“I want to, but I’m not sure if I should,” I said honestly, hesitating to open up but feeling the need to confide in Jessi. She was my best friend. She was the right person to talk to, especially because I hadn’t been honest with her about Mason.
She arched an eyebrow. “You’ve got a man...” She paused waiting for a reaction from me. “Someone that keeps sending you these gifts…”
“There wasn’t one today,” I said, feeling hopeful. “I just hope he finally got the message,” I said with relief and disappointment at the same time.
She nodded with a quirk of the lips. “Yeah. Only during the holidays or your birthday, and only if you get to respond in kind. You refused some of my presents when I gave them to you. Do you remember?”
“You give me treats plenty of times and I eat those,” I pointed out. “So what exactly are you upset about?”
“I'm not upset about anything. Just I know I kept things from you when I was having issues with Trent, and I will respect your decision if you decide to do the same, but…”
“I know,” I said, bumping my shoulder against hers lightly. “You’re here to listen to me if I want to talk about it. I offered you the same thing, remember? I just… don’t think I want to.”
“Because you can't talk about it?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Because I just want to forget it. It… was a moment of weakness for me. While I couldn’t call it a mistake, it’s not something I plan on repeating, either.”
She nodded in understanding. “Whoever it is, they seem pretty determined to get you back.”
I snorted and rolled my eyes. “That bastard can just go and throw himself off a cliff if he thinks this is the way to go about it. Expensive candy and delicate gold bracelets… I’m not the kind of woman to be bought by that kind of stuff.”
“I know you’re not,” she said, soothing, patting a hand down my back. “Here, why don’t you finish up and we can both get to work before we’re late, hmm?”
I did as she asked, picking up another pastry and biting into it, then bringing the sweet mocha drink to my lips for a sip. It was a little too much sweets, but I figured I deserved something like this. Besides, while Jessi didn’t know about the whole cancer thing, she knew how careful I was about my health and my diet. She was doing this as a pick me up, and she hadn’t tried to get me to test taste anything for her for a few days.
“We better head out,” she said once we had everything done. We took the dishes to the kitchen, where she caught me by surprise as she pulled me into a quick hug. “Hang in there, okay? I’ll talk to you again after work.”
“Thanks for being such a good friend, Jessi,” I said simply.
She smiled at me, then went off. I did the same before changing in the nearly empty lockers. Nothing else had come, and I hoped it was the end of those presents and Mason seeking me out. If he’d kept it up, I would have gone to look for him myself just to get him to stop, because I wouldn’t have him thinking any of this would win me over.
I managed to get through work without any incidents, and at the end of the day, I felt relieved when I got home. For the first time in a while, I thought I could relax, and went to get out my knitting. I hadn’t sat down for long, though, when there was a knock on my door.
Putting my knitting aside, I went to see who it was. I didn’t usually get visitors, so I was curious. I opened the door, and my jaw dropped.
Mason was standing at my doorstep. Great, he didn’t send a gift this time, just himself. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I’d missed him, but I had to think of myself and that meant keeping him as far away from me as possible, It was going to be hard.
18
Laura
“How did you know where I live?” I asked, my voice quivering. I was scared, not about him coming to see me, but about what was going to happen next. Mason adopted this sheepish look.
“I swear I’m not trying to be a stalker, or anything,” he said quickly, then winced as if he realized the admission wasn’t making anything better.
“Seriously, how did you know?”
“I didn’t use the employee records or anything. I asked someone at the hotel and they told me. I wasn’t sure what time you’d be back, but I wanted to at least try.” There was desperation in his voice.
Did I really mean that much to him?
Was I really just being paranoid?
If he’d gone through my records at the hotel, he would have crossed a line. I wondered who told him where I lived, and if they’d find it strange I had someone sending me expensive gifts and one of the boss’s sons asking after me. I could only hope no one would make the connection and spread more rumors. I had enough shit to deal with as it was.
“Can we talk? I’ve been trying to find you for some time now—”
“No,” I said abruptly. “I’m going to respectfully decline and ask that you go away and stop sending me things, Mason.”
His expression betrayed surprise for a moment before he was able to mask it.
“Why exactly won’t you see me?” he asked with a slight frown on his face. “This isn’t going according to plan. I thought that you would be happy to see me. Happy to receive the gifts, not just send them back. I don’t get it. Is there something wrong with me that means you can’t see me?”
When he said it like that, I felt kind of ashamed of myself. Yes, I knew how my actions looked, but to have him say it so bluntly… It was like I’d used him knowingly, only to throw him aside. And I couldn’t even say that wasn’t true because in a lot of ways it was. I’d been down that day, and I’d taken his hand because it was something I wanted without thinking about the consequences. And then immediately afterward I’d tried to put a wall between us.
“I’m sorry that things turned out this way. I swear it’s not what I planned, but Mason you do understand that this can’t go anywhere, right? If it’s a fling you want, I’m sure there are other women you could go for other than me.”
“I want you!” he said stubbornly.
My heart, traitorous thing that it was, skipped a beat at the bold declaration. I could feel some heat in my cheeks, but I tried not to let myself be swayed. No matter what he said, I’d made my decision already. The week of careless gifts he’d been sending me cemented that this was the right thing to do.
“Mason, please,” I said with a sigh, leaning against the doorjamb. “You’re young, you’re hot. Not only can you do better, I’m sure there are plenty of women that would fall all over you if they thought they had a chance with you.”
“That’s rich coming from you. You did the complete opposite,” he said.
I narrowed my eyes. “Seriously, kid. Go away. I didn’t fall all over you because I’m not that kind of woman to begin with, so I don’t know what you were hoping for by sending me all those things. I’m not the kind of person who can be bought, and I don’t need a man who thinks that way. You have a million women waiting for the opportunity to be chosen by you, so don’t come to me anymore—”
“What the hell! Don’t call me kid!” he said.
I snorted. “Mason, I do happen to know your real age, you know. When I first met you a few years ago, you were just barely legal.”
“I was nineteen,” he cut in.
“Like I said, barely legal.” I frowned after I said it. He remembered me, even that far back? I shook the thought off, reminding myself once again not to be swayed.
“Is the age difference really a big deal?” he asked.
“There are so many problems, Mason, I don’t even have time to worry about the age difference.”
Not that I didn’t worry about it. While I hadn’t paid much attention to him in the first few years, I did definitely look when he was twenty-one, and I kept looking after that. Mostly, it was because it was around that time he’d had his first racy party and stripped down. The first time us maids realized that this kid was going to be a recurring problem if he stuck around.
It still felt li
ke robbing the cradle just being near this guy and allowing his interest in me to continue.
“What if I said your age didn’t matter to me?” he asked. “Because it really doesn’t. It definitely doesn’t change how I see you—”
“And how exactly do you see me?” I countered, tilting my chin up. “Explain it to me, Mason, how exactly do you see me that you thought sending me all that stuff was okay? And sending it to me at work! If you knew my home address, then I wouldn’t have minded them coming here but I would still have sent them back. The real problem is you had them sent to my work where people would notice and talk! What were you thinking?”
“I only found out where you live yesterday, I didn’t know your address a week ago, or I would have brought the presents here myself.”
“Well then, I’m sad now that you didn’t. My week would have gone a lot better if I could have shut this idea down earlier.”
Mason frowned in obvious displeasure. This wasn’t going as he must have hoped it would. He must have thought it would be easy. I’d pegged him early on as the kind of man who got whatever he wanted, spoiled by his parents. That wasn’t the kind of person I wanted to try dating.
“I didn’t mean for things to get out of hand. It’s just… you were avoiding me, and I didn’t know how else to see you. I also didn’t know what to do to get you talking to me, so I started sending the presents. I know it was stupid for it to take me a week to realize why you returned everything, but I think I understand now.”
I narrowed my eyes, wondering exactly what it was that this kid thought he understood. If he really had, he wouldn’t be at my front door like this.
“Look, kid—”
“I’m serious, Laura. Stop with the kid stuff, it’s freaking me out,” he said, frowning a little. “I acknowledge that there’s a gap between us. But I’ve been an adult for a while now, you know?”
I bit my lip, feeling my heart react to his words and his serious tone. He was right, and I knew it. No matter how spoiled he might be, Mason was every bit a man. I kept trying to refer to him as a kid hoping it could create some space between us.
That was probably unfair of me. He was right, treating him like a kid when he clearly wasn’t was a little degrading. I hadn’t liked it when older people had treated me the same back when I was in college. In fact, Mason was more mature than I was at that age, and I had to respect that.
“Fine,” I said with a sigh. “Look, Mason. I don’t know what exactly it is that you want from me, but I’ll tell you right now that you won’t get it. Yes, we had sex once. It was nice.” I chose the word deliberately, feeling a bit of shame because I’d just thought it would be disrespectful to call him a kid. I definitely felt a zing of pleasure when my ‘nice’ caused his face to fall, because he needed to be knocked down a peg or two. “We had our night and it ended, and it’s time to move on now. You understand, don’t you?”
“No, I don’t,” he said, his frown deepening, and he sounded a little hurt. “I don’t understand, Laura. Why don’t you try explaining things in more detail for me, hmm?”
“Don’t make this difficult for me, please. I have a life, so do you, so why can't we go back to it? I’m not asking that you forget anything happened, just think of it as one moment in your life that is now gone, and we can both move on. I already have a date tonight,” I added, fibbing, but he didn’t need to know that. “I just got back home and I wanted to relax a little and shower before he showed up. It’ll look bad if he comes and you’re still standing here.”
Mason was scowling at me now, but I didn’t even feel bad for the lie. I didn’t want to be cruel, because even if he was a man and considered himself one, he was still young. His personality was still annoying, but it wouldn’t be fair of me to keep resenting him for his birth as if it was his fault he was so rich. He didn’t ask for his lot in life any more than I did.
For a long moment, he didn’t say anything, and I grew nervous the longer he stayed silent. I couldn’t read his expression. I didn’t know what he was thinking, and that had me unsettled. He wasn’t leaving either, and I wondered if he was going to keep trying to talk me into dating him.
I wanted him to just leave! As early as possible, so I wouldn’t have the opportunity to waver. Already, I’d felt it in my chest when my heart beat at his words, and I didn’t want to be swayed when I’d already chosen this path for myself. He should have respected that and walked away, but I wondered if he knew I wasn’t being entirely truthful, or if it was just his ego keeping him in place.
As I watched, this determined expression took over his face, and it was enough to have me backing up. My arms crossed over my chest, and while I could have just walked into my apartment and closed the door on his face, the look in his eyes kept me still.
He had a basket in his hands I’d only just noticed. My eyes didn’t stay away from his face for long, and I could see a look of confidence in his gaze like he knew just what he had to do now, and I wondered to what extent he had read me. I braced myself for whatever he had to say to me, already knowing it was going to be torture to turn him down.
19
Mason
“Laura. Do you really have a date for tonight?”
I asked, because while it surprised me when she said it, it also struck me as odd. I didn’t know much about her, and what I’d heard about her probably wasn’t enough to base anything on. While her gaze had remained steady on mine up to the end of our little conversation, there were moments when she’d seemed a little off.
I was the deal maker of the family and it involved knowing how to read people well. I hadn’t even tried before with Laura, besides seeing her obvious attraction to me, and that was another mistake I’d made.
This time, I was going to do things properly, and I wasn’t going to let her just run away from me without a fight.
“So what if I do?” she countered after a moment of floundering, her chin tilting up higher. “Whether I do or not, it’s not any of your business, is it?”
“Now, who’s acting like a kid? True, if you do it has nothing to do with me. But that poor guy is just wasting his time. He doesn’t have a chance with you,” I said, folding my arms.
She let out a small huff. “Aren’t you being just a little conceited right now?”
I shook my head. “I wouldn’t say that. If anything, you could say I have some confidence. Because you can try to hide it all you want, Laura, but I can tell you want me. You wouldn’t have taken my hand that night if you didn’t; if all you really wanted was one night. You’re right, that’s not the kind of person you are. I’m sorry for not seeing it before but I definitely see it now.”
Her eyes widened in surprise, her expression going slightly dazed. A second later, she rearranged her expression, though it looked like she was having some trouble. Her eyes wavered once more before meeting mine again, and I would have smiled in triumph but I didn’t want her to see it and pull back.
“How smooth,” she muttered. “I can see why women fall for you. Even with everything else, you have enough charm to make any woman do whatever you want them to do. Don’t you?”
I chuckled. “I don’t see it that way. There are things you’re born with and things you can do on your own. My charm is something I perfected all by myself.”
After all, I’d done a great job keeping my hidden emotions from all my family and friends over the years. No one had ever seen me lose control, unless it was of the drunk variety, because I never let them see it. Instead I watched people, found ways to keep them fooled, learned to read them all like open books. Back when I was a teenager, even when I was part of my high school rugby team, I’d always thought it was me against the world. That mentality had made it slightly easier to quit the game when Dad made me do it.
“Just because you have a little charm, it doesn’t mean I’m going to be all over you, you know,” she blustered.
I noticed how she tensed her arms around herself and pressed her lips together. I was aff
ecting her and she didn’t like it. She was probably telling herself something along the lines of ‘don’t be swayed’. While I couldn’t say she was like any woman I’d met before, Laura was still a woman, after all.
“I brought you something,” I said, raising the basket up.
Her eyes were curious, but in the next second, she narrowed them and looked up at me with a scowl.
“You haven’t had enough of me returning your gifts? Do I have to do it personally for you to get it?”
“I’m hoping you’ll accept this one. Especially because it was hand delivered,” I said honestly. “I was careless before but I put some thought into this, so I hope you’ll think about accepting it.”
She was still frowning, but the curiosity was back in her face as she looked down at the basket. She even uncrossed her arms, meaning she wasn’t on the defensive as much. I was being insistent, and it was probably annoying for her. I didn’t want to give up though, and not just for the sake of my pride. I actually wanted something with Laura, and I knew it would be an uphill battle, but I no longer cared.
“What is it?” she asked, peering closer.
The fact she wanted to know what was in the basket, let me know that all things were not lost. With a smile, I held the basket out to her, so she could take a look. She did so cautiously at first, then her eyes went wide again as her mouth parted.
“This is all…”
“Groceries,” I finished for her. “Hopefully, things you like. I asked around a bit for healthy food. I hoped you’d at least appreciate this. And if you’re worried about reciprocating, though it’s really not necessary, I won’t mind you making dinner for me some time. It would only be fair, after all, since I did cook you steak last time.”
She looked up at me.
“Why are you so shocked?” I teased.
“It’s just… so thoughtful of you…”
Housekeeping Page 11
