by Natalie Ann
“I didn’t even think of that,” she all but screeched.
“Relax, Jessica. We can just be friends if you want.”
“No. I mean I don’t know. I’ve never been on a date. If I’m being honest with myself I was hoping that is what this was.”
“With a man or a date in general?” he asked.
“A date. I’ve never been on one. I’m not gay. At least I don’t think so. No, I’d know that. I’m attracted to you and not Ella. So yeah, I’m not gay.”
He started to choke again. It was the way she said it like she had to think about it. Then it hit him. First date. “Never been on a date ever? No past boyfriends?”
“No. Is that a problem?”
It shouldn’t be, but why was he thinking it was? Did she want all this special treatment? Romance? Flowers? Candy and hugs all the time? Things that he hated doing? That he never had time for? He’d stayed away from a woman like her because he feared all those soft and tender feelings his siblings told him he had would come out. It’s hard to be a big tough guy if you’re whipped. He was terrified Jessica would have the ability to curve her finger and he’d say, “your wish is my command.”
“No,” he said, because saying yes, it was a problem, would hurt her feelings and he didn’t want to do that. He was thinking she might have been hurt a lot if she had never been on a date at her age. And that just showed he couldn’t hide being gentle or caring even if he tried.
“Okay. Good,” she said, smiling and at that moment he knew he was in trouble. Innocence, attraction, and arousal all swirled together were being sent his way whether she was aware of it or not.
He leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Think it over tonight and let me know.”
Her face was flame red after that kiss on the cheek and now he was wondering what the hell he’d just gotten himself into. Would all those years of trying to be someone he wasn’t start to be exposed?
The Point
Jessica got no sleep at all. Monday morning, she was dragging herself out of bed. Not only that but this morning she was almost nauseous. Nauseous with excitement. With fear. With anticipation.
Did what happened last night mean she and Mason were dating? No, that’d be stupid and immature on her part. They’d had one date, consisting of a meal she cooked him. He kissed her on the cheek. Some twelve-year-olds had more experience than her. Talk about mortification.
But for some reason he liked her and she was going to go with it.
No use trying to look pretty today by wearing something special. She had a uniform and she put it on. Besides, he liked her just from what she’d been wearing, so no reason to change any of that.
The only thing she did differently was put a little bit of mascara and lip balm on. The kind that helps with chapped lips but still looked a bit shiny. If she did get a chance at a real kiss, she wanted to make sure her lips were nice and soft.
Just like his were when they touched her cheek.
She left her apartment and made her way to work earlier than normal. She’d spent most of the night wondering what she was supposed to be thinking about. Then realized he probably wanted her to decide if she wanted to go on another date with him. That was easy enough to say yes to and it made her realize she was over thinking the whole situation.
She pulled into the parking lot at nine fifteen and went to the door. It was locked just like the first time she came to work. She should have realized that she couldn’t get in the front door until nine thirty, if she was lucky.
She took a risk and walked around to the back of the building to see if any of the doors were open there. Sometimes a side door would be ajar to let some air in and she figured she’d at least give it a try.
Five minutes later she was all the way in the back, at one of the doors to the warehouse, and figured at this point all she did was give herself a workout. But when she checked the door, it was unlocked, which was surprising to her.
She pulled it open and walked in, didn’t see anyone around, then walked through to the bottling plant where Mason was talking to someone. He stopped what he was doing and looked up in shock. “Hi, Jessica.” He looked around some more and said, “Did you just come through the warehouse?”
“Yeah. I was early and the front was locked. I know sometimes the side doors are open to let air in and I thought I’d check.”
“The warehouse door was open?” he asked, his brows rising.
“Not the bay door, but the next door around the corner. Well, not open, but unlocked.”
Mason walked away from who he was talking to and said, “Show me which one.”
She shrugged and walked back through the warehouse toward the door that was unlocked. When they got there, though, it was locked. “This is the door. I know it was.”
“Did you lock it when you came in?” he asked.
“No. I didn’t know if maybe someone was outside and was going to be locked out.”
“Did you see anyone when you came around?”
“No. There was no one there. Is everything okay?”
“The warehouse doors should never be unlocked unless there are people right there unloading. Even then, the bay doors would be open, but never these doors.”
He opened the door and looked around. “Keep it open for me,” he said, then walked to the side and back.
“Anyone there?”
“No. Don’t worry about it. I’ll find out who left it unlocked.”
“I don’t want to get anyone in trouble,” she said.
He reached his hand for hers like he was going to hold it, but then let his own drop away. There was a little disappointment there.
“Don’t concern yourself. I’ll just make sure everyone is reminded again of the protocol. Anyway, you’re early.”
“I couldn’t sleep. I was just sitting around.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, why?” she asked. He was looking at her oddly. Did he change his mind? Should she keep it to herself? This sucked. Now she knew what she was missing all those years. Even more insecurity! She didn’t need this kind of pressure with school on top of it.
“I didn’t know if I was the reason you couldn’t sleep.”
“You kind of were.” She realized she was scrunching her face up and tried to relax it.
“Good or bad?”
“It’s never good when you can’t sleep,” she said, this time trying to grin at him and he smiled back so she was thinking it was the right response. “But in this case, I was just anxious to come see you.”
“Really?” he asked. He was smirking at her now. Normally she didn’t like men that smirked, but on him, it was pretty hot. Kind of cocky, which wasn’t him at all, but the way her body was starting to tingle, she knew it was just fine.
“Yeah.” She looked around and didn’t see anyone, then lowered her voice. “I just wanted to say I thought about it, what you said last night, and that I’m okay with what happened. That I’m okay if you want it to happen again.”
“What exactly is that?”
“Not another dead battery,” she said, laughing.
“That’s answer enough,” he said, winking when two men walked through the warehouse doorway from the bottling plant.
She took the hint and followed him toward the brewery, passing the two men that interrupted their conversation. “The west door was unlocked, Dale. Not sure why, but make sure the doors are locked at all times unless someone is there.”
“There was no reason for it to be unlocked. Are you sure?” Dale asked, looking confused. “I just got here about five minutes ago myself. I was running late this morning.”
“What about you, Petie?” Mason asked. “Have you been in the warehouse this morning?”
“Not today I haven’t,” Petie said, but he was looking at Dale while he said it.
“Okay. I’ll talk to the guys tonight and make sure everything is double-checked before they leave.”
“Sorry,” she said. “I shoul
d have just waited out front for someone to let me in rather than walking around to the other doors.”
“I’m glad you did. Now I know. I’ll have Ella look into it.”
“Look into what?”
He was moving toward the stairs but stopped when she asked that. She was going to go to the locker room. “Security tapes. We’ve got cameras all over the place, but they rotate too. Not every square foot is covered at all times.”
She looked up and around. “Where? I don’t see them.”
“That’s the point,” he said laughing. “And why we rotate them too.”
***
“Really, Mason?” Ella said, almost whining. Ella never whined about anything, so he had no clue what this was about.
“Yes. The back door was open to the warehouse. Those doors should never be unlocked. Period. I don’t know why it was.”
“Are you sure it was?”
“Ella,” Mason said, sighing. “That’s how Jessica got in the building. She’s not stupid. She knows what door she entered.”
“Why doesn’t she have a keycard to get in the front?” Ella asked.
“Because someone else is normally there when she comes in, but she was early today,” he said, wondering why Ella still wasn’t looking up the security footage.
“If you’re okay with her having a card, then I’ll set it up,” she said.
“That’s fine. Now as for that footage...”
She got up and walked over to the rack holding all the monitors. She’d put the biggest fuss up about this. Or he should say about having them in her office and being responsible for them, and no one understood why. She always wanted her finger on every pulse and this allowed her to have it.
“You can look through them yourself,” she said. “I’ve got a lot to do.”
“Show me what to do.”
“You know, it’d be nice if someone else could operate these besides me, then I wouldn’t have to deal with the company.”
“What’s wrong with the company? We’ve never had a problem with them before.”
“No problem. I just hate bothering them or having to deal with the owner.”
Mason just shrugged and let it go. Ella could handle anything, so he was thinking she was just having a bad day. She hit a few buttons, pointed out the menu he should look at and let him go.
“Thanks,” he said. Ten minutes later he was sighing again and banging the keyboard trying to get a closer look and rewinding the recordings.
“What did you find?” she asked, glancing up from what she was doing. She was nice and calm now, but her fingers were running over the calculator in rapid succession as she looked at him. How did she manage to do that and talk to him at the same time?
“Nothing. It doesn’t look like anyone was at that door in the past few days. Doesn’t look like the door has been opened in days, other than when Jessica came through it this morning.”
“Does that mean it’s been unlocked the whole time?” she asked.
“I hope the hell not. How far back can I look?”
“Three days. Otherwise, I need to call the company. Please don’t make me call the company.”
He looked over and saw her pained face. “What did the guy do?” He was ready to defend his sister and was shocked that something might be going on and she hadn’t said a word to any of them. Even more stunned that what he thought was a mask of confidence really wasn’t. He was ready to go after anyone who upset his sister.
“Nothing. He’s just a miserable moody guy. Sets me off all the time.”
Very few things ever set Ella off and if it did it was short lived. “He’s just an old man probably waiting for his retirement.”
“Not him,” Ella said. “His son. That’s who I always deal with.”
“I didn’t know he had a son. I thought it was just the old man. What was his name? Ken or something?”
“The father is Ken. The son is Travis. He took over right after we got this system set up.”
“What’s his problem?” Mason asked, crossing his arms.
“Don’t know. He’s some Marine type of guy. You know their type. All cocky and confident. Comes in here quiet as can be, grunts a few words at me, does his stuff and leaves, pretty much ignoring my existence if I ask a question. Probably thinks I’m some silly little girl that can barely turn my computer on.”
Mason burst out laughing. “And that bothers you? He sounds like Brody before he has a couple of cups of coffee in the morning. You’ve been handling the four of us your whole life. And you know darn well there isn’t a man on the face of this earth who would ever think you were some silly little girl.”
“Yeah. I know,” she said, her shoulders drooping a touch. “Maybe I’m just PMSing.”
He ground his teeth. She said shit like that to them all the time when she wanted to be alone. She knew it worked. They all ran out of the room and away from her and that was exactly what he did, then heard her laugh when he was in the hall.
He wasn’t about to let her have the last word, though, making his way to the kitchen and coming back. She looked up when he walked in and then bared her teeth when he placed a single cannoli in front of her.
“Thanks, Mason. Just what I need,” she said sarcastically. Chocolate was his sister’s biggest weakness and she prided herself on healthy eating and staying away from the desserts in the restaurant.
“Just being a good brother and helping you out in case you’ve got a craving.”
She burst out laughing, picked up the cannoli and took a huge bite. “You’re more wicked than Mom when you want to be.”
“No need to insult me,” he said, shaking his head and walking out.
Need Something
Jessica waited until nine thirty before she arrived at work on Friday. After she’d gotten there too early on Monday and had to walk around the building, she figured she wouldn’t rush to see Mason. That was juvenile at best.
Better to play it cool. Adult-like. Like she didn’t need to rush and see him.
Only she did want to rush and see him. His tall muscular form that he tried to hide under his clothes, but she saw anyway. Or saw enough. Mason had some serious arms on him.
It’d been four days and not one word from him. Was this how it was supposed to be? She’d always thought when you were dating someone there was some type of communication, but so far all it’d been was the one dinner she’d cooked for him and seeing him at work the next day.
She was walking to the front door and saw Mason through the glass standing at the bar talking to Aiden. She went to yank the door open, figuring it was unlocked. Only it wasn’t and her hand slipped off the metal, causing her to almost fall flat on her butt.
Both of them came running over, Mason laughing at her, and Aiden just smirking. “Sorry about that,” Mason said. “It won’t happen again.”
“What? You laughing at me?” she asked.
Aiden snorted and then walked back to the bar. Mason said, “No, I’m sure I’ll continue to laugh at you. I’m kind of bad that way. Every time someone slips or falls I have to stop myself from laughing.”
“That’s kind of mean,” she said.
“He’s always been that way, Jessica,” Aiden said.
“What did you guys do when he laughed at you if you fell?” Jessica asked.
“Usually beat on me,” Mason said.
She gasped. “That’s even meaner. I’m glad I was an only child.”
“See, Aiden, you were mean to me growing up.”
“I wouldn’t consider doing it now,” Aiden said, laughing. “None of us would.”
Mason frowned at him and turned to Jessica. “We’re trying to figure out where to put the food when it’s all set up. Aiden wants to get a contractor in here to add a counter and shelving so that everyone can see the food behind the bartenders.”
“That’s a great idea,” she said. “Maybe put some on both sides, so that when there are two bartenders working they aren’t bumping into each oth
er to get to the food now.”
She’d seen it here on the weekends. One bartender on each side of the bar, each having the four taps they could access and staying on their sides.
“That would mean double everything,” Mason said.
“Well worth it,” Aiden said. “You know as well as I do the flow is more important right now.”
Mason seemed to think it through, making them both wait for an answer. She’d watched him do that often. He always listened but didn’t speak right away, almost like he was weighing his words. “Yeah. I guess. If Ella says it’s in the budget, that’s fine.”
Jessica smiled and started to walk away, not wanting to intrude on their conversation.
“Where are you going?” Mason asked her, stopping her in her tracks. It was his tone, part “you better halt because I’m the boss and I’m not done” and the other part “I miss you, don’t leave me.” She was only guessing the second part, but it worked good in her mind.
“To put my jacket away and get ready for work. Do you need something?”
Aiden was eying Mason funny but not saying a word. “Yeah, when you’re done, can I see you in my office? I’ll be up there in a minute.”
“Sure,” she said, walking away. She went into the locker room and hung up her jacket and purse, grabbed her water bottle and locked her stuff up. When she walked back out, Aiden was still there talking to Mason, so she went to fill her bottle with water in the other room.
***
“What are you looking at?” Mason asked Aiden, wanting to wipe the smirk off his face.
“You. Not too obvious, are you?”
He looked around to make sure no one else was close by, then lowered his voice. “What are you talking about?”
“Please. I’ve been in your shoes. Nic, remember?”
“Yeah.” Mason remembered how much Aiden struggled with it too, which was why he wasn’t stressing about it too much with Jessica.
At least he didn’t think he was until he hadn’t heard a word from her since she left on Monday. Then he realized she didn’t have his number. And though he could look in her personnel file for hers, that didn’t feel right either.