“To me. Not to her, and she’s the one who deserves the apology.”
“It’s not like I’ll see much of her again. Like you said last night, the McGregor sisters don’t run in our circles, and that one is the least sociable of the three, so we’re even less likely to see her.”
“About that.” Mason absently patted Cooper’s head, which was resting on his knee, while the dog stared up at him with slavish devotion. Having never had a dog of his own before, the last year with Coop had been eye opening. It was awesome having a buddy to hang out with during the day but also wholly uncomfortable being the animal’s whole world. For someone who had never had anyone or anything so defenseless depend on him before, Mason still felt somewhat awkward in his new role of sole caregiver to a dog.
“About what?” Spencer prompted, and Mason’s train of thought came back on track with a bump.
“You’ll likely be seeing a bit more of Daisy McGregor than usual over the next couple of weeks. I’ve agreed to be her date to her sister’s wedding.”
“Daisy McGregor’s date?”
“Yes.” Mason took another sip of his—now cold—coffee and grimaced before setting it aside. He got up and moved around his kitchen, getting a pot of coffee brewing, while keenly aware of his brother’s eyes boring into his back.
“Why?” Spencer asked, the word a study in perplexity.
“Because she asked me.”
“Even after overhearing the conversation between us? The chick must be more desperate than I thought.”
“She’s not desperate.” Mason found himself defending Daisy, even while admitting to himself that maybe she had been a little desperate to make the proposition in the first place. “She’s just . . . clever. This way she has a date for her sister’s wedding but without any commitment or emotional entanglements.”
“I’ll be damned.” Spencer’s voice sounded almost admiring. “She used your guilt against you, didn’t she?”
Mason turned to face his brother, trying to keep his expression as neutral as possible.
“You want some breakfast? Bacon and scrambled eggs?”
“I could eat. So how will this whole wedding date business work? I mean, people will know right off the bat that it’s just a pity thing on your side.”
Mason didn’t respond to that, he grabbed the eggs and bacon from the fridge and got busy preparing breakfast.
“Unless she doesn’t care that people will see right through the charade?” Spencer speculated.
“Don’t worry about it,” Mason said, irritated with his brother’s persistence. “It’s not your concern.”
“I feel kind of responsible,” Spencer countered. “I mean, it’s my fault you got mixed up with her in the first place.”
“It is,” Mason agreed with equanimity, while vigorously beating the eggs before dumping the lot into a pan. “But I’m fully capable of taking care of myself, and I wasn’t coerced into doing this. So don’t worry about me; little Daisy McGregor is hardly a threat to me.”
“Little.” Spencer sniggered and Mason glared at him.
“Stop being such a shallow dick, dude. No more snide comments about her; she’s going to be my sort-of girlfriend for a couple of weeks, and I expect you to be on board with that. Got it?”
“Sometimes you’re still such a soldier,” Spencer groused, pouring two cups of coffee from the now-percolating machine and placing a mug on the counter closest to Mason. “Barking orders like a general.”
Mason thought about that before acknowledging to himself that he would always be a soldier. It was ingrained, and he had felt most useful and most alive when he was fighting side by side with his brothers-in-arms. That said, it wasn’t a lifestyle he could, or would, be able to maintain. It came with too much emotional baggage, and if Mason hadn’t left the service when he had, it would have claimed the entirety of his soul.
He divided the eggs and bacon between two plates and slapped one down in front of Spencer, before picking up his coffee and joining his brother at the island again. He casually tossed Cooper an extra piece of bacon, which the dog downed in one gulp before immediately looking up for more.
“That’s all you get,” Mason chastised. “And that’s only because we’re jogging it off later. Go lie down.”
The dog gave him a reproachful look before slinking off to the kitchen rug and lying down, keeping a hopeful eye on the eating men.
“You’re going jogging in this weather?” Spencer asked, and they both glanced out the kitchen window to the torrential downpour outside. It had been threatening to rain for days and had finally started sometime during the night.
“I’ve run in worse,” Mason responded succinctly.
“Seriously?” Spencer looked both impressed and horrified. “Care to elaborate?”
“No.”
Spencer cast him a curious sidelong look before shrugging and forking down more of his eggs and bacon. The men ate the rest of their meal in silence.