“I can see that.”
He was still smiling at her.
Dammit.
Why did he have to be taken?
Mason
Watching Audrey get flushed and passionate about vanilla was far more interesting than it should have been.Part of him knew he should walk away.Find someone else to talk to.
But he couldn’t do that without bringing her over to someone else.Leaving her alone in the corner here would hardly be welcoming.Everyone else had already abandoned them.Besides, surely the more they talked, the more the luster on her would dim.
Exposure therapy, remember?
They’d been talking about kink.Of course, his brain had gone straight to his attraction to her, to wondering if she’d like a demonstration.He wasn’t proud of it, but now that he had the opportunity, he could change the conversation.If they moved onto more mundane topics, more boring topics, then surely the attraction would go away.
She was just another woman, after all.They didn’t really know each other.They just happened to have met at a time when he was settling down and committing to someone.Once he got to know her, he’d know that she was just like every other woman he’d met before, regardless of his initial reaction to her.
“Is vanilla your favorite flavor?”he asked.
“No, chocolate is,” she admitted.“I do like vanilla, though.As long as it’s real vanilla.I am a bit of a vanilla snob.”
“Well, now I don’t know if I’ve ever had real vanilla.”He’d had vanilla ice cream and such, but now that she’d gone into a description of what it took to get the real stuff, he was pretty sure the ice cream at the store didn’t contain it.
She laughed.Mason didn’t want to admit how much he liked making her laugh.Knowing she was laughing because of a joke he’d made.Especially since he didn’t think anyone would ever call him ‘the funny one’ on his team.But he wanted to be funny for her.
“I’ll make sure you get to try some sometime soon.”She grinned at him.“How do you feel about crème brûlée?”
“I’ll try anything once.Your baklava was amazing.”
“You still haven’t picked a favorite.”
“It was too difficult.I think you’ll just need to keep making all three for me until I can decide.”He rubbed the bottom of his chin, doing his best to hide his smile and knowing he was failing.Which was fine since he wanted her to know he was joking, so she didn’t feel obligated.
Though if she made them, he’d eat them.
He wasn’t kidding about not being able to decide.
Audrey laughed again.“I can do that.”
The way she was looking at him as she said it sent little tingles all along his spine, and he realized he was grinning back at her.Not hiding it at all.
Fuck.
Were they flirting?
This felt like flirting.
Fuck.He couldn’t flirt with her.He had to stop this.
Mason cleared his throat, forcing his lips to stop smiling.He never smiled this much.It should have felt natural to stop, but it didn’t.
What had they been talking about before they got off track?
Shit.Right.Kink.
That was not a better topic.
