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I couldn’t help my smile as I touched the stone between my cleavage. Taking advantage of Noah’s inebriated state, I asked, “Are you as surprised as I am?”
“By what?”
“The fact that he bought this for me.”
“Uh.” Noah gave a short laugh, running his hand through his hair and thoroughly messing it up. “I am definitely confused, yeah. But hey, when Mase wants to do something right he goes all in so maybe this is just him trying to show Aaron and the world that you two are a legit as fuck couple,” he said. But before my shoulders could even slump in disappointment, he added, “Or who knows – maybe it’s a sign of something else.”
I bit my lip. “Like what?”
“I dunno. That he likes you more than Eva Tully at least. Six months with her and he sure as shit never bought her anything like that. Definitely never busted out the PDA with her either, like he did with you at dinner last night. That gave me fucking cavities, by the way, so thanks for that display.”
“No problem. But like you said, he might just be doing all this to make us look like a real couple, right?” I prodded curiously, realizing shamefully that I was asking in hopes of being told otherwise.
“Well.” Noah squinted. Pausing, he rattled the ice cubes in his empty glass. “Fuck. When did I finish this?” he slurred. And just like that, I lost his drunken attention. “Hey, everyone’s at the pool. Wanna get a drink?” he asked, as if forgetting our prior conversation entirely. A part of me was tempted to grab his shoulders and shake him back to consciousness, but as he swayed in front of me, I had to laugh and just let it go.
“Sure. Lead the way.”
Trailing behind, I followed Noah up two levels. The bass of the music faded into my ears and then blared the second we opened the sliding glass doors to the massive enclosed terrace. Lounging around the white couches and splashing in the glittery water were upwards of a hundred beautiful people. Amid them, I looked around for mine. I was eager to find Mason and I couldn’t deny that anymore. Between Sofia’s encouragement and Noah’s tipsy honesty, I found myself genuinely excited to see him, which was why my heart stopped when I finally found his blue eyes cutting into me from well across the roof.
Whoa.
I swallowed hard, both nervous and flattered by the way he looked at me. Despite everyone sitting down around him, he stood straight, coming to me as if I possessed a magnetic pull. I didn’t expect this reaction, nor did I expect it to freeze me in place. But it did and the second he was close enough to cup my elbow, my heart rate felt like it was double its usual. “Hey,” I managed.
“Hey. Christ, Taylor, you look fucking…” Eyes on my legs, Mason pressed his fist to his mouth. With a groan, he muttered, “Good,” before stepping back and clearing his throat. Tucking my hair behind my ear, I processed how impossibly good he looked himself in a white sweater with the sleeves pushed up his muscled forearms. “That necklace couldn’t look better on you.”
“Shocked, by the way, that you chose a necklace that basically lives in cleavage.”
Mason laughed. “Just had a feeling it’d look good on you. And Christ was I right.” I bit my lip. The words thank you were at the tip of my tongue but for some reason, they wouldn’t come out. Mason didn’t seem to care. Stepping closer, he peered out at the party and then pulled me into him by my waist. “Figured this was a good place to let you show the world how you’ve got me wrapped around your pinky.”
“I’d agree. And the diamond is definitely a good start.”
“I’d hope so. What else can I do to show them you’re not just a fling?”
I bit my lip, glancing around to confirm a few curious eyes before looking back at Mason. “I don’t know. Look at me like you’re smitten.”
Mason smirked but when he spoke, his voice was low and sober. “Easy,” he said, reaching to push a stray blonde lock behind my ear. Circling his arm around my waist, Mason pulled me tighter to him, till I could feel the solid strength of his chest against my bare skin. Despite my breasts pressed up against him, Mason kept his eyes on mine, his fingers lightly entwined in my hair. Catching the masculine scent of his skin, I felt nearly hypnotized so I forced myself to disrupt the moment.
“Not bad. Fairly convincing.”
Mason laughed. “I thought we were well past this game by now.”
“What game?” I blushed.
“The one where you act like I’m faking my physical attraction to you. You got my dick hard as a fucking rock in public yesterday. I think you should know by now that I genuinely enjoy looking at you and that it’s going to be torture for me tonight.”
I struggled to muster up a response. “What… what do you mean?”
“That I’m gonna get to watch you all night tonight – wear you on my arm, look at you, touch you. But I can’t go anywhere beyond that and if we’re being honest here, it’s going to fucking suck.”
My lashes fluttered with surprise for his words. He was always flirtatious but I was sure this was the first time Mason admitted to wanting something more from me beyond what we agreed to in our deal. The thought had my blood rushing to my cheeks, my lips – that annoying pulse between my thighs. “Well, maybe…” I trailed off, desperate to indulge my itch to flirt and provoke and see just how badly Mason wanted me. But I knew it was a bad idea, and I still had too much pride. “Maybe we can arrange for you to relieve your sexual frustrations with one of the more discreet raccoons here tonight.”
Mason choked with laughter. “Christ. Guessing you picked that up from Noah?”
“Yes,” I grinned, staring ahead at my hands pressed flat on Mason’s chest. I couldn’t resist smoothing them up his sweater, watching his eyes cloud over with what looked like desire as my fingers lightly stroked. “First and last time I’ll ever use that term. Promise.”
“Not a problem. And I have no interest in going near any of those girls tonight,” he said, smiling down at me. “My promise to you. Now let’s go get a drink.”
Predictably, I overanalyzed what Mason said as he brought me over to the couches he’d been sitting on with some of this friends I’d met yesterday at Noah’s restaurant. I said my hellos and chatted, gushing genuinely with the wives and girlfriends about the diamond.
