Mason: A steamy contemporary military romance (Project Arma Book 4) Read online

  MASON

  Copyright © 2020 Nyssa Kathryn Sitarenos

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be used, stored, or reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for use of brief quotations in book reviews.

  This book is for your personal enjoyment only.

  This book may not be resold or given to other people.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover by Dar Albert at Wicked Smart Designs

  Edited by Kelli Collins

  Proofread by Beth Attwood

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Blurb

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Also by Nyssa Kathryn

  About the Author

  Falling for each other was never part of the plan…

  Doctor Sage Porter has moved to Marble Falls to be the private physician for a group of men unlike any the world has ever known. But she has a second, secret reason for moving to the small town. A reason she can’t share with another living soul…

  Especially not the men under her care.

  Mason Ross is a born guardian. Protecting his team and their families comes naturally, and he’ll do anything to keep them safe—but what if the peril is less than obvious? Like the gorgeous doctor who’s caught his attention. She’s hiding something. And Mason is more than aware that secrets can be deadly, and sometimes the least likely threat poses the greatest danger.

  Getting close is a risk; both Mason and Sage have a lot to lose…including each other, if they can’t work together to survive the coming menace.

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to my editor, Kelli Collins, for your guidance and helping me grow as an author.

  Thank you to my daughter, Sophia, for filling my days with endless love.

  Thank you to my husband. You are an inspiration.

  Chapter 1

  I need you to break into Marble Protection and do something for me.

  Sage Porter read and reread the text message. Indecision clawed at her insides.

  Had the message come from any other person, the decision would have been easy.

  No. A hundred times over, no.

  Sage was not a criminal. Far from it. She was a doctor. She spent her days helping others. Not breaking into businesses.

  But this message wasn’t from just anyone. It was from him. The best friend she hadn’t seen in three years. Her twin brother.

  Jason.

  Scrubbing her hands over her face, Sage had no idea what she was going to do. Her feet felt like they were glued to the floor. If she moved, she’d have to choose—say no to her brother or break the law.

  But she couldn’t choose. So there she stood, in the living room of her one-bedroom apartment, frozen in time.

  It was a Tuesday evening. She’d only just returned from the labs where she’d been studying a blood sample from a very special baby. Baby Fletcher. He was special because he was different. He had different DNA from the average person.

  That was what Sage should be thinking about. At this very moment she should be curled up on the couch in her baggy track pants, going over her notes.

  Not considering breaking into Marble Protection, the local security and self-defense business.

  Letting out a deep sigh, Sage knew she needed to make a decision. And that decision had to be no. She could not break into Marble Protection, or anywhere for that matter.

  Her fingers hovered over the keys, ready to type those exact words. But she hesitated.

  Jason had never asked her for anything. It had been three years since he began working the new job and two years since he’d gone into hiding.

  She missed him. Like going-to-go-crazy-if-she-didn’t-see-him-soon missed him. And right now, he needed her. She couldn’t say no. She physically couldn’t.

  Making a split-second decision, Sage slid the phone into her back pocket and moved to the bedroom. Opening the top drawer of the dresser, she reached toward the back until her fingers wrapped around a key.

  It was a key she shouldn’t have. It didn’t belong to her and no one knew she had it. But she did. Because she’d taken it.

  A week ago, Sage had visited her patient and friend, Lexie Harper. Lexie was the mother of baby Fletcher. During the visit, the other woman had left the room for a moment. The key had been sitting right there on the nightstand.

  Something in her had pushed her to take it. So she had. Slipped it into her pocket like a thief.

  It had been a moment of madness. And she’d sworn to herself that she would return it the next chance she got. But she hadn’t.

  Christ, she was a terrible friend.

  Pocketing the key, Sage left the apartment and headed down to her car before her sanity returned.

  Climbing behind the wheel, she flicked her gaze from the apartment building to the road as she drove away. She’d only been living in the apartment for a week. Before that, she’d been staying at the local inn. Although if things didn’t pan out well tonight, she just might be finding herself in need of another inn room. But this time, somewhere far away.

  Her stay in Marble Falls was only supposed to be temporary. To take care of Lexie during the pregnancy. But after Fletcher was born, Lexie had urged her to stay. Remain Fletcher’s doctor. Lexie’s doctor. As well as the guys’ doctor. Lexie had even offered her old apartment, which was where Sage was now living.

  It hadn’t taken much to convince her. She had her own reasons to stay close to the guys.

  Sage tried to calm her thundering heart at the thought of them. She feared it might actually beat through her chest. The men who ran Marble Protection were former Navy SEALs.

  But they were really so much more than that.

  The men were genetically altered. That meant that they could move faster, hear things from incredible distances, and heal quicker than almost any species on Earth. And they were strong. Stronger than humanly possible.

  So basically, if Sage was caught, she was screwed.

  She had spent the last two years of her life studying their DNA. It was utterly fascinating. Like nothing else on the planet.

  The eight men had been part of a government-funded training program designed to improve their physical performance and decrease recovery time.

  Or so they’d thought.

  In reality, Project Arma had been testing experimental drugs on the men, ultimately turning them into deadly weapons.

  The entire team was fierce. Lethal. And there was no way she wa nted any of them to turn against her.

  There was one man in particular Sage didn’t want to upset. A man whose piercing blue eyes and midnight-black hair consumed her thoughts way too often.

  Mason.

  A shiver coursed down her spine thinking about the sexy, six-foot-five former SEAL. There was no way she wanted to do anything to cause those heated glances he threw her way to turn into anything else.

  Like anger. Disappointment.

  Pulling into a parking space around the back of the building, Sage switched off the car and sat there. Her hands were ice cold and trembling as the reality of what she was here to do set in.

  Grabbing the rearview mirror, Sage turned it so she could see her reflection. Yep, she looked like she felt, as frightened as a person on death row.

  Calm down, Sage, you’ll be fine. It will be a quick in and out.

  Although, she didn’t actually know if it would be a quick in and out, because she didn’t know what Jason needed. She’d never asked. She had just driven down here like a crazy lady, desperate to do anything that would help her brother.

  Pulling out her phone, Sage sent a quick message to Jason. It took her trembling fingers several goes to hit the right keys.

  What do you need me to do at Marble Protection?

  Her eyes were glued to the phone screen. Whenever she sent a message to her twin brother, she couldn’t tear her gaze away. She was desperate for his responses. For any communication with him.

  He didn’t take long.

  I need something from the office.

  The office. As in, the place the guys keep all their business stuff. Likely, their private and confidential stuff.

  Crap.

  Shutting her eyes, Sage blew out a long breath. Quick in and out. Maybe if she repeated it enough times, she would start to believe it.

  Climbing out of the car, Sage moved to the back door of the building. Every step sounded loud in the eerie quiet.

  Slotting the key into the back door, Sage paused.

  What if there was an alarm? Jeepers, she hadn’t considered that possibility.

  If there was an alarm, she wouldn’t have the first idea how to switch it off.

  Darn it. Maybe she should turn around? Surely there was another way she could help Jason. Bring him home.

  Sage pulled out her phone.

  I don’t think I can break in, Jase. There must be another way to help you.

  The response took a few seconds to come through.

  Sage, I need you to do this for me.

  He needed her to do this. He needed her. Oh, darn it to hell.

  Sage looked up at the sky and said a silent prayer. A prayer for no loud beeping alarm to sound, no flashing lights, and no former SEALs running in with guns trained at her.

  She didn’t think that was too much to ask. Surely.

  Releasing a shaky breath, Sage lowered her gaze back to the door and turned the key. Pushing the door open, she scrunched her eyes shut and waited.

  Ten seconds passed, and nothing. No deafening siren, no flashing light. Just heart-pounding silence and darkness.

  Good. This was good. Maybe she would actually be able to get in and out without being noticed.

  Stepping inside, Sage quickly shut the door behind her. The only light came from her phone. Turning the flashlight function on, she used it to lead the way down the hall.

  She’d been to Marble Protection a few times. Rooms led off from the hall that she knew were used for meetings, small group classes, and individual self-defense sessions. At the end of the hall, her gaze scanned the front desk and then the large area to the right covered in mats.

  It was strange to see the place under the cloak of darkness. The few times she’d visited, there’d been noise. The hustle and bustle of the men running sessions, of people moving around. Because this wasn’t just their place of work, it was the little sanctuary that they’d created.

  And Sage was breaking into that sanctuary.

  Pushing down the guilt, she turned to the office and moved inside. On autopilot, she reached for the light switch, only to pull her hand back.

  No. The dark felt safer.

  Sage quickly sent a message to Jason, letting him know she was in and again asking what he needed.

  As she waited for a response, her eyes scanned the room. On the shelf to her left, she noticed a framed picture. Out of curiosity, she slowly walked over to it and lifted the frame. She shone the flashlight onto the picture and eight deadly men stared back at her. The owners of Marble Protection.

  Her gaze moved over each person. When she reached the last man, her gaze held.

  Mason.

  Beautiful. Beautiful and rugged and powerful. He was the perfect mixture of all three. The guys called him Eagle. She assumed it was because he watched out for people. Because he was a protector. Although, she’d never been told the story behind the name.

  You only had to take one look at the man to know he was a protector. He observed what went on around him, then he acted. Always looking for a threat.

  At the flash of a text message on her phone, Sage started so badly that the picture slipped from her fingers. The sound of shattering glass pierced the silence.

  Cursing herself for being so clumsy, she ignored the broken glass for a moment to read the message from Jason.

  I need you to gather any information on the child that was born.

  * * *

  Eighteen.

  That’s how many people were in AJ’s Bar. Eighteen people. And Mason could hear the heartbeat of every single one of them.

  Most days, he blocked it out. Most days there was too much noise and not enough silence. But tonight, he listened. Because he was on edge, and a person’s heart rate told you a great deal about them. Whether they were relaxed. Happy. Scared. It gave away a lot. Almost everything.

  “You look tense, Eagle.”

  Mason pulled his attention from the crowd to look at Kye. Better known to his team as Cage. Next to him sat their teammate Wyatt. The team called him Jobs because he was a damn genius with technology.

  Both men were his business partners but felt more like brothers. Both men were as dangerous as him.

  “I am tense.”

  There was no point in lying. They could spot a lie as easily as him.

  Wyatt set down his beer. “It wouldn’t be because of a certain blue-eyed doctor, would it?”

  The reason he was tense had a lot to do with her. But then, there had rarely been a time in the last few months that she wasn’t affecting him in some way. “Sage always has me tense.”

  Tonight, he wasn’t just tense because he couldn’t get her delectable curves out of his mind. No. Tonight, it was because less than fifteen minutes ago, the curvy doctor had received a message on her phone. A message from her brother asking her to break into Marble Protection, the business owned by him and his team.

  And the only reason Mason had seen the message was because about a month ago, he’d inserted a device into her phone that forwarded to him every message she sent or received. Sage knew nothing about that, though.

  Was it ethical? No. Hell no. But he didn’t feel guilty about it, either. Not when the pretty doctor was keeping things from his team. Things that could be dangerous to her or them.

  He’d known she was hiding something because just a few months ago, Mason, Asher, and Bodie had searched her room at the inn. They’d found a bag that she had hidden inside a cushion cover. Within the bag had been a gun, cash, a burner phone, and a photo of Sage with her twin brother, Jason.

  “Damn, he’s going to be the next one to get snapped up,” Kye laughed.

  Wyatt nodded as he lifted the beer to his lips. “That will be half the team down.”

  Mason continued to cradle his beer but had yet to take a drink. He wanted to have his wits about him if he needed to move. “She’s our doctor. We’re keeping a close eye on her. That’s it.”

  That was it for now. The guys didn’t need to know that every t ime he was in the woman’s presence, it took every ounce of his willpower not to reach for her and run his hands down her body.

  Christ, he was getting hard just thinking about her.

  Glancing back down at his phone, Mason noticed that Sage had yet to confirm whether she was going to do as Jason asked. He honestly had no idea what she would do. He didn’t think Sage was the kind of person to break and enter. What he’d learned about her so far was that she was a good person.

  But Mason knew that when it came to protecting family, all bets were off.

  “You still tracking her phone messages?”

  Mason looked up at Kye’s question. The guy had caught him checking his phone. Both men had. They’d probably caught him the last ten times he’d checked.

  “I am.”

  The disapproving look he received wasn’t new. Far from it. The whole team disagreed with Mason’s actions. They wanted a more direct approach.

  But Mason believed that if Sage wanted a direct approach, she would have brought up the go bag and her mysterious brother herself. There was a reason she hadn’t come to them. And the last thing he wanted to do was scare the doctor out of town.

  Kye’s gaze didn’t leave Mason’s. “I still don’t think that was the right decision, Eagle. It’s an invasion of the woman’s privacy.”

  “Not to mention the whole reason she moved to Marble Falls was to help us. Lexie in particular,” Wyatt added.

  Sage may have moved to town to help with Lexie’s pregnancy, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t more to the story.