by Anthology
“Hey, Hailey’s bringing the other investors to the farm. Should be there in about fifteen.”
“Thanks.” She sighed and disconnected. “We’ll have to move this party to my house,” she told Mason.
She started to tell him why but paused. He’d said no to Hailey that morning. But she was still bringing investors out? Did she not realize he was saying no to the donation and to selling the farm? Did Mason not realize she didn’t know that?
Adrianne really didn’t want to get into this now.
She didn’t need her—was he her boyfriend?—well, whatever Mason was, she didn’t want him upset. She didn’t need her boss—who was sort of a friend—upset.
She needed her candy made.
And more butter.
Simple things. Things she could do something about.
“We need to go to the grocery store,” she finally said.
He looked around. “Okay. You can leave this stuff here if you want.”
Leaving the finished candy would be easier—and faster since Hailey was on her way.
“Great. Let’s go.” The investors wouldn’t come in the house. As far as they were all concerned the house would be demolished.
Adrianne felt a twinge in her heart at that thought. She liked this house. Mason loved it.
Dammit.
She was sure to take different roads than Hailey likely would on the way back to town.
But as she did it, she realized this had gotten complicated. She didn’t like complicated.
Worse, it had the potential to be her absolute least favorite thing—dramatic.
Back roads and lies weren’t going to save her forever.
“He’s staying?” Phoebe asked. “Wow.”
“Yeah. And on the farm. In the house Hailey wants to knock down.”
They were back at Adrianne’s contemplating finishing the rest of the candy she needed to make. She’d encouraged Mason to call Drew and see what the guys were up to, knowing that she had to get the candy done and certain that with him around it wasn’t going to happen. She’d burned far too much butter as it was.
But mostly she needed to talk to her best girlfriend.
Adrianne was eternally grateful that her best friend was a teacher and didn’t pick up part-time work in the summer. She needed Phoebe to be able to drop everything and come listen to Adrianne’s problems at a drop of a hat. Apparently.
“Wow.”
“Because of me. At least partially. Mostly, I guess.”
“Wow.”
“Stop saying that!” Adrianne snapped. “That’s not helpful.
“I don’t know what else to say,” Phoebe said.
Adrianne blew out a breath. “Yeah. Me too.”
“You want him to stay?”
“Yes.” She knew that for certain. “But…”
“But what? You’re in love, he’s in love, he wants to live here, you want to live here. Sounds perfect.”
Adrianne nodded. It did. She should be ecstatic.
When he was with her, all she could think about was how much she wanted him, how head-over-heels she was. But when she had some space, she realized how crazy it all was.
“What about the shop, the project, the town, Hailey?”
“Oh, screw Hailey,” Phoebe retorted.
“Easy for you to say.” Hailey was her boss. And her sort of friend. At a minimum, she’d trusted Adrianne to have the town’s best interests at heart.
“Practice it a few times, it gets easier,” Phoebe replied. “You cannot live your life around what Hailey Conner wants and thinks.”
“No, but I had—have—a responsibility. I’m on the committee—”
“Screw the committee too,” Phoebe said, waving her hand. “Who cares about the committee?”
“The rest of the committee,” Adrianne said dryly.
“I’m serious,” Phoebe said, pinning her with a stare. “I promise you that there will be another committee. This is Sapphire Falls. We can’t even put up a flag on the Fourth of July without a committee meeting about it.”
Adrianne gave her a little smile. “What about the shop?”
“Ad, it’s just a shop. It’s just candy.”
“Hey.”
“You know what I mean,” Phoebe said, unconcerned by her offense.
“Not really. It’s my shop. How I’m going to make a living. What I want to do with my life.”
Phoebe raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Hey.” Her candy was great. It made her happy. It was a fine dream.
Phoebe sat forward on Adrianne’s sofa. “Okay, owning your own business and making candy is fine. Nothing wrong with that. But it’s so…” She obviously hesitated.
“What? It’s so what?”
“It’s so safe,” Phoebe finally said. “It’s fine. It really is. But it’s more like…a hobby for you. I get the impression you do it because it’s what you know. It’s…”
She trailed off and Adrianne sat forward with a suspicious frown. “Yes?”
“It’s easy,” Phoebe said with a shrug.
It was easy. That was the point. Life was too short to go to a job every day that made her crazy. “My family got quite wealthy from candy and—”
“Yeah, but you don’t intend to make it a multi-million-dollar business. You’re using it to fill in the gaps.”
Adrianne had trouble swallowing as she stared at her best friend. “The gaps?” she asked softly.
“The gaps where you feel like you should be doing something but you’re too scared of most things that occur to you.”
“Phoebe, I—”
“Adrianne, businesses, money, bosses, that all comes and goes. Love doesn’t. You can live without Hailey, candy and money. Can you live without Mason?”
There was that swallowing problem again. After she’d cleared her throat, she asked, “You’ve turned into quite a Mason Riley fan.”
“Oh, I’ve always been one. Now that’s he’s making my BFF so happy, I’m the president of his fan club though. He deserves you, Ad. I love it. The justice is perfect really.” She sat back against the cushions and chuckled. “You know that saying about the best way to get back at your enemies is to live a good, happy life? Mason’s doing that and then some.”
Adrianne frowned. “He had enemies?”
“Well, no,” Phoebe consented. “But he should be flaunting his success to some people for sure. And now he’s not just able to live a good, happy life, but he’s doing it right in front of Hailey. Without Hailey. He’s in love, but not with her. He’s going to live and be totally happy right smack dab on top of where Hailey wants to put something that would make her totally happy.”
“Okay.” Adrianne took a deep breath. “I need to finally hear this story.”
Phoebe seemed glad to comply. “He was in love with her for years. Everyone knew it.”
“Uh huh.” She wanted to hear this story. Honest, she did.
“And then there was that night when he gave her a ride home.”
Adrianne swallowed her mouthful of tea, feeling like it was battery acid going down. She couldn’t bring herself to even grunt in response.
Phoebe went on, happily.
“According to some, she invited him over, did a strip tease and they had hot sex. Others say once they got to that point, he couldn’t perform. Others say he turned her down. No matter what happened in that house, we all know what happened at school the next day.”
Adrianne was glad she had her cup. She needed something to throw up in.
“We were standing around in the commons before school and he approached her. He had this huge grin on his face. He… Lord, I almost can’t think about it without shuddering,” Phoebe said.
“He what?” Adrianne prodded. For some reason, she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the rest, but she was very sure she needed to.
“He kissed her cheek.”
The tea/battery acid churned in her stomach. “What did she do?”
“She
turned to him, asked him what the hell he thought he was doing.”
“Oh, God.” Adrianne put her head down on her hand.
“He didn’t back down at first. He narrowed his eyes and said, ‘I’m kissing you. A PG version of what I did to you last night.’ He looked her straight in the eye, in front of everyone and said that. I couldn’t believe it. No one could.”
Adrianne lifted her head.
“But then it got worse.”
Adrianne’s heart squeezed.
“Mason said, ‘You were sure glad I pulled over and picked you up last night.’ And Hailey’s boyfriend, Mark, said, ‘How glad?’ and before Mason could say anything, Hailey laughed and said, ‘Don’t worry. A normal guy would have made a move but this is Mason. No worries, right?’ and Mark laughed and said, ‘Good point. You’d need test tubes instead of tits to get him excited’.”
Adrianne had the urge to kick Hailey’s ass on a weekly basis as it was, but this was enough for her to want to hunt her boss down and do much more damage than that. Permanent damage. That would show in photos.
Maybe she wasn’t as accepting as Mason thought.
Well, she was. Except for Hailey. No. She was accepting of Hailey too. Maybe especially of Hailey. Dammit.
Adrianne closed her eyes. “That bitch.”
And one thing was now for sure—she and Hailey were definitely not friends.
Mason could walk the sidewalks of Sapphire Falls blindfolded. Or evidently with his thoughts fully occupied by the memory of Adrianne in the shower. He hadn’t noticed one detail around him since leaving Adrianne’s house…
Caramel sauce dripped from her index finger onto the tip of his erection and then slid slowly down the length. Adrianne was on her knees in front of him and her gaze followed the caramel’s path. Mason fought to stay still. He wanted to grab her, lift her against the shower wall and thrust.
“This is gonna get messy,” she promised him as she unscrewed the lid of the jar. They hadn’t turned the shower spray on yet. It was going to be a little while.
When the sticky trail reached the base of his shaft, she leaned in with her tongue. He groaned and tangled his fingers in her hair. But he kept still otherwise.
“Sweet stuff is my specialty. Just stand there. No moving,” she instructed, dipping her finger into the caramel.
“Sweet stuff is your specialty all right,” he quipped as the warm sauce touched his skin. From there he was pretty much speechless.
When she reached his tip, she swirled her tongue around, gathering all the sugar. Then she scooped more from the jar and painted a stripe down the center of his shaft. She followed it down slowly with her tongue, then back up, sucking when she reached the top.
Soon sticky caramel was spread all over both of them—and that was when he stopped following the rule of not moving…
His thoughts and forward motion both came to an abrupt stop as he ran smack into someone rounding the corner.
His phone went flying, her phone went flying—as did a couple of expletives.
“Dammit, watch what you’re…Mason!”
His eyes widened as he realized he’d almost knocked Hailey Conner on her ass. “Hailey. Sorry.” He retrieved both phones and handed hers over.
“Hi.” She seemed to immediately forget that he’d nearly knocked out her front teeth with his chest. “I’m glad I ran into you.” She gave him an adorable smile that he knew she’d perfected years ago.
“Are you?” he asked, eyeing the front of the café over her shoulder. He was meeting the guys to go golfing. He was only a few feet away.
“Yes. I have to ask you something and I wanted to do it in person but privately.”
Oh, boy. “I’m meeting the guys right now—”
“I know.” She waved her hand as if the guys were unimportant. “I saw Drew. He said you were on your way.”
“So I really should go—”
“This will only take a minute.” She reached out and touched his arm. “But you have to promise to be honest.”
Mason shrugged. “Sure.” He had no reason not to be totally up front with Hailey.
“Are you saying no to the donation to Sapphire Hills because you’re still mad at me from high school?”
Okay, he hadn’t been expecting that. He thought about her question though, and he realized it was fair. “You know,” he said. “It would make sense if I was, wouldn’t it?”
Her eyes widened a bit. “I suppose.”
“I mean, you really did a number on me back then. Public humiliation. Calling me out on my biggest vulnerability. Rubbing in the fact that I didn’t fit in.”
Hailey had the grace to look a little sheepish.
“And that wasn’t even the worst part. I stopped and gave you a ride. I gave you someone to lean on. I was there when no one else was.”
Hailey’s eyes had narrowed slightly by now and she crossed her arms.
This was fun.
“And then there was what happened at your house. You started that whole thing. Then you lied about it. You made me look like a fool. Looking back, that was really—”
“Okay,” she cut in. “I screwed up. I was a jerk. I’m sorry.”
Mason gave a short nod. “Okay.”
“Okay? As in, I’m forgiven?”
He looked at her closely. “Do you want to be forgiven?” It had never really occurred to him that she might feel bad about what had happened. But it could be true. Everyone grew up and matured. That certainly could have happened to Hailey.
“Yes, I want to be forgiven,” she said.
“Because I might give you money then?”
She sighed. “No. I’m sorry for what I did with or without your money. But I wouldn’t be upset—or too proud to take it—if it did make you more inclined to write the check.”
He chuckled, appreciating her candor. “I’m not donating to the project because I don’t think it’s a good investment, Hailey. Not because of high school,” he said honestly, as promised.
“Okay. But I’m not giving up.”
“Okay.” He could keep saying no.
She stood looking at him for another long moment. “Do you know why I told everyone that nothing happened at my house?” she asked.
“Because you were kind of a bitch and didn’t want anyone to know the truth?” he asked.
She grimaced slightly at the kind of a bitch but didn’t deny it or defend herself. “It was because I was trying to protect you.”
“Protect me?” Yeah, having everyone know that he’d kissed Hailey Conner would have been so bad for him.
“Mark would have beaten the crap out of you. You have to realize that.”
Mark, her boyfriend, had been starting defensive lineman for the Sapphire Falls football team. “You think so?”
“I know so.”
It was likely completely true. “And that’s why you denied the whole thing?”
“Yes. I know that’s probably hard to believe.”
It was.
“But I didn’t want him to freak out on you. You didn’t do anything wrong. You were helping me out and I…went a little too far in thanking you.”
He gave her a half grin. “Yeah, well, I was never upset about that part.”
She returned his smile. “So we can be friends?”
“Why not?” A lot stranger things had happened since he’d returned to Sapphire Falls.
“Great.”
This time the adorable smile seemed a lot less practiced. And as she walked away, Mason reflected on the fact that not getting what you wanted could lead to getting exactly what you needed.
Chapter Nine
“I’ll get it,” Phoebe offered, surrendering her wooden spoon to Adrianne. “Keep going there.”
Adrianne attempted to stir both pots at once. She had five dozen of the eight dozen truffles done and the toffee well on its way, but she definitely needed Phoebe’s hands. In fact, she could have used four more. But when Mason had called to say the guys had
invited him to golf again, he’d been so happy that Adrianne had refrained from asking for his help. Or inventing any emergencies for anyone. Barely. She had, however, answered all his questions about the Sapphire Falls football team.
She heard Phoebe open the door and ask, “Can I help you?”
“You’re not Adrianne Scott.”
Adrianne didn’t recognize the voice and she leaned around the corner to look down the hallway to the foyer.
“How do you know?” Phoebe asked, propping a hand on her hip. She sounded amused.
“Because Mason isn’t into redheads.”
Mason? A woman who knew what he was into? Adrianne forgot the candy—but did turn the burners off—and headed for the door.
“Yeah, well Mason doesn’t know what he’s missing,” Phoebe informed the woman.
“Is this Adrianne Scott’s house?” the woman asked, seemingly annoyed.
“Yes,” Adrianne answered as she came up next to Phoebe. The woman standing on her front porch asking about Mason was gorgeous. “Can I help you?”
“You’re Adrianne.” It wasn’t a question. “Definitely Mason’s type,” she added, glancing at Phoebe.
“Yes, I’m Adrianne. And you must be Lauren.” Adrianne leaned against the doorframe, not inviting Mason’s best friend in but not shutting her out.
Lauren’s eyes narrowed. “He’s talked about me?”
“Of course. You’re his best friend.”
That seemed to take her back a little. “Yes, I am. That’s why I need to talk to you.” She held up the cardboard carrier with four cups. “I brought coffee.”
“I like her already,” Phoebe said. She pushed Adrianne out of the way, took the coffee and ushered Lauren into the house.
“Mason isn’t here.” Adrianne shut the door, admired Lauren’s Gucci platform sandals and followed them to the kitchen. “He won’t be back for a while.”
“I know. That’s why I’m here to talk to you now.”
Ah, she had something to say that she didn’t want Mason to hear. This could be interesting.