Relentless (Mason Family 4)

“Wanna?” he asks, shaking them around.

“Wanna … what?” I gulp. “Fix a cabinet or …”

He chuckles. “How about we go upstairs and—”

“Yes.” I scramble off the chair. “Yup. Let’s do that.”

He wraps his arm around my waist and laughs. “And fix the curtain rod?”

I smack his chest. He catches my wrist and holds my hand to him. His heart races as fast as mine.

“I love you, Shaye.”

“I love you.”

He takes my hand and leads me toward the door.

“What about the steaks?” I ask, looking over my shoulder.

He stops at the door, groaning, and jogs back to the grill. The steam slows, and the sizzling dies down. Then he turns to look at me.

I study his handsome face.

What does this look like between us? I have no idea. Maybe it’s me moving in tonight, maybe it’s keeping my house for a year. I’m not sure yet. We’ll get there, though, because our love is real. Continuous. Lasting. It’s imperfect and vulnerable.

It’s relentless.

“I just want to be clear,” I say, biting my bottom lip.

“What’s that?”

I motion for him to come to me. He smirks but obliges me. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and look into his eyes.

“I really, really want to have your babies someday,” I say, feeling my body clench at the idea. “Let’s—ah!”

He picks me up, throwing me over his shoulder, and carries me into the house.

Epilogue

Oliver

Two months later …

“I’m worried about you.” I lean against the fireplace and look at my mother. “Are you okay?”

She laughs, her eyes sparkling. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this look in her eyes.

“You’ve been cursing—strategically,” I point out.

“I’m old enough to say a few errant words, Oliver.”

“And you’re letting Boone eat in the living room.” I motion toward my youngest brother with a plate full of ribs on my mother’s white sofa. “And there’s a dog running through your house.”

My mom swishes her water with lemon around in a fancy glass. “Fluffy is the very best boy in the whole world.”

“Excuse me?” Coy comes up beside her and slings his arm around her shoulder. “I think I’m the very best boy. That is, until my son gets here.”

“I’m happy to let him have the title until I get my own boy here.”

Mom gasps. “Do you have something to tell me?”

“Me? No.” I laugh. “Dammit, I wish I did, though.”

Mom’s gaze follows mine across the room.

“Maybe soon,” she says wistfully. “Maybe soon, Ollie.”

“Yeah.”

I watch as Shaye talks animatedly with my brothers’ wives and girlfriends. They laugh as Bellamy shows them something on her phone. I don’t know what Blaire says with her dry sense of humor, but I think Shaye is going to fall off her chair.

It’s … everything.

“I’m gonna go find Wade and Dad,” Coy says. He kisses Mom on the cheek before climbing the stairs to the study.

“How’s he been?” I ask Mom.

She glances up the stairs. “Your father has been doing really well. Very well. He struggles some days, but he’s battling through treatment and is trying. That’s all we can ask. I’m really proud of him.”

“I’m proud of you too.” Her gaze shifts back to me. “Boone told me that you asked him to take over some projects at work so you could spend more time at home.”

“Of course he did.”

She laughs. “He was really happy.”

“Yeah, well …”

I look back at Shaye.

I always thought I was building this great big life. The more time I put into my job, the more I was going to get out of it. Little did I know that all of the things I hoped to obtain had very little to do with what happens at Mason Limited.

The important parts of my day are dinners with Shaye on the patio. Mornings in the wicker room, as she calls it. It’s Saturday picnics at Forsyth Park and Steel Magnolias for the millionth time on Sunday afternoons.

It’s repainting the living room and having Nate over for a beer and a football game.

Turns out, he’s not a bad guy.

I wouldn’t say I wasted my life until I met her, but it would be a waste to put all of my energy into those things now. There is more to life than work, something I’m realizing earlier than my dad. Thankfully.

“Boone is capable,” I say before taking a sip of my tea. “He’ll do great.”

“I know he will. He learned from the best.”

“She means me.” Holt comes up beside me and pushes his fist into my stomach. “We’re going to have to get Boone an EA now. That might set his ego over the edge.”

We all laugh, knowing it’s true.

Mom’s phone buzzes on the end table next to her. She picks it up and frowns. “Poor Riss.”

“What’s going on with Larissa?” I ask.

“It’s Hollis.” Mom types out a quick text and then sets her phone back down. “They were supposed to be here for dinner tonight, but he got some bad news about his sister. I just hate this for him.”