by Stella Rhys
I blinked, stunned. Then I shot her a look. “We were fine, Sofia. Perfect, really, considering the circumstances.”
She backed down fast. “Sorry. You’re right.”
“So let’s please not go there.”
She held her hands up. “Again, sorry. We won’t go there.”
I pinched my eyes shut, regretting the snippiness. “No… I’m sorry. I was just already sensitive and thinking about that whole situation thanks to the little Whitney flare-up yesterday.”
“Don’t think about those things. Or that night,” Sofia urged. “You have a new man in your life and there’s no room for regrets anymore. You’re happy, he’s happy and honestly… I think you could be the one. The one to tame the untamable beast.”
“Sof, you’re great at many things but I gotta say, you’re not the best bullshitter.”
She scoffed. “Fine. Don’t believe me. But let me just point out that Mason’s already dropped basically millions of dollars on you by negotiating that deal with your company so you could go on vacation. And let’s be real, he didn’t have to do that. He could’ve just booked some big party with you guys that cost like, a fraction of that contract and Lori would still let you go on vacation since you’re her favorite employee anyway. Right?”
I chewed my lip. “That reminds me, I have to drop by the office to sign something so I can even start my vacation.”
“Or are you just trying to escape me because you’re uncomfortable admitting how incredibly fucking attracted you are to Mason?” Sofia smirked. I narrowed playful eyes at her.
“That’s not it, and you’re very annoying. You know that?”
“In the most lovable way though, right?” Sofia grinned as I faked a sigh and a begrudging nod. “See, that’s a trait that runs in the Leo family. And you know that all too well now that you’re with Mason.”
I groaned. “I really do.”
“Oop. There’s the sex face again.”
I clamped my hand over my mouth. “Liar,” I said, leaving money on the table that she threw back me. “You’re the worst.”
“And you’re leaving. Don’t try to pay. See you at Noah’s dinner tomorrow?”
“You will.” Opening this week was Lady Mercer, SoHo’s latest scene to be seen, and running the place was Noah van Daal, Manhattan’s favorite bad boy chef and best friend to none other than my own Mason Leo. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Of course not. Everyone in this city is going to be there.” Sofia wiggled her perfect eyebrows. “So it’s basically you and Mason’s official coming out party, wouldn’t you say?”
Shit, I thought as I shrugged my coat on, realizing exactly why Mason had asked me to go. “God, I hadn’t really thought about that but thank you for reminding me it’s gonna be Side-Eye City in there.”
“You better look hot. It’s Noah’s opening, but all eyes are gonna be on you two.”
“Thanks. No pressure at all.”
Sofia snorted. “You’ll be fine. You’re going to have Mason Leo on your arm and I hear that’s a big enough confidence boost as it is.”
“That I actually can’t argue.”
“Mm-hm. And if you get nervous, just pretend that everything’s gravy and you two couldn’t be more in love,” Sofia beamed. “Don’t let the haters in on the truth. Know what I mean?”
“Oh, trust me,” I laughed as I leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. “I know it all too well. See you tomorrow.”
*
“Taylor, you didn’t have to come in to sign this in person. I did state in the email that an electronic signature would do,” Lori said as she closed the door of her corner office overlooking Fifth Avenue. As usual, my boss’s space was an amusing contradiction – neat, streamlined and tidy besides the island of madness that was her desk. “I’m glad you did come in though, because I did want to commend you in person on facilitating the deal between Vandermark and The Victorian. It’s going to solidify our company’s reputation among luxury hotels.” Lori adjusted her chignon as she sat behind her desk. “And, of course, I need to congratulate you on whatever deal you have going with Mason Leo.”
Standing awkwardly in front of her desk, I laughed. “Excuse me?”
Lori snorted. “You’ve been with this company since you were nineteen, Taylor. I’ve known you for longer than even Aaron has, so I know that you’re not actually dating Mason Leo. Might I remind you that I’m the one you came running to every time you needed to complain about him?”
True. My top two choices for receiving Mason rants were Aaron and Sofia, but since they were both related to him, I generally suppressed my anger till I could bring it to Lori – which always made Mondays extra Monday-like for her. I grinned and grimaced at the same time. “Can you keep a secret?”
“I can. As long as you email me the second you break and have drunk beach sex with him.”
“Wow. Thank you for the vote of confidence, but that’s not going to happen.”
“Why not? After everything Aaron put you through, I’d say you deserve to actually sleep with his brother. I mean, Aaron was cute but with Mason, you’ve got those shoulders and that ass. And it’s purely physical, so who cares? Just tape his smart mouth shut before you get into bed with him. Simple solutions,” Lori said. Looking up, she snorted at my horrified expression. “What? You’re already doing something batshit insane. You might as well have fun while you’re at it. It’s not like you’re ever going to see him again after you come back from the wedding.”
I frowned. “I hadn’t thought about that. And I guess you have a point, I just… would rather not complicate things.”
“That suggests you even have a history to complicate. Which you don’t.” Lori cocked her head as she moved a stack of papers. “Right?”
I blinked. “Right.”
“So go crazy. You’re not in St. Lucia yet but thanks to the pile of last minute paperwork your new boyfriend had me finalize over the weekend, you are technically on vacation,” she pointed out. “And considering all the work I put in for you thus far, if you don’t come back from St. Lucia with a detailed description of what Mason Leo looks like ass naked, I’m firing you.”
“If it helps, I may or may not have seen the outline of his dick last week.”
Eyebrow cocked high, Lori looked up from her work. “Spectacular?” she asked seriously. When I groaned, she grinned. “Yeah, I’ll take that as a ‘holy shit, yes.’”
“As you should, but please don’t make me think any more about it.”
“I won’t.” Lori tipped her nose up and turned back to her screen. “I’m sure you’ll find plenty of temptation on your own. And considering the lackluster sex you endured for years with Aaron, I’m pretty confident you’ll at some point break.”
Amused, I shook my head. “You’re such a wonderful mentor, Lori.”
“Oh, I know. Now get out of my office. I have work to do and so do you,” she said as she began typing busily at her computer. “And by work I mean Mason Leo.”
I laughed. “Alright, I’m leaving.”
“Keep me posted on the fauxmance, heartbreaker. See you in two weeks.”
Chapter Seven
If I had to have a coming out with Mason, Lady Mercer was undeniably the spot to do it. By the time we arrived, it was a blaring full house. Ducking my head just a bit, I let Mason guide me to our table with a hand on my back.
“In case you forgot, the point is to be seen,” he said, reading the intimidation on my face. Despite working for a restaurant group, I was inexperienced with places like these – the ultra-trendy scenes with waiters gliding about like performers and heads constantly turning to see who had just walked in. I’d definitely noticed eyes peering over as the host showed us to our reserved booth. Already in my own head, I tried to distract myself by admiring the restaurant décor.
An amber glow lit the stately shelf behind the bar, stacked from floor to ceiling with all the best wines and spirits from around the globe. Lining the
floors was distressed tile and stretching the antique mirrored walls were leather banquettes packed to the gills with beautiful people – many of whom were still looking our way as we got seated, the first in our party to arrive. Damn it. No matter how much I tried to think of something else, my mind couldn’t stop returning to the fact that this was my first time stepping out with Mason as a couple and while I’d imagined it would be fun, I couldn’t help feeling like a giant ball of nerves.
“Any chance you’ll actually survive this evening?” Mason asked, noticing the shaking in my arms as I turned to let him take my coat. I was ready to scoff some form of “of course I am” but when I turned back around, my mouth snapped shut. Damn. Having shed his own coat, Mason now stood in dark jeans and a grey, cashmere sweater that stretched just tight enough over his broad chest and the rest of that tapered torso. Woof. I had to admire for a second. Couldn’t even help it. Thankfully, his blue eyes were doing something similar to me. “Did I buy that for you?” he asked of the turtleneck sweater dress that stretched down to just an inch above my knees. Paired with knee-high boots, I had barely any skin showing. Of course, the piece was tighter than tight, thanks to the fact that my favorite red-haired devil had been the one to pick it out.
“Sofia bought it for my birthday last year,” I replied.
Mason nodded. “Remind me to thank her later.” He indulged in another second of staring before bringing his eyes to mine. “In the meantime, I’m going to need you to do something besides the deer in headlights look. You’re giving everyone the impression that I brought you here at gunpoint.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re sweet.”
“Seriously. Looking even moderately enthused will do.”
“Yeah, duly noted. How could I say no to such a sweet and sensitive boyfriend?”
Mason smirked as he whipped the black scarf from his neck. “I didn’t realize sweet and sensitive was what you wanted.”
“I think that’s what most girlfriends want, but I understand that you wouldn’t know that,” I replied, averting my eyes as Mason watched me gather my hair over one shoulder.
“Duly noted. If that’s what works with you, then here.” One step forward and Mason was suddenly inches from me. The breath hitched in my throat as he locked his gaze on mine. Shit. I hadn’t expected him to bust out sweet and sensitive so quickly and I wasn’t quite ready for it. I was frozen despite the warmth of his chest as he grabbed my waist, slid his hands down to my hips and pulled me so close that my forehead met his lips. My pulse picked up as Mason pressed a soft kiss to my skin and murmured, “Everything’s fine, Taylor. You have me.” The smooth baritone of his voice was as intoxicating as his scent and it had my lashes fluttering. I didn’t even remember to exhale till he pulled away, eyes glinting as he hit me with that crooked grin full of amusement. “There. How you feeling now?”
I tucked a lock of hair behind my ears. “Dandy,” I managed.
“That works fine for me.”
I could swear by the way he looked at me that Mason knew exactly what the hell he was doing – that he enjoyed making me at least a little uncomfortable, and I found it so damned irritating. But I couldn’t dwell on the thought because it wasn’t long after that that his friends began to roll in, starting a big round of introductions. Immediately, everything on my body was shaking – my hands, my knees, my attempt at a charming smile. I was so intensely nervous for everyone’s reception to our coupling, but while there was some brief gawking and a couple raised eyebrows, no one said anything that even bordered on out of line. The worst comment came from a cute ballerina-looking girl who said merrily that I traded up, and that finally made me laugh and relax a bit. I was even able to talk with convincing breeziness about how I was so okay now, and how Aaron leaving was an absolute shock but “recent developments” had me recovering at a much quicker speed than expected. That line, of course, came with a loving glance at Mason.
Not the worst, Taylor. B-plus, I had to commend myself. I was doing slowly better. Still, as we sat, Mason kept his hand wrapped around mine, squeezing every time it started to shake again, which was generally when someone spoke to me about the wedding.
“Jesus Christ. Easy,” Mason said as Sofia led the rest of the table into some heated conversation about politics. Her least favorite subject, but she’d caught a few of my anxious looks and I knew she was doing her best to draw attention away from me. I thanked God for that – and the fact that Mason was being borderline kind to me right now. “Taylor, everything’s fine. You did great just now. You can relax.”
“I am relaxed,” I said, though I could see him dubiously eyeing my bouncing knee. Reaching across my lap, he squeezed it firmly, nearly stopping my heart with his thumb pressed against my inner thigh, his hand rubbing slow circles till I finally stopped shaking.
“What are you so anxious about?” he asked, sounding genuinely confused.
“I can’t put my finger on it,” I murmured, avoiding his eye. “I guess I didn’t really think about how scary it would be to actually come out to people as your girlfriend – people who kind of know who I am. I feel like they’re judging me. They think I’m sleeping with you now when I was engaged to Aaron nine weeks ago.”
“You still waited longer than he did to move on.”
The words stung for a second but I moved past it. “Yeah well, girls get more flack for everything. Double standards, slut shaming. All that jazz.”
“I wouldn’t argue that.”
I turned to him. “No?”
“You look surprised.”
I took a second to assess my reaction. “I guess I didn’t expect that from someone who treats women like they’re…” I trailed off, feeling for the first time kind of bad about trashing Mason.
“Treat women like they’re what?” he asked.
“Disposable.”
Mason raised his eyebrows and leaned back as if settling in for this conversation. “And how exactly do I do that?” he asked, withdrawing his hand from my knee. I blinked down at the sudden loss of his touch. I hated the cold void it left on my skin.
“Well… I’ve heard many a story about girls you’ve humiliated without so much as batting an eye. Stuff about having more than one date lined up for an event, going with whoever wore the tighter dress. Ignoring girls you’ve been with in the past when you see them in public. Taking some poor woman for a weekend in Lake Como and sending her home after meeting an Italian supermodel.”
Mason laughed. “Fuck, that’s cold.”
“Uh, yeah. I’d agree.”
“It also never happened, Taylor,” Mason said, his eyes incredulous on me. “I did take someone to Lake Como for a weekend last year but she was the Italian model. She flew home alone because she had work in Milan and I had work in New York. But we both left pretty pleased with our weekends,” he explained, sending shame to my cheeks. “Now that I’ve clarified that particular crock of shit, may I ask who you even heard it from?”
I chewed my lip back. One or two stories came from Sofia, who was often left to comfort the girls Mason suddenly stopped texting after a week of passion. But the main perpetrator of Mason rumors was of course Aaron, and suddenly I felt stupid admitting that my intel came from someone whose love-hate relationship with his brother leaned almost always toward the latter, and mostly due to jealousy he couldn’t even try to hide.
“I think you can guess who told me,” I finally said.
“Yeah, that little shit. I’ll give him credit though. Pitting two girls against each other in some kind of out-sexing competition is definitely a compelling idea.”
“Funny,” I remarked. “So two dates in one night. Never happened?”
“No.”
“And the girls you shunned in public?”
“I’ve been short with the few who interrupted me during business lunches. But I’d just rather not subject clients to conversations that include women thanking me for the multiple orgasms last night. I know they’re just trying to keep themselve
s in my memory, but I suspect my gifted cock isn’t exactly a professional topic of discussion.”
I raised my eyebrows. I definitely agreed but I didn’t let that on. “Maybe they resort to that because you won’t answer their texts.”
Mason laughed. “You’re right, I don’t answer all the texts I receive. There are only so many different ways to say ‘thank you’ and ‘very nice’ to pictures of naked tits.”
I choked on my water. “And here I thought you liked nudes.”
Mason nodded his thanks for the Scotch the waiter placed in front of him. “I prefer my women naked in person. That said, I’m still very much open to receiving nudes of any kind from you.”
“Color me charmed. I’ll get right on that.”
Mason laughed. “I know I’m not getting naked pictures from you, Taylor. I’ve already made my peace with that.”
“Oh, I’m so glad. What did you try – meditation?”
“Philosophy. I think Plato said something about sexting being a form of hedonism.”
“I must’ve missed that lecture in college. Probably because I didn’t go to college.”
Mason turned to me with the truest surprise I’d ever seen on his face. “You? Didn’t go to college?”
I shrugged. “Does that completely shatter your image of me?”
“Kind of. I had a pretty vivid picture of you being the buzzkill who called campus security on parties.”
I let out a sharp laugh that had everyone glancing over with curious amusement. Mouthing sorry, I quickly hid my face, turning my blushing cheeks back to Mason who was watching me with a big smile. I suppressed my own giggle. Weird. I didn’t expect this particular conversation to lighten my mood but somehow, it was doing the job.
“Alright, so now that we’ve debunked the myth of how I grossly mistreat women, are we done covering exactly why you’ve hated me all these years or is there something else to it?” Mason asked.
My smile faltered. Instantly, the question had bad memories trying to crawl their way to the forefront of my mind, but with my nerves freshly pacified, I refused to let them. “That covers it,” I lied, flashing a bright smile.