Chapter Seventeen
Saylor
The knock on my office door prompted me to look up. Ashley stood there, a slight look of fear etched on her face.
“Ms. Night, is there any way you can begin Mr. Quinn’s meeting with Johnson and Johnson?”
I leaned back in my chair. “He still isn’t here?”
She shook her head. “No, he left the Ritz hotel just after twelve-thirty when he called and said he needed to change his dress shirt, he soiled it.”
My heart sank. Mason had been with someone at the Ritz? I quickly recovered from the forlorn look I was positive had crossed my face. The urge to ask Ashley why Mason was at the Ritz was growing by the second, but I stood, straightened out my skirt and hair and took in a deep breath. This only made my decision easier.
“Are they seated now?”
“I was about to seat them, Mr. Quinn said he wanted them in there at one sharp, but I didn’t want them in there without someone from Tate and Cane in there as well.”
I grinned. “That was good thinking on your part. Do you have his notes?”
She held up the file and smiled. This girl needed to be promoted.
Walking towards her, I took the file and made my way to the conference room while Ashley followed behind me.
“Give me two minutes to scan this, then send them in. I’ll give them a brief introduction on Tate and Cane, and hopefully he’ll be back—”
The door to the stairwell flew open, and Mason came running out. “Ashley!” he called out.
“In your office, sir.”
I rolled my eyes and huffed as Mason raced by me and to his office. I started walking again.
Five minutes later, I had a smile on my face as I introduced myself to the folks at Johnson and Johnson. I had decided to give a shortened intro to Tate and Cane as I was sure Mason would be walking in any moment.
Sure enough, the door opened and he strolled in like he owned the damn place. I couldn’t help but notice the two women sitting at the table grin a little bit bigger when they saw him. My mouth nearly dropped when one causally reached up and loosed her top button of her dress shirt.
Trying not to roll my eyes, I glanced over to Mason. My gaze traveled over him quickly before our eyes met.
He looked like he hadn’t slept all night. Must have been having fun with his latest toy. He pushed his fingers through his hair and my knees shook and for a brief moment, I was left speechless.
I couldn’t continue on like this. Working along side a man I wanted more than the air I breathed. Only to have my heart broken each time I discovered him with another woman.
“Mr. Quinn, good afternoon. Ladies, gentlemen, it was a pleasure meeting you all. Mr. Quinn will take over now.”
As I made my way around Mason, his hand grabbed mine, and he squeezed it. I guess that was his way of saying thank you for covering for me while I finished my morning fuck.
I kept walking and pulled my hand from his.
“Good afternoon, I’m sorry I was late. I was stuck in traffic and had to make a made dash on foot for three blocks.”
Light laughter filled the room as I opened the door and shut it. Heading back to my office, I tried to keep my hands from shaking.
I sat at my desk, pulled up the Word document I had been working on and quickly finished it. By the end of the day, a new chapter in my life would begin. Again.
***
Pacing back and forth, I went over everything a million times in my head. My eyes caught the resignation letter on my computer screen. I enjoyed this job. Loved being a part of Tate and Cane, so was I really ready to step away from it because I couldn’t control my feelings for Mason?
Chewing on my fingernail, I walked up to the wall of windows. I’d run away from the last problem I had with a man, and I vowed I’d never do it again. But this was different. My feelings for Mason were not the same as with Ron. Maybe it was because nothing had ever really happened between us. The attraction might simply be because I knew he was out of reach.
The light knock on my door caused me to turn and face it. “Come in.”
Ashley walked in with a basket of fruit and a huge balloon that said, Thank You tied in the middle.
“What’s this for?” I asked with a chuckle.
“Mr. Quinn asked me to get them for you for helping him out today.”
A lump formed in my throat. He could be such a great guy when he wanted to.
“With everything that had happened with his niece and sister-in-law last night, he appreciated you stepping up for him.”
I drew my eyebrows together in confusion. “Mason . . . I mean, Mr. Quinn has a Niece?”
Ashley smiled. “Yes. His younger brother and his wife Kris have a little girl. Almost two months old. They christened her this past Saturday at Saint Patrick’s church.”
The memory of this past weekend flashed to Mason standing on the church steps. Was the baptism what he had been running late for?
Smiling, I asked, “I might have seen them when I was out for a run. What does his sister-in-law look like? Do you know?”
“Yes, Mr. Quinn has a picture of them on his desk.”
My brow rose. I’d never seen it. How had I missed it?
“She’s about my age. Dark hair and a total knock out. So is his younger brother.” She added with a wiggle of her brows.
I let out a light-hearted chuckle.
“I feel terrible for her though. Mr. Quinn said their heater went out late Sunday night and his brother was out of town, so he drove in and picked them up and helped them get settled into the Ritz while they waited on the heater to get fixed.”
I gasped and was positive I had a befuddled expression on my face. Wait. He was with his sister-in-law? Both times I thought he was with some hookup? Does that mean? Maybe he? Maybe we?
No. Wait. What am I doing?
“Ms. Night, are you okay?”
Lifting my eyes from the spot on the rug I had been staring at, I gazed into Ashley’s eyes. A huge smile moved across my face.
“Is Mr. Quinn in his office, Ashley?”
She nodded.
“Just set those on the table over there, I need to speak with him.”
“Oh. Um. Okay, well let me see if he, crap you’re moving fast!” She rushed over and set the fruit down and tried to get ahead of me. “Let me call to make sure he—”
“This won’t take me long, Ashley.”
Walking to Mason’s door, I didn’t bother to knock before I walked in. I stopped in my tracks as I saw him standing there, gazing out over the city, lost in thought.
Glancing over my shoulder, I winked at Ashley who lifted her brows in surprise and then covered her mouth to hide her smile.
Quietly shutting the door, I made my way closer to him.
“My whole life this was what I thought I wanted.”
I stopped walking when he spoke.
“I watched my father build a successful company in Chicago and work his ass off until my mother finally talked him into retiring back home in London. Did I ever tell you I was born in England, Saylor?”
My breath caught. How in the world did he know it was me? He had yet to turn around.
I cleared my throat. “No, but I heard you were, and I can hear a slight accent sometimes when you get angry.”
“Or drunk,” he added with a small chuckle. “I’m not sure if this is what I want anymore.”
With a confused expression, I asked, “What do you mean?”
He turned and looked directly at me. I had to reach out and take hold of the leather chair to steady myself. No matter how many times I looked at this man, he always seemed to take my breath away.
Holding out his arms, he looked around his office. “This. The big office, the fancy job title. The eighty-hour-a-week job that I’m a slave to. This!”
I couldn’t help but look around his office. “You’ve worked hard to get here, Mason.”
He folded his arms over his massive chest and leaned against the windowsill. “Let me ask you something, Saylor. Why did you leave this exact position in Seattle, to take another position that you clearly are overqualified for? And don’t tell me it was because you were running from the old boyfriend.”
I gasped. “How do you know about Ron?”
A sexy smirk grew from each corner of his mouth. “I did my homework on you.”
“I’d say,” I replied with a sexy smirk of my own. “Part of it was me running away. It was easier to leave than to face it all. Plus, I was tired of the eighty-hour work weeks. I decided I was going to start enjoying my life and living it to the fullest. I couldn’t do that if I were the boss. You reached out at the right time.”
He nodded. “Do you ever see yourself walking away from all of this?” Again, he lifted his hands and motioned around the room.
Pulling my lower lip in between my teeth, I thought about his question. It wasn’t lost on me that his eyes darted down to my mouth.
“If something better came along. Yes.”
“Something better?” he asked as he pushed off the windowsill.
I swallowed hard and took a step back as he drew closer to me.
“Such as?” he asked in a whispered voice.
“Love,” I answered honestly.
Mason stopped in front of me and searched my face. “Love?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“You can’t work and have love at the same time?”
“I could yes. But if I ever met a man who I feel in love with, and we decided to have children, I don’t want to be a working mother. I want to give my husband and kids the life I had growing up. I loved that my mother was home when I got out of school. Or how she would greet my father at the door each night with a kiss.”
His hand came up, and he ran a piece of my blonde hair through his fingers. “You have to know any man who wins your heart is going to be the luckiest son-of-a-bitch ever.”
My breathing had picked up. I tried hard to keep it steady. The pounding in my chest was so loud I could hardly think.
“I don’t think I’m all that special.” I finally managed to say in a soft voice.
Mason shook his head. “From the moment you ran into me down in the lobby my entire world has been turned upside down. I can’t stop thinking about you. Dreaming of what it would be like to wake up each morning with you in my arms. What your body would feel like under mine as I slowly made love to you.”
My eyes widened in shock. I forced myself to take a breath.
“Saylor Night, you have managed to capture my heart with a single smile. And one hot tea spilled all over my expensive-ass suit. Which, by the way, you never did pay for cleaning it.”
I covered my mouth and let out a sob-giggle. My eyes filled with tears as I stared into his golden brown eyes.
“M-Mason. This is crazy.”
Mason smiled the most breathtaking smile I’d ever seen. My hands dropped to my sides as he looked deeply into my eyes and slowly shook his head while his hands gently cradled my face.
“No, Saylor. This is love.”