With a sick feeling deep in her stomach, she swiped her phone open and read the texts.
UNKNOWN: I miss you.
UNKNOWN: Why don’t you answer me? I know you still love me.
UNKNOWN: Do you just enjoy torturing me?
UNKNOWN: I would never do this to you, Gabi. You know I love you.
UNKNOWN: We will get back together. You’ll see.
UNKNOWN: Please just answer me, Gabs, I just want to talk.
UNKNOWN: This isn’t like you. You aren’t this mean.
Her head swam and tears pressed hot against the back of her eyes. She sat down on the small sofa in the corner and put her head in her hands.
Just breathe in, she told herself, and then out.
And she did, for several minutes, she just breathed. This was the way he worked, the way he always worked. He would try and make her feel bad and then reel her back in.
She shook her head, not this time. Not now. She knew his tricks; she knew he didn’t have the capacity to really love. This was an ego thing.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
And she now had a support system that understood how to help her, a new career, a new life. She wouldn’t jeopardize that for anyone. Matt had made her believe that she was stupid and incapable of success for years. Not anymore.
Feeling a thousand times better and a lot more motivated, she texted Kylie the good news about Mrs. Finch and then scanned the designs to send to Mason.
She tried to ignore the thrill that skittered through her at the thought of Mason picking up his phone to see a text from her. Would he smile? Would he think about their almost-kiss? Lord, she hoped so. It seemed only fair, since it was all she had thought about.
Her fingers shook while she typed out a message to accompany the designs. She needed to sound completely detached. He didn’t need to know what he did to her. But she had to admit, she was grateful at his ability to completely banish Matt from her thoughts.
After spending far too long contemplating what to send, she just wrote the most basic thing she could.
GABI: Mrs. F approved these designs for the master suite today. She would like you to build the feature wall if you’re available.
With the designs attached, she sent the text and held her breath like a thirteen-year-old. And then deflated when he didn’t text back instantaneously.
Good Lord, she was pitiful.
Mason
Mason indeed smiled when he picked up his phone to find a text from Gabi. She had been all he had thought about since she left his shop on Saturday.
He didn’t even care that it was work-related. In fact, he was grateful. This gave him an excuse to create a way to see her again. For the sake of the design, of course.
He’d kiss Mrs. Finch right now if he could for this opportunity, even if her requests were going to bog him and his guys down for weeks.
Waiting as long as he could, he texted her back about an hour later. He didn’t want to seem as if he had nothing better to do. Which drove him crazy. When had he ever cared what a woman thought about the speed of his texts?
MASON: We’ll be able to fit it in. Can we meet at the Finch house to discuss the feature wall? I just want to make sure I’m interpreting your design properly. It’s really innovative.
Actually, he loved it. She was crazy talented, but he didn’t want to play his hand too early.
He didn’t hear back for at least an hour. He supposed he deserved that. Even if it irritated him.
GABI: Thank you. Do you have time tomorrow? I’ll be busy for the rest of the week.
His delight in hearing back from her was immediately replaced by the desire to know why and with whom she was going to be with. In a matter of seconds, he was jealous of a purely fictional person he had created from thin air. He would have to try to get info from her tomorrow when he was, of course, available.
MASON: I do, will ten work?
GABI: Yes.
MASON: See you then.
He waited longer for a response than he would ever admit but never got one.
Still, he made his way home that night with a smile on his face. He would see Gabi tomorrow and, this time, he was going to make sure she got the kiss that she so clearly wanted and he so desperately wanted to give her.
She had featured in every single one of his dreams since the moment he had met her, and their almost-kiss had ramped his fantasies up from one X to four.
His phone buzzed in his hand just as he was walking into his house. It was later than usual—part of taking on so many projects, but he didn’t mind. His job was his baby, his creation. He loved every minute of it.
Yawning, he swiped the message from Seb.
SEB: Hey man, you up for a drink tonight?
Ugh. No, he just wanted to sit on the couch and ... Shit. What was he turning into? Three weeks ago, he would have jumped at the chance. He felt like a fifty-year-old divorced dad who just needed some “time to himself.” “Fuck that,” he said out loud.
MASON: Sure man, where at?’
SEB: How about Mo’s? Good show tonight.
He made a face. He hated jazz. The only reason he ever listened to it was because it was Seb’s love, but Christ almighty, if Seb wasn’t playing, he didn’t want to hear it. It just sounded like noise to him.
MASON: Nah. Sports bar or you’re on your own.
He could feel Seb’s sigh from across town.
SEB: Fine. Oscar’s.
MASON: Cool. See you in 20.
SEB: Twenty.
Oscar’s was a typical sports bar, giant television screens as far as the eye could see—maybe too many. It was hard to stay focused on one game when there were five others going on around you, but they had killer wings. Which he ordered quickly because he was, of course, there first.
Seb wandered in about twenty minutes late. “Hey, man,” he said as he sat on the stool next to him at the bar. “Sorry I’m late.”
Mason laughed at the outright lie but gave him a friendly pat on the back. “It’s good to see you. How are things going?”
“Pretty good, we’ve been getting ready for the European tour—lots of practice.” He ordered a beer from the bartender and proceeded to flirt shamelessly with her for a few more minutes before turning back to his brother. He looked at Mason with confusion.
“What?”
Seb looked at the bartender and back to him. “Did you strike out with her?”
He had no idea what he meant, and his face showed it.
“Because, normally, you’d have a chick like her locked in for the night by the time I showed up.”
Mason blinked and then looked at the bartender. She was every bit of exactly what he used to go after—thin, leggy, long hair, tits everywhere. But looking at her right now, he felt nothing. Not even a blip of interest. Fuuuuuck. Panic seized his throat for a second, but he swallowed it. “Got something else I’m working on,” he said, trying to sound mysterious and cool but failing at both.
Seb stared but then shrugged after a moment. “Well, I guess that’s just good news for me,” he said, and downed his entire beer before ordering another one.
They chatted about AdamsMade and Seb’s tour all the while Mason kept track of the alcohol his brother was consuming. It was alarming.
“She must be something,” Seb said after a couple of hours.
“What do you mean?”
He grinned as if he had a secret. “Because you haven’t looked at a single female since I showed up.”
Shit.
“And I know it’s not because you find me fascinating.”
Mason laughed. “She is,” he answered truthfully. “Hottest fucking body you’ve ever seen and a brain to match.”
“Clearly, or you would be with her right now, wouldn’t you?”
He shrugged.
“Smart girl.”
“Fuck you.”
Seb laughed and then made short work of making sure the bartender was going home with him. “Well, if I ever meet h
er, I am going to buy her a drink.”
If he ever had her, Mason wasn’t going to let her anywhere near Seb.
Chapter 11
Gabi
“I can’t believe you are dragging me here,” Kylie whined as they pulled up to the Finch house the next morning. “Mason will be here, you’re not alone or anything.”
She didn’t bother to offer that Mason was exactly the reason she didn’t want to be alone. “It won’t be long,” she assured her. “We’re just doing some measurements, and he wanted to ask me some questions about the design.”
Kylie eyed her over the top of her sunglasses. “And this couldn’t have happened over the phone?”
Groaning, she ignored her friend and pushed open the door of the car to find Mason pulling up beside them in a beautiful black, sexy pick-up truck.
She kicked herself. Trucks were not sexy. But Lord above, Mason was. He looked as if he had just showered, and he hopped down out of the cab with such ease that she very definitely felt the movement between her legs. She must have whimpered because Kylie nudged her hard.
“Good morning, ladies,” he said, grinning that perfect grin of his as he buckled his tool belt around his chiseled hips. She wished she were as lucky as that fucking belt.
“Good morning, Mason,” Kylie chirped happily, not the least bit ashamed to enjoy the view.
“Morning,” was the best she could do while she was fighting the urge to run and pole vault right onto him. She didn’t think he’d mind, but the neighbors might.
“Thanks for meeting me here,” he told them. “It shouldn’t take long.”
“It’s no problem.” This was Kylie again. “Gabi’s schedule is wide open so, really, any time you need to meet to discuss designs, should work.”
Gabi kicked her solidly in the shin. Mason just raised an eyebrow and said, “Is that so?”
“I’m going to kill you,” she promised Kylie as she walked into the house behind Mason. “Dead. You’ll be so very dead.”
Her friend simply smiled and patted the top of her head like a small child.
When they entered the master suite, Gabi’s breath caught. The walls had been painted and it was the most beautiful shade of antique turquoise she had ever seen. It had turned out even more beautiful than she had imagined.
“Wow,” Kylie breathed. “I’ll be honest, I thought you were wrong about this color, but clearly, you weren’t.”
“Beautiful,” Mason said so genuinely as he looked around, that it made Gabi’s heart pause. She could feel the reds starting to gather forces for a march up her face.
He pulled the design for the room from his back pocket and unfolded it. After studying it for a moment, he looked up. “This is the feature wall, correct?” he asked, pointing to the correct wall.
She nodded.
He grinned at her. “Perfect. Before we get started, I’m just going to retake the measurements.”
“You don’t need to,” she said, finding her voice. “They’re precise.”
He gave her a look that made her instantly defensive. As if she, a mere girl, couldn’t take precise measurements.
“I’m sure they are,” he said in the most irritating, placating way, “but I’d rather take my own.”
Gabi opened her mouth to tell him where to shove his measurements, but Kylie just cleared her throat and said, “Hey, guys, since you have this covered, I’m going to go out to the car and make some calls.”
Gabi stared at her traitorous friend. How dare she leave her with this man?
Kylie simply shrugged. “I’ve got work to do too,” she explained, and then left her alone with Mason.
“You don’t need to be offended,” he assured her when she turned back around. “I would retake my own measurements. It’s my job.”
She didn’t answer, just crossed her arms angrily and tried not to watch his perfectly formed backside as he bent and stretched. Good Lord, the muscles on this man ... She had to bite her lip.
“So how long have you known Kylie?” he asked, pulling her from a particularly dirty fantasy involving him in just his tool belt.
“Since childhood,” she answered grumpily. “We were neighbors.”
Mason chuckled. “I bet that was fun.”
Gabi smiled to herself as she thought about their unlikely pairing. The moment she met Kylie at eight years old, she was absolutely positive they would never work as friends, and now here they were, decades later, still inseparable. “It was a rocky start, but then after Kylie’s dad left, I helped her through it, and now we’re like sisters.”
“Do you have any?”
“Any what?”
“Sisters?”
“Oh.” She tried to ignore how warm his simple questions made her. Did he really want to know, or was he just trying to fill the silence? “Only child,” she answered. “It’s just me and my dad. What about you?”
“Two asshole brothers,” he answered, turning around to give her a wink that made her entire body melt.
She giggled despite herself.
“I’m the middle child,” he told her.
“I would have guessed you were the baby,” she threw at him with a small smile.
“Ouch,” he said, turning around with an exaggerated expression. “That cut me, Gabi.”
She just smiled and said pertly, “Maybe next time, you’ll use my measurements, then.”
His eyes flashed with something, and she felt the temperature in the room rise a thousand degrees as the most delicious smile she had ever seen spread his lips.
Her heart stopped, and something in her body pulled toward him.
She stood there stupidly with wide eyes, and when he set the measuring tape down and took a step toward her, she melted entirely.
Mason
He couldn’t take it anymore. He had to kiss her. There would be no more wondering. If her mouth tasted anywhere as delicious as it sounded, he might not ever stop.
He approached her slowly, eyes hooded, never breaking contact with hers. She shuffled backward slightly, but the lift of her chest told him all he needed to know about what she wanted. There was a clear getaway, and he would never force her to kiss him, but she wanted it. It was all over her face. Her tiny steps backward were just a dance.
Eventually she bumped up against the wall and stopped. He kept advancing. “I like your mouth, Gabi.”
She just stared at him, a delicious shade of pink. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips, and he felt his cock harden further. Fuck.
“And I’m going to taste it, okay?”
She blinked.
“I’ve wanted to since we met,” he told her, closing the last inch between them. He brought his hands up her neck slowly, her skin felt like satin. “Ever since the day you came into my shop, all I can think about is tasting you.” She shivered, and when he ran his thumb over her bottom lip, she gasped hungrily.
The passion in that one little gasp ignited something in him. Pushing her against the wall with his body, he dipped his head toward her and caught her trembling lips with his.
The moment they made contact, she sighed and opened for him, surprising him with her eagerness. He met her move for move, delving his tongue deep inside her, luxuriating in the feel of her tongue against his. He couldn’t breathe. He didn’t want to. Everything about kissing this woman was perfect.
He needed more of her. Deepening his kiss, he drew his hands up her neck and buried them in her silken hair. He could feel her delicate fingers trailing down his chest toward his waist. Her touch felt so incredibly sinful that all he wanted to do was throw her over his shoulder and just disappear inside of her.
He had never felt quite like this from just a kiss. Still, he wanted more; he needed more. He untangled his hands from her hair and slid them down her backside. He groaned aloud when he finally had her ass in his hands. It was just as perfect as he thought it would be.
Gabi separated from him with a gasp but dove back toward his mouth with a growl, she stretched
her hands across the muscles of his back, her fingernails dug in with need. Her passion, her absolute abandon, shocked and aroused him so fully, he couldn’t think at all.
It took Kylie fully slamming the front door and making all sorts of unnecessary noise to pull them apart.
They were both standing there, chests heaving, utterly red, when Kylie appeared in the doorway with a knowing smile. “How’s it going in here?” she asked in an overly bright voice. “About finished? I’d love to get back to the office.”
Gabi looked at him with wide eyes and turned even redder, he loved that fucking blush of hers.
He cleared his throat and finally found the ability to speak, “Yeah, we’re all done, I think. Got all the measurements and everything.”
“I’m sure you did,” Kylie said with a wink and then grabbed Gabi’s hand. “I’m going to take her now if you don’t mind. She seems to be broken anyway.”
This finally drew a scowl from his gorgeous redhead.
And he did mind. He minded a lot. Because he wasn’t done, not by a long shot. “Of course,” he said agreeably, wondering how on earth he was going to make it through the rest of the day now that he had the taste of her lips on his and the memory of her body in his hands.
“Maybe we’ll run into you soon,” Kylie suggested, ignoring Gabi’s death stare. “We’re going to be at the Cubs-Cards game Friday, it would be sooo weird to bump into you there.”
Mason grinned and resisted the urge to sweep Kylie up into a hug. “That would be quite the coincidence, wouldn’t it?”
“Indeed,” she answered and shuffled her still-silent friend out of the room.
When they were gone, Mason wiped a hand down his face and then groaned when he looked down to find his cock still fully, painfully erect. No wonder Kylie had been so amused.
But God above, he couldn’t help it. Gabi was perfect. And to find out she liked baseball too? Fuck. She couldn’t be real. Could she? Not with the way she kissed. No man was that lucky.
Gabi
“I don’t think the paint on those walls was quite dry,” Kylie told her as they walked to her car.
Gabi was furiously embarrassed and hadn’t been able to even look her friend in the face. “Why do you say that?” she asked, opening the car door without looking up.
At Once Page 7
