Take a Chance (Chance, #1; Rosemary Beach #7)(30)

Mase picked up his bag and then looked at Harlow. “Where’s your bag?”

“I left it in the kitchen. Let me get it.”

“I’ll get it,” I said, heading to the kitchen before she could finish her sentence. If I wanted to gain her trust back and even slightly crack that wall she had up around herself I had to do anything I could to let her know I was serious.

“I’m confused,” I heard Harlow whisper as I left the room. I just smiled. Good. Confused was a good thing.

A Louis Vuitton duffel bag was sitting on the floor of the kitchen. I went and picked it up. The bag was worn out. I had no doubt this had been a gift from Kiro and she’d carried it for years. This wasn’t something that Harlow would buy for herself.

I brought it back to the door and then opened the door. “Time to go,” I said to both of them, still holding her bag. She glanced down at it and then back at me.

Mase made an amused sound in his throat and rolled his eyes at me as he walked out the door. Harlow followed him but stopped as she got close to me.

“Thank you,” she said simply, then went outside.

This was going to be good for us.

?

Mase climbed into the front seat and I doubted it hadn’t been on purpose. He didn’t want me close to Harlow. He was going to make this hard on me. Fine. I could handle it.

“You good back there?” I asked Harlow, looking back to make sure she had enough leg room.

“Yes, thank you,” she replied as a blush touched her cheeks. Damn, she was beautiful.

I turned back around and cranked the truck. “Rush said this was normal for Kiro. Is there a process on how to find him?” I asked, trying to make conversation.

“Yeah. Harlow calls him. He finally answers and she goes to get him. She’s the only one he listens to,” Mase replied.

I didn’t like the idea of this all falling on Harlow’s shoulders. The man had three grown kids. Why did everything have to be Harlow’s responsibility?

“You can’t call him and get him?” I asked, unable to keep the annoyance out of my voice.

“Dear ol’ Dad has a favorite. He only listens to her.”

“That’s not true. You have your mother and you don’t really need him. You have a good life. Then there’s Nan, and she doesn’t make it easy on him. I’m just . . . I’m just the one that . . .”

“You’re just the special one. He loved your mother. She was his world and when she died you became his world. That’s just the way it is, and I’m damn happy he gives a shit when it comes to you,” Mase told her.

Harlow didn’t say anything. She stayed quiet. I wanted to ask her more. I wanted to know how she was feeling and if she was worried. But Mase was sitting beside me, and now wasn’t a good time.

“I need food. That jet better be stocked,” Mase grumbled.

“It always is,” Harlow replied.

This wasn’t the first time I had been on Slacker Demon’s jet but it was strange getting on it with Kiro’s kids. It had always been with Rush. These two had a dynamic that I’d never witnessed before. Until Mase showed up in Rosemary I wasn’t even aware they were close. I thought Kiro’s elusive son stayed away from that whole world.

“Have you two always been close?” I asked.

“Yes,” they both said.

“Grandmama always took me to stay at the ranch with Mase and his parents when I was a kid.”

“Parents?” I asked, because that didn’t make sense since his father was Kiro.

“My stepdad and my mom. He’s more like my father than my own father,” Mase said with his head resting on the seat and his eyes closed.

I hadn’t realized that. Interesting.

“Harlow’s visits were always something I looked forward to. I thought having a sibling was so cool. Especially one as proper and sweet as Harlow. Getting her all muddy and talking her into riding a horse or feeding the cows was always entertaining.”

Harlow let out a small laugh from the backseat.

Maybe having Mase around wasn’t so bad. At least I’d get a chance to know her better.

Harlow

As soon as we got on the jet, Mase ate a bowl of oatmeal and went to bed. He was not a morning person. I sat down on the leather sofa beside the window so I could look out while I thought about where Dad could have gone instead of the fact that Grant was here. With me.

I didn’t turn to see what he was doing or where he was going to sit down. I wasn’t sure what to say to him now that we were alone. I also hated that my heart sped up when he smiled at me.

His warm body sank down beside me close enough that his arm was brushing against mine. “Hey,” he said simply.

Ignoring him was impossible and it was rude. I wasn’t rude. “Hey,” I replied, glancing over at him then back out the window.

“You worried about your dad?” he asked.

Not really. This was common. “No. Just frustrated that he never seems to grow up.”

“You not gonna look at me?”

I didn’t want to. He made me forget that he was dangerous. “Probably not,” I replied honestly.

Grant chuckled. “That’s a shame. I like looking into those eyes of yours.”

I closed my eyes and swore silently. Why, Grant? Why are you doing this to me? It isn’t fair.