Page 5 of Revived My Heart

Chapter 3

~ Mason ~

She asked for help, I should have said no. But you know, all that hindsight crap. It might have been better for me anyway.

Oh well.

I said yes, I’d help.

And here I was, begging any friend I had to come check out the diner so she could have a possible staff.

I didn’t know this woman, but sure I was willing to help out.

Who was I, and what happened to Mason?

“Thank you.”

I looked up from the piece of wood I was carrying in and lifted a brow at her in question. Over the last few days, I had done quite a number of things, so I wasn’t exactly sure what she was saying thank you for now.

“For?”

“Doing all of this to help me. You didn’t have to. Especially as I’m a stranger.”

I sat the wood down and then crossed my arms to look at her, because she wasn’t wrong, she was a stranger.

But over the last few days, I’ve gotten to know her. Even more, beyond the work given that she’s been staying with me. That was totally by accident, and I was just trying to be nice. Again, this wasn’t my normal, but I didn’t have the heart to be a jerk to her either.

Her place wasn’t ready for her to move into, so she needed a place to rest her head. I offered up my room while I took the couch. She fought me on it but finally agreed.

Did I mention I was pretty stubborn if I didn’t get my own way?

Which is why I often did.

But the flip side to that is that I was stuck with a gorgeous woman in my house. And that gorgeous woman was doing all kinds of things to me that I hadn’t felt in a long while.

In fact, if I was being honest, another thing I didn’t want to do but it seemed I was going to be doing was that even all the ladies I had been with didn’t make me feel what I was feeling now. Personally, that was dangerous to my sanity.

“Well, roomie,” I teased her, making her smile, “I don’t think you're a stranger much these days, right? I mean, you did see me almost naked.”

Her blush at the memory was the dang cutest thing ever and I found it was probably one of my favorite past times with her. Though I'm sure there were plenty of other past times I’d love.

“You are not going to let me live that down, are you?” I shook my head at her question. “Anyway,” she said, giving me a pointed look, “I wanted to thank you for all your help with the diner. I have a full staff, customers, and you’ve been gracious with your time in helping me fix it up.”

“I like to think that plenty of people would help you out. Especially up here. We believe in helping hands.”

“You would think that, but trust me, I know plenty of people and plenty of towns that aren’t like that.”

Once more, that look crossed her face; the look that told me there was something in her past she wasn’t going to share, something big that happened. I didn’t blame her. I hadn't shared a lot of my own past, other than the picture on the wall was of my late wife. But I hadn't gone into all the details, and she didn’t push for more either.

“I guess that’s true. There are all kinds of dicks around the world, and that’s not any different for any small towns or mountain towns.”

She laughed at that and I smiled as well, enjoying her laugh just as much as her personality. It was kind of sad because after my wife passed, I never thought I'd want to make a woman smile outside of sex, but that was not the case with this woman. And she was all woman; there was no two ways around that.

Sadly, I wasn't the only one who noticed. My dick did too. But so did a few other single men around these parts

And if I was going for all our honesty today, I didn't like that one bit, but I wasn't quite sure I was up for changing the dynamics yet.

~ Patty ~