Chapter 23
23
PIA
Blinking, I sat back in my seat and tried to focus, but the computer screen wasn’t cooperating. Or my brain wasn’t cooperating. Either way, it seemed like as good a time as any for a break. Just as I gathered up my things, a text came through from Delaney.
I know it’s last minute, but any chance you can do lunch?
I actually hadn’t thought of lunch. Wonder why?
Chuckling at my own joke, a vision of half-naked Mason standing just about where I was seated right now as he absolutely dominated me, I texted her back and grabbed my purse.
On the way out, I popped into the reception room where Mason and Beck were painting. “Wow,” I said, not having seen it earlier. “It looks completely different.”
Mason stopped painting and turned around. “Taking out a wall, new floor, new color… that’ll do it. What do you think?”
“I love it,” I said as he put the brush on top of a paint can.
“Hey, Pia,” Beck said without stopping.
“Hi, Beck.”
I thought that would be the end of it, Beck uncharacteristically quiet, until Mason took my arm and started leading me to the kitchen.
“I guess we weren’t meant to be.” Beck sighed dramatically. “It could have been amazing.”
Smiling, I called back, “I love you, Beck.”
“Love you more,” he said, teasing.
Mason backed me up to the island. When I couldn’t move anymore, he took advantage, grabbing my hands and pinning them to the countertop on each side of me.
“So you love Beck, huh?”
Although his tone was as teasing as mine had been to Beck, Mason’s eyes flashed in a way that told me there was a slight serious side to him too.
“In a brother-sister sort of way, yes.”
He closed the space between us. “I’m glad,” he said, his face just inches from mine.
“That I love Beck?”
“That you think of him like a brother.”
“Why?” I prompted.
“Because I’m a one-woman kind of guy.”
Before I could respond, he kissed me. My mouth opened for him, the now familiar taste and feel of his tongue as it tangled with mine a heady aphrodisiac. I couldn’t touch him, my hands still pinned as they were, so I put all of the longing he summoned into the kiss.
“Fuck,” Mason said when he finally pulled away. “We are screwed, Pia. Do you realize that?”
“Actually, that was earlier. I still can’t believe”—I lowered my voice—“that we had sex on my desk.”
Mason peered around me toward the island. When his eyes met mine again, he didn’t have to say a word.
“A bit more complicated, don’t you think?” I asked.
“Nah. Beck’s working tonight.”
“And Parker?”
“Will be told to stay away.”
Mason pushed my hair back, leaned down and touched his lips to my neck. I bent it to give him better access.
“So when you say you’re making me dinner, what you really mean is making me come on yet another table.”
Mason gently bit my earlobe before whispering, “I’m going to make you come on every table, in every room, in this entire inn, Pia. That’s a promise.”
I swallowed just before he kissed me. Knowing it wouldn’t last long, I reveled in every second until Mason stopped.
“Hate to do it,” he said, letting go of my hands, “but I have to get back if I’m going to finish up early.”
“And I have a lunch date,” I said just as Mason started to back away.
“Oh yeah?”
Maybe I should not have put it quite like that. Mason’s expression wasn’t jealous, exactly, but it wasn’t neutral either. A guy like him, with so much discipline… no way he was the jealous type.
“Yep. With Delaney. A last-minute thing.”
He stared at me for an extra few seconds and then said, “We’re definitely gonna need to talk tonight.”
“About…” I waved my hand to indicate the two of us. “This?”
“Yeah.” His lips tugged upward. “About this.” He mimicked my hand movements.
“I look forward to it.”
“As do I,” he said, heading back to Beck. “And the island christening,” Mason called, his voice carrying back to me. Hopefully, Beck didn’t hear that.
Taking a few deep breaths, I got myself back under control. To think less than twenty-four hours ago we hadn’t so much as touched, unless our legs at dinner counted, and now… well, things were different.
And more complicated too.
* * *
The Yellow Deli was in the main town square, catty corner from my apartment. I loved that they sourced ingredients locally, and the bright yellow and white interior put a smile on my face as I walked inside to find Delaney already sitting.
Or maybe that smile was from something else.
“Hey there,” I said, sitting. “How’s it going?”
“It’s going. Already ordered you a diet. Why did we pick somewhere without cocktails?”
“I like the way you think,” I said. “And wondered the same thing.”
A waitress brought our drinks, two diet sodas, as I opened the menu.
“So how’s it going down the hill?”
“Great,” I said, scanning the menu. “It’s a little tricky to renovate with guests, but since we were close with Mason’s dad, we didn’t want to disrupt the schedule any more than we needed to. So it’s mostly soft renovations for now, but it’s looking good. I could definitely use your help one of these days making a list of potential local partners. I could ask Mason, but I’d like a woman’s perspective with some of the winery contacts.”
“Oohhh, that sounds like fun. Let’s get a driver and do a proper wine tour.”
Delaney’s bubbly nature was rubbing off on me. I couldn’t quit grinning. “Only for the sake of work.”
“Of course.”
“What else? Has Mason chilled out? Any word on him staying?”
I’d known it would come up and debated telling her. On one hand, I didn’t know Delaney all that well yet. On the other hand, I was bursting to talk to someone who actually knew him.
“Sooo…”
“Are you ready to order?”
Delaney’s eyes were like saucers. I guessed I’d put enough intrigue into my tone, but she had to wait until she finished ordering sandwiches before getting the story.
“Oh my God, tell me,” she said, the second the waitress walked away. “You and Mason?”
I nodded.
“I knew it. The way he looked at you that night at the Big Easy. I just knew it.”
“It’s a very recent development.”
“How recent?”
“Last night.”
“Oh, snap. That is recent. Tell me everything.”
“Well, it got to the point that it was impossible to ignore. My mom and sister came in for the weekend to surprise me, and since the apartment is so small, Mason offered for us to stay at the inn.”
Her jaw dropped, so I added, “Nothing happened there. Except for a brief conversation in his bedroom and two very long nights knowing he was sleeping right down the hall. Oh, and maybe one kiss.”
“Oh my God, I wish I had popcorn for this.”
Smiling, I thought about last night. “I asked if we could talk and he basically called out the attraction between us. One thing led to another and… he came to my apartment.”
“And? You cannot possibly stop there.”
“And… all I can say is that if I look like shit today, there’s a reason for it.”
“First of all, you don’t look like shit. Just the opposite. Second of all, holy crap.”
“Yeah, I know. We really need to talk though because I had no idea how to act at work today. If we were going to keep it from the boys?—”
“The boys.” She laughed. “I love how you refer to Beck as a boy. Since he kind of is still.”
“I actually adore him. And Parker, who you have to meet someday.” The waitress returned with our lunch, but I was too wrapped up in my story to eat. “Anyway, he came to my office this morning, and I had no idea what to expect. He was really hung up on the idea that he’s my boss, which, to be fair, does complicate things a bit.”
“So what happened? I can see you grinning like the cat who ate the canary so…”
I simply could not stop smiling. “I guess the workplace is not off-limits.”
“No you didn’t?”
I nodded.
“In your office?”
“On the desk,” I admitted as our food was brought to us. I hadn’t planned to reveal so much, but Delaney’s expressions were killing me.
“I can’t even,” she said, taking a bite of her tuna sandwich. “That’s hot.”
“Agreed, but we really do need that talk. He’s making me dinner tonight.”
Delaney took a sip of her drink as I finally dug into lunch.
“For what it’s worth, I thought there were some serious vibes between the two of you, so I’m not surprised. It was inevitable, in my opinion. Secondly, talk about complicated. Not only the boss thing, but I thought you said he might be selling and heading back to the city?”
“I honestly have no idea what he’s thinking there. But I’m really liking the job, and Cedar Falls, so I’m hoping that’s a part of our discussion. I’ve been thinking a lot about this and wonder if he’d consider not selling and letting me oversee the renovations if he goes back. That way he can stay the owner, which I know a part of him wants to do for his dad.”
“So you would be the innkeeper and manager? Seems like a tall order.”
“It would be,” I admitted between bites. “But it’s possible. His father did it for years.”
“Possible, sure. But he lived and breathed Heritage Hill. Are you ready for that kind of commitment? And what about Mason? He just goes back and the two of you…”
That was a big question mark, for sure. “I don’t know. It’s too early to be thinking like that. We’re just having fun for now. I’m trying really hard not to have expectations since they’re usually a major source of disappointment.”
Delaney peered up at me as she took another tuna sandwich bite. When she finished chewing, she said, “Agreed.”
“So tell me about you. What’s up with the boyfriend?”
We chatted for a while, and though Delaney was off for the day, a mix-up in the schedule accounting for her last-minute text, I still had to get to the grocery store and wine store. We finished lunch, paid and walked out into the crisp fall air.
“I really do like this place,” I said. Its grassy square with gazebo centerpiece gave it a quintessential small-town vibe.
“I honestly never thought I’d come back. But as they say, greener pastures and all that. I’m actually glad I didn’t stay. It’s easier to appreciate now.”
“I bet.”
Hugging, we parted, and I walked to the wine store thinking to get some bottles to drop off at my apartment before heading to the grocery store and then back to Heritage Hill. At least, that was the plan, until I saw Mason clear across the square.
In an embrace.
With a woman.