I stared at him trying to see more of him than he was letting me. I didn’t know what he was doing, what he was doing to me, but I did know that everything about him was fucking with my head.
I had made my decision the other night that I was going to push him away, a firm decision, but apparently it was deciding to be weak as hell in that moment.
“We’re not cuddling.” Because we were just friends.
“Of course not.” He acted as if I had just offended him. “I don’t cuddle during chick flicks. I need room to get all the feels.”
A grin tugged on my lips. “Okay, Mr. Sensitive.” I grabbed my purse. “Lead the way.”
…
I had cried all the way through The Notebook, and Mason looked at me like I might be losing it. Hell, I might have been.
The tacos had been long since devoured, and I was moving on to the ice cream.
“Maybe we should watch something that is a little happier, next?” Mason was squatted down looking through my movies, and I smiled as he went through romance after romance.
“I’m a little surprised by your movie collection.” He turned and looked at me over his shoulder.
“Didn’t expect so many romances?” I pulled my spoon through the ice cream and plopped it into my mouth.
“Not really.” He shook his head. “I’m just surprised is all.”
My body tensed thinking about all the things he didn’t know about me, about the things I didn’t know about him, but I refused to think about that.
“Well, what did you pick.”
He stood up from the DVD player and made his way over to the couch. The opening credits began, and he sat down right next to me. Far closer than he had been earlier.
“I thought I said no cuddling.” I pointed my spoon to the seat he had sat in earlier.
“This isn’t cuddling.” He picked up the movie case that he had just set down on the table and held it up to me.
He had to be kidding me.
There was no way in hell.
Amityville Horror.
“This movie is scary.” He fake shuddered. “If I sit way over there and you sit way over here, there is a bigger chance that one of us will be taken.”
I rolled my eyes, but realistically there was no way in hell I would be able to watch that movie if he was all the way across the couch. I wouldn’t let him know it, but the only reason I even owned the movie was because of Ryan Reynolds’ abs. I didn’t like scary movies. At all.
“You don’t get taken because you’re watching a scary movie.”
He looked behind his back then looked back at me. “No, but it feels like you might,” he whispered.
I laughed before I pushed at his shoulder.
“Fine.” I waved my spoon at him. “You can stay where you are just so I can protect you.”
“Thank God.” He grinned right before he hit play.
Mason
She was scared shitless.
I glanced over at her as she gripped the blanket in her hands so hard that her knuckles were turning white.
Her eyes were glued to the TV and if she didn’t look so damn cute in her fear, I might have laughed. Instead, I touched my hand against her thigh. My plan was to comfort her. To let her know that nothing would touch her while I was here, but all I managed to do was scare her more.
She screamed, a sound that hurt my ears and probably woke her neighbors, and she swung out her arm and hit me dead in the chest.
“What the hell was that for?” I rubbed my chest where it was now aching.
“Are you insane? You don’t touch someone in the middle of a scary ass movie. You’re lucky I didn’t kill you.” She slyly looked behind her into the dark apartment, but I saw it.
“I was just trying to comfort you.” I chuckled. “Plus, I don’t think you could actually kill me.”
“Don’t underestimate me. My fight or flight skills are insane.”
Screaming on the movie jerked her attention back to the screen, and she pulled the blanket higher over her body.
I watched her as she watched the rest of the movie. I didn’t give a damn what was happening on the TV screen.
She flashed her eyes to mine as the credits began rolling, and I needed air. Being around her, becoming wrapped in her, I needed to clear my head.
“I’m going to head out.” I stretched my arms above my head.
“What?” Her green eyes flicked around the apartment, and I had to hide my smile.
“I’m going to head home. I have to be on the job site first thing in the morning to meet the inspector.”
I stood from her couch and grabbed our dinner trash from the table before carrying it to the kitchen.
“I could get that you know.”
I gave her a look that told her not to mess with me, and she rolled her eyes before cuddling deeper into the couch.
“What time do you have to be at work?” She picked at the polish of her fingernail.
“I need to be there around seven. Why?” I threw our containers in her trash before shutting the lid.
“I just thought since it’s so late maybe you would want to stay the night.”
She avoided looking at me, and I couldn’t hide my smile.
“I’ll be damned.” I chuckled.
“What?” Her eyes jerked up to mine.
“Never in my life would I think badass, Staci Johnson, would be so scared from a movie that she would need me to stay.”
“I’m not scared.” She threw her blanket down on the couch before making her way into the kitchen where I stood. “I was just being nice since it’s so late.”
I grinned. “So, you’ll be fine if I leave?”
“Of course, I will be fine, Mason. I do live on my own you know.”
“Then I’ll head home.”
I saw the momentary panic in her face before she quickly hid it. “Fine.”
She was leaning against the counter with her arms crossed, and I wanted nothing more than to kiss the stubborn look off her face. Instead, I put my hands on the counter at her sides and leaned into her space.
“Just say that you want me to stay, and I’ll stay.”
Her lips were just a whisper away from mine, and I could feel the heat of her breath.
“I was just being nice.” Her eyes sparked with defiance, challenge.
“Okay. Then goodnight.”
I leaned into her and brushed my lips against her cheek. Her eyes closed and her breath hitched so slightly that I barely even noticed.
But God, I noticed.
I pushed off the counter, leaving her standing there, but as I turned away, her small hand grabbed mine.
She took a deep breath and it was easy to see she was struggling with her decision, with her stubbornness.
“I want you to stay.”
I could barely hear her words.
“What was that?” I cupped my hand around my ear and leaned toward her.
She rolled her eyes, which seemed like a constant when I was around, and said it again. “I want you to stay. Okay, ass?”
“All you had to do was say so.”
She rolled her eyes again before she huffed, and I laughed as she walked away from me and headed into her room.
And I followed her.