Until Talon (Until Him 4)

“I’m pretty sure a stalker would do that,” she jokes, and I sigh. “But seriously, Mia, like I told you last night, what do you have to lose if you spend some time with him? Plus, if you’re lucky, you’ll have the memory of his penis. I just hope it’s not small, because that would really suck—not only for you, but for the population of women in the world who are drooling over him.”

I shouldn’t laugh, but I do, and when I sober, I let out a deep breath. “I’m going out with him. Well, not out. He’s taking me to his house and…”

“Banging your brains out?” she cuts me off.

“Oh my God, what’s wrong with you? He’s just making dinner.”

“Well, I still hope he bangs your brains out.”

“Can you please stop?” I groan.

“Sorry. You’re right. I’ll stop.” She pretends to zip her lips closed.

“Thank you. Lord… I think you need to get laid. Maybe it’s time for you to sign up on a dating app or order a new vibrator.”

“Already done. Not the first option, but the second. I don’t need another man.”

“Right now.”

“What?” she asks.

“You don’t need a man right now.”

“Ever.” She takes a glug of water. “I… I just want my girls to be happy and to get myself sorted. I don’t want another man.”

I study her for a moment, wanting so badly to tell her that not all men are the same, but I know I would sound like a hypocrite. She and I have the same issues when it comes to trusting the opposite sex, and I know hers run deeper than mine, given what she has just been through. “I love you,” I tell her instead, and I see her eyes water.

“I love you too.” Her expression softens to a look I’ve seen her give her girls. “I see good things with you and Talon, so I hope you let him in and actually give him a chance,” she whispers then she clears her throat before walking her cup to the sink. She turns back toward me. “I’m gonna head to bed, and don’t worry about getting up in the morning. I’m taking the girls to school, since I don’t have class until after noon and didn’t work tonight.” She comes around the counter, and I turn my stool toward her as she wraps her arms around me. “Love you.”

“Always.” I hug her back, and as soon as she lets me go, she then turns on her heels and heads upstairs. I watch her go, wondering if I should have said something different, wondering if I should’ve tried to convince her that one day she will find love. But then again, it’s hard to try to convince someone else that love exists, when you don’t really believe in it yourself.

CHAPTER 6

Talon

“I DON’T WANT to hear any more excuses. I want to know when the fuck my order will be here,” I growl into my phone while looking at the two-million-dollar log home my brother and I have been working on for months. The house that is supposed to get our business off the ground, a build we hope will set us apart from other builders in the area. Something that would be a fuck of a lot easier to do if we didn’t keep getting hit with delays, setbacks, and suppliers constantly fucking us over. We haven’t been in business long, and we don’t have the pull some of these bigger builders have, which we never considered would be a problem until we broke ground.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Mayson. I’ll get you a delivery date on your flooring as soon as I have one,” the man on the other end of the phone says, and I scrub my hand through my hair. With just a couple more months before our deadline left, and another fucking delay, I’m losing faith in finishing on time for the open house we’ve had planned for months.

“I want it here tomorrow. I know it’s been delivered to your warehouse. Find it and get it to me, or I’ll find another company to purchase from.” I end the call and shove my cell into my back pocket.

“Do you have another supplier I don’t know about?” my brother Bax asks from my side as I stomp toward the house.

“No,” I bite out.

“Just asking.” He sighs as we head up the steps to the porch.

I walk through the front door with him following, and our footsteps echo in the mostly empty space. “Aren’t you tired of them fucking with us?” I glance at him over my shoulder.

“You know I am.”

“Maybe if they think we’ll find someone else, they’ll deliver the shit we ordered on time.” I stop at the large island in the middle of the open kitchen and smooth my hand over the top of the newly laid granite countertop, with rich veins of gold and copper running through the cream of the stone.