by Sienna Swan
He nods. “That’s quite an age gap, Mason. Are you serious? Cassie is a woman, but she’s young.” He pauses. “Have you..?”
I sigh. “I’m sorry, Tom. I should never have gone down this road.”
He shakes his head. “I think it’s a little late for all that now.”
“Honesty is the best policy,” I say. “I’ve always known that. I should have stuck by my principles and come to you, no matter how hard the admission. We’re friends, Tom, I owed you the courtesy of my honesty.”
“I think we could’ve all been a little more honest with each other here, Mason,” he says, and eases himself back in his chair. “I have cancer. I’m undergoing chemo. I didn’t want to say anything, because it would have affected your business decisions, and I’d never want that. We both chose our path many years ago, and you owe me nothing, but Cassie didn’t understand. She wanted me to be able to continue claiming on my health insurance plan.”
“Shit.” I feel the color drain right from my face. “You should have said something, Tom. I could’ve helped. Are you in recovery?”
He shrugs. “Hard to say. The doctors are optimistic, as long as I can keep up with treatment.”
“And you will,” I tell him, “whatever the cost, Tom, I’ve got this covered.”
“It’s not on you to handle this,” he insists, but I wave his protests aside.
“You were my best friend,” I say. “You still are, which may seem sad to you but that’s how it is. I’ve been shit at showing it. And I’m in love with your daughter. She’s brought me a happiness I never thought I was going to find.”
He fixes me in a firm stare and I know he’s weighing me up, staring right through me at my intentions. “And this is serious? You’re serious about her?”
“I’ve never been more serious in my life,” I tell him. “I’d do anything for her.”
He nods. “Then I’m happy for you. I need someone to take care of her, Mason, should I not make it through this. I can’t think of a better man.”
I feel a lump in my throat that I desperately choke back before Tom sees my despair. “We’ll get you into the hospital right away,” I tell him. “I have some excellent consultants, we’ll get you the very best treatment.”
“I’m not your problem anymore,” he laughs sadly. “I appreciate the gesture, but it’s not necessary. I don’t even work for you anymore.”
I shouldn’t say anything, not until the paperwork is finally signed, but the weight of my secrecy has already cost me too much.
“The redundancy was never permanent,” I admit, and even the simple confession is like a ray of light in my heart. “I had to make redundancies for the sake of the merger. I had to be seen to be making cuts in order to justify that the company would be able to absorb the other party’s skilled workforce. But it was never going to be permanent.”
I take a breath.
“I need you at my side, Tom. I always have. As soon as the paperwork was filed I was going to offer you a promotion, I want you to head up the new R&D team. I want you to help guide the business into the next phase of our growth. I need you, Tom, I need you to take this on with me.”
My friend looks at me for long seconds before he smiles. “I guess we’ve all been keeping secrets we should have trusted each other with.”
“Yes,” I agree with a laugh, “and it won’t be happening again, I’m too damn old for all this stress.”
He laughs right back at me. “Amen to that.”
We both turn to face the hallway as we hear a key in the lock. She’s rummaging in her bag as she enters the room, and doesn’t see me. She hands her father a pill bottle and kisses him on the cheek and it’s only when I say her name that she jolts and stares right at me.
“Mason?!”
She’s so beautiful, more beautiful than I’ve ever seen her. The love in her eyes is the most perfect sight I’ve ever seen.
“I’m surprised you didn’t see the car,” I said, “it’s right outside.”
“I was, um… rushing… my dad’s medication.” She stops talking and looks to her dad in horror.
“It’s alright, bug,” he says. “Mason knows everything now, and so do I.”
“I told your dad how I feel about you,” I add, and she looks between us, one after the other.
“You told him about us?”
Her dad takes her hand and squeezes. “You could have come to me, bug. Mason’s a good man. He assures me this is serious for him, and I’m happy for you, just so long as you’re serious about him too.”
“I am!” she exclaims, and her rush of breath is intoxicating. “I love him, Dad. I love him so much.”
Her words bloom in my heart, and I can’t stop myself from getting to my feet.
I pull my girl into my arms and hold her tight, and she cries with what I hope is happiness, wrapping her arms up around my neck and gushing out apologies that don’t matter anymore.
“I know why you wanted to save your dad’s job,” I soothe. “But you didn’t need to. I had another position lined up for him, just as soon as this merger was over. I should have trusted him enough to tell him, and I should have trusted you enough, too.”
“It’s okay,” she says. “We all kept things from each other.”
“But not anymore.” I brush the tears from her cheeks and tip her face to mine. “From now on there’s only truth.”
She nods. “I love you, Mason.”
“And I love you,” I tell her.
It’s only the fact that her dad clears his throat that breaks the moment. He eases himself up from his chair and shakes his pill bottle. “I’ll be out in the kitchen taking these.”
It breaks my heart all over to see my best friend so frail on his way out, but I’ll fix it. I’ll fix everything.
And in the meantime I kiss my girlfriend.
Epilogue
Cassie
“For something to have changed, it would actually have had to change,” I say, bringing forth my best snippy tone as I walk between Mason and dad, making the rounds on Mason’s and my floor.
Or what used to be Mason’s and mine. The desk I used to sit at is now occupied by Jenna and my dad’s office is right across from Mason’s. He made good on all the promises. A year after all of this started, I’m home from college for the summer, dad’s in remission and starting look more like his old oxen self again, and Mason’s holding my hand without a shred of self-consciousness.
I get a little shiver as we slouch into a conversation nook, my dad sitting across from us on a leather chair as Mason pulls me next to him on the couch. I curl up next to him immediately as the memories of how it all began threaten to wash over me.
“It has changed,” Mason says, sounding a little hurt. “This didn’t used to be here, for one.”
He points at the collection of sofas and coffee table and I give him a small nod through a knowing smirk. He had no intention of changing this place, and that’s good. Together with my dad now, they’ve been running Roarke Incorporated better than ever. There are more people on the payroll, the profit margins are higher, and Mason has more time to nip off to UCLA to pay me a visit.
Some of my friends at school think he has to live close by, considering how much we’re together. I will admit, I haven’t spent a lot of nights at my dorm room lately. Not that I’d ever complain. I’d wake up a happy woman in Mason Roarke’s arms wherever, whenever.
“I’m glad it’s working out,” I tell both my favorite men in earnest, looking from one to the other.
They beam at each other. They’re friends again and I think it’s given my dad as much as it gave Mason. Dad’s been stuck in a time we both miss, when mom was still alive, but that we’re not able to get back anymore. Mason has gotten him out of the house and they’ve taken up fishing together. It’s a little ridiculous, but they both claim that it gives them inner peace, or whatever.
I just think they like competing on who catches the bigger grouper, really.
; “It is,” dad tells me, proud and happy.
We’re about to discuss our lunch options as I only popped in for a quick tour in hopes of getting them both to eat out with me today, when Jenna appears, whisking my dad off on some urgent business. Mason squeezes my hand and I glance at him, wondering if he’s thinking what I’m thinking.
“Someone could walk in on us,” I tell him, but he’s already pulling me to my feet.
My handsome, sexy, possessive and completely maddening boyfriend, or should I say fiancé – the ring feels heavy and secure on my ring finger every time I’m reminded of it – looks at me like I’m dessert and he doesn’t need lunch.
“That has never stopped us before,” he tells me, tugging me toward his office.
I go willingly, butterflies fluttering in the pit of my stomach.
I don’t think I’ll ever have a boring day with this man. I knew when I was just a girl that he was the man for me and I was right. It just goes to show that sometimes, what you want is most definitely worth fighting for, and hurting for. I’d do it all over again, if I had to.
As the door closes behind us, I fall into his arms, and I know he’ll never let go.
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Don’t miss the excerpt for Sienna’s next release, Dr Big, on the next page!
Dr Big Excerpt
“I don’t mean to put you out,” Melissa tells me, making me grab a hold of her shoulder before she could spin around and run.
“You’re not putting anyone out,” I assure her as Matilda marches past us, fuming.
The women share a look and now that I have them next to one another, it’s painfully obvious that Matilda doesn’t hold a candle to Melissa. She’s more of the put together, ironic kind of hipster girl, while I think Melissa has no clue what kind of a vibe she’s giving off. She’s authentic, in that weird way that makes both me and my dick resonate toward her.
“I’ll call you,” I yell after Matilda, slamming the door behind her.
I don’t have her number.
“So,” I say, rubbing my hands together as Melissa turns to face me, her expression nothing but dubious. “What can I do for you, Miss Malone? Or are we firmly on first name basis by now?”
“You’re a real ass, you know that?” she part asks, part tells me, which I kindly ignore as I show her to the couch.
She takes one look at the spot where Matilda was sitting and picks my recliner instead. No one sits in my chair, but I’m currently willing to make an exception for her.
“I personally subscribe to the school of thought that calls me a dick, really,” I tell her, my mood lifted and my evening looking up. “Anyway, the question still stands,” I tell her, while going back to dealing with the wine bottle.
I exchange it for one of the good bottles and pluck two glasses from the cabinet. When I uncork it, Melissa gives me a look. I smell the cork. Special wine for a special occasion.
I’m way too fucking giddy that she showed up here. Maybe it’s just that I love a good chase, but if this woman honest to god thinks that her little pink treasure chest is sealed shut, I can’t wait to be the one to pry it open.
“Doctor’s orders,” I tell her as I pour out two glasses. “No arguments.”
I walk the glass to her and then settle in Matilda’s former spot on the couch. The room looks different from this angle and I’m not sure I like it. I like things my way and Melissa has been consistently throwing me off with her defiance to submit to my understanding of normal. My willingness to indulge her tells me a little too much and I brush it aside.
She takes a measured sip and I do the same.
“You know what I’m here for,” she tells me, her voice steely but her hands shaking a little.
She looks like she’s about to throw herself in front of a firing squad, not on top of a sexy doctor, which I have been told to be by several renowned specialists in the male form. One of them was a Dallas Cowboy’s cheerleader, which I think is all the confirmation any man needs.
“You’re here for the dick,” I tell her smugly, loving the way she almost chokes on her wine.
About the Author
Sienna Swan is a romance writer from NYC still searching for her HEA and enjoying kissing a few hot frogs along the way. She writes steamy little numbers that she hopes you enjoy more than she enjoyed the unicorn frap and her aim is that you want her fictional alpha males even half as much as she did writing them.
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