It was a weird chemical reaction in my brain.Tonight will be different.It’s probably a completely, if unexpected, natural reaction to knowing that I’m announcing my engagement.A lot of people have second thoughts before making a major life change.
I don’t even know Audrey.
My brain is just playing tricks on me because making a lifelong commitment is scary.It should be scary.This just proves that I’m taking it seriously.
That was exactly the advice he would give any client who came to him with this problem.
“We’re telling our friends tonight,” he said firmly.“You can start calling everyone tomorrow.”
“Wonderful, we’re so excited.Yasmine is such a lovely girl.”
“She is.”
She really was.And now that he’d gotten a little space from his sudden, shocking reaction to Audrey, he could see it for what it really was.An aberration.A natural response to knowing he was taking the first step toward the rest of his life this evening.Marriage was serious.He took the commitment seriously.
Perhaps he should have expected to be tested.A lot of people struggled, and that was when they were in love with their intended.Mason was approaching marriage a little differently, with a well-thought-out, practical plan for his life.It shouldn’t be surprising that his brain would react with a roadblock that was purely emotional and physical.
Now that he’d gotten past it, everything would be fine.
Audrey
Jensen’s house was everything that had been described and more.
“This is amazing!”She stared in awe at the front.Three stories up.A massive front porch, which was still covered in Halloween decorations.She assumed those would be coming down soon.
“It is, isn’t it?”Cassidy beamed as she stood on the other side of Audrey’s grandmother, letting Grandma lean on her arm as they went up the steps.The house had double doors.Huge, dark, heavy wood doors that were ornately carved.The doorknob looked like brass.“Living here felt like being on a movie set.”
“I want to get one of those flowy robes and appear in the windows at random to passersby,” Audrey said enthusiastically.She could already picture how cool that would look.This kind of house was made for a dramatic robe.The kind widows wore in movies when they’d killed their husbands, and the police showed up to question them.“Do you think they’d let me do that next Halloween?”
Grandma and Cassidy both laughed.
“Just wait till you see the inside; you’re going to want to just walk up and down the main staircase in that robe.Maybe lounge around the furniture,” Cassidy teased.
“It would make a great movie set.”Grandma looked around.“You could do horror.Or a historical movie.Or maybe a porn.”
“Grandma.”David groaned as he joined them on the porch.His arms were loaded with boxes of desserts Audrey had made for tonight, including all three kinds of baklava she’d made for Mason to try.She felt a little guilty looking at her brother’s overloaded arms, but he’d insisted he could carry everything and wouldn’t let her take any.
“I’m just saying.”
“I wish you would stop.”
Audrey giggled as she rang the doorbell.It hadn’t taken her long to realize that Grandma liked to say outrageous things just to make David react.Granted, she also just liked to say outrageous things, but she was a little worse when David was around.It was highly entertaining.
A handsome man with brown hair opened the door.Very handsome, with a boyish face and a beaming smile.Yet she didn’t have the same reaction to him that she’d had to David’s other teammate earlier.
“Hey, hey, everyone.Come on in.”
They all piled inside, David immediately heading deeper into the house with the boxes of food while Audrey stood awestruck in the foyer.There was an actual chandelier above her head.A real crystal chandelier.The inside of the house somehow managed to be even more impressive than the outside.She felt like she’d stepped back in time.Everything was carved wood, stained glass, marble, and covered in ornate wallpaper.
“Holy crap… this house isamazing.”
“Thanks.”Jensen, who had been introduced before David took off, looked around, shoving his hands in his pockets.“We can’t take credit for it.The guy who owned it before had it restored to what it looked like when it was originally built in the twenties.”
“Don’t ever change it.”
He chuckled.
“We don’t plan to.Come in and meet everyone who’s here already, then I’ll give you the tour.”He said it in a completely non-smarmy way, so Audrey didn’t have to worry that he meant it the way her parents’ friends’ sons had when they’d offer a ‘tour’ of the premises and really meant a tour of the inside of their pants.She wouldn’t have expected any of David’s team to be smarmy, anyway.
