Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (Eight Fun, Romantic Novels by Eight Bestselling Authors)

by Violet Duke

  Then Mason was up.

  Someone had to yell at him to get his attention. Adrianne turned to watch as Mason removed his hand from Hailey’s hip, said something to her that caused her to smile and slap him on the butt as he headed for the plate.

  When he stepped into the batter’s box and turned to face Adrianne with his clumsy batter’s stance, she narrowed her eyes. He was flirting with Hailey? Touching her? After what had happened between him and Adrianne at the farm not two hours ago?

  She’d promised to help him get on first base without having to swing. And she would.

  She threw the first pitch straight across the plate.

  As instructed, he stood there and didn’t swing though it was a strike.

  “It’s okay, Mason,” Hailey called, clapping her hands. “You can do it.”

  Mason gave Adrianne a questioning look. She gave him a little shrug in return. Then she wound up again.

  This time the ball also went exactly where she intended. It hit Mason directly in the shoulder.

  He gave Adrianne a seriously? look. Adrianne gave him another shrug. Then Wade Hiser, who was acting as umpire, instructed Mason he could take his base. But before he could jog down the baseline, Hailey rushed to his side. She rubbed her hand over his shoulder, saying something Adrianne couldn’t hear from the mound. She turned away, catching Phoebe’s eye from third base. Adrianne ignored the knowing smile her friend gave her.

  The game continued with Mason easily getting batted home, a score that was quite clearly Jason Stein’s accomplishment with his double into center field, but Hailey acted as if Mason was the star player, gushing over him. And rubbing him. Again.

  Adrianne was tempted to hit Hailey with the ball when she was up, but instead settled for striking her out. At least that way she didn’t have the chance to run the bases—especially since it was obvious she hadn’t worn a bra under the spaghetti-strapped tank top.

  The second time Mason was up, Adrianne avoided eye contact and walked him.

  He didn’t get up to bat again.

  After the game, he found her. Only because she had to load all the equipment back into Phoebe’s car—without any help from Hailey who was taking all the credit for a great event.

  Strangely, she felt someone come up behind her and knew it was him even before he spoke.

  “You hit me.”

  She didn’t look at him. “It was another way to get you on base without making you swing the bat.”

  “A more painful way, but I did get to first.”

  “Hell, you got to first base standing in the on deck circle with Hailey,” she muttered, slamming the car door.

  When she finally faced him, he gave her a little half-smile. “No need to be jealous. I got to second and was well on my way to third with you on the farm.”

  She crossed her arms, not wanting to be affected but completely powerless to keep her body from reacting instantly to the memory his words conjured. “You got thrown out by Hailey before you even got a foot off of the bag.”

  He chuckled as he reached for her, pulling her hips against his. “If my foot was still on the bag, how could I get thrown out?” He leaned in and kissed her neck. “I’m safely on second and have my eyes firmly on third.”

  It was startling, but the silly baseball analogy—well, and his lips—made her melt. “You sound like you know what you’re talking about.”

  “I looked some stuff up before the game.”

  “Some stuff? Like what?”

  “Terminology, rules, stuff like that.”

  “The rules? To softball?”

  “Yep.”

  He read up on the rules before coming. “And you remember them all?”

  “Genius, remember?”

  “Right.” She couldn’t help it. She started to laugh.

  “What?” he asked, with his own big grin.

  “Seems that a genius would have thought to duck when a ball was coming at him.”

  He opened his mouth but apparently had no answer. Which made her laugh harder.

  “Hey, Adrianne!”

  Dammit. Hailey. And dammit, Mason stepped back a little as Hailey came toward them.

  “Yeah?” She couldn’t quite muster a smile, but she couldn’t blatantly ignore her boss.

  “I need to talk to you.” Hailey arrived slightly out of breath. She had a big smile for Mason. And got way in his personal space. “Good game, Mason.”

  “Thanks. It was fun.”

  Adrianne gritted her teeth. “What do you need, Hailey?”

  “Oh, I need to run something past you. Can I borrow her for a minute, Mason?”

  “You bet. I’m going to head to the B&B and shower. I’ll see you ladies later.”

  He gave Adrianne a little wink and she felt her tummy trip.

  “That is so great,” Hailey said as he walked away.

  The view of him from behind was definitely great. But Adrianne didn’t appreciate Hailey noticing.

  “What is it, Hailey?” she asked, stepping in front of the other woman in an immature and ineffective attempt to block her view of Mason’s ass.

  “I wanted to touch base with you. It seems that you and Mason are getting along great.”

  Adrianne peered closely at her pseudo-friend and boss. Was she being sarcastic? Fishing? Catty? “Yes, we’re getting along fine.”

  “That is so great.” Hailey’s attention finally bounced back to Adrianne’s face.

  “It is?”

  “Definitely. I love that he has a friend here. And the guys seem to be getting along with him too. They really accepted him during the game. It’s one final nail in the coffin.”

  “We have a coffin for Mason?” Adrianne asked.

  “It’s a figure of speech,” Hailey told her.

  “We have a figurative coffin for Mason?”

  “What we have is the perfect situation for Mason to feel completely welcome and accepted here. Which will make him happy. Which will make him more apt to donate to the project.” Hailey looked quite pleased with herself.

  “You were worried he’d be unhappy?”

  “Ad, I told you he was a geek. He was really not…in. Like really. He didn’t have a ton of friends, never had a girlfriend.”

  “And now?” She was feeling way too defensive here. She wasn’t Mason’s champion, or his BFF, or his girlfriend. They’d just met. She didn’t know the history. For all she knew, he’d been a jerk in high school.

  “Look at him.” Hailey gestured in the direction Mason had gone. “He can give any of the guys here a run for their money.”

  “He was always a genius, right?”

  “Sure. But he wasn’t…”

  Adrianne cocked an eyebrow waiting for what she knew was about to come.

  “…hot or rich.”

  Right. She wanted to slap Hailey. Seriously. This was Shallow Bitch 101. How could Hailey not hear what she was saying and how could she not be embarrassed?

  “Do you realize how that sounds?” Adrianne asked.

  “Yes, yes, I know.” Hailey sighed. “We were in high school, Ad. We were not very nice to him.”

  “You kissed him at one point.” Adrianne wanted to know that story for sure.

  “And I wasn’t very nice to him before or after that.”

  Adrianne waited. Then she realized that Hailey wasn’t saying more about it. Okay, so it was going to take a couple of margaritas. But she was going to hear how this went down.

  “So now your plan is to be sure he feels accepted, liked and generous?” she summarized.

  “Exactly. Maso
n obviously likes you. So you’ll be in charge of making sure he’s included in all the events and get-togethers. I’ll tell Drew and Mike and all the guys to be really nice. And I’ll make sure that he feels fully appreciated from a female perspective.”

  That got Adrianne’s full attention. “What does that mean?”

  “Mason always had a crush on me. I’ll flirt with him, make out a little, all that stuff. That will be the icing on the cake.”

  “Make out a little? All that stuff?” Adrianne repeated, hoping her voice sounded funny only to her.

  “Or whatever. It’s not like it will be a hardship.” Hailey grinned. “I’m a big enough person to admit that I was wrong to overlook Mason Riley.”

  Adrianne’s stomach hurt. First, how had Hailey seen her with Mason and not gotten the vibe that maybe Mason was already feeling appreciated? And second, how come Adrianne got to be Mason’s social director but Hailey got to be his playboy bunny? That wasn’t fair.

  And Hailey was going to hurt him. It wasn’t like she was looking for even a long-term affair. Phoebe had hinted that Hailey had really messed with Mason at one time. This could not be a repeat.

  For one thing, if Mason found out Hailey’s attention was only a ploy to get a donation, there was no way in hell they’d see any of his money. For another, Adrianne liked him. It wasn’t only jealousy that made her want to keep Hailey away from him—though that was one definite reason for wanting Hailey as far from Mason as possible—it was also that she liked him, as a person. He didn’t deserve to be used. And if Hailey had told Drew and Mike to be nice so that he’d write a check, then they’d be in on it too. All behind Mason’s back, faking it, or at least having ulterior motives. Really not good.

  She couldn’t tell Mason what was going on though. What was she going to say, “Hey, Mason, by the way, Hailey’s only paying attention to you because you have money now.” That would definitely not help their cause.

  She was going to have to make sure he didn’t find out. And that Hailey didn’t have a chance to make things worse.

  “Make sure he’s at the poker game tonight,” Hailey said.

  “No problem.” The poker game was happening at Drew’s house but obviously Mason was now on the guest list. And Adrianne would be there to be sure that no one did or said anything that might hurt him. Or their cause. In that order.

  She dialed Phoebe as soon as she was safely in her car heading away from Hailey.

  “Mission Keep Hailey Away From Mason is a go,” she said. “I’m totally in. In fact, I’m captain of the freakin’ team.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  THE POKER GAME was a Tuesday night tradition, but Hailey had talked Drew into hosting a game on Friday for the alumni group. The guys had played poker on Saturday nights in high school and she’d felt it would be another way to get them all together and feeling nostalgic.

  The invitation had garnered enough interest that there were two tables of players tonight, one in Drew’s kitchen and one set up in the living room. Drew wasn’t married and didn’t currently have a girlfriend, so Hailey had offered to clean the house, help provide snacks and act as hostess. Which meant that Phoebe and another friend, Jill, had cleaned while Adrianne cooked. The four women were supposed to play waitresses together, but the three were secretly plotting how to get back at Hailey as they worked.

  “Guess it’s just you and me,” Phoebe said, bringing a bag of ice in from Drew’s deep freeze in the garage.

  “What’s that mean?” Adrianne asked with a scowl. She didn’t mind making appetizers. She didn’t mind entertaining. She didn’t mind dusting—even if it was a bachelor’s house and they’d had to bring their own dusting spray. But she hadn’t seen Hailey yet and if she wasn’t coming…

  “Hailey’s not feeling well and I told Jill to take off, that we could handle it.”

  Adrianne had been planning on sending Jill home anyway. She had two little kids and it was ridiculous that Hailey had talked her into coming in the first place. “What’s wrong with Hailey?”

  Phoebe waved her hand. “Oh, some allergic reaction.”

  Adrianne paused in mixing the salmon dip and looked at her friend. “What did you do?”

  “Me?” Phoebe looked offended. Or tried to. “Matt did it,” she finally admitted.

  Adrianne groaned. “What did he do?” It occurred to her after she asked that it might be easier if she didn’t know.

  “A little cat hair in her face powder.”

  Adrianne thought about that, but it didn’t make sense. “Why?”

  “She’s allergic to cats.”

  Adrianne sighed. “That’s mean.”

  “Her eyes will water and she’ll sneeze a few times. She’ll live,” Phoebe said, clearly unconcerned.

  Adrianne frowned suspiciously. “Then why isn’t she here?”

  “Relax. She’s a little puffy and bloodshot. A few blotches. It’s fine. It will settle down by—about the time the game’s over.”

  “Convenient,” Adrianne muttered.

  Men started showing up in clusters, and Adrianne felt her chest getting tighter and tighter, anticipating Mason’s arrival. Every time the door opened or a knock sounded, she jumped a little. But it was never him. And her growing disappointment was ridiculous. Maybe he didn’t play poker. Actually, once she thought about it, she was pretty sure Mason didn’t play poker.

  Maybe he was in his room at the B&B working. Maybe he was working some magic with the formulas he’d figured out and scribbled on her arm that morning.

  With that thought, her whole body got tingly and she felt the need to do jumping jacks or run a lap around the house to get rid of some of the energy she felt coursing through her.

  That made the most sense though. Surely Mason Riley, world-renowned agricultural specialist, would rather be working than playing cards.

  Adrianne had just taken the spinach and artichoke dip out of the oven and finished arranging the pita bread triangles—knowing full well that the guys would have been fine with chips and bean dip—when the doorbell rang and she heard Drew call, “Come on in, Mason, it’s open!” through the screen door.

  Her whole body reacted to the sound of his name.

  Crazy.

  A moment later, Mason was escorted into the kitchen and to a seat at the table with Drew and the other regular players. Mason probably didn’t realize it, Adrianne thought, but being given a seat at that table meant he was a VIP.

  They made eye contact across the room. She was at the kitchen island behind the breakfast bar and he was near the patio door, but they looked at each other at the same moment and she felt it clear to her toes.

  He gave her a warm smile and she was stupidly glad he was here instead of working in his room. The world would be a better place if he was working in his room. But her world was a better place at the moment because he was here.

  She’d feel guilty about that later.

  She headed for the table with drinks. Beer for all the guys but Mason. She’d known them all long enough to know that was their drink of choice and it didn’t matter what kind as long as it wasn’t light. “What can I get you, Mason?”

  She wondered if that sounded suggestive to him. It did to her and she was the one who’d said it.

  “Anything I want?” he asked.

  That also sounded suggestive. It was probably just her.

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “Butterscotch schnapps?”

  She straightened from setting Tim’s beer down and looked at Mason, warmth curling through her. Okay, it wasn’t just her. “Or maybe something cinnamon flavored?” she as
ked. She had gum in her purse. He simply had to say the word.

  “Very tempting,” he answered.

  No kidding.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Drew asked her. “I’ve got beer and soda. No sissy schnapps.” He glanced at Mason. “No offense.”

  “You don’t know what you’re missing,” Mason told him, taking his chair.

  “I’ve got tequila if you want to do shots,” Drew offered. “But I better warn you, this poker thing is fun but serious. You lose, you lose. No blaming it on the liquor.”

  “Got it,” Mason said with a nod. He looked up at Adrianne, humor in his eyes. “Guess I’d better stick to soda. For now anyway.”

  She grinned and headed for the fridge. She knew the poker games went late, but they did end at some point. At some point, Mason would be done here—and maybe in the mood for schnapps.

  Adrianne didn’t even have to try to linger near Mason’s table over the next half hour. Phoebe was focusing on the table in the living room, leaving Adrianne to see to the needs in the kitchen.

  Their plates were refilled before they asked and their drinks never got completely empty.

  She felt Mason watching her every move. Every time she looked at him, he seemed to sense it and look up as well. She was sure it was her imagination, but it seemed that every time their gazes locked, there was more heat as well. It was driving her crazy. So she figured it was only fair he feel a little crazy too.

  Every time she got close to him, she made a point of touching him. At first, she made contact with her hip against his upper arm. The next time, she put a hand on his shoulder as she set the popcorn bowl down. The next time, she chose his side of the table and leaned in to put the nachos in the middle, making sure her breast pressed into his shoulder blade—and making sure to pause long enough for him to know what it was that was pressed into his shoulder blade.

  As she lingered, she took note of the actual poker game for the first time that night. She had played with these guys before, and while the games were usually more of a break from home and a chance to hear themselves talk, the guys always played for real money. It was one of the unwritten rules. If you didn’t have the cash to put up, don’t show up. There were definitely winners and losers here.