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I blew out a deep breath. As I turned to get back to my run, the hairs on my body stood. I took a quick glance around and quickly found the cause of it.
Mason.
He was standing outside a church, his arm wrapped around the waist of a young woman. Not Annie, this one was different.
That sinking feeling hit me again. Mason was not a one-woman man, and even though I already knew that, it seemed to hit me hard in the chest as I finally let it settle in. I was falling in love with a man I could never have. One who clearly didn’t see the kind of future I saw, even if I didn’t want to admit it to myself. But I needed to. I wanted to settle down, start thinking about a family. I was 28 years old, and I wanted more out of life than just my career. These last few months had shown me that. I loved my job, but I needed more.
Kids. The big house outside of the city. A man who would go to the ends of the Earth to show me how much he loved me.
I’d never really pictured that future before. At least not until the moment I ran into the one man I longed to share that dream with but couldn’t.
I wrapped my arms around my body as I watched Mason lean down and say something to the woman. She laughed and hit him playfully on the stomach.
Dropping my gaze, I spun on my heels and started to walk away. The emptiness I felt in the middle of my chest was a reminder of why I vowed not to open my heart again. I had been confused about my feelings for Mason, but now I knew what I had to do.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Mason
THE STRANGEST FEELINGwashed over me as I stood there and watched my brother and his wife hold their new baby. The look of happiness they both wore caused an ache in my chest I didn’t recognize. I tried to shake it off but couldn’t. My mind kept coming back to one thing.
Saylor.
I’d called her back three times and each time she’d sent it to voicemail. She was clearly pissed, and I couldn’t blame her. I’d pulled a dick move asking for the ads early, only to brush it off when she’d actually sent them. I knew she’d worked all night on them.
A small smile moved across my face. If she’d worked on the ad campaign, that meant she’d either been alone last night or that her date with Joshua had been so awful she’d needed to work to take her mind off the memory of it.
The priest’s voice pulled me from my thoughts. “Godparents, are you ready to help them in their duty as Christian parents?”
I, along with Kate, who was Kris’s older sister, both said, “Yes.”
For a brief moment, I panicked yet again at the thought of being my niece’s godfather. When my brother had first asked me, I’d almost said no. What example could I possibly set? Hell, the same priest standing in front of me had caught me screwing Releigh Long in the back of the church one Sunday when we’d both come home from college.
Reaching over, I made the sign of the cross and tried to push my thoughts out of my head.
The ceremony continued and I soon found myself tearing up as Kris held Maddie and the priest poured holy water over her. When Maddie let out a loud shriek, we all laughed.
“Makes you want one, huh?” Kate whispered.
Turning to her, my head was screaming, “Fuck no!”, but what I whispered back shocked the shit out of me.
“Yeah, kind of.”
True to my memories of our Catholic upbringing, the christening was long. When it was over, we took a few pictures, and I couldn’t help but notice how Kate kept brushing up against me or touching me any chance she got.
“Well, you ready for number two?” I asked, slapping my brother on the side of the arm.
He smiled, and his eyes lit up. “Maybe let us settle into a routine with this one first.”
Laughing, I watched him holding Maddie.
“You want to hold her?” he asked.
My stomach dropped. I’d only held her one other time—right after she was born—and I’d only done it then because it was their hot nurse who’d helped put her in my arms.
Jesus, that made me shallow as hell.
“Yeah, I’d love to hold my favorite little niece.”
