Page 66 of Right Number

My head was swimming as I stared at him. I was still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact this man, with his deep brown eyes and perfectly cut features, was there. Sitting on my sofa. In my living room. With me.

“Did you…did you listen to the messages I left you?” Mason asked hesitantly.

I nodded. “I did this morning. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to them last night. I…I was not in a good place mentally or emotionally.”

“I’m so sorry, Anna. I can’t say it enough. I feel terrible about yesterday. I can’t even come up with the right words to tell you how bad I feel…about everything.” Mason paused. “How was the Spring Art Show? Did you still have a good night?”

“It was…it was eventful.” I quickly took a big drink of coffee to avoid saying anything further. I had no idea how to even begin explaining the shitshow of the previous night to Mason.

Mason looked at me with a slightly confused expression for a few moments before blurting out, “I took the flight that left early this morning. When it landed, I rented a car and came right here.”

“How long are you here for?” I still wasn’t sure exactly why he’d hopped a flight that morning or what he wanted to happen.

“As long as it takes.”

“As long as what takes?”

Mason looked at me with his intense, brown eyes. “To fix this. I know I screwed up, Anna. What happened yesterday was awful. I was serious though when I said I’m not willing to just walk away from this.”

“What about your work?” I asked. It seemed like a reasonable question. If he’d missed his flight, in part, due to work being more important, then why was he suddenly saying he was going to stay for some undetermined amount of time?

Mason let out a sigh. “One of many things I’ve learned in the past twenty-four hours is some things are way more important than a job.”

“Oh,” I said softly. I really had no idea what else to say. I could feel my heart racing and my hands shaking as the gravity of what he was saying sunk in. I leaned forward and set my coffee cup on the table so I wouldn’t spill what remained.

“May I take you out tonight?” Mason asked hopefully.

I was glad I’d set my cup down, because I certainly would have dropped it. Did I hear him right? Was Mason asking me out? “Like to dinner?” I asked.

“Yes,” Mason replied with a bit more confidence. “I want to take you out on a date, Anna. I want to do this right.”

I broke into a huge smile. “I’d like that.”

“Good,” he replied with an equally big smile. “I booked a room for myself at a hotel nearby. I was thinking I could go check in and maybe pick you up a little later?”

I was still smiling as I nodded. “That would be great.”

Mason set his now empty mug back down on the table as he scooted closer to me on the sofa. I was kicking myself for the lame, short responses I’d been giving him, but everything in me felt haywire with him so close. And I was right. He smelled really, really good. Mason reached out and gently tipped my head with his hand until I was looking into his eyes. “Anna…” His voice was husky. “I know words alone are not going to fix this, but I’m really, truly sorry for yesterday. Coming here today and meeting you in person makes me realize even more that yesterday was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. There’s something here between us. I could feel it the moment I saw you.”

“Mason…” His name was just a whisper on my lips as I stared into his eyes. They were filled with so much sincerity and hopefulness I could feel his words deep in my heart.

“Give me a chance to try to fix this, Anna. That’s all I ask. Let me earn back your trust. I want to make this work, but I also know it’s going to take some time. I hope, ultimately, you’ll want the same thing too.”

Part of me did. Part of me wanted it so badly, I could physically feel what he was talking about. It was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. I felt drawn to him…connected to him. Seeing him in person made the connection I’d felt with him over the messages we’d exchanged deepen to a whole new level. The other part of me was still hurt and scared. It felt like I’d already made the leap, but I was ultimately left alone to free-fall.

I was trying to sort everything out in my mind and figure out what I was going to say next, when there was a loud knock at the front door. Mason’s head turned to the door which was only a short distance away from the sofa. “Good grief. I’m sorry.” I stood up, mentally cursing whomever was on the other side for the interruption. “Let me grab that. It is probably just a package delivery.”

Mason nodded as I walked the few steps to the door and swung it wide open.

As soon as my eyes landed on him, my mouth dropped open. “Hey, Anna.” Liam leaned in and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “I just wanted to stop by and check in on you. It was a pretty wild night and really late when I brought you home I…I hope you’re feeling all right this morning. I wanted to see if maybe you and I could get something to eat. We have some things to talk about after…after everything that happened last night.” Liam remained standing just outside the door, oblivious to the fact that Mason was sitting on the sofa right behind me.

Shit.

I knew for a fact that from where he sat, Mason could clearly see and hear everything happening with Liam.

Shit, shit, shit.

That was not good.

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