Page 155 of Between Regrets and Promises

I groan and roll my eyes at his pickiness.

Sophie

So tell me what you don’t want and then I’ll decide!

Mason

Just choose something else.

There’s one food he’ll always agree to eat. With a lifted eyebrow and a smirk on my lips, I send him a text.

Sophie

Tacos?

Mason

Yeah, that sounds good!

I head to the living room and sit on the couch with a book but end up falling asleep. The sound of Mason walking through the door wakes me. He has bags of food in his hands and a smile on his face. I can’t stop staring at him in his dark blue button-up shirt and black slacks. He doesn’t always dress up for work, but when he does, it’s hard to keep my eyes off him.

“I hope you’re hungry. It was buy one, get one free tonight, so I loaded us up,” he says as he sits down next to me, placing the bags of food on the coffee table. His hand brushes against my leg and goose bumps trail across my skin. My heart says yes, but my head says no. Every day is a battle because I don’t want to rush and ruin our relationship before it has a chance to start.

“I’m starving.”

He unloads street tacos along with chips and salsa. The faint smell of his cologne grabs my attention as he heads to the kitchen. He returns with two plates, and we make small talk about our days while we eat. If I don’t think about what we’ve been through or our pasts, it’s easy to fall right back into where we were before the Dalton shit happened.

“Mmm, tacos were a good choice.” Mason smiles, leaning into me.

I can’t help but notice the way his eyes shine when he looks at me. The electricity that streams between us is undeniable, even after everything.

“I thought so.” I smirk, knowing he can’t deny tacos. “How was work?”

“Good. I think people are realizing I’m not just there because of who my dad is, which should’ve happened a long fucking time ago, but you know how it goes. People know I’m a Holt and see the similarities between my father and me, and they jump to conclusions. I should find out about the promotion next week.”

“Glad everything seems to be working out,” I say around a mouthful, knowing how much this means to him and how hard he’s worked over the years for his big break. “You deserve it,” I tell him sincerely.

“If I don’t get it, I swear I might lose my mind,” he admits, and I love that he’s able to be vulnerable with me, considering he doesn’t talk about work very much.

“You know you’re a shoo-in. You know that for a fact, so I wouldn’t worry about it. Whatshouldhappenwillhappen.”

“You’re so damn smart.”

I shrug and laugh. “Nah, I have a therapist who gives me catch phrases like that.”

“How’d it go today?” When my eyes meet his, I can tell he genuinely wants to know.

“It went well. We talked a lot about my anxiety since the first incident, and she had me visualize that night and how facing that fear will release the out of control feeling. It sounds odd, but in a way, it felt like it was a good start to my treatment. She also told me to write in a journal when I’m anxious, so basically, I’ll be writing in it all day long,” I chuckle nervously. “I started today when I got home. It’s gonna take months to process what’s happened, but it will get a little easier each day as long as I work on it. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the incidents,but hopefully, I’ll be able to live with it without the memories barging into my thoughts.”

Mason wraps his arm around my shoulders, and while I want to lean into him and stay there forever, I don’t. I linger, then go back to my tacos.

After we finish eating, I help Mason clean up our mess. After we put the leftover tacos in the fridge, we both sit back down on the couch and get lost in Netflix.

“Want to watchLuciferor piss off Liam and watch his show?” He flashes me a shit-eating grin, which causes me to laugh.

Liam’s been working a shit ton, so I haven’t seen him as much lately, and the last episode left us on a cliffhanger, so I’m contemplating it.

Mason glances at me, and I smirk. “We promised Liam we wouldn’t watch it without him.”

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