Page 12 of The Young & the Sinner

Olivia

I slowly mademy way downstairs as quietly as possible. I even stepped over the spot that usually creaked on the stairs. I didn’t want Mason to see me before I saw him. I had enough surprises for one day, and if I could take a good look at him before our interaction, I would feel more at ease.

I shook my head and almost let out a laugh. As if I would feel at ease with him now.

As I expected, Mason was in the kitchen, drinking coffee and looking at something on his phone. I could only see his back from my vantage point, but even still, my earlier assessment of him was correct. He was huge.

He was bigger than Max, and that said something considering Max had always been the biggest man I knew. Not anymore.

Mason had short dark hair; a few shades darker than Max’s from what I could tell. He was wearing a black suit, and though I always thought the suits Max wore to work made him look tame, there was nothing tame about Mason. His shoulders were broad, too—a fact his expensive suit couldn’t hide.

I stepped further into the kitchen and, sensing that someone was behind him, Mason turned and met my eyes.

My breath caught and my heart stuttered.

Blood rushed to my face, and I couldn’t think of anything but the devastatingly striking man before my eyes.

He was easily the most beautiful man I had ever laid eyes on. He had the same blue eyes as Max, only they looked depthless in this light, making him look inhuman. His eyes were his most distinguishing feature, but that didn’t take away from anything else about him physically. There was his elegant nose, strong jawline, and full lips. His features were perfectly symmetrical, his eyebrows thick enough to not be feminine, yet thin enough not to be bushy. He was somewhere between perfect and god-like.

I had a whimsical thought then, that he couldn’t simply be made, but designed. Every single feature carefully crafted to create the perfect specimen.

Then he stood up and my eyes widened, but I wasn’t scared. I was just surprised about the size of him. Though Mason must have thought the former, because he took a small step back, trying not to crowd my space.

Mason was tall. Maybe even taller than Max, but it was hard to tell. He looked hard everywhere. I had never felt so tiny, so soft, than I did then.

“You must be Olivia,” Mason said, his voice smooth and deep. He held out his hand to me. I shivered. His voice shouldn’t have affected this much.

“Yes,” I said, quietly. And when I noticed his still-outstretch hand, I grabbed it with both of mine, feeling like the biggest dork.

He obviously wanted to shake hands, and here I was, holding them between mine. Without thinking, I shook his hand and had to stop myself from cringing. His lips twitched a little from the corner. We didn’t say anything for a while. I realized too late that Mason was probably waiting for me to release him.

I dropped his hand as if it’d burned me. His eyes glimmered in amusement. He was definitely laughing at me.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said.

“You as well.”

“So, you’re Max’s brother,” I said, stating the obvious. God, how awkward.

“And you’re his ward.”

I nodded and shot a small smile at him. He looked back to the coffee counter. “Would you like to have coffee with me while we wait for the birthday boy to arrive?”

And increase the chance that I might do something embarrassing, like spill coffee on myself, or worse, him? “Sure,” I said.

Mason grabbed a mug from the cabinet and poured some coffee into it. He seemed at eased with where everything was, and I realized it was because he came here often. Perhaps even more than me, before I started living here. He even had a house key. That was obviously how he got in.

He handed me the mug and walked to the living room, motioning with his head for me to follow.

We sat down on the sofa and, when he took a corner seat, I sat on the cushion next to him, so close we were almost touching. I realized too late that I should have sat down on the other side of the couch when he shot me funny look.

I looked down at my coffee and pretended not to notice, though I could feel my cheeks heating. Awkward had become the perfect description of me, Olivia Williams.

I wondered when this stage would end. Lizzie stopped being so awkward when she turned seventeen. Of course, that was also the time she lost her virginity to Dereck Sunner. Would that be all I needed to rid myself of my awkwardness? Then my cheeks reddened deeper when I realized what I was thinking about while sitting next to Mason.

And perhaps it was because the man exuded sex. Even when he was doing nothing more than sitting there and drinking coffee, I started thinking about what it would be like to have sex with him.

And… my cheeks were getting worse. A thin layer of sweat coated my forehead and it took everything in me not to bring my hand up to wipe it off.

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