Chapter 14
14
MASON
“Mace.” Beck nodded to the door.
Pia stood there, watching me. For a second, I couldn’t decipher her expression… until I realized. I’d taken off my shirt, and Pia had definitely noticed. Trying not to smile—what guy wouldn’t be thrilled to have a beautiful woman looking at them like that?—I stood up and made my way toward her.
Grabbing a hand towel, I stepped over hardwood planks. “Let’s head outside.”
We walked around to the back deck, the cool air like heaven after working up a sweat. “What time is it?” I asked.
“Almost four.”
“Shit. It feels like we were working for a half hour.”
Pia rested her hand on the railing, looking out over Heritage Hill’s property. Even more leaves had fallen in the last few days as autumn quickly inched toward an end.
“I can’t believe how much you guys got done. The new floor will look incredible.”
“Parker’s a beast. He’s crazy talented.”
“And went to college with you?”
“Yeah, for business. He wants to start his own company.”
“Seems like a good idea.” She paused. “So, you wanted to talk to me before I left?” Her eyes dipped to my chest and quickly flew up to my face. She didn’t want to look, that much was clear. Which was exactly what I’d planned to talk to her about. We had to address the obvious, that the two of us were insanely attracted to each other, but that attraction couldn’t go anywhere. We both knew it.
The words wouldn’t come. Instead, I pretended to look confused.
“Oh yeah. Can’t remember why now.”
She waited until I said again, “Nope. Nothing.”
“Hmm. Alright then. Well, I’m taking off. Big day tomorrow.”
Say goodbye. See you tomorrow. Sounds good. Something. Anything .
Except, I didn’t want her to go. Pia was like the rainbow after a storm. Since I’d come home, the quiet moments were filled with memories of my father, but when she was around…
I took a step toward her. “We only have a couple of guests. Shouldn’t be too big of a deal.”
“I know, but still. They’re your first guests as innkeeper.” Pia smiled knowingly. “Are you ready for that?”
“Am I ready to be nice to them? Is that what you mean?” I teased, something I seemed to be doing more with Pia than was typical for me. I wasn’t normally the teasing type.
“I wasn’t gonna say it, but…”
Another step, as if I were willing her to stay by my presence. Pia didn’t move. Again, her eyes dropped to my chest, and then lower. A final step, this time coming close enough to her that if Pia reached out her hand, she would be able to touch me.
When she looked up, our eyes met. The air sizzled between us.
Do it, Pia.
Touch me.
“You have a lot of…” She cleared her throat. “Muscles.”
“Have to stay ahead of the curve.”
“A cop thing?”
“Sort of.”
So much for my vow of keeping more distance between us. I’d done the exact opposite. My eyes fell to her lips. Most women with lips that full used fillers, but Pia’s were 100 percent real. What I wouldn’t give to slip my tongue between those lips, devour them so completely that Pia was unable to stand.
“Mason,” she said, her voice thick.
“Yes, Pia?”
How I wanted to grab her hand, put it on my chest and tell her to have a field day. Touch. Explore. Anything she wanted.
“I liked it better when I thought you were an asshole.”
Better she understood her instincts had been correct. “I am an asshole.”
“Maybe,” she agreed, making me smile and cutting into some of the sexual tension between us. “But not as big of one as I thought.”
“There you are.”
Fucking Beck.
Pia stepped backward.
“We need more vapor barrier.”
Our proximity hadn’t been lost on Beck. He’d basically written the playbook on seducing women. Not that I had been trying to seduce Pia.
Well, maybe I had, a little.
“I’ll go grab it. Maybe some takeout for dinner too.”
“Sounds good. You taking off, Pia?” he asked.
Her demeanor completely changed with him. “Why do you ask? Need something?”
“Just you to agree to a date. Just one date.”
“Not gonna happen.”
Pia’s shoulders shook as she walked away, toward my fucking asshole of a friend. He would stop asking her out… today.
Patting him on the back like an errant toddler, Pia called, “See you in the morning,” to me. And just like that, she was gone.
I glared at Beck, who, unapologetically, leaned against the banister and crossed his arms.
“So what the hell was that?”
“What?”
“Really? Come on, man. I’ve known you since kindergarten.”
“As if I could forget, especially the day you pulled your pants down in the hall waiting for the bathroom.”
We’d been in a line, the teacher taking us all to the bathroom at once, when Beck’s pants were suddenly around his ankles. The teacher screamed as if he’d just stabbed someone. Beck had been making women scream with his dick ever since. According to him, anyway.
“First of all, I was goaded into it. Second, you don’t actually remember that, just the story. No one can remember being five.”
“I can.”
“Whatever you say.”
Beck claimed a girl dared him to pull down his pants. If nothing else, it made for a memorable story. His mother had not been pleased by that phone call.
“I say, you are attracted to Pia.”
It wasn’t the first time he or the others had accused me of much, but denying it now was pointless.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“So you admit it?”
I sighed. “I need to go get a vapor barrier.”
Attempting to walk by Beck, I was stopped by a hand on my chest. Beck could be so fucking annoying sometimes.
His hand dropped.
“You’re finally admitting it?”
“Beck,” I said with an attempt at patience. “Like I’ve been saying since Pia started working here, she’s my employee. I’m her boss. It doesn’t matter if I’m attracted to her.”
“Sure it does. I’ll back off if you just admit it.”
Power move. Beck knew I wanted him to back off. He’d likely seen it with the daggers I’d shot him a few minutes ago.
“Fine. I admit it. But she’s free to date whoever she wants, just not me. So if you have a shot with her—” I was going to say “go for it,” but the words stuck in my mouth.
Beck’s silly grin was so typical of him.
“First of all, she doesn’t want to date me, obviously. It’s a joke between us at this point. Second of all, consider it done.”
Good.
I just wouldn’t say that out loud.
“It’s a bad idea,” I admitted for the first time to anyone but myself.
“Agreed.”
“Because she works for me.”
“Nah, not that.”
My eyes narrowed. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It’s not ideal,” he said, Beck’s more serious side making a rare appearance. “If you get together and end up staying here, and it doesn’t work out.” He shrugged. “But aside from that, who cares? You’re consenting adults. And it’s not like you have some board of directors or someone to answer to. You’re a literal staff of three.”
I didn’t get it. “So why isn’t it ideal? In your mind.” Because in mine, screwing around with one of my only employees, and a good one at that, wasn’t a good idea at all.
“Because there’s more between you than a simple attraction. I’ve known you long enough to tell. And that, Mason, should scare the hell out of you. Or anyone who knows the success rate of long-term relationships.”
Leave it to Beck to force the truth down my throat.
“I like you better when you’re not so serious,” I said, echoing Pia’s comment about liking me more when she thought I was an asshole.
“Everyone does,” he said, slapping me on my shoulder and walking away.
Great. Now what?
Damned if I had any answers. Just more questions.