Turning on the bedside lamp, Mason sat up, leaned on the headboard, and looked at her, “What do you think?”Zoe had no answer for that. Smiling faintly, he spoke. His deep voice sounded especially moving in the night. “I’ve never loved anyone from the bottom of my heart, Zoe, and I don’t know what it feels like to be in love. However, this is the first time I've ever cared about someone. I care about you so much that I ditched my principles. I even followed you to your parents' place and fixed the leaky pipe in their kitchen.”Pausing briefly, he kept going, “Do you think I did all that just to find someone to sleep with? I think you know that a lot of women would throw themselves at me if that’s what I wanted.”Zoe refused to go along with it. “Well. I’m not stopping you.” He chuckled in response. His eyes looked dashing in the glow from the lamp. His brows exuded a charm that only mature men possessed. She knew, deep down, that any woman would serve herself up on a silver pl
Mason flew back to Brookesville on Friday evening. Ava and his chauffeur picked him up at the airport. Ava asked him when he got in the car, “Are you going back to the company or your manor, Mr. Mason?” He had worn himself out, working for the entire week. Rubbing his brows, he said, “Take me to Zoe’s apartment.”Ava seethed with jealousy.After a brief pause, she asked softly, “Are you going to take her back home? Did you guys have a fight?”He frowned, “You crossed the line, Ava.”That frightened her and shut her up. Putting both of her hands on her knees, she clutched the hem of her skirt. Women had a sixth sense about these things and she could sense that Zoe was becoming more important to Mason as time went by. She found another photo frame on his desk a few days ago. Zoe’s picture was in it. After being married for three years, he had finally fallen in love with Zoe after all.The chauffeur dropped Ava off at her place on their way to Zoe’s apartment. By the time the
They had never talked about it, but both of them knew that Zoe was reluctant to have sex with him ever since she returned. The fact that she enjoyed some of it didn’t change the fact.However, it was very different tonight.Beneath the dim light, Mason was being very gentle with her. It seemed that every time he thrust into her, he did so with care and concern as if he was worried about hurting her. He even leaned in her ear and asked if she enjoyed it.She wrapped her arms around his neck, refusing to give him an answer. However, her body was honest and betrayed her. This was the best sex she had had in the last three years. Both of them were immensely satisfied.After that, she took a bath. Mason put on a pair of long pants and a shirt. Then, he headed to the balcony and enjoyed the breeze while smoking a cigar.The wind blew past him and brushed his neatly trimmed hair. His normally stern face softened. He could hear Zoe in the bathroom. She had finished taking her bath, but it
Needless to say, Zoe was displeased about it. They had just finished having sex and he left immediately, claiming that he had to deal with some emergency at work. It took him the entire night, apparently.What kind of work emergency would take him the whole night?She wasn’t willing to ponder too much on it, but she had a good idea where he went. Surely, it had something to do with other women. She was ironing his shirt when her mind traveled back to the moment he told her that he wouldn’t meet up with Lilith anymore.…A series of footsteps disrupted her thoughts. It was probably Mason!He looked a little drained after dealing with the matter for the entire night. She felt him hugging her from behind and smelled the faint scent of disinfectant. It was the kind that was unique to the hospital.She could feel his warmth through his shirt, but she felt as thought someone had stabbed her right in the heart. He went to the hospital to check on Lilith.What was sad was the fact t
Mason was mesmerized by Zoe’s serene expression on her delicate face. It looked like she was glowing in the evening light. She was beautiful and graceful.He couldn’t help himself but muttered some crude, but flirtatious words to her. What he said would’ve acted like a lubricant to their relationship if they were an ordinary couple, but Zoe thought it was repulsive.The servant was trying to look past Mason. She reminded them softly, “It’s almost time for dinner!”Grabbing her slender arm, he chatted with her as they walked to the dining hall. “We’re having crabs for dinner tonight. They’re fresh, just came in in the afternoon. Aren’t crabs your favorite food? You’ve got to have more later.”She smiled faintly in response.Zoe didn’t even let her displeasure show during dinner, much less question him. If he wanted to act like a lovely couple, then she’d go along with it. She didn’t even reject him when he wanted to have sex with her at night. Just when things were getting hot, s
Mason didn’t love Lilith, but he felt like he owed her. He knew he promised Zoe that he wouldn’t meet up with her again. In fact, he could soon have a loving wife and an adorable baby if he’d just man up and leave Lilith to Ava and the medical personnel. He didn’t have to risk Zoe finding out about this.However, Zoe wasn’t all that important to him when all was said and done.He wanted to conquer and own her, but he knew he didn’t love her. Should she find out about this someday, the worst thing that could happen would be her crying and feeling disheartened. Then, their relationship would revert to its former state.He could live with that. As he analyzed his feelings for her, he also weighed the pros and cons. At last, he snuffed out this cigar and made a call to Lilith’s doctor. “I’ll be right over!”He hung up the phone, but he wasn’t in a hurry to leave. He searched for a picture in his phone's photo album. It was a picture of Zoe while she was sleeping. He took his time,
Perhaps it was because Mason had spent too much time with Lilith. In any case, even Mia caught wind of it. She recalled how eager he was to prove himself the last time he was at their apartment and started to worry about Zoe. So, she made a point of asking her out for a cup of coffee, just the two of them.Mia sneered, “I’ve heard that she doesn’t have long to live! I’d say the universe killed her off young because she’s pretty, but I know it issn’t true. She would’ve died young anyway.” After a brief pause, she asked Zoe again, “What’s your game plan?”Her way of thinking was still quite dated. The way she saw it, Zoe should’ve figured out a way to secure his wealth for herself if she couldn’t win his heart. The best way to do it was to get pregnant with his baby. That’d solidify her status as his wife.Zoe lowered her head and stirred her coffee. The truth was, Mason very much wanted a baby, but she was adamantly against the idea. She wanted to keep a clear head. Now that she ha
There was a hint of exhaustion on his dashing face and a subtle impatience in his tone. “I thought Ava told you that I might not be able to come tonight because I’ve got a lot of meetings at work! What are you still doing here?”He was probably hungry too because he sat down and started to eat. Zoe stared at him quietly. It had been almost two minutes since he had come to the restaurant, but he hadn't looked her in the eye once even though he was talking to her. That told her just how irritated he was. Perhaps he was angry that she was behaving immaturely.He had a lot on his plate, as it were, and yet she was pestering him with something as trivial as an anniversary.Zoe lowered her head and touched her ear with her delicate fingers. She proceeded to grumble the way an ordinary elegant lady would to her husband. There wasn’t even a trace of sadness in her tone. She could even put on a faint smile while she spoke, “Come on, it’s a celebration of our anniversary! I was thinking a