Chapter 28
28
PIA
The immediate pit in my stomach… no, the giant hole that opened up and swallowed me, told me more about my feelings about Mason than I wanted to know at the moment.
“I’m teasing.”
It took a second for his words to penetrate. When they did, I swatted him. “You just wanted to see my reaction.”
“Maybe. Does that make me evil?”
“Yes, it does.”
“What’s the word?” Beck asked in a break between customers. It was getting busier by the minute.
“He was prepared,” Mason said. “And made an offer that was hard to refuse. I almost told him I’d sit on it but…” He turned toward me. Our eyes met. Locked. Then, to Beck, he said, “I can’t sell. My father was Heritage Hill. And now I have a viable way to keep it, even if I go back to the force.”
Even if I go back to the force.
This was good news. Why did it feel like it wasn’t?
Beck reached across the bar to shake Mason’s hand. “Congrats, man. That’s a big decision that I know was tough to make.”
“Thanks,” he said, but when Beck started pouring shots, I waved my arms. “No way, not for me.”
“Fair enough,” he said as the pair clinked glasses to celebrate.
When he left, I shook my head. “He’s out of his mind.”
“You don’t know the half of it. I could spend the night telling you Beck-in-college stories.”
I made a face. “Not sure I want to hear most of them.”
“You don’t. Let’s get you some food, and I’ll tell you about the meeting.” Mason waved down Beck. “Wings are great here, have you had them yet?”
“Nope, but I’ve never met a hot wing I didn’t like.”
“Ahh, so the girl likes it hot, does she?”
“In more ways than one,” I teased back.
“Two orders,” he said to Beck, who was in the process of tossing a bottle into the air. Must be a cute girl around. Looking down the bar, I found her. “Of wings. Hot and extra crispy.”
“Both hot?” Beck asked. He turned to me. “Sure you don’t want medium? Our hot is really hot.”
“Can I ask you a serious question?” I said. Beck was like a project I was determined to work on. He could be saved, potentially. Although I wouldn’t let my sisters or friends date him. “Would you ever ask a man if he wanted to downgrade his wings?”
“Downgrade. Interesting way to say it.”
“Seriously, though?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Beck looked at Mason, appealing to him.
“Don’t look at me,” Mason said. “I didn’t ask her to downgrade.”
Beck sighed. “Because I’ve never met a man who said, ‘Ooohhh, too hot.’”
I didn’t know if his extravagantly waving arms or terrible woman’s voice impression were worse.
“You’re gonna get it,” I said as Beck chuckled and walked away. “There is zero chance I can ever get him girlfriend-ready.”
Mason nearly spit out his beer. “Girlfriend-ready? You’re joking, right?”
I shrugged. “I like challenges.”
Mason shook his head. “Even if it weren’t for the pact…” He stopped.
Clearly Mason had said something he hadn’t meant to. “The pact?”
“It’s nothing. Just some stupid agreement we made in college.”
“Mason?”
He put his hand on my knee, rubbing my leg up and down suggestively.
“That’s not going to distract me.”
“No?”
I placed my hand on top of his. “No.”
Threading his fingers through mine, he exhaled. “It was originally Cole’s idea. As shitty as Beck’s parents’ relationship is…” At my expression, he added, “Ask him. Beck’s not shy about it. So anyways, at least everyone knows their marriage has been fucked two ways from Sunday. Cole’s parents’ marriage is worse for a lot of reasons, that he can tell you. Then you have Parker, whose parents have multiple divorces under their belt. And you know about my father, who pretty much never got over my mother’s death.”
A shadow crossed his expression at that last part. Whether he was thinking of his mom, or his dad, or the fact that his dad had never recovered from her death, I wasn’t sure. But the small hint of vulnerability was so out of character for Mason, I wanted to pull him toward me and squeeze.
“For one reason or another, none of us have a high opinion of the success rate of marriage. Cole decided we should make a pact. A ‘bachelor pact,’ he called it. We all tossed in 250 bucks. If anyone gets engaged, it’s another two fifty to the kitty. Marriage is 500. Last man standing gets the prize. But I have a feeling that money will rot since I don’t see some of the guys ever marrying.”
It was a lot to take in.
A bachelor pact. How sad.
“Do you?” I asked.
“See myself marrying?”
I tried not to look hopeful. Did I want to meet and marry the man of my dreams? Sure. Was that man Mason? It was way too soon for any such thoughts, so it didn’t matter what his answer was.
Or so I told myself.
“No.”
His answer was so confident. So immediate.
“Interesting.” Except it wasn’t. Not at all.
“Do you?” he asked.
Mine was just as easy. “Yes. Of course.”
“Despite the fact that a majority of marriages end in divorce. Or infidelity. Or loss, eventually.”
“First of all, I don’t know if that’s even true.”
“It is.”
I ignored him. “Second of all, that’s like saying I’m never going to take another risk in my entire life because something can go wrong. That’s not me. Didn’t think it was you, either.”
“There’s risk and then there’s calculated risk. Two different things.”
“Oh, here we go. Talk to me, Sergeant Bennett.” I was half-joking. But half-serious, too. His logic was flawed.
“Gladly. I?—”
“Two orders of hot.” Beck emphasized the word hot . “Wings.”
Although he put them in front of us, napkins and all, Beck didn’t leave. He was obviously waiting for me to take a bite. Little did he know, I was competitive as hell, and even if my mouth was on fire, I’d never let it show.
So, with an eye roll, I grabbed a wing. Took a bite. And smiled. After a second, the heat kicked in. And he was right. These were more like extra hot. My drink beckoned, but I didn’t dare reach for it. Instead, I took another bite.
Both of the guys watched as I ate the wing, discarded it and picked up another. Meanwhile, my lips burned.
“Point made,” Beck said, moving away.
When his back turned, I grabbed my drink.
Mason smiled knowingly. “Hot?”
“So friggin hot. Dear lord.”
“No faces, Beck’s turned this way.”
I loved that he played along. But I didn’t love this whole bachelor pact thing or the discussion it brought up. I did love the wings, though, even though they were really hot.
Though part of me wanted to go back to the marriage/risk discussion, I also wasn’t interested in convincing Mason that he wanted to get married. You couldn’t make someone want what they didn’t, especially in matters of the heart.
Instead, I took it in another direction. “So besides you, who will be the last man standing? Beck?”
“Nah. He loves playing the field, but as long as Mae O’Malley sticks around, there’s a chance for him to settle down.”
“Who’s Mae O’Malley?”
“His boss’s daughter. Grew up next door to him.” Mason lowered his voice. “He’s had a crush on her his entire life. Even Beck knows she’s too good for him. They’re friends but…” His voice trailed off.
“Does she know that he likes her?”
“Oh God, no. Beck won’t even admit that he likes her himself. I think the bunch of us are damned fools. Even when we made one of the rules just for her, he still won’t admit it.”
I groaned. “Rules?”
Mason winced.
“Spill it, Sergeant.” That was my new favorite nickname for him.
“Bachelor pact rules. There are four of them.”
“And?” I waited, eating wings and really wishing I could order a glass of water. Which, of course, I couldn’t. Might have to go to the ladies’ room and use the sink.
“We’re not supposed to talk about it with females.”
“Is that so?”
“Yep. But I’ll make an exception.”
The butterflies in my stomach at Mason’s words needed to be drowned with some tequila. He was talking about rules for not marrying women, after all. Ridiculous.
“Lucky me.”
When he finished chewing, Mason wiped his mouth, making me very aware of his lips. And where I wanted those lips. Swallowing hard, I focused on the conversation at hand.
“First, there’s never stay the night. Too intimate.”
“Um…” I hated to be Captain Obvious, but… “We broke that rule.”
“True. But it was mostly made for Parker. He’s the softie that gets attached too quickly.”
Fantastic. So it didn’t actually mean anything that we’d broken the rule. This conversation was doing a real number on any lingering happiness that Mason hadn’t sold the inn.
“And then the one we made for Beck. Never date the neighbor.”
Despite myself, I laughed. “You literally made a rule just for Beck and Mae?”
“Yep. Because we all know, without a doubt, if Mae was ever into Beck, it’d be all over.”
“Why haven’t I met this paragon of womanhood?”
“She’s in Paris, studying under some famous pastry chef. But word on the street is that she’s coming back soon.”
“Can’t wait to meet her,” I said, meaning it. Beck taking any woman seriously was definitely noteworthy. I wondered what Mae was like.
“And then,” Mason continued, “there are the obvious rules. Never fall in love. And never say ‘I do.’”
Never fall in love .
“Wow,” I said, trying to be nonchalant about it. “Those are some rules.”
“Like I said, just college guys being idiots.”
“So you don’t take it seriously? The rules and the pact?”
“Eh. I don’t live and die by it, like Cole. But I get the point of them and mostly agree the pact was a good idea.”
Don’t latch onto one word. Do. Not. Do. It.
“Mostly?”
I did it.
“Sure, mostly.”
Mason didn’t seem inclined to elaborate. And to be honest, I wasn’t inclined to ask additional questions. The more I heard about the pact, the less I liked it.
“Interesting,” I said again, for lack of a better word to describe the whole thing. “So tell me about the meeting.”
Mason licked his lips. No wing sauce remaining there. “I can do that. Or I can take you back to my place to explore this extra hot side of you I didn’t know was there.”
Clenching at my core, marveling at Mason’s ability to make me do that so effortlessly, I decided his plan was a solid one. “And then we’ll talk about the meeting.”
“Sure,” he said, hand raised in the air for Beck’s attention. “I can tell you about it from between your legs just before I lick”—his voice lowered—“that sweet pussy of yours like you just licked wing sauce from the corner of your mouth. Don’t think I didn’t notice.”
Screw waiting.
“Hey Beck,” I yelled across the bar. “Check, please.”
Mason’s low rumble of a laugh forced a smile from me, despite all that I’d learned about his future plans and college bachelor pact.
Problems for another day.