We landed an hour ago,and if I wasn’t sure before, I’m certain of it now.
Mason is sulking.
We pull up to the villa, and the girls bounce in the seat next to me in excitement. I should feel the same, and I do, but I’m also trying to figure out what to say to Mason to make him understand my reasons. Marriage isn’t something I’ve allowed myself to think about before now. It came out of the blue, and I can’t help my gut reaction. I mean, he sold my studio a little over a month ago. At this point in our relationship, marriage doesn’t feel like the goal.
Trust. That’smygoal.
The girls rush through the door and start squealing in excitement. I squint, shielding the sun from my eyes as I smile up at Mason. He has his arm thrown over my shoulder, and I push up onto my toes to give him a dusting kiss.
“Thank you,” I tell him.
I leave him with the boys and follow the girls into the house.
The villa is breathtaking. It’s set on a private island with only two other homes inhabiting it—one of them being the Montgomerys’. It sits on the edge of the cliff and looks out across the infinite ocean. It’s like something from Lucy’s Pinterest board, only real.
It’s like a shack, but around fifty thousand times bigger and made up of wood and glass panels.
Lucy and Megan are standing in the living room I’ve just walked into. Their faces are just as awestruck as I imagine my own to be.
Wooden beams line the room, which opens up into a state-of-the-art kitchen. Megan takes my hand and pulls me away just as I head in that direction.
“Let’s pick rooms!” she squeals.
“How many are there?” Lucy starts to count the doors as we walk down the corridor and up the steps. This part of the house is set on two levels, and I spin, looking back down the hall where the ceiling opens up, letting the sun beam through four glass panels. This place is insane.
“Six,” Scarlet states, walking up behind us from a different direction with the boys. “Some of us will have to share.”
I try to look around her to see where they came from.
“You’ll have to bunk with me, princess.” Elliot throws his arm over Lucy’s shoulder, but she shrugs him off.
“Uh, no.” She looks offended, and I scoff at her. No sane women would kick Elliot Montgomery out of bed. “Megs, Scar? Looks like we are rearranging rooms,” she tells them, arching a brow and giving them a look that says ‘go the fuck along with it’.
“Add ‘and drinking cocktails’ and I’m down for whatever,” Megan says, already in full relaxation mode.
“You got it, girl.” Lucy winks.
“What’s the plan?” Scar turns, looking at her brother to take charge. “Are we going out tonight or eating here?”
“We can eat here tonight. Get settled, dinner is at eight.” His hand snakes around my waist, and I purse my lips as I look to Luce. “If you need anything. Any of you. Don’t come knocking.”
They all chuckle as he pulls me backwards and through a bedroom door.
“Ma—”
I squeal as he lifts me off my feet and chucks me onto the bed with ease. His top is pulled off over his head, and he is on me in a matter of seconds. “Don’t speak,” he tells me, hiking my legs up around his waist.
These moments with him are my favourite. We don’t need words because they only complicate the easiness that’s between us. The way we fit, it’s perfect. But the words we utter sometimes have a way of bending the corners, making us jagged pieces of the same puzzle.
I want to iron out the creases and make them fit. I just don’t want a marriage proposal, not yet, and maybe not a year from now either.
* * *
Mase
No.
That’s what she told me. No.
