“Since we’ve already established that when it comes to burgeoning romance you have the emotional IQ of a dumbass ant, how about you worry about your own hopes and leave mine well enough alone?” She smiled cattily, then quickly spun on her heel.
Before she could reach the door, however, he stopped her. “How many times I got to apologize before you forgive me?”
Turning, she offered him a one-shouldered shrug. “Who knows? I’ll tell you once you get there.”
Then she was gone, and all the air that had been sucked out of the room to make space for her presence rushed back in, making him light-headed.
* * *
10:53 a.m.
Mason sat a foot away from the only person on the planet he thought about day and night, and it was a lesson in torture.
And the silence is deafening, he thought uneasily.
But it wasn’t an empty silence. It was filled with all the words he needed to say but couldn’t. It was a charged silence that skimmed over his skin like electric fingers. It was a heavy silence that pushed down on his shoulders until they ached.
It was a silence that Alex had apparently had enough of, because she looked over at him and blurted out, “For your information, when you tell someone you need to talk to them, that usually requires you to open your mouth and form actual words. I know that’s sort of akin to getting blood from a stone with you, but still…spit it out. The longer we sit here, the twitchier I feel. And it’s been proven that stress hormones can cause all sorts of adverse effects on the body.”
“I…” He tried, but his throat was as tight as the crowds around Fenway Park on game day. Her words back in the hotel had been bold and full of bravado, but he’d heard the underlying pain in her voice. His rejection hurt her. He had to make that right. “I owe you an apology, Alex,” he finally managed.
Surprise flashed in her eyes. But she recovered quickly and made a rolling motion with her hand. “Proceed.”
Despite his discomfort, he felt one corner of his mouth twitch.
She was funny. And smart. And wickedly sexy.
Although she seemed completely oblivious to that last thing.
He supposed her obliviousness was a big part of the allure for him. It would’ve been easy to reject her had she been all vampy and vixeny. But her earnestness, her sincerity called to the part of him that wanted to trust in someone again, that wanted tobelievein someone again.
And yet…You’re not normal.There was that voice. Thattruth. And he had to spare Alex. For her own sake.
“When you…uh…” He pushed an agitated hand through his hair. He wasn’t good with words. Not like her. And he wanted to make sure he did this right.Saidthis right. “When you made me that…uh…offer…”
“You mean the offer of my virginity?” She made a face. “Come on. Let’s not dance around the thing. We’re both adults.”
He dipped his chin in agreement. Theywereboth adults. He waswayadult at the ripe old age of thirty-five. But talking about a woman’s virginal state made him feel all of thirteen again. “When you offered to let me take your virginity, I—”
“And that’s another thing,” she interrupted. “I don’t like that phrasing. You wouldn’t betakinganything. I’d begivingit to you. With full agency and consent.”
He gave her a stern look, telling her without words to keep her mouth shut.
She pantomimed zipping her lips, locking them shut, and tossing the key over her shoulder.
“When you offered to give me your virginity,” he said and she smiled, satisfied with his choice of words, “I was a total tool and didn’t respond like I shoulda.”
Apparently her zipped lips were for show, because she chimed in with “If memory serves, you told me I was clearly looking for something more than you were willing to give. That you’d been there. Done that. And burned the T-shirt.”
“Right.” He shifted uncomfortably against the netting. “What Ishouldasaid was ‘thank you.’”
Her eyebrows tried to disappear into her hairline.
He’d been fascinated by them from the start. Partly because they were ever mobile. But mostly because they looked smooth and soft, making him want to reach out and touch. Making him want to trace them with his fingertips and then his lips.
“Thank you for choosing me for such an honor.” He pushed ahead before he could get evenmoredistracted. Or, you know, spring a boner. “Thank you for wanting to entrust me with such a gift and—”
“Ugh.” She rolled her eyes and pointed at his nose. “See? That right there. All those flowery words—honor,gift—show you haven’t been listening to me and are attaching too much importance to this thing. Are your ears purely decorative?”
