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“Only always,” Hadley answered. “We like to compare and contrast, make suresomeone’sdoing it right.” She gave him her sultriest grin and another wink.
He laughed. “I’ll remember that in future.”
“Really?” Hadley asked in what I’d coined her ‘detective tone’.
He nodded and his arm dropped from my shoulder to my waist, tightening his hold on me a little. “You can be assured my performance won’t be lacking. I always bring out my best when I’m being marked.”
Hadley slid me an impressed look and I gave her my best smile back. “Is that so?” she answered. “Good to hear. I expect reports of toe curling, name screaming, and marathons.”
Mason held me tighter. “Only the best for our Piper,” he replied, his tone halfway between teasing and sexy.
Hysterical laughter burst out of me and I winced. “Ha! Good. That’s good. The best is…good.” My chuckle thankfully died and Hadley gave me the most sympathetic look ever.
Mason chuckled, put his other arm around me so my back was against his front and kissed my cheek.
“What are your plans for the weekend, Hads?” he asked her, resting his cheek against mine.
She flicked her hair over her shoulder in that semi-sarcastic way she had. “Oh, you know. Desperately trying to get Tucker to take me out.” She leant forward conspiratorially. “You don’t think his best mate could talk to him?” She batted her eyelids and I supressed a grin.
Mason leant over my shoulder towards her. “His best mate could… But, Craig’s been a little busy with his own stuff.”
I did smile then as Hadley laughed. Then, she cut it short and glared at him, and my smile widened.
“Cut the bullshit, buddy. Is Tucker interested or not?”
I felt Mason smile against my cheek; like me, he knew she wasn’t being serious. “You know, Hads. I get the feeling guys don’t talk about this stuff as much as you girls do.”
“I know for a fact that’s shit,” she replied, trying to supress her smile.
I felt him shake his head. “Not at all.”
“All that time you spend in the locker room and you talk about, what? The size of your dicks?” she laughed.
“Well, in the safety of a man-only environment, it’s really just caveman grunts. We get the general feel of a thing rather than the flowery words so desired by you women.”
“You think you’re terribly funny, don’t you?” Hadley asked, her eyes narrowing.
“I’m hilarious. Why else would Piper be interested in me?” he chuckled.
Why else, indeed.
My eyes slid to the other side of the oval of their own accord while Hadley and Mason kept talking. Anyone would be forgiven for thinking Hadley was blindly hitting on my…was he even my actual boyfriend? But, I knew her well enough to know she wasn’t. Hell, she spent most of her time sounding like she was flirting with me if you didn’t know any better. Hadley was a comfortable, relaxed, flirt. That’s just who she was and I was in no way threatened by the fact it could be inferred that Mason was flirting back.
Because, flirty-sounding banter didn’t always have to be more, it didn’t mean you were accepting anything other than trading words. Unfortunately, some people have yet to accept that when their advances get shut down.
Mason’s arms were warm and strong and sure around my waist. Every now and then, he’d lift one to point somewhere or just gesture as he talked in his usual animated way. He was always full of laughter, always happy, carefree.
I felt like I should be calm and comfortable in his arms. And, it wasn’t like my heart was about to explode from stress or I was uncomfortable. I just felt constantly…on. Like I had to make sure I wasn’t letting my thoughts show on my face, or make sure I was ready to reply with the right thing, or just make sure I didn’t explode in ridiculous laughter like I apparently kept doing. My brain was running a hundred miles a minute and I felt like I could never keep up, always worried Mason would think I wasn’t interested or I was an idiot or he’d be disappointed in me somehow.
It was tiring.
It felt like it shouldn’t be that hard.
It felt like I was the absolutely worst human being on the planet.
As my mind was tumbling in frenzied circles, I realised I was staring at Roman again.
When he looked up at me, my hand rose to him.
