Chapter Nineteen
Thursday evening, Nataliestood at Mason’s apartment door, holding a plate covered in tinfoil her mother insisted she bring. She considered not knocking, anxiety hitting her at full force. Taking a breath, she tapped on the door tentatively. There was laughter coming from inside. If no one noticed the knock, she could go home, eat tamales while drinking wine, and watch some trash TV. Tempting.
Before she could slip away, the door was flung open by Mason with the biggest grin on his face. “Hey, gorgeous. Come on in.” She was swept inside, like a tornado. He helped remove her coat and scarf to hang on an entryway coat rack posted on the wall, while she balanced a plate of hot tamales.
She held her breath, waiting for a kiss hello, wondering if it would hit her the way his goodbye kiss had. But when he tilted his face closer, he frowned. “What happened? Is that a black eye?” His voice was laced with concern.
She touched the affected area. Natalie must have rubbed the makeup off on the nervous drive over. “Oh, yeah, I got in a fight with my sister.”
“What?”
“It’s nothing. It was an accident. We were fighting over my phone, and I accidentally knocked it into my face. I-I brought tamales.” Before she could react, he brushed a soft kiss over the bruise. She swayed, her eyes shuttering closed.
“Come on. You can meet the rest of the group. Actually, the black eye is a good strategy. You can intimidate them with your toughness.”
She didn’t feel tough, more like a nervous puddle of softness, but she let him pull her into the dining room where the rest of the group had gathered at a dining table. They were going through a stack of board games while sipping on bottles of beer.
“This is Natalie,” Mason announced. “That’s Isaac, his husband, Damon, and Gemma, and Handsome Jay.”
“Come on, Mase. Don’t introduce me like that. It’s just Jay.” Except the man with the dark, perfect hair, tan, and dimples was indeed too handsome to be real. The nickname was fitting.
Mason leaned closer, saying, “He’s married to Gemma so, to everyone’s great disappointment, he’s off the market.”
Her eyes turned to Gemma who was also exceedingly pretty. “I brought tamales,” Natalie said. Let the awkwardness commence. Isaac offered her a chair while Mason went into the kitchen, returning with paper plates, forks, and a beer for her.
“We were thinking Ticket to Ride was a good game to play with your first time joining the group. Have you played it before?” Gemma asked her.
“Oh, uh, no.” In fact, she didn’t recognize any of the games in the stack. Gemma’s words surprised her, as if they were expecting her to keep returning and she was part of the group already.
“You don’t mind if I break into this, do you? I’m dying to eat one of these tamales,” Mason said, pulling off the foil and unleashing the steam underneath.
“Oh, yeah, I’ll take one of those too.” Jay held out a plate.
“These guys will inhale a whole plate of offerings before you have a chance to blink your eyes,” Gemma warned her. “Don’t be afraid to use your fork as a weapon.” She pretended to stab her husband in the hand before spearing her own tamale and unwrapping the corn husks. Natalie laughed, taking a sip from her beer, beginning to relax. When Mason put his arm around her, she found herself tucking into him.
“This is really good. I’ll eat your tamales any day,” he said, pressing his mouth close to her ear. She didn’t have the heart to mention she wasn’t involved with these tamales, kind of wishing she didn’t arrive home too late. After all the effort he made toward her, she was wanting to give back a little more.
As the game was set up, Isaac explained the rules. The game allowed the group to talk casually about other things or boisterously give each other a hard time. She really liked Mason’s friends. Mia and Ross would fit in easily with them.Great. Mia’s influence was working. But she was having fun, enjoying being included in Mason’s world.
“Wow,” Isaac said at one point, “It seems like you finally found someone who has no qualms about cheating, just like you, Mase.”
She threw her head back and laughed. “Mason will tell you, that when I cheat, I’ll admit it. I think this is really just a case of beginner’s luck.”
Isaac shook his head as though disappointed, but his dark brown eyes glittered with humor. “Like boyfriend, like girlfriend. Those who cheat at board games together, stay together, I guess.”
“Fake girlfriend, you mean.”
Gemma laughed at this as she set a train piece on the board. “Fake girlfriend?”
She feigned shock. “What? Mason, you didn’t tell your friends we were fake dating? They’re going to think this is actually something real.” She playfully bumped his shoulder with her own but, though she was teasing, there was a moment when the jovial expression on his face fell, his ears turning red. She had the awful feeling she’d said the wrong thing, possibly embarrassing him when all she was doing was having fun.
“Wait, what?” Isaac replied.
As much as she gave Mia a hard time about her people-pleasing charm, Natalie tried to channel her to rescue the situation. If there was one thing her friend was good at, it was making people feel good. She pasted on her best smile, laying a hand on one of Mason’s broad shoulders while leaning into him. “Well,” she said, as though preparing for story time. “I suppose that’s simplifying things somewhat. Maybe he was too modest to tell you about the time he was Prince Charming, rescuing me from the attentions of Diva Santa with one tiny lie. Of course, I didn’t really know Mason much at that point.” His hazel eyes turned to her, his gaze hitting her directly in the heart. “But, since then, I’ve come to realize he’s one of the best guys I’ve ever known.”
“God. Stan is still there?” Jay chuckled. “Hon, we definitely have to go get a tree this weekend and I need to see Santa. He told me he used to be part of a knife gang.”
“No, stop. I know that man tells a lot of stories, but that can’t possibly be true. That’s one Santa who could be knocked over by a strong breeze,” Gemma said. “And I can totally believe he tried hitting on Natalie. Goodness, Mason! Why are you holding back all the good tea?”
