by Inara Scott
“Forgive me if I’m not inclined to take advice from the guy whose last girlfriend attacked him at a restaurant when he tried to break up with her over the crème brûlée.”
“She wasn’t my girlfriend,” Nate grumbled. “Which means we weren’t breaking up, because you can’t break up with someone who isn’t your girlfriend.”
“Did you point that out to her? Because I’m sure she appreciated that particular nuance of your relationship.”
“And she didn’t attack me. She threw a glass of water at me.”
“You aren’t helping your case.” Mason pitched the ball to Connor, who made an easy layup.
Mason couldn’t make himself focus on the court. Even with Nate and Connor giving him a hard time, his thoughts kept turning back to Tess. What was she doing now? Was she okay on her own? He’d sent a text to Cecilia right after he left, and she’d responded about an hour later, saying that she was at his place with Tess. That made him feel a little better. He didn’t know the icy blonde, but her dedication to her friend was unmistakable, and comforting, and he had the sense that Cecilia wouldn’t like Tess’s ridiculous insistence on handling this all on her own any more than he did. He hoped that might translate into her encouraging Tess to stay with him.
He was certain she would try to sell her lot. He couldn’t see any other options. She had no other source of money, and he knew she was desperate not to take out loans. Just as obviously, he couldn’t let her do it. Still, there were some distinct flaws in the plan he’d outlined to Nate. First, Tess might arrange some kind of private sale on her own, and he’d never know about it. Cecilia probably had lots of contacts she could use to do exactly that.
The larger problem was that he had no idea what he would do after he bought the land to convince her to take it back. If he’d learned anything about Tess, it was that she was wouldn’t take this type of interference lightly. It was also possible—understatement of the century—that she’d be angry with him for buying it. But that was a risk he needed to take. The thought of Tess losing something that she so clearly loved was more than he could take.
“Hello?” Connor cleared his throat as he stood under the basket. “Earth to Mason?”
Mason shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts, then held up his hands in front of his chest to indicate readiness. “Sorry.”
Connor studied him with an uncomfortable intensity. He wore a pair of thick sports glasses that looped around the back of his head and made him look vaguely alien-like. Or like a really tall extra from an episode of The Big Bang Theory. “So you’re going to lie to Tess, but you’re going to do it for her own good.”
Mason nodded, feeling only slightly sick to his stomach at the thought.
“And you’re going to call these rental companies about the places she wants to rent? Maybe interfere with that as well?”
“I just want to make sure they’re safe. I’m not going to interfere. Or, I won’t interfere much.”
“Right. And this will make her fall in love with you?”
“I never said I was trying to do that.” He frowned. “Just throw the ball.”
“But you are in love with her.”
“I didn’t say that either. I care about her a lot, of course, and I just don’t want to see her throw away something important because of her pride. And by the way—you sound like a girl.”
Connor tossed the ball to Nate, who had approached on Mason’s right, and then stopped and held up a hand. “We are all in agreement that I am the least socially adept person on the planet, right?”
Nate considered that for a moment. “I don’t know about the entire planet. But certainly in a hundred-mile radius of San Francisco.”
Connor nodded acknowledgment. “Fair enough, I’ll take the hundred-mile radius. Anyway, given that I could never figure this sort of thing out on my own, I just want to make sure I get it all down from the master. Mason, your plan is that you fall for the girl, then lie, scheme, and plan a secretive grand gesture behind her back to get her to fall for you in return. That sound right?”
Nate guffawed. “Apparently so.”
“That’s not it at all!”
“Sorry, we’ve already established I’m really slow at this,” Connor replied, sounding insufferably smug. “Can you explain it again? Start with the part about how you aren’t in love with her, even though all of San Francisco has now seen a picture of you making calf-eyes at that event a couple of ago. And finish with the way you are desperately plotting ways to keep her in your apartment, even though by this time with any other woman you’re thinking about how to make sure she doesn’t stay.”
“She doesn’t want a serious relationship,” Mason bit out. “She’s been very clear about that. And she’s vulnerable right now. She’s not making good decisions. I can’t let her throw away something she loves.”
“Not to mention that you’re scared of making some kind of commitment to her, and this is a much easier way to get her to stay with you,” Nate offered helpfully. “Don’t forget about that.”
Connor nodded. “Okay, see, I didn’t get that. I’m just so slow. Anyway, Mason, you clearly know what’s best for her. And it’s a good idea for the man to make decisions for a woman, right? Behind her back?”
“Which is so weird,” Nate put in. “Because I would have thought that was a bad idea. But Mason’s the ladies’ man, so I guess he must be right about this.”
“Will they kick us out of the gym if I knock out your teeth?” Mason asked pleasantly.
“Sorry, it’s just because I’m a scientist,” Connor said. “I like to be thorough and make sure I understand completely. Basically, you’re scared to come clean, tell her how you feel, and make a commitment to her, and instead, you’re going to buy her land and call it good.”
Mason refused to dignify that with a response. “Can we just play some damn basketball?”
“Sure.” Connor adjusted the strap on his glasses. “No problem. And thanks for the lesson, maestro.”
…
“Wick, you are the laziest creature ever to live.” Tess stood by the door with the large leather leash in her hand. Wick didn’t even move off the sofa. “I have never seen a dog that doesn’t want to go for a walk.”
At the word walk, Astro launched herself from across the room. She spun in a circle and yipped before settling into a sitting position with a cheerful pant and a quick look back at her new boyfriend.
“You did that all for him, didn’t you?” Tess shook her head with disapproval. “I know he’s cute, but he should be fighting for your attention, silly girl. Not the other way around.”
Astro yipped, raced over to the couch, and nosed Wick’s foot, then ran back to Tess. With a sigh, the enormous dog lumbered off the couch and headed their direction. This ritual was enormously comforting to Tess, prompting her first real smile of the morning, which had been punctuated by worry, worry, and more worry.
“You,” Tess said to the pathetic mastiff. “At least you could pretend not to do whatever she wants. Have some backbone, man!”
Still smiling, Tess bent to put on his leash. The sound of the doorbell brought her upright in surprise. In all the time she’d been living at Mason’s place, she couldn’t remember anyone coming to the door. Cece had just left, and Mason wasn’t back yet from playing basketball. She glanced into the peephole and saw a young woman who appeared to be her early twenties, her shoulder-length hair a mix of light blonde ends and darker roots. Her slim body was partially exposed by tight jeans with holes at the knees and thighs, and a sweater that barely made it past her midriff. A beat-up leather Hobo bag hung over one shoulder.
Tess hesitated, unsure if she should let her in or not. Just as she was going to reach for the door handle, the young woman hollered, “Mason, you there?”
Tess put her eye against the peephole again. There was something familiar about the young woman…something she couldn’t quite…
“Wii-ick.” The girl changed to a singsong tone.
“You in there, baby?”
One glance at the mastiff’s cocked head and raised ears told Tess all she needed to know. She opened the door, immediately struck by the sight of Mason’s familiar hazel eyes in a tall, willowy female body. “You must be Alli.”
The girl froze, staring at her in confusion. “Um, that’s super creepy, but yes, I am. Who are you?” Her attention shifted to the dog that had leapt toward her. She dropped to her knees and hugged his thick neck. “Aw, there’s my sweet boy!”
She fussed over him for a few minutes, until Tess cleared her throat. “Did you want to come in?”
“I guess that depends on whether you’re a serial killer-slash-stalker who broke into my brother’s apartment and left his body bleeding out in the shower.”
“Is there another alternative?”
Alli wiped some mastiff drool off her face, then shrugged and flashed a cheerful smile. “Not that I can think of, no. I know Beatrice, so you aren’t his housekeeper, and if you were his date last night you’d be gone by now. He doesn’t bring work home, and you don’t look like his usual lifestyles of the rich and annoying crowd.”
“Old friend, maybe?” Tess offered. It was hard not to like this irreverent creature, who had a vibrant energy rolling off her and gave the impression there was a smile hiding behind everything she said.
“Mason doesn’t make friends with women. They always end up falling in love with him.”
“You don’t say.”
“You don’t seem like a serial killer. Though I suppose that’s exactly how they operate.” Abruptly, her attention was diverted to Astro, who was sitting beside Tess’s foot. “And who is this?” She crouched down and extended her hand. “Hello, princess! Do you want to come home with me?” Astro wagged her tail and allowed herself to be petted. From her crouched position, Alli noticed the leash in Tess’s hand for the first time, and her forehead wrinkled with concern. “Wait, are you stealing my dog?”
Tess couldn’t help it. She burst out laughing and held the door open wide. “You would make a great detective. Yes, I’m a serial killer who owns a Maltese and is stealing your dog. Come on in.”
Alli followed behind her and dropped her bag on ground by the door. “I still can’t believe he got a white leather couch,” she said with disgust. “Seriously, who buys a white leather couch?”
“Um, people like your brother?”
“No, rich douche bags. And generally, my brother is not a douche. I mean, occasionally, yes, but not generally. Which makes the white leather thing really weird.”
Tess laughed again. “It’s actually very comfortable. And I’m Tess. Mason hired me to take care of Wick.”
Alli’s face cleared. “Oh, of course! He mentioned something about that last time I talked to him. He said you’d talked to the vet and gotten him off that medication he’d been on. The one that was making him pee all the time.”
Tess nodded. “Yeah. He didn’t seem to need it anymore, especially once we changed his diet. He’s doing really well. You’ll want to keep an eye on it in the future, but so far his skin and everything looks great.”
“Mason said you were training him, too.” For just a moment, her eyes turned wistful. “I guess I’m pretty much a rotten dog mom. I couldn’t get him to do anything.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” Tess waved off Alli’s remark. “I know a lot of very responsible people who can’t train their dogs.”
Alli snorted. “Responsible? I guess Mason hasn’t told you much about me.” She strolled into the kitchen, taking in Tess’s leftover breakfast bowl of cold oatmeal and her and Cece’s cups of coffee on the counter. With a surprisingly penetrating gaze, she glanced around the apartment, and Tess found herself cringing at the sight of the clothing Cece had brought, including several pairs of underwear, still scattered all over the couch, and her computer, which she’d left plugged in and sitting on the dining room table.
“So,” Alli said with deceptive nonchalance, “are you living here now?”
“No. I mean, not really. My house burned down last night. I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
“That’s horrible!” Before she knew what was happening, Alli had given her a short, fierce hug. “Can you fix it? I set our kitchen on fire once. It took forever for the smell to go away, and that was even after we replaced all the drywall.”
“It’s mostly charcoal. Nothing to fix.”
“Well that’s absolutely awful. I’m so sorry. You should definitely stay here.”
“You might want to run those sorts of invitations past your brother.”
Alli shrugged off her warning. “Whatever. Mason will do what I tell him, and I think you should definitely stay.” She narrowed her gaze. “Unless you’re going to fall for him. You aren’t, are you? You have a boyfriend or something?”
Tess sat in one of the stools at the kitchen counter and shook her head in wonder. “You are an exhausting person, you know that?”
“That’s what they say.” Alli paused. “And?”
Not answering her questions didn’t appear to be a viable option. “No boyfriend.”
“Oh dear.” Alli exhaled in concern. “You know he doesn’t do relationships, right?”
“So I’ve heard,” Tess said dryly. “But don’t worry; I don’t like pretty guys.”
Alli squinted at her. “You sure?”
“Very sure.” She didn’t like them, but occasionally fell in love with them. Whatever. Alli didn’t need to know that. “I learned my lesson on that years ago. The pretty ones never work out.”
“It’s not that he’s an asshole,” Alli said earnestly.
“Oh, I didn’t mean that. It’s just common sense. Never fall for a guy who’s prettier than you are, you know?”
Alli nodded. “Excellent point. My mom thinks he just hasn’t found the right girl. She keeps pushing him to date more, and I’m like, ‘Mom, he dates plenty. I don’t think lack of dates is the problem.’”
There was something deliciously naughty about having this window into Mason’s life stretch open before her. “What do you think the problem is?” Tess asked cautiously.
“I think he needs to be dumped.” Alli opened the fridge and perused the contents. “Club soda, vegetables, and yogurt? Are you kidding me?” She sighed and pulled out a bag of baby carrots, which she offered to Tess.
“No thanks…” Tess waited, but Alli was now pawing through the pantry cupboard. She pulled out a box of crackers, grabbed a handful, and then put the box back, still open, into the cabinet. She did the same with a box of cereal, shoving a handful into her mouth and chewing thoughtfully for a moment before proceeding. Tess watched, fascinated. She’d never had a sibling. Was this what it was like to have one? They came to your house and made a mess and had absolutely no compunction about doing so? “You were saying?” she prompted.
“What’s that?” Alli turned back around, her mouth still full. “Oh right. See, I’ve taken a couple of psychology classes, and I think he’s got a perfectionism complex. He always did everything right, you know? Exceeded expectations. Started playing football and ended up quarterback. Applied to colleges and got into MIT with a huge scholarship. Didn’t just get a good job, he ended up being some kind of superstar investor. So he has to keep it up. Keep up being perfect.”
“What does that have to do with dating?”
“Oh, it’s obvious.” Alli waved a carrot knowingly. “He doesn’t want to risk being dumped, because what could be less perfect than that? So he dates girls that are already half in love with him. And then it creates this bad cycle, because he’s never as into them as they are into him. And he knows in his heart that all these girls aren’t right for him, so of course they don’t last. I think he needs to be dumped, just once. Get it out of the way. Realize that life is messed up sometimes and it’s no big deal. Then maybe he will start dating people he actually likes.”
Tess blinked. “That’s a really convoluted theory.”
Alli grinned.
“I know, right? Isn’t it great? I’m supposed to graduate this spring, but I’m thinking about changing my major to psychology.”
“What are you majoring in now?”
“Right now?” Alli tapped her chin. “Right now, art history. Before that, it was sociology. And before that, I was pre-med. But that only lasted about a month. Then I realized I don’t really like science.”
“That would be an impediment.”
“Yeah. I’m basically a walking demonstration of what life looks like when you can’t make a decision. My parents keep threatening to cut me off, but then they forget and go on vacation. I think after raising four other kids they just gave up.”
Suddenly, Tess’s own tangled path in life didn’t seem quite so exceptional. “That makes sense. Or maybe you just wore them down.”
“Definitely a possibility.”
“You could just go ahead and graduate,” Tess pointed out. “Your job prospects are way better with a degree. Once you’ve got the degree you could get a job and enroll in a part-time program to take any classes you need for a graduate program.”
“Not a bad idea,” Alli mused as she ate another carrot. “One of my roommates works at a counseling center. She’s just a receptionist, but she seems to like it. She’s getting ready to graduate and move so maybe I could apply for that.”
“I’m working at a vet clinic right now to get an idea of what it’s like. I just sweep the floors and clean cages, but it’s a good way to get your foot in the door.” It was weirdly easy to talk to Alli. Sort of like shouting into a tornado.
“You work in a vet clinic? No wonder you knew what to do with Wick. But I thought you walked dogs?”
Tess nodded. “I do both. And I’m going to school online. I dropped out of high school when I was seventeen and didn’t get my GED until I was twenty-two. It’s taken me five years so far, because I have to work full-time, but I should be finished with my BS next year.”
Tess wasn’t sure she’d ever reeled off her life story with quite such ease. And strangely enough, saying it all made her feel proud, not ashamed.
