Bang (Blast Brothers #2) - Sabrina Stark Page 0,16

The house is practically done, so all of the brothers need to be on site for some final footage."

Arden would definitely know. Earlier this year, by some twist of fate, she'd ended up playing a role of her own on the TV show. It had all started when she and Brody were hot for the same property – a Victorian beach house that had belonged to Arden's grandparents.

In the beginning, she and Brody had totally hated each other. Now, they were so obnoxiously in love, I might've been jealous if I weren’t so happy for her.

Thinking of Brody's older brother, I said, "Actually, Mason wants me to start tomorrow."

"Wow. That soon?"

"Oh yeah. And I forgot to mention, if I do start tomorrow, he said he'd pay my tuition for both of my summer classes."

"No kidding?"

I considered the dollar-amount in question. To Mason, it was probably chump change. But to me, it was a lot of money. "That's what he said."

Across the parking lot, Livia and Chopped Liver stopped beside a white Mercedes. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her, hot and heavy. Livia sagged against him and kissed him back with a vengeance.

When he grabbed her ass, she grabbed his in return.

As I watched from my darkened car, I felt just a little bit icky, and not only because I was watching them in secret.

It was because the guy was Livia's second choice. And surely, he knew it. Earlier on the dance floor, anyone could've seen that she'd been ten times more interested in Mason.

Didn't the guy care?

Didn’t Livia care?

And why did I care?

I shouldn’t care. But the fact I did, well, it went a long way in explaining why my sexual dry spell had lasted so long.

I wasn't the casual type. In my whole life, I'd been with only four guys total, and all of them had been long-term boyfriends. It was true that the relationships had ended eventually. But with all four, I had been in love. Or at least I'd been in something that felt like love.

Even so, none of them had jump-started my heart quite like Mason Blastoviak.

And with him, all we'd done was dance.

It wasn't even dirty dancing.

From start to finish, it had been perfectly chaste.

God, he was sexy.

I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn't quite catch what Arden had just said

Feeling like a total clod, I said, "Sorry, could you repeat that?"

"I was just saying, we don't even know where he went tonight."

"You mean Mason?"

"Right," she said. "All I know is that he's not coming back until tomorrow. And he left straight from the office."

Well, that explained the business suit.

Still, I had to laugh. "And he seriously didn't tell you where he was going?"

"No. And before you ask, I can't even guess."

"You don't need to guess," I said. "Because I'll tell you exactly where he was."

And then, as she listened, I explained how Mason had showed up in Petoskey, in a nightclub no less, looking to hire me on the spot.

When I finished, she said with obvious surprise, "Oh, shut up. You're joking, right?"

"Nope."

"Huh. Well, that's something."

Yes. It was.

And what that something was, I didn't quite know. But I did know one thing by now. For better or worse, I'd be taking the job.

And why? It was because the offer was so terrific, I'd be an idiot to turn it down, especially after realizing that it would be good for Willow after all.

But would it be good for me?

The way it looked, I'd soon be finding out.

Chapter 9

Cami

Turns out, Mason wasn't kidding about giving me a ride to Bayside.

After I called him at nine o'clock the next morning and told him that I was accepting his offer, he informed me that he would be swinging by my parent's place at noon to pick me up.

"Why noon?" I asked.

"Because I figured you'd want some time to pack your things. But hey, if you're ready now—"

"I'm not."

"Alright, noon it is."

True to his word, he'd shown up exactly at noon, driving a bright orange SUV, which happened to be the same exact color of his tool company's logo.

No coincidence there, huh?

The vehicle wasn't the only thing that caught me off-guard. It was Mason's clothes. The tailored business suit was long gone, and in its place were jeans and a black T-shirt, along with black high-top sneakers.

He looked ten years younger than he had last night, and almost human, as he opened the rear hatch of the orange SUV and helped me