by Amy Brent
That was the real issue, keeping this from Emma.
Shit. I’d fucking blown off Emma.
I needed to call her. I knew what it felt like to get nothing but bullshit from women in my life, and she didn’t deserve the crap that was being thrown her way. I didn’t know the story, but I didn’t want to be that same kind of man in her life. I had to make it clear to her that I wasn’t ready to rekindle things with Mom. That I didn’t want to talk about it. But I’m sure there were other things we could talk about, right?
Just not Sarah. We couldn’t talk about Sarah.
I picked up my cell phone and scrolled through to her number. Before I knew what was doing, I had the phone to my ear, listening to the ringing of the phone as I waited for Emma to pick up. I didn’t know what was going to be said or if she’d even take my phone call, but what I did know was that I had to at least try.
After all, Sarah was disgusted with me when she found out who I was, and there was something inside that didn’t sit right when I thought about that.
“Hello?” she asked.
“Emma? Hey. It’s, um, it’s Mason.”
“I know. Why are you calling?” she asked.
“Look. I’m sorry. I’ve been so busy with the business and stuff going on here in Dallas and I …”
“You what?”
“I was wondering if you’d let me make it up to you,” I said.
There was a silence on the other end of the phone that threatened to choke off my air supply. Never in my life had a woman made me so nervous. I got up out of bed and paced the floor, drawing in deep breaths through my nose as I tried to calm the trembling in my hands.
If Tony could have seen me at that moment, he would’ve never let me live it down.
“Sure. I guess that’s fine,” she said.
“Wonderful. Thank you, Emma. When are you free? I’ll make myself available.”
“The only night I’m free is Wednesday, technically, but even if we met up I’d be with my best friend.”
“You’ll be with Sarah?” I asked.
“You know Sarah?” she asked.
“I, uh, I watch her show. At least I started watching after I was interviewed there. She’s mentioned you a couple times on the show.”
I cringed, hoping to the heavens I hadn’t spoiled everything. I heard Emma take a deep breath before she let it out, sighing into the phone as I sat on the edge of the bed.
“I’m not a really good friend, I guess. I don’t watch her show.”
“Well, I didn’t interact with her for long, but she strikes me as the kind of person who wouldn’t care about that.”
“Yeah. There isn’t much she cares about, but when she cares, it’s fierce.”
“Sounds like a good friend,” I said.
“You should come out with us Wednesday night. I’m sure she’d enjoy seeing you again. Did the interview go all right?” she asked.
“Oh, no. I don’t want to barge in. You free any other night?”
“Mason, you blew me off. Just come out with us. I’d like it if you met her anyway. You know, outside of her work. She really is a wonderful person, even if she digs her heels in sometimes.”
Shit. What the hell had I gotten myself into? This was going to be a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.
“Sure. Yeah. You just let me know when and where you guys will be on Wednesday night, and I’ll meet up with you. Under one condition.”
“What’s that?” she asked, sighing.
“No talk about Mom. I’m not ready to open that up with you yet,” I said.
“Okay. I’ll try. I will. But you know she—”
“Emma,” I said.
“Sorry. Okay. I’ll see you Wednesday, then. I’ll, um, text you? The details later?”
“Sounds good. I’ll keep an eye out for it.”
I hung up the phone and immediately called Sarah. She was going to have my head for this. Holy shit, she was going to be pissed.
“Hey there, handsome,” she said.
“We have a slight mishap I might’ve wiggled us into.”
“Us? What do you mean by us?” she asked.
“So, you have this way of sort of rubbing off on people.”
“What did you do?” she asked.
“I might have called Emma to try and reconcile. You know, make up for blowing her off.”
“Wait. You did what? That-that’s awesome! Oh, that must be while she’s calling me. Hold on.”
“Wait, wait, wait! Sarah! No. Hold on. Just call her back.”
“Mason, what’s going on?”
I’d never lost my cool with a woman like this before. Holy fuck, what was happening to me?
“In our reconciliation promise, I told her I wanted to take her out to make up for the lost dinner. She said the only night she had free was Wednesday.”
“So, she’s calling me to cancel. I don’t care. That’s wonderful, Mason!” Sarah said.
“Not quite,” I said. “She may have invited me to go out with you guys and then guilt-tripped me with blowing her off to get me to say yes.”
“What?” she asked.
“I know. I know. That’s why she’s calling you. To tell you you’re meeting her brother,” I said.
“You can’t act like you know me,” she said.
“Well.”
“What the fuck did you do, Mason?” she asked
“When she said she was going out with you, I said your name.”
“Oh, hell,” she said, groaning.
“Don’t worry, I got us out of it. Sort of.”
“What exactly did you say?” she asked.
“I said I knew you from the interview and knew you were linked to Emma because you’ve mentioned her a couple times on the show.”
“I’ve never fucking mentioned Emma on the show!” she exclaimed.
“Well, Emma didn’t know that. Apparently, my sister doesn’t watch your show.”
There was a pause, and I could feel the grin slowly spreading across Sarah’s face.
“You said ‘my sister.’ ”
“Yeah?” I asked.
“I thought she was my best friend?” she asked.
“Are we really doing this now?”
“Yes, we’re really doing this now. You’re getting attached. You like Emma. It’s about damn time, too. That girl’s been trying to get you to sit down with her for a long time.”
“All right. I get it. I’m doing a good thing. But I can’t act like I don’t know you. We’re acquaintances. Emma said she wanted me to get to know you outside of work,” I said.
“Well, that’ll make things a bit easier. Any other bullshit I should know about before I flip over to Emma who’s calling me for the third time now?”
“Nope. That’s the end of my bullshit.”
“For today,” she said. “I guess I’ll see you Wednesday then.”
“Wednesday, it is. And remember, acquaintances.”
“Oh, you don’t have to remind me of that,” she said. “Just make sure your hands understand where we’re at that night.”
“I’ll do my best to inform them,” I said, grinning.
“I’m answering Emma’s call now. She’s pissing me off.”
“Good to know I’m not the only person who does that to you,” I said, chuckling.
“I guess it runs in y’all’s DNA. See you Wednesday evening,” she said.
“See you then, beautiful.”
Chapter 21
Sarah
“Well hello there. Fancy a phone call the day before D-Day. How can I help you?”
“Hey there, luscious. I was wondering if you were free for lunch today,” Mason said.
“I suppose I could be. Today’s interview was a very early taping with the time difference.”
“Time difference? Sounds interesting,” he said.
“It was. I got the chance to interview a few of our Navy soldiers stationed in Okinawa. The interview took place very early this
morning. I’m free all day.”
“Well, how does lunch at The Souffle Salon sound?”
“You can get us in for lunch there?” I asked.
“Beautiful, I could jet us off to get us lunch anywhere,” he said.
“I can hear that smug little grin.”
“And I can hear you pouring into your panties.”
“Nope. I think that’s all the blood rushing to your dick,” I said.
“That, too. What do you say? Meet me there in an hour?” he asked.
“Sure. I’ll see you then.”
I rolled out of bed and rushed around to make myself look presentable. I changed my clothes quickly and washed my face, opting for a bit of neutral makeup before I tossed my hair up into a clip. I grabbed my things and slipped my feet into heels, wanting to stun him even at lunchtime. I wanted him to salivate over my body before we found somewhere private to go and enjoy one another.
After all, that was the arrangement.
I drove to The Souffle Salon and parked right beside his beautiful red convertible. I walked on in and found him sitting at a table near the window, and for a second, I panicked. Near the window? Someone was going to see us. We were already taking a chance with the paparazzi by dining right here in town. Did he not remember the rules we set forth?
By the time I was pulled from my own thoughts, I felt his hand slide into mine as he led me to the table.
“The windows are tinted on the outside,” he said. “No one can look in and see us.”
“Oh. Yes. That’s right. Sorry, I just panicked there for a second.”
“No need. With me, everything is already thought out. You just relax,” he said, grinning.
“I take it you’ve had a good morning,” I said.
“Yep. The latest product roll-out is happening, and we’re projected to bring in two million dollars in revenue over the next year.”
“Rollin’ in the dough. That’s nice,” I said. “Have you given any thought to aligning your company with a charity?”
“Why do you ask? Do you have one in mind?”
“I’m more thinking along the lines of what a budding company should do to snag the younger generation. The older generations are easy. It has to work, and it has to be worth the price tag. With the younger generations, they want the best bang for their buck. But if they invest in a product, they want to make sure their purchase is going to help a cause.”
“Oh, Sarah. If I wanted a woman’s opinion,” he said, grinning.
“You’re such a dick,” I said as I stifled a giggle.
“You actually have a good mind for business. I’m glad you’re not my competition.”
“I’d crush you like an ant if you were,” I said.
“Oh, really? Is that what you think?”
“Yep. I also think we wouldn’t be screwing one another if we were competition.”
“See, that’s the best part about competition, though. If they’re shallow enough, a little bit of seduction goes a long way.”
“Good thing I’m not shallow,” I said.
“The way you salivate over my naked body in bed says otherwise,” he said, smirking.
“I can appreciate a decent piece of art without coveting it just for its looks,” I said.
“Decent? Oh, I’m hurt.”
Lunch was fabulous. The conversation with Mason was easy. It was lighthearted and flirtatious. He kept calling me things like ‘beautiful’ and ‘decadent’. It was easy to see how women fell for his charms. The way he looked at me with this mischievous glint in his eye as I talked about my work. The way he boasted about himself growing in the technological world while slowly sliding his foot toward mine underneath the table. It was like we gravitated naturally toward one another, like our banter and our senses of humor just aligned in all the right possible ways.
We bounced around from topic to topic while my head swam with thoughts of him.
That was a problem I was having lately, trying to get him out of my head. He was creeping into my dreams and popping up in my thoughts in the middle of the day. If I heard a funny joke or experienced something weird or random, I felt this odd tug to tell him about it. I kept shaking it from my system, shrugging it off as anticipation for this new world we were exploring together.
But even as I sat in front of him, I felt like I wasn’t getting enough of him.
And that bothered me a bit.
You’re just fuck buddies, Sarah. Keep it together.
“So, where have you gone to inside that head of yours?” he asked.
“Hmm?”
“I’ve been talking at you for the past four minutes and you look like you’ve got one foot in the grave. Is something wrong?” he asked.
“No. Not at all. I guess I’m just a bit tired from this morning. That damn interview had me up at three.”
“Then, yes. I’d say you’ve earned your mile-long stare. Care to get out of here? Maybe go for a drive to clear your head? We could leave your car here and come back for it once we’re done.”
“Honestly? I think I just want to tumble onto my couch and turn on mindless television,” I said.
“Care for some company while you do that?” he asked.
“You just want your dick sucked,” I said, grinning.
“Not gonna lie, the offer stands. But, I’m more than willing to simply collapse with you and lay there in silence.”
“You are?” I asked.
“I am.”
I had to keep reminding myself that we were just fuck buddies. That all this was his attempt to get back to my apartment, so he could wiggle me out of my clothes. And I would’ve been all for it had I not been so tired. I had a full stomach, a glass of wine coursing through my system, and legs that were ready to collapse in the heels I was wearing. But the way he was looking at me, it was almost like he wanted me to say yes.
It was like he wanted to come back to my place and just be with me.
And I realized I wanted to say yes.
Shit. I was starting to like Mason. I sat back in my chair, studying his eyes as a smile crossed his face. I couldn’t get him off my mind because I liked him. He was pervading my dreams because I wanted him there. He was in my thoughts throughout the day because I wished he was there.
Fuck. I’d gotten myself into the exact situation we were trying to avoid.
There’s no pressure. No requirement for emotions. Just sex, fun, and food.
It was the perfect deal, and I was screwing it up. It was a deal any woman would scream for when it came to Mason Baker. I got his talents, his wallet, and his body wrapped around my little finger. All I had to do was call him and I could have him or whatever he wanted to gift me with whenever I wanted.
And here I was, fucking it up with my emotions.
“Sarah? Are you all right?” he asked.
As long as I didn’t say anything about it, we could keep going like this. He didn’t have to know, right? And maybe this was just a fluke. Maybe I was nervous about tomorrow night with Emma. After all, we were supposed to act like we were acquaintances. That was enough to stir up anyone’s emotions.
Yes, that was what this was. And all I had to do was keep my fucking mouth shut on the matter.
“Seriously, if you come back with me, I’ll just end up falling asleep on you. I’m more tired than I thought.”
“And that’s fine. If you don’t want me there, say so. If you do, say so. That’s all you have to do in this arrangement,” he said.
There it was. Arrangement. That’s all this was. Just an arrangement.
“Then, I wouldn’t mind the company,” I said. “I finally get to test out what kind of pillow you are.”
“And I promise, if I leave, I’ll tell you,” he said, winking.
“Yeah. Thanks for that.”
“Before we leave, however, we should talk about how we’re going to handle tomorrow night,” he said.
“Oh. Yes. Yes, we really do. I’ll already be with Emma. You’ll be the
one meeting up with us,” I said.
“When I address you, I’ll probably use your whole name. Since that’s how people you’re first meeting usually address you.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“Because new people always address me by my first and last name because that’s how it’s said in the media. It’ll sell the part.”
“Gotcha. All right. We’ve got to keep to the lighter topics of conversation. The weather. Your work. The interview. Anything deeper than that, and Emma will get suspicious,” I said.
“Got it. Most of my attention should be on Emma anyway. Since I’m technically making up something to her.”
“Good. That’s less shit we have to sell,” I said.
“Plan made?” he asked.
“Plan made. Let’s get back to my place. I’m whipped.”
Mason paid our tab without a second thought before he helped me out of my chair. He kept his hand in mine as we strolled through the restaurant, and I just had to trust that he knew what he was doing. He walked me to my car and opened my door for me, pausing as I looked up at him. My mind was so clouded with exhaustion, and he looked so beautiful with the blazing sun as his backdrop, and before I knew it, our lips were moving closer and closer together.
