Chapter 36: Chapter Thirty-Six
Claudia Blacksteele was every bit as frightening as I’d been expecting her to be.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
I woke up that morning in a warm delirium and found to my mild and pleasant surprise that Mason and I had in fact fallen asleep in the same bed. We were facing each other as our eyes naturally drifted open, not touching, but I could still his warmth seeping into me from across the sheets.
The bed was massive and I distantly recalled laughing and saying that we couldn’t possibly even run into each other in a bed that size, before collapsing into it.
I had barely managed to pull on a tank top and pair of cotton shorts in the bathroom before I’d been unconscious.
Mason and I exchanged a slow, sleepy smile in the warm light of day, but then my eyes flew wide and I sat up, already in a panic before the day had really begun.
“What’s wrong, angel?” He slurred. Apparently in his sleep dampened state he became more loving.
“I’m meeting your mother today, that’s what’s wrong!
“What the Hell am I gonna wear?! What the Hell am I gonna say?! Are you and I in love yet, by the way?” I asked as I hustled into the bathroom.
###
Mason scrubbed at his face as he began to sit up. Apparently, Annie was something of a morning person.
“Wait, what?” He said, still dazed and disoriented from just waking up.
“You know, in our fake storyline?” She said, popping back into the room. She was looking cute with her blonde hair up in a messy bun and a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth.
She also didn’t happen to be wearing a bra beneath her simple blue tank top and he could see the outline of her generous breasts and the rigid nubs of her nipples. Someone was also a little perky in the mornings.
He began to smile as he eyed her standing there brushing her teeth as she waited for his response. He propped himself up with an extra pillow behind him and casually looped one arm behind his head.
“I dunno, sweetheart. Should we be?”
###
In the end, they decided it was too early.
She let him catch a quick shower as she herself spent what seemed like an inordenient amount of time doing her hair until it fell in elegant, sweeping waves down her back.
There was a moment where she was scandalized by him dropping trou before he stepped into the shower, but he saw the way her eyes flashed over him in the mirror.
This made him smile to himself with a sliver of male smugness.
He barely resisted the early morning urge to yank her into the shower with him and have his way with her right then and there. His body ached to go all the way with her; to slide inside.
He still hadn’t been able to bring himself to take another woman to his bed, however. It was the oddest thing.
He supposed when you only wanted one particular flavor, none of the others would ever satisfy you, no matter how sweet.
###
“What on Earth should I wear?!”
Mason bit back a sigh and restrained the petty urge to look at his watch
“That gray dress was lovely. If not, I had a selection of gowns and dresses made for you, remember? You emailed my secretary, Carmen, with your measurements, correct? I hope the clothes fit, anyway. They’re in the closet. I’m sorry, I probably should’ve said something earlier.”
She blinked at him owlishly. “Yes, you probably should have!”
She hastened to the closet to throw open the door.
Hanging inside in plastic protective bags were indeed the dresses he had mentioned; from chic little peplum cocktail dresses - perfectly in season - to three gorgeous evening gowns to choose from, as well as two different sets of heels; a white pair of pumps and a black.
“Oh, Mason! Thank you so much...but this...this is too much.”
He stood at the open closet doorway, leaning against it as he smiled down at her. “For you, Ms. Caldwell, nothing is too much.”