Chapter Twenty Nine
“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty.”
I groan and bury my head under the sheets. “Go away, it’s too early.”
“I can’t hear you,” Lori replies as she yanks the sheets off me.
“I said go away, it’s too early.”
“It’s eight fifteen.”
“Exactly. Too early.”
“Are you sick? You usually get up at the crack of dawn.”
“I stayed up late last night.”
She raises an eyebrow. “Doing what?”
“Stuff.”
“What kind of stuff?”
Googling Mason. “Just stuff. Why did you wake me up?”
“Mason’s here.”
I sit up at lightning speed. “What?! Why?”
She bursts out laughing. “Calm down, I’m joking.”
I place a hand on my chest. “Jesus, don’t do that to me.”
“I’m sorry, it’s cute how worked up you get over him.”
“It’s not cute, it’s annoying.”
“A package arrived for you.” She retrieves it from the hallway and hands it to me. It’s a rectangular box sealed with a big red bow. “I’ve been staring at it for the last fifteen minutes wondering what it is. I can’t take the suspense any longer.”
“I should make you wait until tomorrow for almost giving me a heart attack.”
“Please open it.”
“Hmmmm, I’m not sure, you did wake me up.”
“I’ll do your laundry for a week.”
I don’t take much convincing. “Deal.” I untie the bow and carefully remove the lid. The first thing I see is a little card with my name on it. I stare at the handwritten message.
My stomach flips. I read it aloud for Lori. “Is that it?” she asks. I nod. “No name?”
“No.” I don’t need a name.
“Open it!” I do as she says. She gasps when she see’s what’s underneath the mound of tissue paper. “Is that what I think it is?”
“It depends. If you think it’s the dress that I was wearing on Friday night then yes.”
She grins. “Well played, Mason. Well fucking played.”
“He asked if he could pay for it and I said no.”
“Well it looks like he doesn’t take no for an answer.”
“I wonder how he knew where to get it from. I bought it from that little boutique off of Union square.”
Her eyes widen. “Maybe that’s what he was looking for yesterday when we saw him shopping.”
“I doubt it. I’m sure he has staff who run around after him.”
“Wait a minute. Check the size.”
I lift it out of the box and check the label. I sigh. “Of course he got the right size.”
“Holy shit. You’re screwed.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s going to make it near impossible for you not to fall for him. Jeez, if he keeps this kind of thing up, I’ll fall in love with him.”
I roll my eyes and put the dress back in the box. “Calm down. He bought me a dress, it’s not a big deal.”
“He didn’t just buy you a dress. He found the dress then picked out the right size.”
“It must have been a lucky guess.”
“Either that or he’s been paying a lot of attention to your body.” She wiggles her eyebrows up and down. “Memorized all of your curves.”
“He only bought it because he feels guilty about what happened with Buzz’s ex.”
“He definitely feels something but I’m not sure that guilt is the overriding emotion.”
I close the box and throw the card and ribbon on top. “I can’t accept it. I’m going to return it to him.”
“Of course you can accept it. It’s an expensive dress and your other one is ruined.”
“Then I’ll buy myself a new one. I need to shut it down and let him know that I’m not interested.”
“But you are interested.”
I narrow my eyes. “No, I’m not.”
“Well can I keep it if you won’t? I earned it. I’m the one who pissed Stacey off, remember?”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
“I can throw a glass of wine over you if that would make you feel better.”
“If I get a new dress out of it then go ahead.”
I stand up and walk over to my wardrobe. “I’ll drop it off at his hotel before my run.”
“I thought you had a thing this morning.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You told Mason you wouldn’t be running today because you had a thing.”
I pick out a sports bra and matching leggings. “Yeah well plans change. Just like how I was planning on sleeping in today but that hasn’t happened, has it? Now go and make me a smoothie while I get changed.”
“I forgot how grumpy you get in the morning.” She huffs. “I should have just opened the damn box and kept the dress for myself.”
As soon as the door closes behind her, I walk over to the bed and pick up the handwritten card. I trace the letters, wondering if Mason wrote it himself or if he got somebody else to write it. Hopefully it’s the latter. The less effort he makes, the better. I don’t want him to care about the dress. I definitely don’t want him to care about me. And I sure as hell won’t allow myself to care about him. The last time I cared about somebody, my heart was shattered. In my line of work, it’s inevitable that somebody is going to get hurt but I’ll try my damned hardest to make sure it isn’t me.