“I just…” I searched for something, any excuse for my freak-out that would allow me to keep my boundaries intact. I’d already broken them once last night, letting a whole room of people know about something I’d never told anyone but Derek. I couldn’t take any more.

Mason’s jaw hardened as if he knew I was preparing to lie to him. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t weave some excuse to a man who’d been so incredibly kind to me over the past twenty-four hours.

“I went to prison. Juvenile detention. For almost three years. Drug possession. I never did drugs, and they weren’t mine, but that didn’t matter. You may not believe me, and that’s okay. I lived in a shelter almost every day since, until I moved into the director’s cottage. My parents will use all of that to try to take Justin and Lyla.”

My voice cracked, a sob breaking free, but I forced the tears down. “I can’t let my parents take them.”

Instead of seeing disgust or disbelief, I saw only understanding. Mason didn’t turn to leave or make an excuse. He didn’t slowly back away like I thought he would. He stayed. “We won’t let them take Justin and Lyla.”

“You can’t promise that. I’m running through everything in my head, and they’re the perfect parents on paper. All they ever wanted was for me to be the perfect daughter. And I couldn’t do it. Now, they’re going to use all of that against me. You don’t know them. You don’t know how good they are at manipulating everything and everyone around them. You’ll probably believe them, too.” My ribs began to ache as the muscles tightened again. “What am I going to do?”

I looked at Mason as if he could actually answer that. As if he could give me the path out of this nightmare of my making. He stared directly into my eyes. “It’s simple. Marry me.”

6

MASON

What in the ever-loving hell had I just said? Had those words really come out of my mouth? They had. Because Anna was sitting here, desperate and panicked and broken. In the two years I’d been coming to the shelter, I’d never seen any of those emotions cross her face. And I would’ve done anything to take them away.

“Are you insane?”

One side of my mouth curved up. “Probably.”

“You can’t marry me.”

“Why not? I don’t have a wife. I’m not seeing anyone.”

She pushed up from her chair and began pacing on the opposite side of her office. This frazzled side to her was almost amusing. Or it would’ve been if the stakes weren’t so high. “You don’t even know me.”