12. Lizzy
LIZZY
I don’t know why I’m nervous. I feel like I’m in high school and I’m on the way to prom with a boy I’d pined over for months.
“I can’t wait to show you how everything turned out.” Mason glances over at me. “It’s better than I expected.”
“How did you sleep this morning?”
“The best I ever have in that room.”
I smile at him, staring at his profile as he drives us back from the airport. “That’s great news.”
“Are you excited about this weekend?”
My stomach flips as soon as he asks the question.
It’s all I’ve been able to think about. I haven’t had an entire week with Mason since we met.
We’ve sprinkled in days here and there, but never multiple overnighters.
And then there’s the kiss. No, not just a kiss.
Multiple kisses and some pretty heavy make-out sessions.
“Totally,” I say, sounding like a Valley girl. I stare out the window, unable to meet his eyes. In my periphery, I can see him glancing at me every few seconds. “You?”
“I think tomorrow’s going to be a good time.”
“It’ll be something.”
I’m thankful Zoey and Hunter have opted to have an untraditional ending to their singledom. While strippers were a good time when I was younger, the older I get, the more absurd it feels to me to pay men to show off what they would be more than willing to offer every day for free.
“Hey,” Mason says softly, touching my hand that rests on the console between us. “You okay?”
I glance his way, meeting his eyes. I tick my head toward the road, wanting him to keep his beautiful brown eyes trained on the highway. “I’m good. Great, really.”
“You seem nervous.”
I can’t stop myself from letting a bubble of laughter escape. “A little.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Because you like me,” he answers, teasing me, but he’s not wrong and he knows it. “And I’m the best kisser you’ve ever known in your entire life.”
“Duke wasn’t bad,” I reply, giving him the name of my seventh-grade boyfriend, whom I never locked lips with, but Mason doesn’t need to know that.
His fingers tighten around mine. “You don’t mean that. No one named Duke can be a good kisser.”
“What makes you think you’re the best?”
“Because of the little noises you made when we were on your couch.”
My face instantly heats, and I don’t need to look in the mirror to know I’m blushing harder than I have in my entire life. “I remember you making some pretty interesting noises too.”
“That’s because you are the best kisser I’ve ever been with, so…”
My body warms at his praise, even if it’s bullshit. “You’re a good liar, Mase.”
“I’m not, though. I don’t lie, and I wouldn’t lie about something like that. I don’t think I’ve ever been as turned on as I was that night in Star Falls.”
If my body were able to, I bet it would melt into a puddle of goo on the front seat.
I spent a lot of time this week thinking about Mason and sex.
Way too much time than I’d ever admit to anyone, really.
And I came to a decision. One that I agonized over, making myself question everything in my entire life.
But my final decision was that if sex were to be on the table this weekend, I’d be okay with that.
I wouldn’t say no. I wouldn’t turn him down.
I am done playing things safe. It is time for me to be bold.
“Me too,” I squeak out, my voice barely a whisper.
“I can feel the tension radiating off you, sweetheart. Relax. New topic. Are you hungry?”
“Yes,” I reply quickly, loving that he’s happy to move on. While my new plan is to be bold, I’m not ready to have sex right this minute or keep talking about it.
“Good. I know a great pizza joint near here. They have the best tavern-style.”
“What’s tavern-style?”
Mason glances at me like I have three heads. “You don’t know what tavern-style is?”
“I know regular pizza and deep dish because Chicago, but I don’t have a clue otherwise.”
“That’s a crime and a pity.”
“You saw our selection of restaurants in Star Falls. When I’m in the mood for pizza, I order from Benito’s. Is that tavern-style?”
“No. That’s wood-fired.”
“I’m so confused.”
“I’ll make you a pizza aficionado before the end of the month.”
“I assume it’s your favorite style? Why doesn’t your bar serve tavern-style?”
“I don’t know. We haven’t changed much about the food since we took over.”
“You should make it what you love.”
“I may have to do that. But people love our pizza, so we’d have to make it an option instead of completely replacing what’s already offered.”
“Well, you’re the boss. You can do whatever you want.”
“True. You’re so damn smart.”
“And you need to work with your mom’s bakery to start offering more desserts. Everyone loves desserts, and I hate to say it, but your options are way too limited.”
“You mean you don’t love a single scoop of vanilla or the prefrozen chocolate cake?”
Now it’s my turn to look at him like he has three heads. “How do you have a mom who owns a bakery and you serve the worst desserts possible?”
“Vanilla ice cream is a classic. It’s hardly the worst.”
I turn my head and stare at him. “It’s boring.”
He nods. “That, it is. We used to sell her desserts, but then she wanted to slow down a bit, so we stopped. But now, Amelia is going to take over, so maybe we can ramp up again.”
“Really? Amelia?”
I don’t know why I can’t picture her as stepping into his mother’s shoes. Amelia has the people skills, overly friendly like most members of the family, but I never knew she was a baker.
“Mom has been teaching her everything she knows. I think Mom was hoping Tate, Brax, or I would take over one day, but while we love eating everything she makes, we’re all shit bakers,” he explains.
“I can’t imagine Tate as anything other than a tattoo artist.”
“Me either. Brax, Zoey, and I have the bar, even though Brax has stepped back a little more over the last few years. He doesn’t have the love for it like we do.”
“What does he love?” I ask.
“Trading stocks,” Mason says those words like they taste acidic. “He helps out when one of us needs time off, but he’s barely at the bar anymore. It’s working out for him, though. He’s making money.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to do something you don’t love,” I tell him, thinking about my job.
“Are you happy with yours?”
“No,” I answer honestly, “It’s more stress than anything anymore.”
“You should quit and come work at the bar with me.”
He says it so casually, but right about now, I’m willing to say yes.
The last week was awful at work. Sales have been steadily declining, and instead of corporate coming up with strategies to fix the problem, they spend all their time blaming all the other people within the company, who don’t have the authority to make any real decisions.
“You’re kidding, but I’d almost say yes.”
He sits up a little straighter, glancing over at me again. “You would?”
I shrug. “Serving drinks sounds better than what I’ve been doing.”
“You know, you could come in as a partner. You can buy out Brax’s share, or you could come in as an employee. Whatever works best for you.”
I suddenly realize he isn’t kidding. “Whoa, buddy. I thought you were joking.”
“No, babe. No jokes. No lies. If you hate your job and your family is here, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be here too. Plus, I’m here. You’ll need to do something, and why do the stressful corporate shit when you can work at the bar with me?”
I never thought about working anywhere other than the corporate world, but the dream job I thought I’d eventually get never materialized. And at this point, I think it wouldn’t be what I had hoped. It would be more stress with very few rewards.
“You make some valid points,” I tell him as we pull into the parking lot of a bar that could be the sister to Hook & Hustle. “This place has the best pizza?”
“They do.” He parks and turns off the engine. “You’ll see why in a bit.” He turns his body to face me, our fingers still connected. “I want you to really think about coming here and working at the bar. You can always try it and see if you like it before you decide.”
I mentally go over all the things I’d need to do to make it a reality, and it’s daunting. I have a home and my entire life in Star Falls. But Hunter was able to pick up and move, so there’s really no reason I couldn’t too.
“I’ll think about it.”
“We’ll talk more about it over pizza. You already gave me two great business ideas for the bar, and I imagine you’d be able to offer a lot more. You’d be a huge asset to us.”
“Is that all I am?” I ask, teasing him.
He releases my hand and reaches up, placing his fingers on my chin.
I swallow as I stare into his deep chocolate eyes. It’s as if all the air has been sucked out of the car, leaving a vacuum in its wake. My chest rises and falls, the heaviness of the moment finally hitting me.
“You’re more than that. You always have been. I want you here. I want you with me. I want you at the bar. I want this. I want this every single day of my life.”
This man is laying it on thicker than his mother’s cupcake frosting. And just like I do with the dessert, I’m eating it up.
“Okay,” I whisper.
“Okay?” His eyebrows rise, and a smile spreads across his face. “Does that mean yes?”
“It means I’ll think about it. Let’s see how this weekend goes before I make a final decision.”
“Will you decide by the time your flight leaves on Sunday?”
My mouth answers before I have a chance to process anything. “Yes.”
Mason leans forward, and I hold my breath.
My eyes search his, wondering if I’m leaping straight into the biggest mistake of my life.
But when his lips touch mine, all doubt vanishes.
Nothing has ever felt so right as when I’m with him.
He makes me feel at peace, which is something I’ve never experienced before with anyone.
I melt into his kiss. All thoughts of pizza and the world outside disappear. There’s only us. In this moment. Our mouths locked and our bodies wanting more. Mason’s stomach rumbles, and the bubble we’re in pops.
I pull back, needing to catch my breath and let my mind process everything. “We need to eat.”
Mason doesn’t back away, his gaze moving across my face. “We’ll finish this later.”
My toes curl inside my boots at the promise of more. “Okay.” It’s the only word I can get out without sounding like a phone sex operator because I’m so freaking turned on, I’m liable to climb over the middle console and straddle him.
A half hour and half a beer later, a pizza is set down in front of us. My mouth immediately waters. The crust is thin, and the cheese and toppings cover the entire thing.
“Damn, this smells amazing,” Mason says to the waitress.
“Need anything else?”
“Another beer for her and a glass of water for me.”
“I don’t think I should…” I don’t get the words out before he shakes his head.
“She’ll have another.”
“Two beers and pizza aren’t the best way to end the night.”
“Says who?”
“Me.”
“You’ll sleep better on a full belly.”
I’ll be bloated to high heaven, though. My gut is going to stick out from all the wheat and gluten, and I’ll look like I swallowed a beach ball.
As soon as the waitress leaves, Mason places four pieces on my plate. Luckily, they’re not the same size as a regular pizza pie, but damn. “Four?” I glance down at my plate and back up at him. “That’s a little much.”
“Shush,” he tells me.
I rock back in my seat and blink a few times. “I may have to hit the gym this weekend if you feed me like this all the time.”
“I go every day at two.”
“Two in the morning?” My eyes widen, and I know I could never have that kind of dedication.
“No. I’m trying to fall asleep at that hour. I go in the afternoon after I wake up.”
I still can’t wrap my head around the fact his morning is my afternoon. I’ve tried working out in the early hours before work, but it only makes me dead on my feet by dinnertime. And after work, I’m also too tired and hungry from a very long day behind my desk.
“I could maybe go with you.” In all honestly, watching this man lift weights would be completely worth the pain and misery of working out myself.
“Tomorrow?”
“Sure,” I tell him as I pick up my first square-shaped slice. “Why not.”
The pizza is, hands down, my favorite. I understand why Mason loves it so much. There’s no doughy crust, just a crisp, perfectly done bottom that does a better job putting the focus on the toppings than the other versions.
“That’s the least enthusiastic acceptance I’ve ever had to an invitation, but I’ll take it. Start small like the treadmill.”
“Just don’t put me on the stair machine.”
He stares at me. “Hell no, you’re not losing that ass.”
My face heats again. “It could use some firming.” I lift my beer, trying to swallow my embarrassment over my cellulite.
“Stop,” he tells me. “You’re perfect, Lizzy. If you want to come to the gym, come. If not, it’s cool too. Don’t do it for me, because I love every inch of your body. And if you give me the chance, I’ll show you just how much.”
I nearly choke on my beer. “You’re so open.”
“About sex?” he asks as he tilts his head and stares at me across the small table.
“Well, yeah.”
“Not with everyone. Just you.”
“Oh,” I whisper.
“I take it you’re not so open?”
I shake my head. “I was raised too Catholic for that.”
Mason snorts. “Understood. So, have you thought more about my offer?”
“Which one?” There’s the sex offer and then the business one.
“Moving here and working at the bar. You can tell your boss to go fuck himself.”
God, I liked the sound of that. “There’s so much that would have to be done.”
“Your house will sell in a heartbeat. It’s too damn pretty.”
“Thanks.” I’ve never imagined living anywhere else, but there’s nothing left for me in Star Falls. Everything I want is here. Hunter, Amira, Mason, the entire Gallo family. They’re my people, and work has become just that…work. “I need the weekend to think about it.”
“I can talk to Brax for you if you want more details on possibly buying out his share. I’m sure he’d love to walk away from it all without giving you a huge price tag.”
“You think?”
I don’t want to get my hopes up, only for the asking price to be above anything I could ever come up with. I have savings and my house, but if he wants more than low six figures, there’s no way I can swing it.
“Why don’t you work at the bar for a while and see if you like it. If you do, then you can buy him out if you’re comfortable. No need to jump in feetfirst.”
“I never do,” I tell him, reaching for another slice of the pizza in front of me. “I like that idea.”
“Is that a yes, then?”
“It’s a maybe.” But there’s really no decision to be made except one. I’m not happy with my life anymore, and a change is needed.
“Fuck yeah,” he says enthusiastically. “I’ll take it.”