Bang (Blast Brothers #2) - Sabrina Stark Page 0,14
Thank God.
I answered with an anxious, "Hello?"
Right away, she asked, "What's wrong?"
She sounded so worried that I felt almost guilty. "Nothing."
"Are you sure?" she said. "Because you sound really tense."
I was really tense. And it wasn't all related to the job offer. It was related to Mason himself. By now, I didn't know what to think of him.
And even stranger, I was no longer sure what he thought of me. While we'd been dancing, there'd been moments where I could've sworn he'd looked at me with real interest – and not the employer kind either.
To Arden I said, "Well, there is something I need to get your opinion on. And I'm really sorry, but it can't wait."
"Oh, stop it," she laughed. "Don't be sorry. What is it?"
Although I was safely inside my own car, I still lowered my voice. "First, are you alone?"
"Yeah." She paused. "I mean, I'm alone with Brody."
I winced. Brody wasn't only her fiancé. He was Mason's youngest brother. "Oh."
"Is that a problem?"
"No." I hesitated. "It's just that, well, it's kind of a girl-talk thing."
"Gotcha. Hang on a sec, okay?" I heard fumbling on the other end, followed by muffled voices and the sounds of a door opening and then shutting. A moment later, Arden said, "Alright. I'm alone on the balcony. What's up?"
Now, this is where it got awkward. "Well, first I should probably apologize, huh?"
"For what?"
"Okay, the thing is, I received Mason's job offer yesterday. And I meant to call you and say thanks, but—"
"Wait. Mason offered you a job? Seriously?"
Now that surprised me. "What, you didn't know?"
"No." She sounded genuinely surprised. "I had no idea."
"So you didn't put him up to it?"
"No. Why would you think I did?"
"Because the other day, you said you'd help me find a job."
I hadn't asked for the help. In fact, I'd tried to decline, telling Arden that I didn't want my problems to become her problems. But she'd been insistent, which had led to my natural assumption that she'd orchestrated the job offer.
On the phone, she said, "Actually, I was planning to hire a head-hunter, you know, someone to find opportunities that aren't publicized."
I smiled. "Awww. But you don't have to do that."
"I know," she laughed. "But I want to, unless…" She paused. "Are you planning to take the job?"
"That's why I called. Do you think I should?"
"I don't know," she replied. "Are you sure you have the stomach for it?"
No. I wasn't. In fact, my stomach had been fluttering like crazy while dancing with my prospective employer. But surely Arden meant something else.
I asked, "What do you mean?"
"Well, he's not very nice," she said. "And if he weren't Brody's brother, I'd be saying a lot worse than that."
She paused for only a moment before adding, "Like, I might say that he's one cold S.O.B., or that he's not any nicer in person than he is on the TV show."
Blast was the popular remodeling show that starred all three brothers. And thanks to Arden, I now realized that Brody was the only brother who remodeled the houses full-time.
As for the two older brothers, they showed up only once in a while to look pretty for the cameras – although you'd never know it from watching the show.
It wasn't that the older brothers couldn’t do construction, but rather they handled other aspects of the family business, and left Brody to handle the show.
In my car, I listened as Arden rattled off a few more things she "might" say if Mason weren't the brother of her fiancé.
She concluded by saying, "But I won't say any of those things, because he's almost family. Plus, Brody's opinion of him is a lot higher than mine." She paused. "Even if Mason is a little scary."
A little scary?
Oh, I was scared alright. But it wasn't in the traditional sense. Mostly, I was terrified by my reaction to him.
Still, I had to smile at Arden's description. "Good thing he's family or you might've hinted that you don't like him."
"He's not family yet," she said with a laugh. "But to be fair, I haven't spent a lot of time with him, so he could be nicer than I realize."
I blew out another nervous breath. "Or not."
"Exactly! So, what kind of job was it?"
"You can't guess?"
"No," she said. "I have no clue."
I paused for dramatic effect. "It's the nanny job."
"Ohhhhh," she said. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Do you know, the latest one lasted only a month?"