by LJ Bradley
I smiled. “Sounds good to me.” The reasons didn’t matter, as long as we found a way to get past the bullshit and tension.
I helped her off my lap and watched as she wandered across the room, hoping it would turn out the way we both wanted.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sadie
I hated this. Truly. All my life I’d followed my sister’s lead, listened to her advice and taken her opinions on board… even if I didn’t always agree with them. Up until now Claire had been my voice of reason, supportive and quick to back me whenever I struggled to back myself. I didn’t even have to worry about feeling alone because I always knew she’d be there by my side. My big sister—one of the few constants in my life.
The way I felt now? I could only compare it to being eight-years-old and sneaking out of my room to find my dad putting presents under the Christmas tree. My dad. No more Santa Claus. I had to rethink everything.
And then I needed to accept my role in this, too, because no one ever climbed onto a pedestal themselves. You had to put them up there to give them the opportunity to come tumbling down in the first place.
So, yeah, this sucked. For more reasons than one.
“I’m sorry,” I told Claire, looking up from my spot on the edge of the couch.
While we’d been hurling words at each other her restless pacing had taken her from one side of the room to the other, but she stopped then and stared at me, eyes wide. I waited and resisted the urge to fill the silence.
She took a couple of steps closer then lowered her butt to the coffee table in front of me. I knew I was mostly over being mad at her when the shocked look on her face made me want to smile. Claire flattened her palms on the surface either side of her and looked at me like I’d spoken another language. “Why are you sorry? I’m the one who’s in the wrong here.”
“Oh, I know.” I smiled to take some of the sting from my words, relieved when a fleeting look of amusement passed over her features. “I’m not talking about what you did. I’m talking about the way I’ve been treating you.”
“I don’t…” She frowned and glanced down at her lap then brought her gaze back to mine. “What are you talking about?
“I’m sorry for always thinking of you as perfect, for not leaving any room for you to make mistakes like the rest of us do.”
She didn’t say anything. She merely watched on with an open curiosity that urged me to keep going. I mentally sorted through my thoughts before I spoke again, hoping I could find a way to make some sense, because everything had started clicking into place for me now in a way it hadn’t before.
“I’m sorry I always expected you to be there for me,” I said, “that I let you fix things for me instead of taking care of them myself—and last night… last night I got so pissed off at you because I didn’t like your methods. I think I’ve relied on you for too long. I didn’t even realise I was doing that until now.”
Claire reached out and brushed her fingertips over my knee, her skin cold despite the warmth in the room. “To be fair I’ve been doing that your whole life. You’ve never even had a chance to see what it was like to fend for yourself.”
Just like a mother tiger with her cub, I thought, making sure no one could ever get close enough to cause me any harm. Nice in theory, but in practice it never worked; it just took away my chance to figure everything out for myself. I smiled and caught her hand in mine, squeezing a little for reassurance. My gaze slid over her, taking in the grey eyes so like my own, the slight bump in the bridge of her nose, the smooth skin that resembled porcelain. So familiar yet completely new to me.
Ever since I was a little kid I’d always seen the two of us as unequal. She’d forever been the taller, smarter, more put-together one, and I’d trotted along somewhere there in her shadow, oblivious to my own strengths, and that different didn’t necessarily have to mean worse. It hadn’t registered that we’d levelled out now, that I’d grown up and the gap between us had disappeared.
Why had I expected her to see something I’d never picked up on myself?
I sighed and looked away, rubbing the tension point in my temple that thankfully seemed to be fading the longer we talked. Now we’d found a way to stop shouting at each other, Mason’s suggestion had become a lot more achievable. I just needed to remind myself what Claire meant to me and focus on the important things, like Mason and me, and the physiotherapy career I couldn’t wait to kickstart once I wrapped up my degree in Applied Science next year.
“We should put this behind us,” I suggested. “If I do my best to stop leaning on you, I’m sure you can stop micromanaging me. You think you can do that, Claire-bear?”
She blew out a gusty laugh and rolled her eyes. “Yes. Yeah, I think I can manage that. I’m sorry, Sadie. I am. I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately. I’ve been so angry. I seem to be losing it over the smallest things.”
“It’s okay. We’re moving on. It’s getting better already.” The tightness in my shoulders eased and my smile felt genuine for the first time since I’d shown up here this afternoon. I wanted to run down the hall and drag Mason out to the living room just so he could enjoy the moment, too.
The front door swung open then, and I twisted around to find Andy stepping into the tiled entry with a couple of bags hanging from one hand. As he shut the door behind him, he seemed to look everywhere at once, surveying the room like he thought he might be walking into an ambush situation and needed to be ready to run. When his attention shifted from Claire to me, whatever he saw in our faces had his wariness disappearing. He raised his brows and headed our way. “Ladies.”
“Andy.” I gave him a little wave with my fingertips. “Do you have food in those bags? Please tell me it’s food.”
He smiled. “Worked up an appetite last night?”
Oh. Too soon. I winced and glanced back at Claire, expecting to see a look of disapproval. She surprised me by smiling and shaking her head. We may have been taking baby steps, but we were off to a promising start. I couldn’t help being hopeful about the direction we were moving in now.
Mason chose that moment to wander into the room, like he’d already sniffed out the aromas that were only just starting to make their way over to me. The spices were unmistakable; Mexican food, which just happened to be my favourite. My stomach grumbled and my mouth watered in approval.
While Andy and Claire headed into the kitchen to collect plates and cutlery, Mason approached the rear of the couch. I leaned back and looked up at him, smiling as he dipped his head and planted an upside-down kiss on my mouth. “All good?” he murmured, sweeping my hair back from my forehead to press his lips there, too.
I nodded. “Probably too soon to tell for sure, but right now I feel like a weight’s been lifted off me. I’m taking that as a good sign.”
“I’m proud of you.”
“Aw.”
He smiled, then reached down and grabbed me around the waist. Without warning he flipped me over like a rag doll and draped me over his shoulder in one smooth motion. I didn’t even get the chance to fight back, I just hung there with my hair swinging around my face and my head spinning.
And that pretty much described the way I felt whenever Mason was around.
Giddy and alive.
A little confused.
Never quite knowing what would happen next.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Sadie
“So… Mason, huh?” Mum stalled in the middle of slicing a tomato and shot me a look from the other side of the kitchen bench. The humour in her eyes suggested the news hadn’t exactly come as a shock, which made me wonder why no one had ever said anything to me. Had my attraction to him been that obvious? All these years I’d been convinced I was operating on stealth mode, but I hadn’t fooled anyone.
My parents arrived home early this morning, and after bombarding me with stories and photos from their getaway in Fiji, Mum threw herself into organising a lunch gathering for us all today. Saturday. Two weeks since Mason and
I had become a couple. It felt like a lifetime and a fleeting moment all at once.
Dad left fifteen minutes ago to pick up a few bottles of wine from the supermarket. During his absence Mum and I had discussed the issue between Claire and me, as well as the pregnancy I’d only recently found out about. Although she wasn’t too pleased with the way Claire had manipulated Mason and kept him from me, she at least seemed to understand her motivations.
Now we’d moved on to a more positive topic, one that made me happier with each passing day.
“Yep. Who would have thought?” I scooted to the edge of my stool and played with the leaves of a discarded celery stalk. My eyes stayed on my mum’s face, needing to see her reaction to my next question. “Should I assume this is good news for you and Dad?” Since the age difference had been one of Claire’s biggest concerns, I didn’t think it would be too much of a stretch to expect my parents might feel the same way. Not that it would change anything, but still…
“Well…” Mum lifted her shoulder to shove aside a length of dark hair that had fallen free of its clip. She slid the tomatoes to the side and turned her attention to a head of lettuce, the sleeves of her flowing blue kaftan shifting with each slicing motion. “If you get a start on buttering those rolls I might tell you.”
I smiled, and without further protest pulled the platter toward me to nab one from the pile. She must have decided I’d done enough to warrant an answer, because she picked the conversation up again before I’d even scraped on the first layer of butter.
“You know how I feel about Mason,” she said. “He’s one of the good ones.”
A long moment passed where only the sound of chopping filled the silence. She’d never heard those rumours about the countless women he’d supposedly been with, but I still expected her to have some reservations about the guy I’d started dating—even if it was the almighty Mason. My leg jiggled above the footrest while I waited for her to go on, but she didn’t appear to have anything more to add. “That’s it?” I prompted. “That’s all you have to say?”
Mum flicked me a glance before she continued with her work. “That’s it. He’s perfect. Gorgeous, smart, loyal, strong. If I could have picked your boyfriend for you myself, I still would have chosen him.”
Oh, wow. Tears flooded my eyes and my chest filled with warmth, the sensation spreading until it overwhelmed me. I stared at the granite countertop and blinked, fidgeting with the butter knife while I waited for my body to settle. When I finally lifted my head, I realised she’d stopped working and had been keeping an eye on me during my minor breakdown. I tried to smile but it only wobbled and fell apart. “I’ve wanted him for so long, Mum.”
Her features softened, and she looked like she might have come around the bench to hug me if she hadn’t been holding a sharp implement. “I know, honey. I do. I’m not sorry you had to wait, though.”
I surprised myself by saying, “Neither am I.”
The sound of the front door opening interrupted our conversation. Footsteps travelled down the hall and my heartbeat quickened in anticipation. It could have been Dad or Mason and the others—but I knew. The static charge, the warmth that filtered through my body… it floored me how I could feel him before he even entered the room.
Mum’s face lit up at the chorus of greetings that rang out. She dropped the knife and reached over the bench to squeeze my hand, then rushed across the kitchen to deliver a round of hugs to Claire, Andy and Mason. The room filled with a happy kind of noise, and I sat there feeling content, taking it all in over my shoulder.
As soon as Mum released my sister, Claire glanced my way and smiled. Our relationship had been going so well lately my return smile came easily. She had some news of her own to share today, and I couldn’t wait to see our parents’ reaction. When I found out earlier in the week tears flooded my eyes and I began jumping up and down in excitement. I had a feeling our mum would be beside herself.
Claire had a good reason for her recent outbursts. Turned out she was hormonal, and pretty soon I was going to be an aunty. She called to tell me the news right after she shared it with Andy. Knowing what it was like to be in on a family secret now made me feel like I’d finally made it to the inner circle.
Mason still had no clue, but Claire had kept it that way on purpose. There’d been a shift in loyalties over the past couple of weeks and some new boundaries put in place.
Speak of the devil, a wall of solid warmth hit me from behind. Before I could turn my head and set eyes on him, he swept my long hair to the side and touched his lips to the spot just beneath my ear. “Hi.”
The sound of his deep voice made me squirm. A flurry of butterflies took flight in my stomach, getting stronger when he slipped his arms around my waist and hugged me.
“Hi,” I said, trying to hide the tremor in my voice.
The fact that he could still have this impact on me after everything we’d done amazed me. All week he’d been making the most of this power, kissing me in public to test my control, touching me in platonic ways that generated some very non-platonic feelings. I wondered how long it would take for the intensity to die down. Not that I’d wish that on either of us.
“I missed you,” he said.
A thrill raced through me and I leaned back against him. I had to keep reminding myself we had company and, at a quick glance—yep—they were all paying close attention to the interaction between the two of us. “I missed you, too,” I told him. We’d only been apart one night, not nearly long enough to feel this level of exhilaration when we saw each other again.
“Hey, Mase, maybe you should back off now while you’re still somewhere in the PG-rating. You’re hurting my delicate eyes.”
Andy may have sounded amused, but he still had a point. Mason stepped back just enough to create a sliver of space between us, moving his hands to my shoulders instead. He pressed his thumbs into the base of my neck, massaging muscles I hadn’t even known needed attention until he started touching me. I wanted to drop my head forward and moan, but I made myself glance around the room as if everything was perfectly normal.
Claire smiled, clearly aware of Mason’s tactics but appearing more entertained than annoyed. Those baby steps of hers were turning into full length strides.
“Claire, can you take over with those rolls so we can eat? Your sister seems a little distracted at the moment.”
Having all the attention on me made my cheeks flame. Normally I would have tried to hide my reaction, but now everyone knew how hopelessly in love with him I was, I could be more open about my feelings.
I went on impulse and pushed off the barstool, turning to face Mason. With a laugh I threw my arms around his neck and held on tight, soaking up his scent and the feel of his strength plastered against me. He clasped my waist and hugged me back, his hum of appreciation sending happiness flowing through me.
The front door opened and closed again. Seconds later my dad’s gruff voice filled the room. “What’s the hell’s going on in here?”
Instead of breaking free of Mason’s hold, I closed my eyes and settled in for more of the same, feeling his heart thud strong and steady against my chest. He ran his hand up and down my back, keeping me close as his lips touched the underside of my jaw.
“Breaking news,” Claire said. “Sadie has a thing for Mason.”
“Big surprise,” Andy added.
“Mmm. Huge.” Wow. Sarcasm from my mother. I never would have expected that.
“Worst kept secret in history.” Dad just had to throw that in there, didn’t he?
I let out a breathless laugh and felt Mason smile against my neck.
In the space of two weeks my life had been turned upside down in all the best and worst ways. Now, with Mason by my side, a niece or nephew on the way and the people I loved most surrounding me, it could only get better from here.
THE END
