I'm gone, remember, no overnight guests."
She made a sound of annoyance. "Just what do you think I'm gonna do, anyway?"
"Don't know, don't care." I gave her a final hard look. "So long as you do it somewhere else."
Chapter 16
Cami
I gave Arden an exasperated look. "I think he hates me."
Arden was petite with long, dark hair and eyes that hid nothing. Those eyes filled with sympathy as she said, "Don't worry. He hates everyone."
I saw what she meant. Still, I had to say, "Not absolutely everyone."
"Okay, he hates everyone but his siblings."
Now this, I believed.
After he'd given me that unexpected warning about having overnight guests, he'd turned and left the kitchen without so much as a goodnight. And now, he was out of state on business – something to do with their newest factory in Ohio.
I hadn't seen him since that unsettling encounter, which was probably a good thing, considering how distracted he made me feel, even now while I was having coffee with my best friend.
We were sitting at the small table in Mason's breakfast nook, and I'd just poured each of us another cup of coffee. With a sigh, I said, "And sometimes, I swear, I hate him right back."
It was just past noon, and I still had nearly three hours until I needed to pick up Willow from school. Until then, I had the whole house to myself.
During the past month, Arden and I had been meeting for coffee at least a couple of times a week whenever she wasn't traveling, but this was the first time I'd actually invited her over to Mason's place.
From the other side of the table, she gave me a long, penetrating look. "Are you sure?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, sometimes, it almost seems like you like him." She winced. "I mean, romantically."
I drew back. "Me? No. Definitely not." I hesitated. "I mean, sure, he's attractive, and really interesting. And smart, too, but…well, that doesn’t mean I like him."
Arden groaned, "Oh, my God. You have a crush on him."
"Oh, please. I do not." Of this, I was absolutely certain – or at least mostly certain. Okay, somewhat certain.
Sounding less than convinced, Arden said, "Are you sure?"
"Mostly." I tried to laugh. "To have a crush, you're supposed to like someone, remember?"
"Yeah, so?"
"So he's not exactly likeable." I paused to think. "I mean, he's great to Willow, and he's been a really generous employer."
I glanced around, taking in my luxurious surroundings. Even the breakfast nook, as cozy as it was, took up twice the space of my last kitchen and was ten times nicer. "And really, the job's not even hard."
Arden stared across the table. "You can't be serious."
"Why not?"
"Because the job must be hard if the nannies keep getting fired."
I saw her point. But unlike me, she didn't have the full story. In at least two cases, the nannies had been fired because they'd been, well, naughty I guess.
But was it any wonder?
Mason had it all – looks, money, and more fame than he obviously wanted. On top of that, he was quite simply the most intriguing person I'd ever met.
If it weren't for Willow, I might've said he had no heart. But sometimes, like when I saw him smile at his little sister, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a softer side buried somewhere deep inside him.
Across from me, Arden continued. "And he's been through four nannies in the past year alone. Do you realize, that's a new nanny every three months?"
It was a sobering reminder. If I followed the trend, this meant I had only two months before I, too, was kicked to the curb.
But that wasn't going to happen, because for one thing, I wasn't going to get naughty with anyone, especially Mason Blastoviak – even if the thought was stupidly appealing.
Absently, I replied, "Yeah, well…maybe he's had bad luck."
"But it's not just the nannies he has trouble with. Everybody's scared of him. When he walks into the office, people literally tremble."
Sometimes, I almost trembled, too, but in a totally different way. Regardless, I wasn't scared, not unless I counted my primal reaction to him, which was only slightly terrifying.
Across from me, Arden added, "But he is great with Willow, so that's something, I guess."
"Which reminds me," I said. "I've got a question. When you and I first met Willow, before we even realized who she was, she told us that Mason was her dad. But she doesn't call him Dad. She calls him Mason."
"Yeah, I know."
I felt my brow