Page 71 of Right Number

Mason started walking across the lobby towards me and, as he got closer, I realized I couldn’t quite read his facial expression, which made me nervous. “Hey,” I said softly when he got close to me.

“Hey,” he said back, his tone neutral.

We both stood there looking awkwardly at each other. I kicked myself for not having a plan past just showing up. It was already off to a rocky start. “Thanks for coming down,” I finally managed to say.

Mason turned and looked out the front doors of the lobby. “Do you want to go for a walk?”

“Yes,” I replied quickly, grateful for his suggestion. “That would be nice.”

Mason and I walked out of the lobby and out onto the sidewalk. The air was cool and the skies were a dark, stormy gray. It was still early spring and the winter weather hadn’t quite gone away. I put my hands in the pockets of my coat, trying to keep them warm as a small gust of wind blew by.

Mason turned and looked at me with a slight smile. “You look different when you’re not in your pajamas.”

“Well,” I said with a nervous laugh. “Very few are lucky enough to catch me in my full just-rolled-out-of-bed glory.”

Mason smiled briefly but kept his gaze straight ahead as we walked. The silence between us continued and the tension seemed to be growing with every step. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Mason, I thin…”

“Anna, you were…” Once again, we’d both started speaking at the same time.

I stopped and grabbed Mason’s arm, causing him to stop as well. He turned to look at me. I needed to say what I’d come to before I completely lost my nerve. “Mason, I think we got off to a totally wrong start. Both of us seem to have said, and done, things that hurt the other person and…I think we both need to give each other a second chance. Make it just you and me, right here, right now. Leave everything that happened in the past few days out and just go forward.”

Mason sighed and looked away which pulled at my heart. It wasn’t the reaction I’d been hoping for, but then again, nothing about us meeting in person had been what I’d hoped for. He started walking again and I quickly fell in step with him. “Anna, you were right,” he finally said. “This isn’t going to work. We’re too far apart and look what a disaster it was when we tried to come together. Things really are just much more difficult when you’re on opposite sides of the country.”

Dammit. That wasn’t good. “No, Mason!” I said with so much force it seemed to surprise him. “I was wrong. You said you felt this thing between us at the apartment. There is something here, we just need to figure it out. We can, and we will, figure it out.”

I could feel the first few drops of rain start to fall as we continued walking. Mason flipped the collar of his pea coat up and forcefully shoved his hands in his pockets. “What about Liam?”

“There’s nothing romantic between Liam and me. He came by my apartment today to tell me he’s moving to Seattle and to give me a painting. Liam and I are friends…that’s it.”

“What’s the painting of?” Mason turned his head slightly to look at me.

Shit. I’d been hoping that he wouldn’t ask, but I wasn’t going to hide the truth. “Me. The painting is of me.”

Mason stopped in the middle of the sidewalk as he threw his head back and laughed. Only it wasn’t his deep sexy laugh, it was more of a “what the fuck” kind of laugh. “So he just made a painting of you as friends?”

I was ready to give a snarky answer back when I realized Mason didn’t know the whole story and, from his perspective, it probably did sound a little strange. I sighed. “He started painting it when I was seeing him, but he gave it to me as friends.”

Mason let out a little grunting noise as he started walking again. “What about this other guy from last night…Oliver?”

I involuntarily shuttered at Oliver’s name and the thought of his disgusting hands all over me. “Oliver is a creepy jerk. Nothing else there. He’s an ex from way before you and I even met.” I reached out and grabbed Mason’s arm again to stop him. I wanted him to be looking at me for what I had to say next. When Mason stopped, I moved to stand directly in front of him. Mason looked down at me and I could see how conflicted he was. As strange as it sounded, his expression gave me hope that whatever it was between us wasn’t over yet.

I took a step forward and Mason remained perfectly still. I slowly reached up and put my hand on his chest. His coat was unbuttoned and though the thin material of his shirt, I could feel his heart racing. I looked up at him. “Mason. You have to trust me. There’s nothing else…with anyone.”

“Why?” His voice was a breathy whisper as he gazed into my eyes.

“Why, what?” I asked. I was ready to answer any question he had.

“Why do you want to try to make this work?” Mason’s voice had grown raspy like he was trying to maintain some kind of control. He’d pulled his hands out of his pockets and I could see him clench and unclench his fists at his sides…like he was trying his hardest not to touch me.

I could feel the rain come down harder as we stood in the middle of the sidewalk. I took another step closer, closing the small distance remaining between us. “Kiss me,” I whispered. My own voice had grown husky as every molecule of my body craved his touch. It felt like my body was humming just being close to him.

“What?” Mason asked, clearly surprised.

“You heard me. Kiss me, Mason.”

Mason stared at me as the rain continued to fall down around us. We were getting soaked, but I couldn’t even feel it. All I could feel was my close proximity to him and the urgency that coursed through my body for him to kiss me. I didn’t just want his lips on mine, I needed his lips on mine. Rain ran down Mason’s face as his eyes looked deep into mine. “Why?” he whispered.

“Shut up and fucking kiss me, Mason,” I replied. I was getting desperate. Desperate to finally feel his touch…desperate to kiss him. I needed to show him what I couldn’t express in words.

---