Chapter 7

Nicole

I parked at the far end of the strip mall parking lot. The hem of my dress was halfway up my bare thighs, and for a second Mason’s eyes were focused on them before he glanced away. Just the thought of his lips against my skin was enough to cause an ache between my legs, and I sighed dreamily.

You’re not having sex with Mason. So get your head out of the gutter.

Easier said than done, especially since I wasn’t getting sex on a regular basis.

“You sure you want to come inside?” I asked. The only time guys ever entered the store willingly was to pick up flowers to impress a date or a significant other.

“You know all about my job. Now I want to see where you work.”

I laughed. “This is hardly the same thing. It’s not like I was on tour with you.”

We got out of the car, and Mason and I headed to the store.

I opened the door and stepped inside. A blast of air-conditioning greeted me, along with the classical music playing softly in the background. Cindy was at the register, taking a customer’s order, and glanced up. She smiled at me, and her gaze darted momentarily to Mason before returning to the customer.

Mason scanned the store, which hadn’t changed since Heidi and I had taken over the boutique. Other than the brick wall behind the register, the walls were light gray. The shelves and counters were brown and fully stocked with tubs of various types of flowers. A sweet floral scent filled the air. The smell was one of my favorite parts about working here—it soothed the soul and calmed even the crankiest of customers.

“Eventually I plan to have a section of gift glassware,” I explained to him. “I’ve been working on my own designs to etch on them.”

Well, it was more like I’d been playing around with ideas for the theme surrounding the designs. So far I hadn’t come up with anything meaningful. All I’d figured out was that I wanted to avoid anything to do with flowers, which seemed too clichéd.

“Did you make those?” Mason pointed to the floral arrangements filling one counter.

“No, that was all Heidi. She’s a natural. I tried to do it a few times. The outcome wasn’t pretty.” Which was like saying it was slightly cool in Antarctica. “That’s why I stick to the business side of things and dealing with the customers. I even created our website.” A few small businesses in town had asked me if I could design theirs too. Heidi didn’t know about that—she complained enough as it was about how much I was working. “We’re even on Instagram and Facebook, and I blog a few times a month about special events Heidi’s been hired for, which lets me showcase her creations.”

Cindy finished up with the customer and came over as I was explaining the different flowers to Mason.

“Oh my God,” Cindy said, her eyes as round as daisies. “You look exactly like the drummer of Pushing Limits.” Her gaze shot back to me with an unspoken question.

“I get that all the time,” Mason said, his expression serious—other than the glint of mischief in his warm brown eyes. “Except I’m better-looking than him.”

I snorted a laugh.

Mason turned to me, eyebrow raised. “What, you don’t think I’m better-looking?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I bet the real deal has amazing abs.” I had no idea if that was true or not, but based on what I could tell, I’d have bet I wasn’t far off.

He yanked up his T-shirt, revealing some very lickable abs. Cindy was practically drooling at the sight of them.

“Not bad,” I said, doing my best not to laugh.

Mason crossed his arms, chin raised, one side of his mouth tilted up. “Damn straight they’re not bad.”

“But I bet the real deal is a better kisser.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them.

“Only one way to find out,” he shot back. “Kiss me.”

I’d been ready to tell Cindy the truth, but his eyes possessed a challenge I couldn’t ignore, so I reached up on my toes and planted a quick kiss on his lips. The action was innocent—the unexpected electrifying hum through my body not so much.

As if hit by a bolt of lightning, I jerked away from Mason, my gaze going everywhere but to him.

“Looks like fake Mason kisses better than the real one,” Cindy said mischievously. Mason opened his mouth to protest, but Cindy just giggled and waved her hand. “I know you’re the real Mason Dell. Your voice gave it away.”

Just then the bell over the door jingled, followed a second later by “Oh my God! You’re…you’re…”

Cindy laughed as I turned to find Heidi staring at Mason as if she was either going to faint or start screaming like a fangirl.

“Yes, he’s Mason Dell,” Cindy said.

“Mason,” I said, “this is Heidi.”

The tattooed rocker held his hand out to her. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Heidi replied, shaking his hand. She threw me a questioning look.

“He’s Zack’s friend,” I said in an attempt to explain everything. “As you know, my phone died when I accidentally dropped it, and because I was so busy, it took several days before I could take it in to be fixed. Zack freaked out and figured something bad had happened to me. And the next thing I know, Mason was at my front door, making sure I was still alive.”

Heidi rolled her eyes. “When will your brother realize you’re a big girl?”

I snorted. “Never.”

“That sounds about right.”

“I think it’s great that he’s so protective,” Mason said. The slightly defensive edge to his tone made me wonder if I was missing something.

“I dropped by to pick up some paperwork I need to finish before Monday,” I told Heidi, ignoring Mason’s comment.

“It’s the weekend, Nicole. Do you even know what that means?”

“Sure. It’s the two days between Friday and Monday.”

“God, what am I going to do with you?”

“Says the woman who just came into the store today.”

“Because I have a big order for tomorrow and I need to get started on it.”

“You know I can help, right?”

The answering smirk said it all. Then she changed the subject. “So what happened with your big date last night?”

“Let’s just say there won’t be any more with him.”

“Why not?” She briefly glanced at Mason, as if he had crashed the date and caused Carl the accountant to run for the hills.

“We had nothing in common.”

“You knew this from one date?”

“And there was no chemistry between us,” I added. “Let’s just face it. You’re dating the only guy in Desert Springs who’s worth dating.”

She flashed me the same dreamy look she always wore when it came to her boyfriend, which I took to mean she agreed with me. “So what are you gonna do?”

“Become some crazy cat lady.”

“You can’t do that!”

“Can I become a crazy cat lady?” I asked Mason. Before he had a chance to respond, I said to Heidi, “See? He agrees. Crazy cat lady it is.”

Mason chuckled. Heidi didn’t.

“Is that why you two kissed?” Cindy asked from the counter. I hadn’t realized she was listening to our conversation.

“It was a joke,” I explained.

Cindy laughed. “Didn’t look like a joke from where I was standing.”

“Seriously? If you call that kissing,” I said, barely bothering to stifle a snort, “then you’re doing it all wrong.”

“We could do it again to prove it was a joke,” Mason added. I threw him a you’re-not-helping-me-here look. “Just a thought,” he said, grinning.

“No, that’s okay,” I choked out, heat rising to my cheeks.

If that was what happened when our lips barely touched, what would’ve happened if we had really kissed?

Kaboom, my girlie parts not-so-helpfully pointed out.

Unfortunately for them, they would never find out if that was true or not.

His smile widened, perfect white teeth contrasting against beautiful brown skin and dark stubble. “You sure?”

I was so busy staring at those full lips, I only vaguely heard what he said. It took a second for it to sink in. I blinked and turned away from his mesmerizing smile before it pulled me in deeper.

“Yes, I’m sure.” I decided to walk toward my office. Surprisingly, my legs complied.

I could hear Heidi following me as I approached my desk, cluttered with floral design catalogs, sketches of wildlife I’d drawn, and educational journals for small business owners. I gathered the papers together in a small pile, waiting for her to say whatever it was she felt she needed to say to me. The soft sound of the door clicking shut seemed louder than normal.

“So what’s really going on between you and Mason?” she finally asked. It wasn’t concern that I heard in her words, just curiosity.

“I already told you.” I located the documents I needed and turned to face her. “Zack sent him down to check on me. He’s going to spend a day or two here to relax before he and his band return to touring.” And I would go back to dating boring men while searching for Mr. Right.

“But you’re interested in him.”

It wasn’t a question, but no way was I letting her in on the truth. “Right. Because he’s everything not on my list,” I said with what I hoped was enough sarcasm to distract her from the real answer. Plus it wasn’t like that between Mason and me. It was just my body that was reacting to him. It didn’t go both ways. “And have you not seen his tattoos?” The tattoos that elevated his hotness factor.

“Just how many tattoos does he have?”

My first mistake? Ignoring the alarms in my head at her deceptively casual tone. The second was blurting out, “Four.”

Her eyebrow jerked up, followed by the corner of her mouth. “Four? Because with his T-shirt on you can only see three. So you want to explain why you’ve seen one more than I just counted?”

“Because before you arrived, he flashed his abs for Cindy. He has one on his rib cage. Honestly, Heidi, you’re reading way too much into this.”

She opened her mouth to say more but never had a chance. The office door opened and Mason popped his head in.

“Are you ladies finished talking yet, or should I wait a little longer before Nicole and I go shopping?”

“No, we’re good,” I said, brushing past him as I walked out of the office—saving me from accidentally blurting out something to Heidi that I shouldn’t.

That something involving thoughts about Mason that would make a virgin nun blush.