Page 24 of Sin
The prototype.
The two months.
His wife.
Then the last thought hits, cold and sharp, slicing straight through the heat.
His wife.
I step back so fast I nearly stumble. Mason’s hand twitches like he wants to catch me, but he doesn’t.
I shove my arms into my blouse with shaking hands, suddenly furious that I let the moment get that far. Furious that he did. Furious that some part of me wanted him to go further.
“You don’t get to say things like that to me,” I say.
His expression tightens. “Laurel—”
“No.” I button the blouse wrong, realize it, and give up halfway. “You really don’t. Not after vanishing. Not after walking in there and acting like I owe you an explanation. And definitely not when you’re married.”
The word hangs there and Mason looks away first. It should feel like a victory.
It doesn’t.
His phone lights up on his desk. Then it starts ringing. The name on the screen is clear from where I stand.
Jenna.
A bitter laugh presses against the back of my throat, but I swallow it down because I refuse to give him that too. So, I walk toward the door.
“Laurel.”
I stop with my hand on the knob.
Behind me, his voice is quieter now. “I didn’t come back tonight because of Jack.”
My fingers tighten around the handle.
I don’t turn around. “No?”
“No.”
My heart beats once.
“Then why did you come back?”
Finally, he says, “Because I read your report.”
I close my eyes. Coward.
I open the door and glance over my shoulder. “Then send feedback by email like everyone else.”
I leave before he can stop me or before I turn around and ask the question that’s been eating me alive for two months.
If he stayed away because of me…
What the hell happens now that he’s back?
Monday comes far too soon. For half a second, I think about calling in sick, but I don’t. Mostly because hiding from Mason Sinclair feels too much like giving him something, and I’m already annoyed that he’s been living rent-free in my head all weekend.
