Page 20 of I Heart Mason Cartwright
“How could I possibly know we would end up here?” AshLynn lifts her chin and narrows her eyes.
“Because you called me and asked if you could come here,” Willow says, narrowing her eyes back.
I see it all clearly now. AshLynn set this entire mother fucking thing up. She set me up, she set Willow up, and she just expects that we will all go through with it and bend to her will.
Which is exactly what you are doing.
I’m not sure if I’m angrier at myself or AshLynn.
She grabs at the front of my shirt. “Please,” she whispers. “I’m so sorry. It’s just, well, then they said they were coming to meet you and—”
“Coming to meet me?” I hiss. “This was just a ri—”
“I know, I’m sorry.” To her credit, AshLynn does look sorry. “Please, just give me an hour.”
I look to Willow. She is just as upset by this as I am.
“Fine.” I flick my hand in the air and begin to pace the room. Willow does the same at the opposite end. Every few feet, we pass and she rolls her eyes or huffs at me.
“Look, would you guys chill?” AshLynn looks at Willow, then me, then Willow again. “It’s no big deal. They are just coming to meet Mason. Anyway, I thought we were going to order pizza. Mason, didn’t you suggest pizza?”
“Unbelievable.” Willow shakes her head and sighs, giving AshLynn a dirty look. Then grabs her phone to order pizza. She asks for my favorite toppings.
“That sounds disgusting.” She wrinkles her nose when I tell her. It’s cute.
“Just trust me. I promise. If you don’t like it, I will bring you your favorite pizza every day for a year.”
She looks at me, brow furrowed, lips scrunched to the side. “Okay. I’ll trust you.”
I smile.
She smiles back. It’s like the clouds part and for a moment the world is clear and sunny and bright. Her smile makes that much of an impact.
Jesus, Mason. You fucking sap. Get it together.
I volunteer to take P-Tink outside to get a minute to myself. It’s one thing to be tricked into getting fake engaged on the spur of the moment, but it’s a whole other thing to then start meeting someone’s family as the fake fiancé.
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly at the same time a large sigh escapes P-Tink lounging next to me. She and I are sitting on the edge of the deck watching the water. I get the oddest feeling she is picking up on my mood. I’ve heard animals can do that, be in-tune to and match their owners’ frames of mind. Except that I’m not her owner and I’ve just met this dog a couple hours ago, but I feel it anyway.
P-Tink yelps in response to my thoughts then shoves her head under my hand so I can pet her, completely validating everything I was just thinking. Sure enough, after petting her for a few minutes, I feel better about meeting the parents. And almost calm about this entire situation.
To say that Willow was pissed when AshLynn said her parents were coming is an understatement. The woman is clearly a force to be reckoned with as it is. But mad? She scared even me, and I’ve got a good five inches and eighty pounds on her.
But goddamn if she isn’t sexy as fuck when she’s mad.
Ease up on the sex thoughts, buddy.
The last thing I need is to get in between two sisters. Especially with parents on the way. I sigh heavily, amazed that I’ve let myself be dragged into this. P-Tink drops a squeaky ball at my feet.
“You want to fetch, girl?” I ask. She wags her tail in response. I throw the ball down the beach; she turns and races after it. But comes back a short time later with no ball.
“Where’s your ball?” She looks at me, then paws at my thigh. “What’s the matter? Can’t find it?” She paws at my thigh again and yelps. “Okay, let’s go get it.” I walk down the beach in the direction I threw the ball. We find it quickly and I throw it back toward the house, P-Tink races after it again.
I turn to follow, glancing briefly at the house, and my world gets rocked.
Hard.
From this angle on the beach, I can see right into Willow's bedroom. The sheer drapes over her windows don’t do much in the way of privacy. She’s putting lotion on her naked body.
