Page 34 of Housekeeping

18

Laura

“How did you know where I live?” I asked, my voice quivering. I was scared, not about him coming to see me, but about what was going to happen next. Mason adopted this sheepish look.

“I swear I’m not trying to be a stalker, or anything,” he said quickly, then winced as if he realized the admission wasn’t making anything better.

“Seriously, how did you know?”

“I didn’t use the employee records or anything. I asked someone at the hotel and they told me. I wasn’t sure what time you’d be back, but I wanted to at least try.” There was desperation in his voice.

Did I really mean that much to him?

Was I really just being paranoid?

If he’d gone through my records at the hotel, he would have crossed a line. I wondered who told him where I lived, and if they’d find it strange I had someone sending me expensive gifts and one of the boss’s sons asking after me. I could only hope no one would make the connection and spread more rumors. I had enough shit to deal with as it was.

“Can we talk? I’ve been trying to find you for some time now—”

“No,” I said abruptly. “I’m going to respectfully decline and ask that you go away and stop sending me things, Mason.”

His expression betrayed surprise for a moment before he was able to mask it.

“Why exactly won’t you see me?” he asked with a slight frown on his face. “This isn’t going according to plan. I thought that you would be happy to see me. Happy to receive the gifts, not just send them back. I don’t get it. Is there something wrong with me that means you can’t see me?”

When he said it like that, I felt kind of ashamed of myself. Yes, I knew how my actions looked, but to have him say it so bluntly… It was like I’d used him knowingly, only to throw him aside. And I couldn’t even say that wasn’t true because in a lot of ways it was. I’d been down that day, and I’d taken his hand because it was something I wanted without thinking about the consequences. And then immediately afterward I’d tried to put a wall between us.

“I’m sorry that things turned out this way. I swear it’s not what I planned, but Mason you do understand that this can’t go anywhere, right? If it’s a fling you want, I’m sure there are other women you could go for other than me.”

“I want you!” he said stubbornly.

My heart, traitorous thing that it was, skipped a beat at the bold declaration. I could feel some heat in my cheeks, but I tried not to let myself be swayed. No matter what he said, I’d made my decision already. The week of careless gifts he’d been sending me cemented that this was the right thing to do.

“Mason, please,” I said with a sigh, leaning against the doorjamb. “You’re young, you’re hot. Not only can you do better, I’m sure there are plenty of women that would fall all over you if they thought they had a chance with you.”

“That’s rich coming from you. You did the complete opposite,” he said.

I narrowed my eyes. “Seriously, kid. Go away. I didn’t fall all over you because I’m not that kind of woman to begin with, so I don’t know what you were hoping for by sending me all those things. I’m not the kind of person who can be bought, and I don’t need a man who thinks that way. You have a million women waiting for the opportunity to be chosen by you, so don’t come to me anymore—”

“What the hell! Don’t call me kid!” he said.

I snorted. “Mason, I do happen to know your real age, you know. When I first met you a few years ago, you were just barely legal.”

“I was nineteen,” he cut in.

“Like I said, barely legal.” I frowned after I said it. He remembered me, even that far back? I shook the thought off, reminding myself once again not to be swayed.

“Is the age difference really a big deal?” he asked.

“There are so many problems, Mason, I don’t even have time to worry about the age difference.”

Not that I didn’t worry about it. While I hadn’t paid much attention to him in the first few years, I did definitely look when he was twenty-one, and I kept looking after that. Mostly, it was because it was around that time he’d had his first racy party and stripped down. The first time us maids realized that this kid was going to be a recurring problem if he stuck around.

It still felt like robbing the cradle just being near this guy and allowing his interest in me to continue.

“What if I said your age didn’t matter to me?” he asked. “Because it really doesn’t. It definitely doesn’t change how I see you—”

“And how exactly do you see me?” I countered, tilting my chin up. “Explain it to me, Mason, how exactly do you see me that you thought sending me all that stuff was okay? And sending it to me at work! If you knew my home address, then I wouldn’t have minded them coming here but I would still have sent them back. The real problem is you had them sent to my work where people would notice and talk! What were you thinking?”