by Ali Parker
I could tell by the tone of her voice her defenses were up. I didn’t blame her. My family had a way of making a person feel small. Adelaide was made of tougher stuff than that. I was proud of her. I caught Jack looking at me. He was waiting for my reaction. I wasn’t going to give them one.
“That seems like a smart plan. How is your business doing?” my mother asked.
I felt Adelaide tense up. “It’s going fine.”
“Will you be growing your operation?” Grayson asked in a serious tone.
I glared at him. “Do we really need to talk business?” I snapped.
“It’s an important part of her life, I imagine,” my mom said.
“It is a very important part of my life. I want to be successful and make my father proud,” Adelaide replied, her chin going up.
“I imagine it must be a struggle to try and run a business on your own,” my mom said.
“It is,” Adelaide replied.
“Did you save the capital to start the business?” she pressed.
I stared at her, wondering what in the hell had gotten into her. I had never known her to be so rude. I was embarrassed and pissed at the same time.
“I saved the money from my father’s life insurance, what was left after everything was said and done, and worked in a coffee shop for a couple years learning the ropes and saving more money,” Adelaide answered.
“Do you have investors?” Grayson asked.
She looked at me before turning back to look at Grayson. “I have one investor.”
“I invested in the coffee shop,” I announced, not giving a shit what they thought. It was my money and my life.
The looks on the faces of my family were a combination of shock, disapproval, and what looked like anger on my mother’s face.
“Really?” my mother said, her lips pressed in a thin line.
“Yes, really. I’ve been in the shop and I have a pretty good gut for these kinds of things,” I answered.
Grayson scoffed. “I didn’t realize you knew anything about business.”
“I do,” I replied, not giving him anything else.
“I have no doubt you inherited some of your father’s good business sense, but is it really a good idea to mix personal and business matters?” my mother asked.
“Mason and I have gone through his business manager. It is all official and our personal relationship has nothing to do with our business relationship. I take my business very seriously and would never jeopardize it,” Adelaide stated.
“Sometimes these things can’t be helped. Even in the real business world, feelings get hurt. Business partners get mad at each other and relationships suffer because of it,” my mother advised.
Adelaide nodded. “Which is why we have contracts in place. I don’t feel Mason is vindictive. Neither of us would purposely hurt the business to get at each other.”
“It doesn’t have to be intentional. Business partnerships sour,” Grayson said, looking at me.
“I believe those relationships sour when there is poor communication, a lack of compromise, or when the partners no longer share the same vision. Our contract dictates I am the managing partner. I will make the business decisions with input from Mason. I feel I am mature enough to accept advice from a partner, and Mason is a respectful man who understands how important this business is to me. He is an investor, because he believes in me,” Adelaide said, her voice revealed nothing, but I knew her well enough to know she was getting pissed.
I didn’t blame her. She was being attacked. I knew she was doing her best to be polite and she was doing a very good job of it. It was my mother and Grayson who were being awful. I was used to it and I expected it when it came to them talking to me, but not her.
I stood up. “Thanks for dinner, we’re leaving.”
My mom looked at me, a scowl on her face. “We haven’t had dessert, and you haven’t finished your meal.”
I shook my head. “No. I didn’t come here tonight for you to be so disrespectful to the woman I’m falling in love with. You’ve been condescending and rude throughout dinner, and I’m not going to sit here and take it another minute.”
“Mason, sit down,” my mother snapped.
I reached for Adelaide’s hand and pulled her up. “Lucky for Adelaide, she’s not a Bancroft. You don’t get to judge her when you don’t even know her. She doesn’t have to see you again. She doesn’t have to be subjected to your abhorrent behavior,” I said, using a word my mother had once used to describe my behavior.
I looked at Jack, waiting to see if he would have anything to say. I half expected him to defend Adelaide. He didn’t. None of them offered any defense. I wasn’t surprised. With Adelaide’s hand in mine, I walked out of the dining room. They could sit and talk about me and Adelaide and how dumb they thought we were for getting involved.
“Mason, stop!” my mother called out, following us down the hall.
“No,” I said, not stopping.
“You’re taking this wrong. I wasn’t trying to be rude,” she said, attempting to explain her obnoxious behavior.
I stopped walking and spun around, dropping Adelaide’s hand. “I’m not taking it wrong. There isn’t a right way to take it. Everything you said was wrong and you damn well know it.”
“Mason, I didn’t mean to offend you. I don’t believe I said anything wrong,” she snapped, as if she was the one who had a right to be angry.
“And Adelaide? Were you only trying to offend her?” I asked.
“No. Never,” she said, her eyes darting to Adelaide.
“You sure about that? From where I was sitting, you were attacking her. You were asking her questions that were none of your business. You’ve never cared about how I spent my money in the past. You’ve been waiting for me to blow through it so I would come crawling back to the family, begging for money. It’s never going to happen. I don’t want shit from you, Dad, Grayson, or anyone else. Keep your precious money. You don’t need to worry about me.” I snarled.
“I will always worry about you. You are my son. I want to make sure you are okay, and you don’t tell me anything. I have to ask. I love you and am only looking out for your well-being,” she pleaded.
“It sure doesn’t feel like that. You seem to be more worried about money and business than true happiness.”
I grabbed Adelaide’s hand and started moving for the door again. I had to get out of the house before I said something that I might regret. I didn’t want to say anything that I couldn’t take back. It was better if I left things alone. She was my mother and despite what they thought about who I was as a man, I was not disrespectful.
I yanked open the front door. Adelaide stayed quiet as I walked past my brothers’ cars to the far end of the driveway where I had parked the Mercedes.
“Mason, I hope you’ll call me when you’ve cooled down,” my mother shouted.
I turned and looked at her. “I’ll call you when you’re capable of minding your own goddamn business. You can call me when you’re ready to apologize and take accountability for your behavior … and you do owe me and Adelaide an apology. What you pulled tonight was some bullshit. Don’t expect me to show up to any more of your family dinners until you’ve figured out how to behave.”
I walked to the car, not listening to whatever it was she was saying behind me. I opened the door for Adelaide before moving around to get in the driver’s seat. I was so pissed, I had to take a few seconds to calm down before I put the car in reverse.
Never again would I give them the benefit of the doubt. They had burned their last bridge with me. I knew it wasn’t my brothers who had said the shitty things, but they had certainly done nothing to stick up for me or Adelaide. Grayson purposely baited my mother, getting her to ask the questions he wanted to know. It was unforgiveable.
Chapter 50
Adelaide
I said nothing as Mason drove down the long driveway. I could feel the anger coming off him in waves. The night had started out pr
omising, but things had taken a very dark, ugly turn. I should have known things would have gotten ugly once the business thing was brought up. His mother seemed to dislike me on principal because I wasn’t from money. She seemed so nice. I should have known it wasn’t real.
I had thought Jack approved of me. I guessed I was wrong about that as well. He had fooled me with his kindness and his humor. I wouldn’t be fooled again. I glanced over to stare at Mason’s profile. His jaw was clenched and his hands were gripping the wheel so tight his knuckles were white.
I didn’t know what to say to him. I felt a little guilty that the argument was started on my behalf. He had been defending me, which I appreciated, but I hated that I had been at the center of his latest family drama. God knew he had enough to deal with, he didn’t need me making things worse.
“I’m sorry,” I said when we were a couple blocks from his place.
He turned to look at me. “Sorry? Why are you sorry?”
“Because I should have kept my mouth shut. I could have told them I was a student or something,” I said.
“No way. Fuck that. You never have to lie about who you are. Never try to impress them. Trust me, you will never be good enough in their eyes. I’m the one who’s sorry for taking you there. I should have known they couldn’t be trusted to act like decent human beings,” he spat.
“You don’t have to be sorry,” I assured him. “You did nothing wrong.”
“I shouldn’t have taken you there. I think I had this idea things would be different. I wanted to believe the accident would have had some kind of impact on my relationships with all of them. Isn’t that what you said?” he said, glancing my way.
I almost felt like he was accusing me. “I’m sorry. I thought they would have realized how important life is and that you are worthy of their love. How could I have known they were that wrapped up in money and business?” I shot back.
He let go of the steering wheel and grabbed my hand. “No, you couldn’t have known. I’m not accusing you of anything. I really wanted to believe you had been right.”
“I really am sorry for the way things went tonight,” I whispered.
“So am I,” he muttered, pulling into the underground parking area and grabbing my bag from the trunk.
We walked up to his apartment, both of us lost in our own thoughts. I wished there was something I could do to help make things better for him and his family. They seemed like a close family, but I had seen the way he held himself apart from the others. He didn’t engage in the conversation at dinner and offered up no details about his life. The others had talked about their weeks, but he had sat quietly. I had a new understanding of him. It explained so much about him.
I remembered the many times I had been around him and I thought he was a stuck-up prick because he never participated in the conversation. He always seemed to be watching and judging us. I realized now he was simply observing, not adding anything because he’d been raised to believe he had nothing worth saying.
“Mason, there’s something I need to talk to you about,” I said as we walked inside his apartment.
He looked at me with what seemed like resignation. “Let me grab a beer for this. Do you need one?”
“Yes, please,” I said, sitting down to take off my heels.
He brought the beers and flopped down, taking a long drink from his bottle before looking at me. “Don’t feel bad. I get it. I wouldn’t want to be a part of this family if I didn’t have to be. It’s cool.”
“What’s cool?” I asked him, a little confused.
“You want to end things, right?”
“No! Why would you say that?”
“Because I would want to end things if I were in your shoes. You’ve met my mother. I understand if her behavior turned you away from me,” he said with that familiar blank expression he’d always had when we’d spent time together over the years.
I held up a hand. “That isn’t what I was going to say. I wanted to talk to you about what you said at dinner,” I explained.
He shrugged a shoulder. “I said a lot. You’ll need to be more specific.”
The man had gone into full-defensive mode. He was clearly angry, hurt, and was emotionally shutting down. We had not come all this way to have him pull back now.
“You said you were falling in love with me,” I whispered.
His beer was halfway to his mouth. He froze. “I did.”
“Did you mean to?” I asked, my heart pounding against my chest.
He slowly nodded. “I did.”
“Oh.” I breathed, stunned by the revelation and unsure of what to think about it.
He put his bottle on the coffee table, reaching for my beer and then setting it down before grabbing me and pulling me into his lap. His arms wrapped around my waist, holding me close against his body.
“Adelaide, I have been thinking about you in that red thong and that barely there bra all night. I don’t want to think about it anymore. I want to see it,” he said.
I looked down at him, staring into his eyes and seeing the passion he held for me. “I suppose that can be arranged.”
“Please, I don’t want you to think about my family, about anything they said or did tonight. Forget all about them and focus on me. We’ll go back to the way it was—just you and me. No one else matters. I don’t give a fuck about what anyone thinks about my investments or who I choose to be with. I choose to be with you.”
I couldn’t help but smile. He was brusque and overbearing, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. He was the man I wanted and needed in my life.
“I love it when you talk like that,” I told him with a grin.
“I can talk any way you want, baby,” he said with a low voice.
“You surprised me,” I whispered.
His hand traced up and down my back. “I have to admit, I didn’t know I was going to say that, but I meant it.”
“I like the sound of it,” I told him, giving him a sweet kiss.
One of his strong hands continued to rub my back, the other was slowly moving up the skirt of my dress. I closed my eyes, letting myself fall under his spell. He was falling in love with me. I had been shocked to hear the words and hadn’t even been certain I had heard him correctly. While I was thrilled with the revelation and would cherish the first time hearing him say it, the situation they had been said in was not okay.
I wanted him to have everything, including the love of his family. I wanted to help him fix things with his mom and brothers. I wanted him to know what it felt like to be accepted. I wanted him to be able to walk into that mansion and slap his brothers on their backs and talk and laugh with them all like they were best friends. I wanted to bake cookies with his mom and to hang out with Natasha, Hannah, and Leah. I was craving the big family, but I couldn’t push him.
I was going to focus on us and hopefully help him mend fences with his family over time. I could see his family loved him, but I didn’t think they knew how to love him. Mason was a complicated man to them. They didn’t understand the way he thought or why he didn’t want all the trappings of wealth. I hoped I could help him work things out. I loved him and wanted him to have everything.
I was going to make it my mission to bring them together. I just hoped it didn’t pull Mason and me apart. I knew he hated the idea of anyone meddling in his life. I would do it subtly.
“I was thinking I should take this dress off before it gets too wrinkled,” I murmured, moving my mouth over his.
“Funny, I was thinking exactly that,” he replied in a husky voice.
I shifted to get off his lap, reaching out a hand to pull him to his feet. We moved into his bedroom, a place that had once intimidated me a little, but now it was almost a second home to me. I stopped in the middle of the room and lifted my hair to the side.
He knew what I was asking and pulled the zipper down. I stepped away from him, taking the dress off and walking to the chair to drape it over the back. I turned, wearing only the re
d lingerie he had specifically requested, and met his eyes.
“I don’t know about you, but I’ve been thinking about you and me naked for hours,” I said with a purr.
He pulled off his shirt. “I’ve thought of nothing else since I watched you put that fucking dress on. I was debating pulling you into the bathroom or dragging your beautiful ass upstairs to my old room. We’re home and I don’t think I can wait any longer.”
I smiled, walking toward him and reaching out to undo his jeans. “I hope not, because I need you inside me. I’ve been riding along on the verge of an orgasm for hours,” I confessed.
“Oh yeah? So, I could slide a finger inside you and make you come?” he whispered as I pulled his jeans down his legs, his erection standing at a full salute.
“Maybe, but I was thinking we could wait on that. I want to take you to the edge,” I told him, pulling off one of his shoes and then the other.
“Baby, I’m on the edge. I’ve been on the edge. Looking at you in that is making it hard for me not to explode right this second.”
I rose to my feet to stand in front of him, my hand running over his chest, touching the spot over his ribs and remembering how lucky I was he was still standing. It was a reminder of what I could have lost, even before I found it. I had come so close to losing him and it wasn’t just the accident. I had sent him out of my life, intending to never have anything to do with him again. It was like fate intervened and slapped me upside the head with the accident. It had been exactly what I needed to see what had been right in front of me. Every time I touched that spot on his rib cage, I was taken back to the moment I thought I had lost him. That moment had also been the moment I realized how much I cared about him.
“Adelaide,” he said my name, gently pushing me away from him to look me dead in the eyes.
“Yes?” I asked, feeling breathless.
He was so handsome. I was so attracted to him, it almost hurt to be away from him. I didn’t feel complete when I had to sleep alone. I looked into his eyes and felt a hitch in my throat.
