Chapter Twelve

Ella

I thought about what Mason said for a few seconds.

He met me through a friend.

Does that bother me?

I realized that it didn’t. I didn’t really care what he told these people about me or how we met or why I was there that evening.

As long as he didn’t mention the frame.

It wasn’t like I was ever going to see any of them ever again. This was just one evening and then I could go right back to my distinctly other-class life. For all I cared, he could tell them that I was a circus performer who had entranced him with my acrobatic prowess and he decided to hire me as the evening’s entertainment, but I injured myself in a freak elevator mishap and wouldn’t be able to perform.

Damn. I need to stop watching TV with Edmond. Or I need to write women’s network movies.

I nodded.

“Alright,” I said. “There really isn’t any point in them knowing.”

He nodded and continued cycling through the party. It felt completely bizarre to be moving through these people. It was like I had stepped into a brochure for an ultra-exclusive resort that I wouldn’t even be allowed to drive past much less go to. All around me people wore the names that were thrown around during fashion week and dripped with jewelry. Makeup was immaculate, perfume expensive. It was a different world than I had ever experienced, and by the time that I had met what felt like the twentieth man with a pretentious name and woman with enough carats on her finger to make a cake, I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by it all.

Mason apparently noticed how I was feeling because he lightly led me toward one of the roaming waiters and set the nearly-empty glasses of champagne that we had held on his waiting tray.

“Would you like a tour of the apartment?” he asked. “I know you’ve seen some of it, but there are rooms that you didn’t get to while you were decorating.”

I looked up at him quizzically.

“I thought that you had to be out here with your guests.”

He gave a dismissive smile.

“It’s fine,” he said. “I just had to be seen by them. Now I have, so I can whisk you away.”

There was something in the way that he said that, that sent a little shiver through me and I gave into the pressure of his hand on my hip, guiding me away from the party. We walked up the steps from the living room and into the darkened hallway that led further into his apartment. As soon as we were away from the group, I felt the tension ease out of me. It was as if we were in a different world now, a world that I was starting to really want to explore.

We walked along the hallway for a few seconds before he gestured toward a door to one side. I rested my hand on the latch and pushed the door open. The room beyond was all heavy, dark silhouettes and when Mason hit the light switch beside the door stained glass lamps hanging from the ceiling illuminated, casting richly colored light throughout the space. It wasn’t enough to make the room look bright, but it allowed me to see the massive wing-backed chairs upholstered in green leather and an antique pool table sitting in the center beneath a huge domed stained-glass lamp.

I walked in, looking around.

“Your man cave?” I asked.

“Oh, no,” Mason said, shaking his head. “That’s another room. But you can’t see that one.”

“Oh?” I asked. “Why not?”

“Because it’s a man cave,” he said as if that was all the explanation that I needed or that could possibly exist for the issue.

I nodded and approached the pool table. The balls were set up in the center of the table and I ran my hand across them. Their smooth surface and shape sent a shiver through me and I felt my stomach clench with the suggestive hint that that simple touch had put through my mind.

“Come on,” Mason said. “There’s more that I want to show you.”

I reluctantly left the room, letting my fingers glide over the pool balls one more time before he clicked off the lights and we continued down the hallway. He had shown me another guest room, his library, a weight room, his beer cave and wine room, and a clothing room that was bigger than my bedroom by the time that he led me to the back corner of the apartment and opened a door. I stepped through into a room with three walls made of glass. It seemed to be built so that it jutted out from the building by several feet and was comprised almost entirely of a wide, sparkling pool. The water went right up to the wall on the other side, making it look as though anyone inside would be swimming through the air above Fifth Avenue. The position of the room sitting out from the building would give it the effect of a balcony, allowing swimmers to look up and see the stars.

I felt Mason step up behind me and a shiver rolled through my body as his breath rippled along the side of my neck and down my chest. His mouth came to my ear close enough that I could feel his lips brushing against me as he spoke.

“Join me for a swim?” he whispered.

There was a smokiness to his voice now and I felt the breath catch in my throat.

“I didn’t bring a bathing suit with me,” I answered.

His lips touched the curve between my neck and my shoulder and my lips parted in a silent gasp.

“You don’t need one,” he said.

Mason took me by my upper arms and turned me around to face him. He ran his fingers along the neckline of my dress and I felt my skin shiver at his touch. When he finished, he brought his hands to my back, drawing me up against him. His hands were warm and strong against my bare back as he lightly stroked along my spine and then found the hidden zipper along my side. The dress loosened around me as he lowered the zipper down. I didn’t object, but tilted my head up slightly to look at him. As I did, his mouth ducked down toward me and captured mine in a deep, leading kiss.

I could feel the passion burning from within him just through that single kiss and I arched my back slightly, pressing my body closer to his as the bodice of the dress fell away and it slipped down my body, pooling at my feet. Mason took a slight step back to look at me, making a low sound of appreciation in his throat as he seemed to drink me in as I stood in front of him in nothing but the lacy black satin lingerie and heels Sylvie had paired with the dress.

“You are gorgeous,” he murmured, almost as though he were saying it to himself more than he was to me.

He stepped up closer to me again and took my mouth, coaxing my lips apart with his tongue so that he could massage his against mine. We kissed until I felt breathless and my body was hot and soft, all tension gone as it readied me for him. A thought occurred to me and I glanced over at the pool again.

“Can the people who live above you see through the ceiling into the pool?” I asked.

He looked up the same way I had, considering the balcony of the apartment above. It didn’t sit out as far from the building as this room did and the wide expanse of glass creating the ceiling would be easily visible to someone standing just above. Mason met my eyes again and I saw a devilish smile on his lips.

“Probably,” he said, then pressed closer to me so that I felt my breasts crush against his chest, still fully clothed beneath his exquisite suit. “But that’s just part of the fun.”