by Unknown
Jo gave him a glare, which bounced off his sexy smile with no effect. She decided to stress the "they were strangers" point, one more time. "I know nothing about you."
Mase threw his arms wide. "I'm an open book. Anything you want to know. All my sins have been documented in the tabloids." He gave her an amused smile and answered her next question before she even asked. "And I'll take my chances with you."
"Yeah, well, you haven't seen me in the morning," she mumbled, but Mase must have heard if his chuckle were any indication.
"Do you have anything else? Because so far your objections aren't very sound."
Time for a new tactic. "What if I have bad habits you can't stand?" She gave him a horrified look. "Or what if you do. Oh, my God, you don't drink straight from the milk carton, do you? I put milk in my coffee."
"It's only five days, babe, not a lifetime commitment. I'm sure we can handle each other's bad habits for that long, but if it makes you feel better, I'll buy a new container of milk."
"So you do drink from the carton."
"It's my fucking milk, and I live alone," he said, sounding exasperated.
Jo pointed a finger at him. "See, I'm already irritating you and it's only been," Jo looked at an imaginary watch on her wrist to sarcastically make her point, "about five minutes since we started this conversation."
Mase grabbed the pointer she still aimed at him and kissed the tip. "I'm only annoyed because you're beating around the bush with this nonsense instead of telling me the real reason for why you don't want to stay with me."
That shut her up, but she wasn't sure if it was because of the finger kiss or his words. He was also right. The excuses she'd come up with so far had been feeble at best.
She stared at him while she quickly contemplated her next move. She couldn't tell him that staying with him would surely test the resolve of her "stay away from hottie jocks" plan. Unfortunately, she was one of those people that thought of great things to say two days after the fact, but would come up blank when put on-the-spot. She had no doubt, come Sunday, she would think of a fantastic excuse why she couldn't stay with him. Unfortunately, by Sunday, she'd already have stayed with him for two days.
He gave her a calculating look. "You're not afraid to stay with me, are you?"
Of course, she was. "Of course, not," Jo scoffed, as if the idea were ludicrous.
"Well then, I don't see any other problems. Do you?" He asked, in clearly a challenging tone.
To avoid showing her hand, she had only one option. "Okay, you win. Where do I sign up?" She deflated back in her seat and wondered if this was what it felt like to make a deal with the devil.
He leaned back, as well, looking entirely relaxed and extremely proud of himself. "You know, you could've just said you were busy." He gave her his award winning smile and customary wink.
Jo felt her stomach drop. There had been her excuse, too late to use, now. Crap. And if his smile and wink were any indication, he realized it, too. She gave him a tight smile and hoped it didn't look as forced as it felt.
Fortunately, they didn't talk much after that. Their burgers arrived, and the consumption of Flaming Freddies commenced.
Jo had only been home for a half hour and was already rethinking her agreement with Mase. This was because, after only being out of his presence for forty-five minutes, he was already texting her. She knew getting involved with him would be a bad idea. Why didn't she listen to herself? Oh, yeah, because she didn't want Mase to realize she was apprehensive to stay with him. Stupid.
She reread his text BAYH soon, trying to decipher its meaning. Having no luck, she tried texting him back, asking him to explain his cryptic message but received no reply.
She grabbed a bottled water from the fridge (a Flaming Freddie could make you thirsty for hours), walked over to the couch, and sat, crossing her legs Indian style. She pulled her laptop onto her lap and flipped up the screen, deciding to Google it. Maybe it was some new hip code everyone was using, and she had yet to hear about.
After twenty frustrating minutes of learning nothing helpful, there was a knock at her door. Jo looked at it in surprise. No one she knew ever stopped by on a weeknight and it was too late in the evening for a solicitor.
She gently set her laptop on the coffee table and stood, taking only two steps before the person knocked again. "Jeez, hold your horses," she said, under her breath as she reached her front door and opened its little peep door. She stared, frozen in place, before slowly blinking her eyes, hoping that when she opened them what she'd seen would no longer be there. Nope, Mase still filled her vision.
She looked down at herself. When she'd gotten home, she'd changed into a pair of sweats and a baggy T-shirt, throwing her hair into a ponytail, and scrubbing off her make-up, getting comfortable. Now, she wished she hadn't done all that. Then she quickly chastised herself, reiterating in her mind, she wasn't trying to attract Mase's attention. And that quickly led to the thought, what the heck was Mase even doing here?
She must have pondered too long because she saw Mase lean forward and shout at the door. "Open the door, Angel."
There was that angel, again. That's three times now, he'd called her that. She unlocked the deadbolt, pulled the door open, and stood in the opening, blocking entry with her body.
"What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?"
She saw his smile slip a little. "I sent you a text."
Jo still held her phone. She pulled up his text and held out her cell for him to see. "This?"
He looked to the phone then back at her. "Yeah."
"What does it even mean?"
He pointed at the screen and said, "Be At Your House soon."
Jo looked at her phone then back to Mase. "You've got to be joking?"
"What?" He asked, and Jo felt her teeth clench.
"How would anyone in their right mind know that?"
"Babe, it's common sense."
Jo stared wide-eyed at him, flabbergasted.
"Are you going to let me in?"
Her hesitancy must have shown on her face because Mase laughed before gently moving her to the side so he could step in.
"Hey, I was still deciding!" She said, turning to face Mase after closing the door.
"I was growing old out there waiting."
Jo crossed her arms over her chest, giving Mase the evil eye. "I think that's a slight exaggeration, don't you?"
He gave her a body scan and smiled. "Cute outfit."
Ugh, she took back every nice thing she'd ever thought about him. Instead, deciding he was a jerk. A big, fat, pushy jerk who bombarded people's houses at ten-thirty on weeknights.
"Do you want to tell me why you're here?" Jo asked, adding a foot tap to her crossed arms.
Mase did a full turn, taking in her space. Jo loved her house, and it may be small, but it was all hers. Standing in the living room as they were, you could just make out part of the kitchen and the hall that led to the master and guest bedrooms. She had an odd collection of new and vintage furniture, stemming from needing stuff fast (the new stuff) and her love of antiques (the vintage stuff). Hence, the reason she had a modern leather sofa with old fashion, needlepoint throw pillows and a modern glass coffee table with assorted antique knickknacks. And the rest of the house was decorated the same.
"Nice place."
"I assume, you didn't come here to tell me that?" Yeah, that was bitchy, but it was ten-thirty on a Thursday night. She wanted to go to bed, and having Mason Connor so close to "said bed" was giving her all sorts of dirty thoughts. So yeah, if she had to be bitchy to move him along, so be it.
"Still being feisty, I see."
Then Jo had a thought. "How'd you know where I live, anyway?"
Mase gave her a sly smile. "Come now, do you really have to ask? I'm famous and have money. Do you really think I don't have connections."
What connections? FBI? CIA? The thought was mind boggling. She decided to move things along. "Are you going to tell me wh
y you're here, or am I supposed to start guessing?"
He gave her (what she was learning to be) his signature smile. Part cocky, part sly, part clever, all devastating. "I'm here," he said, sitting on the couch and making himself comfortable, "because I've thought of a few more things we need to go over before you come over tomorrow."
"You could have called and saved yourself a trip."
He nodded. "I could have, but then I would've missed seeing how cute you are right before bed."
Whoa, hold on a minute. She held up a hand for him to stop speaking although he no longer spoke. "Are you...," her voice cracked, so she cleared her throat and tried again. "Are you hitting on me?"
"Would that be so horrible?" He asked, lifting his brows.
"I think if you want me to stay with you, it is. We need to set some ground rules and boundaries."
"Fine. Why don't you come sit down so we can chat," he said, patting the sofa cushion beside him.
"Will that speed us to the point in which you leave?"
He gave her another one of his smiles. "You are feisty aren't you? But let me tell you this, Angel, I like it. It's by no means a turn off, so if that's what you were hoping to accomplish, sadly it's not working for you. Now, come sit down." He patted the cushion once more.
She sat, without hesitation, wanting to get the conversation over with, but did so in the armchair across the coffee table from him.
He gave her a small smirk. Whatever. She knew what he thought, that she didn't want to be within touching range of him, and he would be right. Distance was her friend. She already felt pulled to him and if he didn't back off soon, she would be in serious trouble. Something she would explain to him in detail during their talk.
"Okay, Angel, what are my ground rules and boundaries?"
"Well, first you need to stop with the pet names. I'm not angel or babe. My name is Jo."
"Well... Jo," he said, giving her a small smirk before situating himself more comfortably on the couch, crossing his legs by resting his right ankle on his left knee. "Do you know why I call you angel?" She gave him a small head shake, so he continued. "Because the first time I saw you, so beautiful, like an angel sent down from heaven. You took my breath away."
"Okay, stop right there." Jo held up a hand to prevent him from saying anything further. She stood from the chair and paced. "I'm sorry but if you're planning to keep this up, I won't be able to help you watch your nephew. I've already told you, I won't become involved with you."
"You know how I feel about the word, won't, Jo." He stood from the couch and took a few steps toward her. "I know you want me. I can tell by your body language. And you know, I want you. I've told you so. So why not explore this?"
Her chest felt tight, and her hands trembled as she stepped around the chair, putting it between them, gripping it for support. She didn't like to think about Mike and what a huge mistake he'd been, much less talk about it. It still made her so angry. She didn't like thinking herself a fool and for a year, that's exactly what she'd been. But she learned her lesson and would never be the fool again.
"Talk to me, Jo. What's going on in that head of yours?"
She looked down at her hands, her grip so tight on the chair, her knuckles had turned white. She took a deep breath to relax, debating what to say. "I promised myself, I wouldn't fall for a guy like you again." She looked into his eyes so he would know she was serious. "And I won't... or can't... or however you want me to say it."
"And what kind of guy am I, Jo."
Jo waved her hand up and down his body. "You know, the sexy, too good-looking for words, jock type that has more ego than brains."
"You think I'm sexy?" He asked, with a sexy grin.
Un-believ-able. "That's what you retained from that sentence?"
His smile faded, and his face turned serious. He took a few steps in her direction. "Oh, I heard the whole thing, but chose to ignore the jock with no brains bit and concentrate on the positive." He was now standing behind the chair with her, which made putting the chair between them a moot point. "Your statement was actually quite telling, and you'll be telling me many things."
He reached out, placing his hands on her shoulders, drawing her closer. She had to tilt her head back to see his face, for the first time noticing the fine lines around his eyes, and a slight red hue reflected in his beard. His lips were compressed, giving him the most serious expression she'd yet seen on his face. He tightened his hands on her shoulders as she tried to pull away. "Please let go," she said, softly.
"I'm not letting you go, Jo."
*
He moved his hands from her shoulders and cupped her face. She was so tiny, standing in her bare feet. The top of her head barely reached his shoulder. "Talk to me."
She closed her eyes and pushed at his chest before slowly opening her eyes once more. "I will talk, but you need to give me some space."
Mase studied her expression. The little line was back between her eyes, and his desire to wipe it away, stronger than ever. He lowered his hands and took two steps back. "Okay, Angel." He shoved his hands in his back pockets to curtail the desire to touch her again and took another small step back just to be safe.
"I don't like to talk about this, so we're only having this conversation once." He nodded for her to continue. "I've been in two relationships in my life, one in high school and one in college and both ended badly. Both were with the most popular and good-looking boys at school." She shook her head. "I should've known that was a recipe for disaster."
Mase had never felt jealousy before but had a suspicion that's what he was experiencing at the moment if the queasiness in his stomach, his pounding heart, and the sudden desire to rip something to shreds was any indication. He knew logically, being jealous over something that happened many years ago was futile, but he thought of Jo as his, and his brain didn't give a fuck if something was pointless or not.
She lowered her head and stared at the chair, refusing to look at him. "The first guy, back in high school, we were young, and he was a jerk, I know that now." She lifted her head and gave him a weak smile before lowering it once again. "The other guy, Mike, from college, that one still stings." She gave him her back, walking away a few steps.
The urge to go to her, take her in his arms, and comfort her was overriding the red mist swirling through his head at the thought of her still having feelings for the asshole, Mike.
"He'd cheated on me from the get-go, only I was too stupid to see it."
"Trusting, not stupid."
She turned her head, looking at him over her shoulder. "What?"
"You were trusting. You're not stupid, Jo, and I don't want you calling yourself that."
She shrugged. "Trusting is stupid."
"Not all men are like your asshole exes."
"I know that and one day, when I find a nice, stable guy, devoted only to me, I'll snatch him up." She turned around fully and pierced him with her eyes. "He'll be the complete opposite of what I've had in the past. An average guy with average looks that will be happy with just one woman for the rest of his life, someone I can trust not to hurt me." She took a single step toward him and spoke her next words softly. "You don't match any of those qualifications."
Mase took a moment to think. She was scared of him. Scared of what he represented. Scared of the strong attraction, she felt for him. Her asshole-ex did a number on her and that made her gun-shy. He had to break through her misconceived notions that he was that guy.
She didn't know the powerful emotions he felt for her. Didn't know the undeniable pull he had to her. She didn't know how special he thought she was. But if he told her all that now, would she run? This was new territory for him. He had no clue what he was doing. He'd never been in a relationship, never had to work for a hook-up, one false move would send her scurrying. She was like a wounded animal that if he approached too quickly, she would shy away. He had to move slowly, tame her to his touch. And that was going to be damn hard when every instinct in his
body was shouting, "Pounce... grab her... hold on tight... and never let her go."
Chapter Five
Mase slowly closed the distance between them, and Jo found herself growing excited though she knew she shouldn't. She raised her hands to ward him off, but he was an unstoppable force. He halted a few inches from her, and she tracked his hand as it came toward her to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. But his fingers didn't stop there. They reached up and plucked the band from her hair, causing the tresses to fall down her back and over her shoulders.
"I didn't know it would be so soft." She was mesmerized by his eyes, so intense as his hands slid through her hair, his fingers scraping along her scalp. His eyes moved from her hair and collided with hers. "You know, I don't like to be labeled or put in a box, and I don't think it's fair you putting me there."
"I know, and I'm sorry for that, but it's the way I feel. This is about me, not you. It's my hang-up that you're being penalized for, and I'm sorry for that, too, but I'm not willing to take the chance that things could be different this time."
"He hurt you."
"At the time, yeah, I thought he did, but looking back, no. Now, what he did just pisses me off. Not because he did it, that's his cross to bear, but because I fell for it. For a whole year, he had me fooled, and I promised myself, I would never be anyone's fool again."
"Even a banker, who wears a three-piece suit and drives an economy car, could be a cheater. It's not the type of person but the character of the person that makes them do what they do."
Jo lowered her head, her hair falling forward, shielding her view of anything but the floor. She nodded and spoke at the same time. "I know." She raised her head and took a deep breath for courage. "I'll tell you one more thing then we're done with this conversation. I don't lie. I don't cheat. I'm not into playing games or any other kind of mind-fuckery. What you see is what you get.
"Now, after sharing that, I'll also share this, and you'll know it to be true. I think you're great. You're funny, you love kids, you're nice, and you're ridiculously good-looking. And because I think you are all those things, I know it would be very easy to fall for you, and I would fall hard. And that's why, we won't be exploring this. I don't want to fall for you, Mase. I'm sorry, but you've got too many strikes against you. You're hot, famous, and rich, giving you way more opportunities to stray than the average Joe, and I just don't have it in me to trust you.