Mason put his hands up in surrender.This was the first time he had ever seen a flash of Yasmine’s temper.He didn’t want to fight with her about this.
“Sorry, it’s hard to turn off sometimes.But I also can’t meet your expectations if I don’t know what they are.”
Unfortunately, something about what he was saying, or maybe how he was saying it, seemed to be frustrating her even more.She started pacing back and forth, shooting him unhappy little glances.
“I thought we’d find a way to make things more romantic.”She rubbed her forehead.“Crap.I can’t believe this is happening to me again.”
“Nothing is happening to you again.”Mason patted the bed next to him, where she’d previously been seated.“Come sit down, and we’ll talk through this.”
“If we’re trying to find passion, should we be talking through it?”she asked him.“Why not leap up and take me in your arms?Or pull me over your lap and spank me for overthinking?”
“Is that what you want me to do?”He was floundering, and he knew it, but he didn’t know how to fix it.
“I don’t know!”She stomped her foot.Actually stomped her foot.“Maybe I want you to justdosomething.Anything.Not talking, butdoing.”
Mason stared at her.He’d never seen Yasmine like this before, and he didn’t really know what to do now that he was.If she was on the team and in his office for a session, they’d talk through what was frustrating her.What was making her feel this way.Why she was reacting this way.
But she’d made it clear she didn’t want him to talk to her like that… and he didn’t know what else to do.
What did she want him to do?
Sighing, her shoulders dropped into a slump.
“Maybe this is something we should have worked out before getting engaged.”
“Probably,” he admitted.“I think we can still work through it, though.”
“Can we?”She shook her head.“I keep feeling like you’re not attracted to me, but you are attracted to someone else.”
The thoughts in Mason’s brain came to a screeching halt, and he suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe.The expression on her face went from almost accusatory to dropping.
“Shit.I knew it.”Tears gathered in her eyes.“Why do I keep doing this to myself?”
“Hey, hey, Yasmine…” Mason got to his feet, but once he was there, he wasn’t sure what he should do.Pull her into his arms?But in a non-romantic way?Hold his arms open so she could come in for a hug if she wanted?Or maybe he shouldn’t have gotten to his feet at all.“You haven’t done anything to yourself.I asked my parents for help with finding a wife; they reached out to your parents, and they matched us up.I think they did a good job, too.”
“On paper, sure,” Yasmine replied bitterly, starting to pace again.This time her arms were wrapped around her upper body like she was hugging herself.
Crap.He should hug her or something.
When she paced back his way, he did exactly that, gently pulling her into a hug.When she didn’t resist, he decided it must have been the correct move.Thankfully.She leaned her forehead against his shoulder, her arms still around herself, keeping her distance but also accepting his comfort.He felt her shoulders slouch again as he rubbed his hand up and down her back.
“Haven’t you ever heard the saying that marriage takes work?Or that love isn’t an emotion, it’s a series of choices?”he asked.“I’ve chosen you.Or, well, my parents chose you, but I agreed.I’m willing to work on this.We just keep choosing each other and working on it, and we’ll figure it out.”
“That doesn’t sound bleak to you?”She lifted her head to look at him plaintively, turning her arms within his embrace, so her balled fists were placed against his chest.“Especially if you’re attracted to… someone else in a way that you aren’t with me.”
“I don’t have to act on any attraction that I don’t want to act on.”Even as he said the words, he felt his chest tighten.They were true, but it also felt wrong.He was more than his instincts and reactions, though.He had control over what he did.“We can choose each other.”
It made sense to him, but Yasmine was shaking her head.His heart sank in his chest, and at the same time, tension slowly released from his muscles.He hadn’t even realized how much tension he had been holding in his body until it began to dissipate.
“I don’t want to marry someone who doesn’t want to be with me with their whole heart.Can you honestly say that person is you?”
He hesitated.
“That’s what I thought.”She dropped her head back down and pressed her forehead against her fists.
“Yasmine… we have to be sensible about this.”
“No.”
