Chapter Twelve
Mason
As the night dragged on, I found myself searching the room for Saylor. Annie was getting annoyed with me being distracted, and I couldn’t blame her. I’d invited her to the event, and all I was doing was searching for another woman. Not that Annie and I were dating, far fucking from it. She was a close friend and the occasional fuck partner. Neither one of us were looking for a serious relationship.
“Mason, snap the hell out of it. Do you need a blowjob or something?”
My mouth dropped open. “What?”
Annie rolled her eyes. “You need to relax. You’re tense and moody as hell. Does this have anything to do with the gorgeous blonde you were drooling all over earlier tonight?”
“Saylor?” I asked with a half-hearted laugh. “No.”
She took a sip of her wine then smirked. “You always were a terrible liar.”
“She’s here with a client.”
With a one shoulder shrug, she replied, “So why do you care then?”
“I don’t care,” I bit back.
Annie tilted her head and stared at me. “Oh my gosh. Oh. My. Gosh.”
Frowning, I shook my head at her. “What’s the matter?”
“You like her. I mean, you really like her.”
I took a long drink of my scotch. “Don’t be daft, Annie.”
She tossed her head back and laughed. Then dropped her mouth open and did this weird slow head shake while staring at me like she had figured out world peace. “Mason Quinn, you’re falling in love with her.”
Now it was my turn to laugh—even though I knew she was right. “I don’t do love, Annie.”
Her smile dropped, and anger moved over her face. “You are a stupid son-of-a-bitch do you know that Mason?”
“Huh?” I asked jerking my head back. “What in the hell?”
“For people like us, love isn’t supposed to be in the cards, or so we tell ourselves. We’re so career driven and so focused that the thought of letting another person into our world scares the hell out of us. But I’m telling you right now, if I ever had a man look at me like you looked at Saylor earlier, I’m pretty sure I would put my career on the back burner and explore it.”
I sighed. “I’ve worked too long and hard to get where I am to give it up for some woman.”
She nodded. “I get that, I do. But you don’t have to give it up, Mason. You just have to make room for it. And by it, I mean love.”
“You’re one to talk. Why don’t you settle down?”
Annie gave me a weak smile. “I found love once. But I stupidly put my job first thinking he would wait for me until I was ready. He didn’t. He moved on and fell in love with someone else. I’d give anything, Mason to go back and give him what he needed.”
My heart felt like it dropped to my stomach.
“If you wait too long, she’ll find what she needs from someone else.”
I followed her stare and saw Saylor dancing with Joshua. She was looking up smiling at him.
Turning back to me, Annie added, “She might already be walking down that path.” Something caught her eye, and she looked at me, winked, and then headed over to someone she knew. “Mr. Longly, how have you been?”
Like an idiot, I stood there, staring at Saylor. The way Joshua held her in his arms pissed me off. That should have been me. But was I ready to settle down with one person? My job was going to suck up so much of my time. Did I even know how to distance myself like Saylor did? The way she stood up to me about working the weekend had both angered me and turned me on.
Lifting my drink to my lips, I finished it off as I watched them. My feet felt like they were glued to the spot I was standing on while I watched Joshua walk up to some other people with Saylor. They spoke for a few minutes before he took her by the arm and they headed to the exit.
My breathing stopped when Saylor glanced over her shoulder and scanned the room quickly. Her eyes landed on mine, and I thought I saw something in them.
“You’re letting her leave with him?” Annie asked.
Without saying a word, I turned on my heels and headed to the bar.
***
Pacing back and forth, I focused in on the clock. One in the morning.
My hand cut through my hair while I let out a frustrated groan.
She left with him. I stood there, and fucking let her leave with him. What was I thinking of letting her go like that? What would I have done? Told she wasn’t allowed to leave with the asshole?
Sitting down on the edge of my bed, I stared straight ahead. Should I text her? See if she made it home okay? What if he’s with her? In her bed where I should be.
“What in the fuck is happening to me?” I asked out loud as I stood and stormed out into the living room. Opening up my laptop, I searched my email to see if Saylor had sent me the ad campaign.
Nothing.
My phone had been sitting on the kitchen island where I plugged it in when I got home. Making my way over to it, I opened it to see I had no text messages.
Fuck this.
Opening up a new message, I started to type.
Me: Did you enjoy your evening?
After I set the phone back down, I stood there and stared at it.
Nothing.
A nauseating feeling hit me in the stomach. What if Saylor wasn’t answering because she was with him? Right now.
Annie’s words bounced around in my head. I couldn’t deny that I was falling for Saylor. But was I really ready to settle down with one woman? Did I even have time in my life for someone?
Pacing again, I thought about all the reasons to go over to Saylor’s place and even more reasons not to.
The next thing I knew my cell phone was ringing and I was opening my eyes to the brightness of the sun shining into my living room. Sitting up on the sofa, I groaned as my body ached from sleeping on the couch.
Standing, I made my way to my cell and answered without even looking.
“Hello?”
“Late night?”
Her voice instantly woke me up.
“Saylor?”
“You have the new ad campaign.”
“What?”
“The protein bars? The ads you had to have right away. They’re in your inbox.”
I was stunned. Had she done them? Trying to get my eyes to focus, I looked at the clock on my microwave. It was damn near one in the afternoon.
“Fuck!” I shouted. “I’m late. Thanks, Saylor.”
Hitting ‘End,’ I ran into my bathroom and to the shower, stripping my clothes off as I went. The cold water quickly woke me up as I soaped up and washed my hair.
Wrapping the towel around my waist, I rushed back out to my phone and pulled up my brother’s number.
Me: Slept in. Might be five or ten minutes late!
He responded almost immediately.
Rich: Don’t rush. You’ve got time. We just got to the church and Kris is changing Maddie.
I smiled. My younger brother and his wife Kris had a baby two months ago, and she was being baptized today. I was the godfather, and if I showed up late I would have never heard the end of it from my mother.
Me: Do I need to bring anything?
Rich: Yourself to the church is all we need.
Not being able to keep my mouth from turning up into a smile again, I rushed into the bedroom and got dressed in the suit I had picked out weeks ago for this day. The last person I wanted to let down in this world was my brother. He had been caught up in some bad shit not too long ago when he was in college. I vowed to always be there for him. When he met Kris, his life really changed for the better. Love had been good to my kid brother. I’d never seen him so happy.
As I rushed out the door, I grabbed my cell and hit her number. I had some explaining to do.