Page 45 of Unromance

“My tights,” she mourned.

Glancing down, he spied the rip in the knee of her patterned hose. They’d been sexy to begin with, but the run that now ran up her thigh… Mason resisted the urge to follow it with his fingers, to see where it led. He didn’t need to, however, as Sawyer stuck her leg out of the slit of the dress, tugging on the material around her calves and guiding it upward. Rearranging her skirt, she effectively hid the damage to her tights, but the lid Mason had put on his attraction to Sawyer was straining under all the pressure.

She glanced up, clearly proud of her maneuvering. Mason wasn’t quick enough to conceal the lust no doubt written all over his face. A smirk curved her red lips. “Cool it, Álvarez.”

“Just keep that run in your tights hidden.” His voice came out strangled.

“Fine,” she said, keeping her voice low so it wouldn’t carry into the next room. “So long as you keep those forearms covered.”

He glanced down at the sleeves he’d rolled up. “Oh, these?” he asked innocently. He flexed his hand, and Sawyer pressed her lips together, a smallmm-hmmescaping her. He pushed his sleeves up past his elbows and extended his hand to her. She placed her hand in his and allowed him to lead her into the dining room, but the look in her eyes promised war.

He had no fucking clue what he’d just gotten himself into. He always seemed to feel that way when he was with her, so even though it was par for the course with them, he couldn’t help the trill of excitement coursing through him. It was a welcome distraction.

As soon as they sat down, Sawyer crossed her legs under the table, the panel of her dress slipping to the side, the hole in her tights on full display for him. It was averywelcome distraction.

He wasn’t sure he tasted a single thing at dinner. He was vaguely aware of participating in the conversation around the table, but they rehashed the same stories every year, actors giving scripted talk show sound bites, so he was on autopilot. They were all on autopilot, pointedly avoiding talking about the bomb Bex had accidentally dropped. She and Kara were close, but that Kara would’ve mentioned it, the need to warn Bex to not bring up Guiding Light… It hadn’t even crossed his mind. Too late now. He just had to get through dinner. He would deal with the fallout later.

Luis sent him a loaded look at one point, and guilt panged in hischest. Out of everyone, he felt worst about not telling Luis. He knew Luis would support him, not make it about himself, but he hadn’t wanted to force Luis to keep a secret from Margot. His logic seemed airtight before, but now it felt so flimsy. He was going to have to make a lot of apologies tomorrow.

He startled as a hand slid on top of his thigh, squeezing gently. Sawyer leaned over slightly. “You’re frowning,” she murmured.

Mason realized his mask had slipped. He focused on relaxing his clenched jaw, unfurrowing his brow. Sawyer nodded once in approval, and Mason wasn’t sure how he felt that she was aware he treated being around his mother like doing press. He had to be on. Placing his hand on top of hers, he squeezed appreciatively. If she weren’t here, he wasn’t sure what he’d do. If she weren’t here, he didn’t know what his mom would have done, if she would have bothered saving face in front of Lynn. Lynn was practically family, so he didn’t understand why they had to keep up the charade of Perfect Family when they were already a pretty damn perfect family, but Moira’s media training ran deep, and mess was not allowed. You bottled that shit right up. Tonight, however, he was grateful for the charade. He just wanted to enjoy the rest of this night, as much as he could.

Sawyer slid her hand from beneath his, and he lamented the loss of the grounding contact. Then she guided his hand into her lap, right next to the all-too-tempting rip in her tights. She effortlessly jumped into the table conversation, dropping her napkin in her lap and effectively covering his hand that was far higher on her thigh than was appropriate.

He didn’t know what to do. He knew what hewantedto do. He wanted to get the fuck out of here and take Sawyer back to his place and slowly peel off those goddamn tights. But that would beagainst Rule #2: No sex. This was clearly an invitation, but was it purely to distract him? Or was she flirting? Her comment about his forearms—was she struggling with their rules as much as he was? The possibility hadn’t occurred to him until now.

She was so goddamn blasé about everything all time, she was impossible for him to read, save for those rare occasions when she let him peek inside that fascinating brain of hers. Everyone had layers, like an onion, but Sawyer was like the coconuts she always smelled of. You had to be fucking determined if you wanted to get to the heart of her. He liked to think he was slowly making progress. While he was beginning to suspect this attraction wasn’t just one-sided—and he would happily throw Rule #2 out the window—Rule #1: No feelings, had to stay if he wanted any hope of coming out of this in one piece.

Lifting one finger, he traced the pattern of her tights until he found the run. Following it down to the source, he curled his fingertip, tucking it inside and tugging lightly. Sawyer inhaled sharply, and he could feel her thighs pressing together beneath his grip, her hips tilting forward. He removed his hand from her thigh before he could be tempted to do more, shifting in his seat to hide the evidence of how effective her distraction had been.

It was the longest dinner of Mason’s life.

After dessert, when Bex and Lynn announced they had to head out, Moira and Antonio piggybacking on their exit, Mason sighed in relief. Normally, this was his favorite part of the night. When the parents left and they could drop the act, stop reciting the same old bits, and justbe. Normally, he would’ve seen them off and slipped into a food-induced coma on Luis’s couch. But he’d been too on edge to eat or drink as much as he usually did on holidays, and he latched on to their departure as a way to make his own exit. He knew he needed to talk to his family, but tonight had been long enough already. Hewanted to slip off into the night with Sawyer and do whatever it was her subtle looks had been implying they might do.

As Lynn hugged his parents goodbye, Bex cornered him by the coat closet. “Mason, I amsosorry,” she said for easily the tenth time.

“It’s fine,” he insisted. “It had to come out eventually. You couldn’t have known.”

Still, she frowned regretfully. Her attention snagged over his shoulder, and he followed her gaze. Sawyer in her yellow coat, doubling back to grab the last scattered glasses from the living room, despite Margot and Luis’s many insistences to “just leave it.”

“Well,” she sighed. “At least you have a beautiful distraction for the rest of the night.”

Mason laughed. “It’s not like that.” Though he desperately hoped it was about to become Like That.

Bex snorted. “Okay,” she said, though it sounded likeYeah, right. “I must have hallucinated you two eye fucking each other all night whenever you thought the other wasn’t looking.”

He opted not to respond, because he had definitely been doing that, but he thought he’d been subtle enough not to get caught.

Bex gave him a knowing smile before bringing him in for a hug. “I’m really, truly sorry, but I meant everything I said. This is the right move for you.” She hazarded a glance at their parents, who were still saying the world’s longest goodbye. “Don’t let anything make you doubt that.” With one last meaningful glance, she ushered her mother and his parents out the door before they could drag out leaving for another half hour.

Luis appeared at his side almost immediately, puffing out his cheeks as he exhaled slowly. “We did it.” Turning toward him, Luis studied him closely. “You alright?”

Mason took his time answering as he shrugged on his coat, hisattention half on Sawyer as she disappeared down the hallway, slipping into the powder room. “I’m good,” he said automatically. “But I owe you an apology—”

Luis waved that away. “Tomorrow’s problem. Besides, I kept dating your sister a secret for months. By my math, we’re even now.”

“I’ve been working on Guiding Light for years.”

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