Chapter 20

20

MASON

I clicked my pen twice and set it down again, watching the light of the screen projecting this quarter’s earnings play over the glossy brown conference table. It was Monday morning, and for the first time in my professional life, I wanted to be anywhere but this place, this building high above the New York City street, staring at numbers and listening to the head of marketing go on and on about his team’s ideas for next quarter.

My mind was unfocused. My body was at odds. Ever since I left the yacht, I hadn’t been able to get the feeling of Fia’s warm, supple skin off my hands. Her scent punctuated my every nerve. Her taste? God, I’d brushed my teeth at least a dozen times and I could still taste her on my tongue.

This was a problem. I couldn’t get her out of my head before but now?

I rolled my neck as the meeting continued, sitting at the head of the table flanked by eight others. I’d been feeling out of sorts since I woke up this morning at four, well before my six o’clock alarm. A rigorous workout then a five-mile run through Central Park hadn’t changed anything. In fact, it made the feeling worse. I found myself on the Upper East Side before I realized where my feet were taking me and had the urge to walk into Fia’s apartment and finish what we started Saturday night. It took every ounce of restraint to cut back through the park and shove her naked image from my head.

I wanted her. I imagined all the ways I could— would— have her. But I needed time. For the first time in my life there was someone I was willing to break all of my rules for. I wanted repeats with Fia. I wanted her in my bed beside me when I woke up. I wanted to make her breakfast and sip coffee while watching her mouth move as she spoke and just that. Just that . I wanted something other than this scheme. I wanted something else with her entirely.

I glanced at my watch, then back at the presentation. Quarterly projections for next quarter were on target. The stagnant summer season had bled into massive sales and higher profits during the holiday season like I anticipated. Nothing was amiss. Nothing was alarming. Nothing needed my immediate attention other than the woman from my dreams currently across town.

Saturday night, while swaying in the Hudson, we’d lain in bed together for hours, my hand between her legs and my mouth locked on hers until the early hours of the morning. I’d explored every sweet inch of her perfect body with my lips, my tongue, and my teeth until she was limp and gasping, but I’d stopped her from returning the favor. That night was for her. Nothing felt better than having the knowledge of how and where to touch her to make her melt in my hands.

I wouldn’t consider myself a selfish lover but sex had always been contractual for me. There was an expected give and take. I was a master at setting firm boundaries and laying out my rules. I’d given up on dating years ago, in my late twenties. I couldn’t connect. I didn’t understand the gentle, impossible to read nuances that made or broke the relationship I was trying, maybe not that hard, to foster.

Robotic. Cold. Dominant.

I didn’t feel like any of those things with Fia.

I just had no idea how to tell her how I felt. We hadn’t talked about the fact we’d crossed a major line when we kissed for the first time. Instead, we kissed again. Then I spent a night kissing her elsewhere.

“Do you approve of that, Mr. O’Leary?”

I blinked and stared at the man presenting. Connor Clare, my head of marketing, blinked back at me, his face a wash of stone. I’d always liked him because he was just as cold and robotic as I was, and a genius to boot. I had no idea what he’d been talking about for the last twenty minutes but I silently nodded my agreement to what could have been the acquisition of my company to some major wholesale conglomerate.

As people started shuffling paperwork and chatting quietly, the meeting coming to an end, I noticed Colin looking in my direction. I held his gaze for a few seconds before rising and leaving the conference room without a word to anyone, heading straight to the elevator to travel the two floors to my office.

Colin slid past me as I stepped inside. He leaned casually on the far wall as the doors shut.

“What do you need?” I asked in a bored tone.

“What’s up your ass this morning?” He chuckled, crossing his ankles as he angled his gaze toward his watch. “I had a half-hour break. Thought I’d check in.”

Great. Just great. The Christmas lull creeping through the office hadn’t affected him yet, apparently, even though over half of my employees were already enjoying their time off before returning to the office in January. Colin wasn’t one of them.

“You had Deck the Decks this weekend, didn’t you?”

The door opened to reveal a quiet, empty lobby and even emptier hallways normally full of administrators and their assistants. Only Gabby remained, and she lifted her head from her computer screen as I walked by with Colin hot on my heels.

“I did.” I walked into my office and winced as Colin shut the door behind us.

“So, how was it?”

“The same as last year. Tedious, stale, a whole lot of dry conversation.”

“How did Fia do?”

Ah, here we go.

I sat down behind my desk and pressed the remote that controlled the blinds on my city-facing windows. They rolled down against the glare of the sun ricocheting off an adjacent building. “Fia performed admirably.” I sounded like I’d recently undergone a lobotomy, and honestly, it didn’t sound like a terrible idea right then. “She met Heather Schuyler, who seemed taken by Fia. Heather’s assistant sent me an email yesterday afternoon asking how Heather could get in contact with Fia about the parties she throws all summer in the Hamptons, wanting to book Fia before May.”

Colin grinned. “Of course she nabbed a Schuyler connection right off the bat. I told you she was talented.”

My filthy mind went straight back to the moment Fia pressed the heel of her hand up the length of my cock, whispering desperate pleas against my lips while she begged me to take my pants off.

I gritted my teeth, closed my eyes, and exhaled deeply. “Yeah, she is.”

“So, what do you guys have next?”

I ran my fingers through my hair, shooting him a quick glance. He was looking absently down at his phone, which made me wonder if he was checking in as a protective older brother, or my best friend who was interested in how things were going on my end. I rolled my lower lip between my teeth and pulled up my calendar. “She’s coming to the Lennon dinner with me on Wednesday, and then that one charity event for kids… on Friday.” That was it. The last two events. Next week was Christmas, and then this was over.

My chest felt hollow at the thought.

“What about Christmas Eve?”

“What about it?”

“Are you doing anything with your parents?”

“Uh, yeah, actually I’m supposed to go to dinner at their city home around eight.” I typed furiously, penciling it in. I’d forgotten all about it. I’d invited Fia. Fia agreed to come. Three events, and this was over. My stomach turned. I felt like I was running out of time.

“Boring,” Colin yawned, flattening his palms on his knees. “Look, my family does a big feast on Christmas Eve. Feast of the?—”

“Feast of the Seven Fishes,” I said before I could stop myself. Colin arched a brow. “Fia told me about it.”

“Course she did. Anyway, you should make an appearance. It’s going to be loud and busy, your worst nightmare, but you haven’t seen my parents since we were in college and my mom has been asking about you.”

I found it hard to swallow as I nodded, giving him a gruff, silent yes. “What can I bring?”

“Nothing. Wine, if you want to impress my mom and my aunts. Dad likes scotch.” He stood, dusting off his knees like he’d been kneeling in dirt rather than sitting uninvited in my spotless office. “Thanks for doing this.”

“Doing what?”

“Helping Fia.”

I resisted the urge to look at him.

“I talked to her a few days ago and she seemed to be having a good time. She mentioned something about the library?—”

“The lady that runs the events at the library wants Fia to work for her. Offered her a job on the spot.”

“Did she take it?” he asked.

“She hasn’t brought it up.” I looked at Colin, held his gaze. He held mine, and for a split second I was sure he could see right through me. See the guilt now festering between us. I should have talked to him first before even thinking about pursuing Fia romantically. I should be talking to him about it now.

But I couldn’t. Not that it was his business. I just wanted her to myself, just for a while, until I figured out how to turn this scam into the real thing. How to turn three events into forever.

Colin saw himself out after a one-sided conversation about a football game he watched with his dad over the weekend. Gabby had been waiting by the door for five minutes, and once Colin was gone, she skirted into the room with her hands behind her back.

“Why are you at the office today?” I asked lightly.

“I needed a break from the kids.” She leaned on the doorframe. “Why are you here?”

“Where else would I be?” With Fia. I wanted to be with Fia. I should be with Fia right now.

“Is there anything I can do today? Any last-minute holiday well wishes you need sent out?”

“You’re really selling this settle down and have kids thing, Gabby.”

Her eyes widened in shock, but she smiled, huffing out a laugh. “Was that sarcasm, Mr. O’Leary? I didn’t think you were capable of that.”

I smiled to myself. I hadn’t been. Not until a few weeks ago when Fia rolled in and upended my life as I knew it. “I need some flowers delivered to the Upper East Side.”

She pulled her phone out of her purse. “What kind?”

I tilted my head back and forth. I was sure Fia had her favorites but the only thing I knew she loved, without a shadow of a doubt, was Christmas. “Something Christmas themed.”

“Like?”

“Red and green.”

Gabby frowned playfully at me and swiped her thumb over the screen a few times. Her face brightened as she smiled to herself, then turned her phone toward me. “How obnoxious are you wanting, because this one is pretty great.”

“That’s perfect. That’s exactly what she’ll like.”

“I’m hoping this is going to Fia Webster. Am I wrong?” Something in her tone gave me pause. Not in a bad way, though. There was a lift in her voice, something hopeful that had my brain spinning faster than it already was.

I nodded. “That’s correct.”

“What would you like the card to say?”