Taken Home (Lone Star Burn) Read Online Free PDF

“My ‘good-guy persona’ will shove its boot up your ass if I see you around Chelle again tonight.”
    Mason flashed his teeth at David and leaned in threateningly. “I didn’t get where I am today by letting anyone tell me what I could and couldn’t do. I don’t want to fight with you, David. Not at a wedding, but if you take it there, you won’t like the outcome.”
    “You think you’d last longer than a second in a real fight?” David went nose to nose with him. “Your confidence is overblown from those fancy gym punching bags. Don’t make me prove it to you.”
    “So this is where the party is,” Charles said, deliberately making light of the tension between the two men. “They’re cutting the cake inside, but it might be best if you two stay out here until they put the knife away.”
    Neither Mason nor David looked away from their standoff.
    Charles admonished them. “Seriously, whatever you’re arguing about, shelve it for tonight. This is a big day for my sister. I want people to remember her wedding because it was beautiful, not because you two jackasses had a drunken brawl.”
    “One drink,” Mason said tightly.
    “Stone sober,” David added.
    “Then what the fuck is the problem?” Charles asked impatiently.
    “No problem. I believe I made my point.” David gave Mason one last warning look before walking away.
    Mason held back the smart-ass retort that came to him, but only out of respect for what Charles had just said. It was, after all, his best friend’s sister’s wedding. “You must love it here, Charlie. These people are as uptight as you are.”
    “What point did he feel he needed to make?” Charles asked.
    Mason shrugged. “He saw me talking to Chelle and couldn’t handle it.”
    Charles rocked back on his heels and pocketed his hands in his trousers. “Stay away from her, Mace. She’s not like the women you’re used to.”
    Mason rubbed the cheek she’d slapped. “So I’m beginning to see.”
    “I’m serious. Most of these people were born here. They marry local, and they intend to die here. Some families settled here generations ago. Reputations matter. Don’t do anything that will make it hard for Chelle to face her neighbors tomorrow.”
    “You mean, don’t do anything that will make it hard for you .”
    “That too.”
    Mason let out a long sigh. “Do you want me to leave? You know, before I corrupt the whole town?”
    Charles ran a hand through his hair. “No. You’re a good friend, and it means a lot to Sarah that you came. You were late, but you came.”
    “Maybe I would have gotten here quicker if your sister hadn’t decided to marry someone in cow-tipping country.”
    Charles gave a flicker of a smile at that. “It’s not that bad.” Then he sobered. “You really don’t have any business messing with someone like Chelle. She’s a good woman. She deserves . . .”
    Mason frowned. “Someone better?”
    Charles pinched the bridge of his nose and seemed to be choosing his words carefully. “You’re with a different woman every night. Sometimes more than one at a time. I don’t judge your lifestyle—”
    Irritation spread through Mason. “It sure as hell sounds like you do.”
    “Mason, I get why you don’t let yourself get attached to women. What you do with your personal life isn’t my business, unless you bring it here. I don’t know how to say this any more nicely. I’m happy with Melanie. The next wedding this town sees will likely be ours. If you fuck that up for me, I don’t know if we could get past it.”
    “How much of a bastard do you think I am?”
    Charles didn’t say a word, but his silence was his answer.
    “That’s just fucking great,” Mason said harshly. He shook his head in disgust. “Believe it or not, I have no intention of having sex with anyone in this godforsaken town. Saint Chelle is safe. I’ll fly out right after the reception.”
    “Thank you,” Charles said, then smiled. “How about we go get some