Page 41 of Black Roses

“There is no one day, Mason. I’m only here for two more months.”

“I’d better work quickly then,” I say.

She cranes her head around, revealing the question in her eyes.

“If I only have two months to convince you to move back here, I’d better work quickly.”

Her eyes fill with several emotions all at once. Hesitation. Sadness . . . Regret? “I won’t be staying in New York.”

“What if you fall in love with me, will you move to New York then?”

She shakes her head. “No way would that happen.”

“Why not? Do you not like the way I look? You think I’m hideous, admit it,” I joke.

Small bursts of air leave her nose, cueing me in on her lifting mood.

I raise an arm and smell my pit. “Do I smell bad?”

She snickers quietly. “Only at the gym.”

“I know it’s not my kissing,” I say. “I realize you haven’t experienced one of my kisses yet, but I’m one hell of a kisser.”

“Who told you that, your left hand?” She’s now audibly laughing at her own joke. Her melodious laugh is so contagious, I can’t help but join her.

I turn her around to face me again and her eyes seem to mimic my own, not being able to decide if I want to gaze deeply into hers or stare at her inviting lips. My mind is at war, knowing this may be the perfect moment for a kiss, but at the same time, fearing it may drive her away.

After only a moment, her mood becomes somber. “I don’t fall in love, Mason.”

“Do you really believe you can control that, Piper? Falling in love or who you fall in love with?”

“Love is a farce,” she says, looking down at the roses. “People make money off it.” She holds her hand up, putting the flowers between us. “Case in point. Florists, greeting-card companies, chocolate vendors, jewelers—they all bank on the concept that there is actually some all-encompassing emotion that will conquer everything. It’s crap. It’s a business. And if you buy into it, you’re full of shit, too, Mason.”

I want to argue with her, tell her billions of people aren’t all under some kind of spell cast upon us by commercialism. But I don’t. Whatever happened to her broke her so completely that I’m not sure she can ever be put back together. Especially not in two short months. You can’t tell someone like Piper about love, you can only show them. I’m just terrified I don’t have the time.

“Okay then, I’ll happily concede and agree I’m full of shit.” I take her hand that’s free of the roses. “So, Piper Mitchell, will you hang out andnotfall in love with me until you have to leave in July?”

She stares at our joined hands. I wonder if the same energetic heat is flowing out of them across her body, just like the crescendo of waves are cresting across mine.

She smiles, looking slightly relieved. “Yes, Mason. I’d be happy to hang out and not fall in love with you.”

“Care to make a little wager on that?”

Her eyes widen. “A wager? On if I’ll fall in love with you or not?”

I smile from ear to ear. I may have just figured out how to keep her here after all—that is if her gargantuan-sized stubborn streak doesn’t interfere. “Yes. If you fall in love with me, you move to New York. If you don’t, you go back to Charlie and your life as a wanderer without a single argument from me.”

She scrunches her eyes. Well at least it’s not an outright ‘no.’ She’s actually thinking about it.

“But what’s in it for me? Let’s say . . . hypothetically, because it will never happen, that I fall for you. You win the bet and I move to New York. But if I win the bet, I go back to my life which I already plan on doing anyway. So you see, I don’t stand to gain anything by winning.”

She has a point. I think on it a beat. “Okay. I win—you move to New York. You win—you get whatever you want. Just like the marathon. You don’t even have to tell me now. The sky’s the limit.”

She contemplates my offer. “What if I want to keep traveling the world?In style.”

I laugh. “Anything means anything, Princess.”

She rolls her eyes, knowing full well she walked right into that one. “Fine. But your bank account may be about to take a huge nose dive. If you think child support is bad, wait until you see the damage I can do at a spa in Dubai.”

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