Page 235 of Rogue Riders Duet

That’s when I know.

I’m stupid for Mason Payne.

Just as stupid as I am for Petite.

And that should be a problem, because I’ve never been stupid for anyone before, and now it’s two people. But she said she’s stupid for Greer too. So maybe it’s okay to be stupid for two people?

Maybe love doesn’t have to pick sides.

Maybe she won’t mind if I don’t either.

If Mason wants that.

I watch him loving on Toulouse so closely that I see the moment his chest swells again, too fast. He’s still hurting and trying to hold it all in, and now he’s sniffling, and I’ve had enough.

“Fuck this,” I mutter, taking my son from Mason’s hands and setting him back in his cage.

“Wha—”

I scoop him up before he can finish, one arm under his knees, the other around his back. He startles, but doesn’t pull away, letting me carry him, even though he’s still all tense limbs and that unfairly gorgeous face.

He bounces softly in my arms when I sit on the bed, and I shift until his legs drape over mine, then curl my arms around his calves.

“Why are you about to cry again?” I ask, holding him tight and scanning his face.

“I don’t know. It’s just… it’s too much. I don’t know how to handle everything.”

My stomach sinks at his admission. I want to fix it all and wrap him in bubble wrap.

“Then let’s handle everything together,” I offer, meaning every word. “You don’t have to do this alone.”

He lets out a shaky breath. “That’s one of the things that’s hard to handle.”

“What is?”

His lashes lift just enough to meet my eyes, and I have to stop myself from counting every little beauty mark like I’m trying to memorize a map of him. “You. You are difficult to handle, Luc.”

“That’s nothing new, but I’m willing to change. I’m willing to try⁠—”

He cuts me off with a chuckle. “You don’t get it.” I swear my heart skips a beat as his fingertips brush my chin. He holds my face, thumb stroking across the stubble, and butterflies explode under my ribs. “Handling you was hard when you were an asshole, but handling you while you’re being nice?” He leans in, breath ghosting my cheek. “It’s even harder.”

Everything in me stills as his lips brush my jaw and then explodes when I realize that he’s kissing me.

He presses another kiss to my skin, closer to my ear this time, and whispers, “Is that okay?”

God, I want to scream my answer. Yes, kiss me, ruin me, make me yours.

But then my brain flashes with dark hair and sharp eyes—Petite—and the promise I need to make.

“Mason. Not yet.”

He startles, eyes widening with something that looks a lot like hurt. I shake my head and cup the back of his neck, then press our foreheads together. “I just have to take care of a few things first, okay? Give me some time to do that. Then, nothing will hold me back. You’re so damn kissable.” I kiss his cheek, then whisper against his skin, “So damn hot and fuckable.”

He vibrates against me, and I’m scared he’s going to cry again, but then I pull back to see him smirking.

“I’m a top, Luc.”

My jaw drops, but before I can even process the onslaught of ideas that gives me, there’s a knock, and the door creaks open.