“Well, yes, because there can be icy conditions on the roads and things like that.”She tapped her finger against the table, then smiled at the server, who appeared with their food.“Thank you.”
The poor guy looked like he’d been hit by lightning and stammered out a hasty ‘enjoy your meal’ before backing away.He still sent a yearning glance Yasmine’s way over his shoulder as he turned to head to another table, though she didn’t appear to notice.
She really was stunningly gorgeous.
So, why wasn’t he attracted to her?
With tonight’s scene looming closer by the hour, he was doing his best to notice everything attractive about her, but… he might as well be trying to find Naomi attractive.Or Cassidy.Or Jennifer.All attractive women, and all women he’d never been attractedto.
The attraction would come.They just needed to work on it a little.And he needed to stop letting his brain distract him.
“Would you like a big wedding or a small wedding?”she asked, sliding her tablet to the side but not turning it off as she picked up her fork.
“Ah, small, I would think.Close friends and family.”Mason hadn’t ever really thought about it before, but a big production sounded awful.Especially since this was an arranged marriage.But the expression on Yasmine’s face, although she did her best to keep it neutral, shifted.Shit.He was fucking this up again.That clearly wasn’t what she wanted.“Did you want a big wedding?What if we do something in the middle, a medium-sized wedding?”
“So, like, a hundred to a hundred fifty people?”
“That’s medium sized?”The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them; that sounded like a big wedding to him.He tried to remember how many people had been at his cousin Cyrus’ wedding because that had been huge, but he honestly had no idea how to gauge the crowd.He would have to ask Cyrus.
Yasmine pressed her lips together.
“Maybe we should come up with our guest lists of the people we want to be there, then we can see how many people that is.You should ask your parents if they have people they want to invite, too.”
If he let his parents have their say, they’d end up with three hundred people in attendance.
Maybe Yasmine had a point about a hundred to a hundred fifty being small.
“Maybe we could elope,” he suggested, and Yasmine’s lips immediately flattened in obvious displeasure.“That was a joke.”It had been.Sort of.
“I don’t think our mothers would ever forgive us,” she said, the edge of her mouth curling up in a smile, but the amusement didn’t reach her eyes.If anything, she looked exasperated with him right now.
He couldn’t blame her.
“What’s your favorite color?”she asked, apparently ready to move on from the guest lists for now.Mason made a mental note to make his list over the weekend, although he didn’t think it would be very long.His team.His parents.His cousins and aunts and uncles.
“Um.Grey?”He looked down at the shirt he was wearing.It was grey.Like most of his shirts.Did that make it his favorite color?
When he looked up again, Yasmine was staring at him in dismay.
“Your favorite color is grey?”
“I don’t think I have a favorite color.I like all colors.”He just didn’t like wearing very many colors.“Why?”
“Because we need to choose colors for the wedding.”She sighed when he stared at her blankly.“That determines what the bridesmaids and groomsmen wear, the color of the table linens, the bouquets, that kind of thing.Although I guess we should decide if we’re doing fall or spring before we choose colors.We can’t do a fall wedding with spring colors or vice versa.”
“Right, that would be terrible,” Mason agreed, even though he had no idea what she was talking about.Yasmine narrowed her eyes at him.“I’m happy with whatever you choose.”
“I want us to choose this together, though,” she said plaintively.“I don’t want you shut out of the decisions about your own wedding.We should both have a say.”
Well, when she put it that way… Mason sighed inwardly.This was clearly important to her.He should make an effort.
“Right.Um, what about blue?Could that go with fall or spring?”
Immediately, Yasmine brightened.“Yes, depending on the shade.”
“Well, I like blue.”
Beaming, she switched to a notes app on her tablet to record his preference, and Mason felt a surge of relief.Finally, he’d done something right.
