Chapter 13
Lara
I couldn’t pretend yesterday hadn’t happened. It had. I didn’t regret it for a second. It had been glorious. My toes had literally curled. Sex with Mason was so much different than it was with Mitchel. Mason made me hot. He could make me come with a simple touch. The sex had been satisfying and reminded me of coming home after a long time away. Mason was my home base. It had been so long, but my body still recognized his.
It wasn’t just the sex that had been fantastic. Having lunch with him and actually having a real conversation had been nice. He was funny and really listened to me. H seemed to be interested in what I thought and what I enjoyed. It was all so different for me. For so long, my life had revolved around what I needed to do to keep Mitchel happy and loving me. I had lost that battle long ago, but I hadn’t realized it until a few months ago. I had felt defeated, but not anymore.
When I’d woken up this morning, I had felt as if I could conquer the world. One quick round of sex with him and I was renewed. He had helped complete my transformation into this new woman I wanted to be. Too bad he couldn’t be a part of my life. I wasn’t looking for a relationship, but I could definitely get used to having sex like that regularly. Just thinking about his dick inside me made me feel flush.
“Stop.”
I looked up to see Kali standing in front of me, glaring.
“What? What did I do?” I asked. “What do you want me to stop?”
“You better tell me,” she hissed.
“Tell you what?”
She grabbed my arm and pulled me to the back of the store. “Who did you do?”
I busted into a fit of giggles. “That is so crass!”
She waved a hand. “Yeah, yeah. Spill. Don’t pretend you didn’t because I can tell you did. You are practically floating around here, and you have that smile on your face that says you are extremely satisfied. I know you had sex. So, who? Did you pick up some random stranger?” she asked, her eyes bulging.
I considered denying her accusation but quickly dismissed the option. It would be futile, and I wanted to tell someone. I was an adult and single. There was nothing wrong with doing what other single women my age did all the time.
“I did. I did it,” I confessed.
She squealed. “I knew it!”
“I don’t think that’s possible,” I said dryly.
She shook her head. “Yes, it is. You are glowing. Floating. It is totally obvious you got laid, and judging by the strength of the glow, I would say it was mighty good. So, who was it?”
I took a deep breath. “Mason.”
“Mason?” She paused for a moment, and I waited for her to figure it out. “The baby doctor!?” she shouted.
The one customer browsing the shop looked at us. I blushed. “Shhh,” I scolded her. “Yes, the baby doctor, but he was my first love before he was a baby doctor. I don’t think it is nearly as scandalous as you are making it out to be if you have sex with a guy you’ve had sex with before.”
“I knew it. I knew you two would get back together. It isn’t scandalous at all. Sex is a good thing.”
“No, no. It isn’t back together. It was a one-time thing.”
“Lara, it’s obvious you have a thing for him. Let yourself be happy.”
I shook my head. “No. I don’t want to open that can of worms again. The past is best left in the past. There’s a lot of history there, and I don’t think it is good history. It’s certainly not a wound I want to reopen. This was closure. We didn’t get to say good bye. Now we have.”
She laughed. “Sure. Keep telling yourself that.”
The door chimed, and she left me to go greet the customer. I was happy, and the last thing I wanted to do was get involved with a man and potentially muck things up. I sashayed out onto the sales floor and started unpacking the new inventory that had been delivered. As I pulled items out of the box, I spent some time imagining my own baby wearing each item. I loved this part of my work.
As I folded clothes and chatted with customers as they came in, I realized how much I loved my job. Mitchel had never understood why it made me so happy. He didn’t want children—a fact we should have discussed a bit more before the wedding. My dream of opening the store had never pleased him. I’d had the money, and I did it anyway, and now I was so glad I had.
It gave me great joy to see excited moms and dads buying products for their babies that helped them to not worry. I couldn’t wait to have my own baby growing in my belly. I wanted a personal reason to be concerned about what chemicals were in the fabric and whether BPA was harmful to my infant. Mitchel said it was pointless to worry about such things. He was an idiot.
It wasn’t pointless. Thank god I was rid of that man.
The door chimed, and I turned to greet the new customer. “Hi,” I said, then paused, recognizing the person. “Brian?”
He pulled off his dark sunglasses. “Hi,” he mumbled.
I wasn’t sure if the sunglasses were a disguise to avoid being recognized or a way to hide the black eye he was still sporting.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, hoping he hadn’t somehow found out about Mason and me. I would kill Mason if he had told Brian. Literally kill him.
“I wanted to apologize. Again. I keep stepping into shit with you.”
I narrowed my eyes at him for talking like that in my store.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “Lara, you have to know I didn’t chase Mason away to be mean all those years ago. I swear I was only doing it to look out for you. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”
I smiled. “I know. But you did it wrong. You believed rumors, idle gossip from a very unreliable source, Brian. Seriously, Misty Sinclair?”
He chuckled. “I know that now, but let’s just say I wasn’t thinking all that clearly back then. I saw a damsel in distress, and I wanted to help her out.”
“Sleeping with her helped her how?” I asked dryly.
He blushed. “You know what I mean. She was sad, and I wanted to make her feel better.”
“Oh lord. I don’t need details. It’s fine. It’s in the past, but don’t you dare do that again. It’s my life. I can make my own decisions, and I don’t want you butting in. I will probably make mistakes. That’s my problem. I mean, save me if you see me completely failing, but otherwise let me make my own mistakes.”
“I will. I promise.”
Kali was hovering. I could see her casually picking up items from the box and pretending to focus on the folding and stocking. She was failing to fool me.
“Kali, you’ve met my brother, right?” I asked, pretending I didn’t know what she was doing.
Brian ran a hand through his hair and focused his attention on my assistant manager and best friend.
“We’ve met,” he said.
“Not officially,” she said with her best come-hither smile.
I bit back the laugh that nearly burst out when I saw her transform from the sweet, innocent Kali to the seductress. I didn’t think Kali was a slut, but the woman loved men. She was always on the prowl. Her favorite saying was that you had to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince. She was doing a lot of kissing.
I couldn’t fault her for her mission to find the man that made her happy. I should have kissed a lot more men before I had settled down. Instead, I’d ended up with a toad.
The door chimed, and a customer came in. I waited for Kali to greet the heavily pregnant woman. She didn’t. She and Brian were exchanging some smoldering looks and had eyes only for each other. I felt uncomfortable with the heat that was being generated between the two of them and quickly evacuated the area to welcome the woman.
“Hi,” I said. “What can I help you find?”
I had half my brain trained on the customer and the other half focused on Kali. She was like a snake charmer. She practically had Brian dancing. The woman was talented. I quickly helped the pregnant lady find what she needed and rang up the sale. The whole time I kept an ear trained on my brother as if he were in danger of being eaten alive by my best friend.
They were talking in whispers, making it difficult for me to hear what was being said, but the body language said it all. Once the customer left, I rejoined them.
“You two act like you’ve known each other forever,” I commented.
Kali delivered her megawatt smile and winked. “Sometimes you just know.”
I fought back the urge to roll my eyes. I had heard that line before.
“I should be going,” Brian said to me, but his gaze was focused on Kali.
“Thanks for stopping by, Brian. I’m sure it will be the last time I see you in here.”
It was said with heavy sarcasm, but it was lost on him. Kali had him bewitched. His attention was focused entirely on her.
“I’ll see you later,” he said, still focused on Kali.
“Bye, Brian.”
He looked at me as if he was only now seeing me. “See you later.”
I watched as he slid on his sunglasses and pulled his hat down low before he slipped out of the shop. I turned to Kali with my arms folded over my chest, my gaze accusing.
“What?” she asked innocently.
“You know what. Brian?”
She shrugged her shoulder. “He’s cute. Handsome really. What’s his story?”
“No. I am not setting you up with my brother. Trust me, it will end badly. I want nothing to do with that.”
“Lara, I don’t need you to set me up with anyone. Your brother is hot. I can get him all on my own. Would you be okay with that?”
I shrugged. I didn’t know. I didn’t see why not. I had a feeling she was testing me. If I admitted it bothered me somewhat, she would say that was what Brian felt like about Mason. However, I didn’t think the idea did bother me, so her test failed.
“Hmm,” she said with a smile before drifting away to take care of more of the boxes that had been delivered.
I watched her for a minute before turning my focus back to my own musings. I gave myself about two minutes to dream about a future with Mason, me buying baby clothes for our child and Brian supporting our relationship. It was a fairy tale. I didn’t even know if it was my fairy tale. It didn’t matter. Mason and I had done our thing. We’d scratched the itch, and now we could both go on with our lives. I could have my baby and be the mother I had been dreaming of being since forever.
Maybe Mason and I could be friends with benefits. I may not have wanted the man, but I certainly liked what he could do for my body. I smiled, remembering the way he had made my body sing. I didn’t think I had ever had two orgasms. Hell, most of the time I struggled with one. Mason was a talented man.