Page 12 of Beautiful Disaster

He glances down at my hand, then at me. “I’m busy, Jinx.”

“Please?” I inwardly cringe at my begging and let his arm go.

He lets out a heavy sigh and nods. “Very well, this way.”

I follow him toward the back and into a spacious office. He locks the door behind us and waves to one of the cushioned leather chairs. “Have a seat.”

Mason sits across from me and drapes a long leg over the other. He’s relaxed, while I’m stiff and tense. Now that I’ve got him alone, I’m drawing a blank. I can’t find words. Fuck, I’m not even sure what the fuck I’m doing. His eyes never leave me, while I look at anything but him. I feel him probing into my soul, I swear.

“If we’re going to sit in silence, you’re wasting my time. I really need to get back onto the floor.”

“I… I don’t know why I’m here.”

He smiles and adjusts the thick gold ring on his middle finger. “That’s probably the most truthful thing you’ve said to me since we met.”

The urge to clap back is strong, but I shut up and stare at my hands resting on my lap.

He observes me, waiting for me to speak. I want to ask him all these questions, but I can’t get them out. Weird, considering I never stop talking.

With a sigh, he stands. “I have to get back.”

Panic swirls in me as I scramble to say something, anything. God, I should just let him go and move on, but Gwen’s words are ringing too loudly in my ears. Maybe she was right.

“Wait!” I yell and stand as he reaches for the door.

He makes his way over to me like a damn panther, and I take an instinctual step back. Like earlier, he rests his hand on my throat, right under my jaw, and looks deeply into my eyes. “I want to say no to you. I should say no. But those eyes… those freckles…” He sighs again and drops his hand. “Are you needed at your ranch this weekend?”

“I can take some time off.”

“I’ll send my car for you on Friday afternoon. You’ll stay with me for two days, and I’ll have my driver take you home on Sunday. Pack lightly.” Mason stands closer to me, allowing me to inhale his spice and pepper. “I expect you to be on your best behavior, Jinx. I don’t play games.”

“Is this about sex?”

“It can be if you wish, but we don’t have to. That choice is up to you. We’ll talk more in detail when we meet again.”

Is he giving me a choice? I try not to overthink it and nod. “Okay.”

It’s Friday night. Finally, I’ve been impatient and nervous as fuck for the past three days. I stand on the porch, watching the shiny, rust-colored Aston Martin Vantage pull to a stop in front of the house.

“Fucking show off,” I mumble to myself.

“You sure about this?” Aleks asks.

Thank god, Julien isn’t home. Otherwise, he’d talk me out of this. But I can tell Aleks anything. We’ve held onto each other’s secrets since we were kids.

“Yep.” No.

Still, I fucking lie to him. What else can I do? I don’t have any answers for him.

“You know, older men only want one thing from younger guys.”

“God, you sound like me. Anyway, we don’t know that for sure,” I insist. “He said there could be sex if I wanted it, but it’s not on the table for right now.”

Aleks stands in front of me with folded arms and narrows his eyes. “You and I both know that it’s about sex. Men lie and manipulate all the time to get what they want. And stop lying to yourself and me. If you do this, go into it being true to your heart.”

I huff at him. “I’m not lying. But I’m not going to pretend I know for sure what he wants. Besides, it’s just sex, if that’s all it is.”

He rests a gentle hand on my shoulder. “And Julien told you to take it easy. You don’t need to be with someone all the time. Besides, I thought you were done with guys after everything that happened to us.”