Page 13 of Anchored Love
Even being a pain in my ass, I loved the little trollop. Getting back to work, my email buzzed. Seeing the sender, my stomach did a flip.
Everly,
Can you send me the itinerary for this cruise or whatever it is I agreed to go on with you, so I can put in a request for time off?
Thanks,
Mason Jones
Senior Loan Officer
Holy moly.Mason was serious about going. I stared at his email, contemplating how to respond for a good ten minutes. What was I going to say to him? There was no way he had to go with me. It was just a spur of the moment response he had. No way was I holding him to it. It took me typing and deleting more times than I could recall to get the message sent back to him.
Mason,
Thank you for saying yes to Sam’s strange comment. You were put on the spot when you agreed to go with me, and I don’t want you to feel obligated to go. You probably thought the question was work related, not a week-long cruise to St. Thomas for my brother’s wedding. Not to mention with my crazy family. Thank you for being so gracious with your answer, but I completely understand your answer changing. Thank you for appeasing Sam.
Everly
There.That gave him a complete exit from this situation. No hooks for him. No matter what Sam said, this wasn’t a good idea. He’d come to his senses and run as fast as he could away. I stared at the screen while a brick sunk in the pit of my stomach when ten minutes passed, and there was no response.
Knock. Knock.
My eyes flew up to the door as Mason stood in the opening. Shit.
Why couldn’t he had just responded to my email, so we could save each other a bit of embarrassment when he told me he wasn’t going? Nope. Not Mason. We were going to do this face-to-face I guessed.
Needless to say, I wasn’t prepared for this.
Suck it up, Everly.
“Can we talk?” he asked, looking unbelievably hot. What was it about seeing his sleeves pushed up that got me all hot and bothered? I tugged at the collar of my blouse. Was it getting hot in here?
“Of course. Come on in. Have a seat.” I motioned to the empty chair on the other side of my desk, thanking the small bit of space between us. He closed the door, entered, and sat. Why was it sexy how he crossed his foot over his knee? Damn, I needed to get a grip. Who was I kidding—everything he did oozed sex appeal. The door really should’ve stayed open, if for nothing else, my sanity. His smell was all around me.
“So Drake and Kelsey are finally making it official?”
A small smile tipped my lip. “Yep. They got engaged over last Valentine’s Day.”
“And you’re going on a cruise for the ceremony?”
I exhaled, clasping my hands together on my desk. “Yes, and before you say anything, it’s fine. You were put on the spot. I totally understand.”
He ignored that and said, “So you need a plus one, and luckily, I’m available to go.”
My mouth fell. “You are?” Shocked. That was exactly how I felt, quirking a brow.
“Yeah, Ev. I’ve known you how many years?” he questioned, and it had been practically forever.
I calculated the math in my head; told you numbers were my thing. Mason and my brother had gone to high school together, and we’d worked at Boise Financial for a while, but I didn’t know if he and Drake still kept in touch.
The lie to my mother just took a turn for the worse, not including Drake and Mason’s connection. She’d have questions, and if my brother heard the name, he would too. This just kept getting better and better.
“Besides, I’ve been friends with Drake half my life if not longer. We’ll have a good time. I can embarrass him in front of Kelsey and give them a hard time. It’ll be great. We’ll have fun.”
To say I was puzzled was an understatement. “You’re okay with this?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, there’s one more thing I haven’t told you about this trip. My family…” God, this was so mortifying. My face grew hot. “You see, my mother actually has this terrible habit of setting me up with horrible dates, and when she said she wanted to pick my plus one for the cruise, I kind of panicked and told them I had a boyfriend. So on this trip I’d kind of, sorta need you to pretend that we’re a couple.” I grimaced, and he smirked at me. Why did he smile at this news?
“Everly, you say it like it’d be a job or a chore. We’ll be fine. Trust me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Just need the dates, babe.” He winked and got up from the chair, leaving without another word.
Guess we were going to St. Thomas, and I found myself a fake boyfriend.
