He hadn’t shaved, and the scruff on his face and his sleep-mussed hair nearly made me throw my pride out the window and jump him. Oh, who was I kidding, I would definitely forget about my pride if he had given me any indication at all that he was interested.
But I didn’t even get one of his mumbled good mornings that sounded more like gah.
All of my attempts to talk to him were ignored. In fact, he made an obvious effort to ignore me. Now this whole roommate thing was going to get even more awkward.
Before my mood plummeted further, and since I wanted to remain floating on my pink cloud of sexual bliss, I decided Stella version 2.0 would tackle the awkwardness and just get it all out there—and I would do it in the car where he couldn’t get away. I doctored my coffee to be 80 percent milk and 20 percent coffee, and we silently went to the car. It was chilly outside, and I cradled my coffee mug, hoping to get some warmth from it.
When we pulled out onto the road, I decided it was going to be now or never. “So, Mason, I was thinking,” I started, watching him for his reaction. Or rather his lack of one. He didn’t even acknowledge that he heard me. “I think last night proved how compatible we are. So I was going to propose an arrangement. Between the two of us. Like a friends with benefits thing.”
I nervously sipped my coffee while he stayed quiet. I watched him and waited for a response that never came. When we pulled into the garage parking lot, I had downed my whole cup and needed to use the restroom.
“So what do you say?” I asked when he parked his truck.
“No.”
I hated his one-word answers. Especially when they were no.
“Why not? Isn’t an arrangement like this every guy’s dream?”
“If he just wants to get laid, then yes, it is.” He finally turned his head to look at me, and I gulped at the intensity of his eyes. “And how do you think this should work? We fuck when the mood strikes? But we can see other people?”
My stomach dropped at the thought of Mason with someone else.
“We’d have to agree to not see other people while we’re doing this,” I said.
“You mean while we’re doing each other.”
“Yes, exactly.” I felt hopeful that maybe he would agree on an arrangement. Didn’t he see that this would be the perfect solution? We could both get something out of it. And I wasn’t ready to end whatever we had between us.
He inhaled deeply and opened his door. I leaned forward and caught his sleeve to stop him from getting out before I had my answer.
“Mason?”
“No,” he said and left me sitting in the cab of his truck by myself. I realized that he really was angry with me, because he didn’t even open my car door. And he always opened my door for me, even when we were slinging insults at each other.
I pulled up my big girl panties—or in my case my sensible white cotton panties with purple hearts on them—and went inside. The office was quiet because it was the asscrack of dawn and nobody would be here for a few hours.
I used the time to catch up on what I’d missed. I had a bunch of messages and phone calls, but it didn’t look like anything major had happened while I wasn’t there. The evil part of me wished that they had really needed me, so Mason would see that I did contribute something useful to his business. The thought was petty, but I felt so worthless and rejected that I would take any form of recognition at this point.
It didn’t take me long to straighten out orders and catch up on emails and messages that the guys had left on my desk. I kept finding sticky notes whenever I moved something. Every note made me smile, since it was never just a simple message. The last one I found was “If you read this, we might not be alive anymore. Donut supplies are low.”
The excuse was good enough for me and I decided to go see Rayna. Decision made, I grabbed my purse and left the office. It was still thirty minutes until we opened, and I could get there and back in that time without a problem.
Rayna was as cheerful as ever, and she greeted me with outstretched arms and a wet kiss on my cheek. “There she is. I was just talking about you. How’s your arm?”
I scrunched up my face and glared at the arm in question. “It’s good. Hardly hurts anymore.”
She went back behind the counter, and I walked up to the display case to find out if she had anything new today.
“Who were you talking to?”
“Huh?” Rayna asked, already distracted with icing some red velvet cupcakes.
“You said you were just talking about me.”
“I was talking to Willa. She said that you were having problems. You should have told me. I’d be happy to help. I have a two-bedroom house.”
I never even thought to ask Rayna, but she was right. Her place would be a great idea. If only leaving Mason’s would make me feel better. But if I left now, right after what happened last night, it would feel like I was running away. Which of course I was not. Even if I wanted to.
“Thanks so much for the offer Rayna, but I’m okay at Mason’s for the moment.”
She studied me before nodding. “Okay, Estrella, but let me know if
