his arm over the bench on the other side of him and stared at the setting sun, shaking his head like he was disgusted. “I’m sorry I called you boring for ordering that salad earlier. That was f*cked up of me. I didn’t know.”

“Think nothing of it, pork rind. I was unoffended. My skin got real tough. So tell me what I should know going into the Boarland Mobile Park.”

He offered her a surprised glance. “Is that where I’m taking you?”

“Of course. That’s going to be my temporary home.”

Mason gave her power pants and her pink button-up blouse a once over. “You’re going to live in a trailer?” The tone of disbelief in his voice was offensive and uncalled for.

“Yes, I am. But not ten-ten. Cora told me about its magic mojo, and I’m not looking for any of that. I’m going to set up shop in the other empty trailer.”

“Trailers,” he corrected. “There are two empties besides ten-ten now. I don’t live there anymore, so my old house is up for grabs.”

“Wait, what? I thought you were a Boarlander.”

“No, Beck.” He rocked his outstretched work boot from side to side and looked toward the river flowing under the old bridge. “I’m not an anything.”

She studied his profile, from his short, medium-brown hair and his straight, proud nose to his thick beard. His chest rose with every breath, pushing his defined pecs against the fabric of his shirt, and his body was cast in the soft sunset glow. He was masculine and powerful, yes, but sitting here so close to him, he was more. He was rough around the edges, but underneath all that, he was a beautiful soul. She could tell these things. She had more instincts than he knew about because he assumed she was human.

“I know all about feeling invisible, Mason. Like you don’t belong. But you aren’t invisible. To me, you don’t feel like nothing,” she admitted softly.

Mason jerked his gaze to hers, and she could see his animal there in the flash of blue before it faded back to the natural dark color of his eyes. He didn’t smile but, to her, he felt…relieved.

“I think maybe we should start over,” she said. “We were short with each other earlier, but we will be living in close proximity in Damon’s mountains, and I want a good working relationship with you. I mean, not just you, but all the shifters. Including you.” And now she was rambling, so she scrunched up her face and offered her hand. “I’m Beck.”

Mason hesitated on touching her palm, but finally, he slipped his hand against hers for a shake and held it. “Mason.”

Now the tingling sensation was back and, in an instant, it sparked too hot and she yanked her hand away. Mason stared at his palm with an intensity that said she wasn’t the only one who’d felt it. He ran his thumb along his lifeline and murmured, “You don’t feel like nothing either.”





Chapter Four


You don’t feel like nothing either? What the hell was he thinking? Mason needed to get away from this sexy siren, and quick. She was four years younger, and though that wasn’t a deal breaker, she’d lived a completely different life than him. A hard life had made him feel ancient until Damon had saved him, and she was young and optimistic and beautiful. God, so beautiful.

He snuck another glance over to where she had set up a traveling office in the passenger’s seat. Stacks of papers were everywhere—on her legs, on the floorboard, on the console. She had a purple pen stuck behind her ear, which kept her reddish-gold hair off her cheek, giving him a great view of her face. She was fine boned, and her skin fair and smooth. She had a smattering of freckles dusted across her nose and cheeks, and her eyes were the most alluring shade of seafoam green. Her eyebrows were a shade darker than her hair and delicately arched, and though she was petite, her soft tits were bouncing under her shirt with every bump he hit. He couldn’t wait until they got to the extra shitty road in the Boarland Mobile Park.