Page 35 of Meet Mason, the Billionaire

“I’m not going to sweat it.”

“Thank you,” she said, the relief in her voice palpable. “Thank you so much! You have no idea how much of a relief this is.”

“I’m only too happy to help. I like your friends.”

“I believe you. It’s just… there’s one more caveat.”

“Which is?”

“If we don’t get the money together in the next couple hours, he’s going to Hard Jail, where he’ll be processed and probably mouth off to the wrong inmate.”

“I see. I’m about to get on my jet and return to New York anyway. Where is he being held?”

“The 27th precinct.”

I made a note of it on my tablet. “All right. I’m going to dispense a courier with the funds there. Can you be at the precinct in about forty minutes or so?”

“I’m on my way there already. Thank you so much, Mason. I really hated to ask, but we had no other options.”

“Hey, would you feel this bad if you were moving a couch and I had massive muscles?”

“You do have pretty impressive muscles, and no, I guess I wouldn’t. There’s something about asking for money that stresses me out, though.”

“You and everyone else. Don’t sweat it. I make fifteen grand in an hour’s worth of interest.”

“I know, but I still feel bad.”

“Well, don’t. I only want you to feel good things from now on.”

There was a long pause. So long I feared we’d been disconnected.

“Are you there?”

“I’m here, just… that might be the sweetest thing anyone has said to me, ever.”

“Oh, so that’s the bar. I’ll have to aim higher next time.”

“Stop,” she sputtered. “Stop being perfect. I’m going to hang up before I start bawling. I l—I look forward to seeing you again.”

“Me, too.”

The call ended and a giddy warmth spread over my chest. With the search for the portrait stymied, I was glad to be able to make progress on some kind of problem, even if it weren’t directly my own.

I called the men back into the room and informed them of the changes we would be making. For one, no more limo rides. Even for me.

I headed out the door a few minutes after, already calling our firm’s courier service. I had to arrange the money transfer, and all that jazz.

Soon enough I was on my private jet flying back to La Guardia. I couldn’t wait to see Megan again.

I was falling for her, hard, and I knew it. I could only hope she was falling for me, too.

Chapter Fifteen

Megan

I ran home and put on semi-respectable clothing, which in my case meant my job-hunting outfit, and then rushed to the precinct where they held Junebug.

The building itself intimidated me, with all of its straight angles and hard, clinical setting. I won’t say it was the most foreboding place I’d ever been, but I still fought down an anxiety attack the entire time I waited for Mason’s courier.

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