Wearing my brightest, happiest smile, I opened the door.
It instantly fell away.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Mason wasn’t smiling. His eyes were dark and hooded, his mouth unyielding. He didn’t seem glad to see me at all.
“Hi,” I said softly, moving to the side to let him in.
After a brief hesitation, Mason entered the foyer. He handed me a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
“Oh my goodness, Mason, they’re gorgeous!” I exclaimed, unable to curb the unabashed girly glee at receiving them.
“Thank you!” I enthused, putting an arm around his neck and tugging him down to my lips. He kissed me but it was lukewarm.
He stood there, not moving. “Are you going to take off your coat?” I asked, but he didn’t respond. What was wrong with him?
He had brought me flowers, after all. That usually meant something, right?
Affection.
A pleasant regard.
Why, then, was he refusing to look at me?
“What’s wrong, Mason?” I asked, clutching the flowers to my chest like a shield.
“I bought you flowers. Not roses, because you don’t seem like a woman who would like roses. You’d want something special. Unique,” he said, still not looking at me.
“That’s true. I don’t like roses. See how well you’re getting to know me?” I took his hand; his fingers were limp in mine.
“Am I?” he asked, his words hard, clipped.
“Are you what?” I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t like it. Mason’s energy was wild. Angry.
I didn’t understand.
It worried me.
It excited me.
“You don’t work at Western Railways.” His eyes finally met mine. They burned straight into my soul.
I swallowed thickly. “What are you talking about?” I had covered my tracks carefully. I had the emails to prove my fake employment. I had added myself to the company website. If he looked, he should have found me.
“I called, wanting to sendthoseto you at work, since you had to stay late.” He indicated the now-smooshed blooms. “I spoke with a very lovely lady at reception. Tamara was her name. She thought it was sweet that I wanted to send flowers to my overworked girlfriend.” I couldn’t breathe. The more air I sucked into my lungs, the more light-headed I became. I felt as if I were watching a car wreck in slow motion. I was the car and Mason was the brick wall I was about to slam into.
“She said that there was no Hannah Whelan who worked for Western Railways. And definitely not for the CEO.” Mason hurled his words like knives. Now I understood his anger. I had lied to him. He felt betrayed.
Which was understandable, because Ihadbetrayed him. Ihadlied to him.
Now he knew it.
I had planned for every possible scenario in order to maintain my cover as the beleaguered assistant to a CEO. Except for the human one. Mostly because I had been overly confident. Arrogant. I had thought I had him outsmarted.
I hadn’t thought a bouquet of flowers would bring my story tumbling to the ground.
