Page 18 of A Reindeer Wish for Love
I didn’t know what kind of man he was, but I felt he would understand my reluctance to getting involved with a married man.Maybe he would admire me for having that much integrity and restraint.
As I strode outside with my hands in my pockets, and finally I could breathe and think, I couldn’t help but wonderwhat if.What if I’d gone with Mason?Would he have been the love of my life?He certainly felt like it at the time.Could I have survived in his company long enough to meet him as an equal one day when he wasn’t married?
Finally, my mind focused on the line of cabs stretched out in front of the hotel waiting for a fare, when a man in his fifties, probing blue eyes, dressed in a black suit stood in front of me and said, “Do you need a cab?”
I thought it strange that he wasn’t in regular clothes that cabbies in New York wore and that he didn’t have an accent of some kind from another country.However, he did have an accent as if he was from somewhere in the south.But isn’t that like being from a foreign country if you’re from New York or Jersey?
“Yes, of course.”I glanced around waiting for him to stroll back to his cab.
“My limo is available, and I can take you where you need to go, and you don’t have to worry with a dirty cab and a driver from hell.”I smiled not because he had been right about a dirty smelly cab, and someone who’d learned how to drive on the streets of Manhattan dodging pedestrians and red lights and green, stopping and starting where you had to hold on to something for dear life.
Glancing over at the limo, I asked, “That ride looks like it’s going to be very expensive.I’m not sure I can afford it.”
“I’ll take you where you need to go for the price a cabbie would charge you.Looking at that suit, you don’t want to ruin it.That’s a damn nice-looking suit and expensive too.”
“Okay, you sold me,” I said, not waiting for him to ask where I’d got it or how much it cost.I began walking in the direction of the limo trotting behind him.
“No.Let me drive up and then let me open the door before you step in.”He held out his hand.“My name is Lawrence.”
“Clay,” I answered, and dropped my hand.
“You know, fake it till you make it.But then I don’t have to tell you that, Clay.”And he gave me a once over in my suit, smiled and strode to the driver’s side of the limo and pulled only a few feet up to me.I could have walked those steps.I didn’t know why he wouldn’t allow me.Perhaps he had an image to protect.
I stood and glared at him as he stepped out and strode around and opened the door.In my amazement and the excitement of going to the apartment in a limo, I stepped inside.
“Were you going to leave without telling me?”A sultry strong sexy voice came from out of nowhere.I focused my eyes on a man who wasn’t a stranger by no means.
“I didn’t think you would notice,” I said, my voice shaking.I had been caught.Mason had anticipated my moves.Damn, but he must be a good attorney.
“Oh, I would notice.But why would you leave without some kind of explanation?”
“I wasn’t sure you wanted to do this because I’m an employee.”
“I can understand that.Don’t you think I thought of that.I had reservations about what happened in the men’s room, but I felt as if we understood each other and we wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize each other’s careers.”
“But I was thinking about you, Mason.Sir.”He placed his hand over mine and smiled with dimples so deep I wanted to reach over and kiss them.
“I know, but I was thinking with my heart.It’s the first time I’ve considered myself and I’ve been my authentic self.My wife is divorcing me, not because I was unfaithful and tonight would be the first, but because we never loved each other, and I didn’t want to ruin my career by divorcing her.She has a lover, and I’ve never taken a lover except now.”Mason squeezed my hand.“Now I have you, and I want to know if I’m not rushing you, do you still want to be with me?”
I didn’t hesitate.“Of course, I want you, but when your firm discovers we have been dating they won’t get rid of you, it will be me.I worry about that.”I turned and glanced out the window at the Christmas decorations.Large reefs on the doors of high-end stores.Saks, Bergdorf Goodman, and I smiled at Tom Ford.Places a clothes horse like me dreamed of shopping.When Mason spoke, I turned.
“I can take care of you if that happens.”Wow, that sounded hot, but I hadn’t gone to school to be a lawyer all these years to have a man take care of me.I didn’t tell him how I felt.I wanted him to be happy the way I was riding in a limo and dreaming about the magic of the holiday and Christmas season.
“There’s a possibility someone will find out about us because the people on your staff are smart.I guess that’s why you hired them.They’re observant and nosy for want of a better term,” I explained trying my best to make Mason understand what he and I were dealing with.
Mason glanced out of the window.“Look at that couple holding hands and window shopping.That could be me and you once I get my divorce.”He laid his head on my shoulder and I raked my fingers though his soft curls.And I thought,This man needs me the way I need him and the feeling I got from him was he was in love with me, but not as much as I loved him.
But love didn’t make sense.This is too soon,I objected.And my heart whispered, It’s not love’s objective to make sense.Love was there to connect two people together.Love’s objective was to ruin your life if you fell in love with the wrong person.But in my heart Mason was the right person for me.
Mason raised his head and met my eyes, “Halifax has the final say, and he would never go against me if I want to keep my lover on or my fiancé.”Somehow, I knew that this was wishful thinking on Mason’s part.
However, this was my wish for Christmas, to meet the man of my dreams, and like a child on Christmas morning I got my wish.
The car pulled up to a large home, and after opening the security gate he drove up the driveway and parked in front.Lawrence hurried and opened the door, never giving me a look as if he didn’t care about Mason’s private business.We strolled to the gate together and Mason opened it and we were inside the home.My eyes wandered.I could only imagine how some people lived because this wasn’t my world.
“Get comfortable.I’ve given the staff a day off except for Lawrence.He has been with me a long time and he’s very handy.He’s not just a limo driver, he’s a trusted companion.”I tried to relax in these beautiful surroundings.There stood a large real Christmas tree from the floor to the high ceiling decorated with an assortment of baubles and ornaments.
Unlike the tree at the apartment that Tyler kept in a box and would pull out each year with a promise of getting Marty a real tree.That tree came with attached baubles and ornaments and could be standing in minutes.Mason’s tree looked as if it took days to emerge the way it looked now—just plain beautiful and magical.
