Chapter Nine
Saylor
With my tea in my hand, I made my way to my office. I was early and glad to see almost no one was here. When I turned the corner, I stopped. “Ashley? What are you doing here so early?”
Rolling her eyes, she replied, “Mr. Quinn called me last night. Said he had some important things that needed to be taken care of and needed me here early.”
I frowned. “Huh. Must be important.”
She leaned forward and glanced towards his door before focusing back on me. “He is in a very bad mood. I’ve heard a slight accent all morning.”
My brows pinched together. “How long have you been here?”
The poor thing yawned then mumbled, “Since five.”
“Five!” I practically shouted. Shaking my head, I glared at Mason’s door.
“Oh, Ms. Night, I know you want to say something, but you’re new, and you don’t understand. Mr. Quinn is normally a great boss, but I’ve quickly learned when he is stressed, or something is bothering him, he likes to either work early or work late. He’ll let me off at the appropriate time.”
Ashley smiled then covered her mouth to hide another yawn. “Ashley go home.”
“I’m sorry, only Mr. Quinn can excuse me.”
Tilting my head, I smiled. “Didn’t Mr. Quinn say that if I needed you for a special project every now and then he’d let me borrow you?”
“Yes, ma’am, he did.”
“I have a special project. It’s called the sofa in my office that needs someone to lay on it. Go. Now.”
Looking nervously at Mason’s door, she stood. “I only need thirty minutes.”
I jerked my head in the direction of my office. “Go. I’ll buy you an hour.”
Frowning, she asked, “How?”
With a wink, I replied, “The first thing I learned about Mr. Quinn was that he likes to talk money and how the firm can make more of it. I’ll invite him to breakfast and tell him I have a brilliant idea with the Jameson account.”
She wrung her hands together. “I don’t know . . . I could get fired for this.”
“Ashley, you’re more likely to get fired because you’ve fallen asleep at your desk. Go.”
“Thirty minutes! Tops!”
I watched as she rushed into my office and shut the door. Turning back to face Mason’s door, I narrowed my eyes. Little did she know I was about to lay into Mason for leaving me Saturday night. I was still pissed he had the nerve to sneak off and screw some woman and leave me alone. Then to text me and demand where I was. Gah!
He didn’t have to know that Drake was the brother of one of my best friends from college. Grinning, I shook my head as I thought about when I saw him standing there. Talk about a small world.
My heart sank a little as I thought about how I had secretly hoped Mason would show up at my apartment last night. I had even put on my new lingerie that he had admired in hopes he would come to make sure I was okay. By midnight I had given up hope and crawled into bed.
With a quick rap on the door, I waited.
Nothing.
Reaching for the handle, I opened the door and walked into Mason’s office. His chair was spun around and faced the windows.
“I don’t care that you worked on it all fucking weekend. It’s still not right. I want it right.”
A grin slowly moved over my face. I thought when I left Smith and Smith I would miss being the boss, but hearing the frustration in Mason’s voice, I realized taking a step back had been good for me. My stress level had been reduced dramatically.
“Listen, if you can’t come up with a campaign for a goddamn protein bar then maybe you don’t belong here at Tate and Cane. That’s more like it. I’ll expect it on my desk at ten sharp. If it’s not on my desk at ten, pack yours and get the fuck out.”
I covered my mouth to keep my chuckle in as I thought back to the insane campaign ads presented to Mason last week.
The chair turned, and Mason jumped up and let out a gasp. “Bloody hell, Saylor! You scared the piss out of me.”
My lower stomach pulled. Two words. That was all it took to make my libido jump through the roof.
Bloody hell.
Damn this man.
“Sorry, I knocked.”
Frowning, he looked past my shoulder. “Where is Ashley?”
“I hope you don’t mind, but I had a bit of a project I needed her for regarding the Jameson campaign. She’s helping me out. I figured it was so early in the morning and since you’ve had her here since five something, she might like a break.”
Mason’s mouth opened slightly—like he was about to rip into me for taking his secretary away from him.
His hand ran through his hair and, I didn’t want to let it make my knees weak, but it did.
“How is the Jameson account coming?”
I glanced at my watch. It was seven-forty. “I’m not officially on the clock yet to talk business. I came in here this morning to tell you you’re a real asshole.”
Mason’s mouth was damn near on the ground.
“What did you just call me?”
Walking over to his desk, I put my hand down on it and leaned over, my hot tea in my other hand. I couldn’t help but notice how Mason’s eyes darted to the hot beverage and then back to me.
“You invited me to a dinner party, left me to fend for myself, then went off with some whore and screwed her while I was trying to make small talk with a bunch of strangers. So yeah, if the shoe fits, Mason.”
His eyes turned dark, and I knew he was pissed. “First off, you made it clear you had no interest in me when you shot down my kiss in your bedroom. Second, I invited you so you could meet people and from what I saw, you found yourself a new friend.”
My blood was boiling. “You’re going to judge me for talking to a guy I already knew when you fucked some girl in your friend’s new house?”
His face turned red. “I didn’t . . . wait. You know Drake?”
I took a sip of my tea and sat down in the large leather chair in front of his desk. “If it’s any of your business, yes, I know Drake. One of my best friends from college is Drake’s sister. I was asking him how she was doing.”
Mason’s face turned white as a ghost. “Did you fuck him?”
I huffed. “Again, it’s not any of your business.”
He sat and shot me a smug look. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“No, Mason. I didn’t . . . fuck him. I think your lines are beginning to get crossed here. Since when is a boss allowed to ask his employee about her private life?”
He sighed and scrubbed his hands down his face.
“Son-of-a-bitch. Nothing about my life right now is making any sense. From the moment you ran into me, I haven’t been able to think straight! You’re driving me insane, Saylor.”
Okay. That was not the response I was expecting from him.
“I’m sorry, Mason, if I’ve caused you any additional stress. It wasn’t my intention.”
He dropped his hands to his side and stared at me. “See! Like that. You somehow manage to get a dig in at me no matter what.”
Taking a sip of my tea, I lifted my brows and shrugged.
Mason stood and started to pace in front of the window. “You didn’t answer me, Saylor.”
“Does it really matter Mason? Why do you want to know anyway? You’re my boss, not my boyfriend.”
The ache in my chest from last night grew more. Mason didn’t seem like the type of guy who had any plans of settling down with one woman. Maybe he was upset because I said I wouldn’t be one of his conquers. There was no way he would ever be interested in me for more than a chance to get into my pants.
He finally stopped pacing and faced me. “I didn’t do anything with her.”
With a confused expression, I asked, “You didn’t do anything with whom?”
“Saturday night at the party when Natalie and I went off, nothing happened.”
Relief swept across my body, and I prayed Mason hadn’t seen it. I was becoming more and more confused by my feelings toward Mason.
Why though? What was it about Mason that drew me to him like I was? Was it his good looks? A body to die for? The British accent that slipped in every now and then? Or because of the way he looked at me on more than one occasion like he wanted to kiss me? That he actually may want something more. I was positive I was attracted to the way he handled himself. So sure and didn’t take shit from anyone. It was sexy as hell.
Whatever it was, I didn’t want it.
Or did I?
Shit. Shit. Shit. No. I promised myself I wouldn’t get involved until I knew for sure it was the right guy.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to speak. My voice was noticeably weaker and sounded unsure.
“Well, it really wasn’t any of my business.”
He turned to and faced the window. “I stopped by your place after I found out you left with Drake.”
My heart dropped. “What?”
“When I pulled up, the doorman said you had a man with you. I made it all the way up to your floor before I realized what I was doing.”
My eyes widened in shock. Mason came to my apartment?
“Once I stepped off the elevator I realized how crazy I was behaving. You’re a grown woman who I haven’t even known a week, yet I felt like I had to defend your honor somehow.” Shrugging, he continued. “Maybe it was because I had invited you to the party and if anything had happened to you . . . well . . . I’d have felt terrible.”
“You came . . . to my . . . apartment?” I asked as I attempted to keep my erratically beating heart steady.
He turned and faced me. “No. I got halfway there and turned and left. I got in my car and left.”
Mason came back for me.
The thought made me giddy inside, and I had to fight with all my might to keep a neutral face. Should I tell him Drake wasn’t there? That I had actually been hoping he would show up and how I had dreamed all night of him making love to me until I could no longer move?
“Drake didn’t go to my apartment with me. He walked me up to my door and then left. Mason, I’m not the type of girl who would randomly screw some guy. Yes, I knew Drake, but when I told him the guy I had come to the party with had gone off to have sex with some woman, he offered to take me home. That was it.”
Something moved over Mason’s face, and I couldn’t really read what it was. He almost looked—guilty—about something.
Then a thought hit me. If Mason cared enough not to go through with sleeping with Natalie, then came all the way back to my apartment because he thought I was with Drake, was he interested in me in some way?
No. Impossible.
There was only one way to find out. “Why didn’t you come to my apartment?”
He pinched his brows together. “I figured you were with him. At first, the idea pissed me off.”
My heart jumped. “At first it pissed you off?”
Nodding, he replied, “Listen, I’m not going to pretend that there isn’t some strange connection between us, Saylor. I can’t figure out if I’m attracted to you because you said you weren’t interested, or if there really is something else there. This has never happened to me before, and it’s confusing the fuck out of me.”
Pressing my lips tightly together, I gave him a hint of a grin. I loved his honesty.
“You said at first it pissed you off, then how did you feel?”
That’s when his eyes turned sad, and I had a feeling I knew why.
“I wanted to kiss you so damn bad in your bedroom, Saylor. So much so I felt like I was going to fucking explode. When I was almost to your apartment, well, I realized I had no right being there. You’ve made it clear you’re not interested in me, so I left. I called a friend and went to her place.”
It felt like someone hit me right in the middle of my chest. “Her place?”
“Yeah, Annie’s an old . . . friend of mine.”
I stood, my body trembling. “I see. So you got your fuck in anyway, didn’t you? Couldn’t have me, felt too guilty to screw Natalie with me in the other room, so you went for option number three. Nice. I see your reputation precedes you.”
Mason glared at me.
Where did that come? I sound like a jealous ex.
Placing my thumb and finger on the bridge of my nose, I sighed. “Mason, I’m sorry. I had no right saying that to you, and I’m not sure why I even said it. It’s just—”
His expression softened. “It’s just what?”
I wanted to tell him I was attracted to him. But he was my boss. And I’d only known him for barely over a week. So picturing him bending me over his desk and having his way with me was not something I should be doing. Yet, this man. He consumed my every thought—no matter if I was asleep or awake.
“Nothing, I need to get to work on the presentation for the Jameson account.”
Turning on my heels, I quickly made my way to the door. My heart was racing—my breathing heavy. I needed to get away from Mason Quinn and figure out how in the hell I was going to be able to work for a man I so desperately longed for.