Seasons of Fate (6 page)

   By Friday morning I was useless and just swamped down by all the different emotions I was starting to experience with no outlet for them, my dreams had continued to plague me but every time I woke up, I was covered in a sheen of sweat. I started to wonder what the hell I was supposed to do about them. Mason continued to text me and call nightly but all I could think about was him walking through my door and sweeping me off my feet, telling me how much he wanted to be with me. The things I imagined him doing to me were totally new and the feelings they invoked even more so. I had never wanted a man as much as I wanted Mason. I had never wanted a man to touch me, but with him, I wanted to give him every part of me and I wanted him to love me with everything he had inside. I wanted to make him feel the same way I did, although I suppose that may take some doing, I would need to consider researching how to pleasure a man. He had more experience than me, maybe this was just crazy, I mean what they hell could he possibly see in me. I am fucked up and have been for so long that I’m not sure how to be normal.

   By Saturday Morning, all I could do was pace, and hope nobody noticed, hah, who was I kidding both my friends watched me like a hawk with an obvious grin, just waiting for me to explode and admit I was missing Mason. Lily pretty much kept to herself, playing with her new toys and watching her DVD’s. When the clock hit 11.00am I decided enough was enough and told everybody to get ready so we could go out for a walk. When we hit the lobby I realised I had forgotten my purse.

  
‘Hey guys, go ahead I have to run back and get my purse.’ They signalled their understanding and I walked back toward the elevators. Once back in my room I picked up my purse and Mason’s cell phone. Just in case, I thought. As I opened the door to leave, a hand was poised to knock, when I looked up those beautiful blue eyes were looking right at me, I’m not sure what happened next I just leaned over and put my arms around his neck and pulled him towards me. I instantly felt safe and warm so I did the only thing that came to mind and moved my lips to his. He froze for a moment and then his lips moved with mine, it was like coming home. I had never shared this feeling with anybody and I had found it with somebody who I had only known for a handful of weeks. When I moved away, breathless, I looked up at him and the smile he gave me was amazing.

  
‘Hi beautiful, I missed you too, but that was so worth waiting for.’

I smiled and could feel the blush rise in my cheeks, not knowing what to do next or what to say to him I just looked down, he lifted my chin and said
‘Don’t be embarrassed, I have wanted to kiss you since the moment I saw you but didn’t want to push.’ Wow what do you say to that?

  
‘I’m glad your back….we were just going for a walk. Will you join us?’

  
‘If you don’t mind, I’d love to.’ So I took his hand and we walked down together, Lily ran straight to Mason, hugging him tight. When I turned toward the entrance Clive greeted me then gave Mason a nod saying,

  
‘Your car is waiting Mr Stone is there anything else I can help you with today?’

  
‘Yes please Clive can you arrange for some dinner to be sent up on our return, Oh and have you been able to source the item I requested?’

  
‘Not as yet Sir but its in hand.’

  
‘Thank you Clive.’

  
‘You’re welcome Mr Stone.’

I wondered what the hell they were talking about but didn
’t question it after all its none of my business. Clive gave me a knowing smile like it was some secret he was sworn to keep but gave nothing else away.

  
‘What’s up with Clive? He seems a little mysterious today.’ I laughed

  
‘Oh nothing I just asked him for a favour that’s all, he said he could help me with it.’

  
‘Ok, shall we go guys?’ I said, yes was the response I received but before we could walk off, Mason lead us to his waiting car.

  
‘I hope you don’t mind but I wanted to take you guys a bit further out today.’ Nobody objected so we got into his SUV and began our trip.

  
‘Where we off to mate?’ said John.

  
‘Oh it’s a shopping village I thought you guys may appreciate. I used to come here as a kid with my mom, she used to like looking around and searching out a bargain. I haven’t been here in a while but I kind of thought you may like it too. ‘Mason met my eyes and smiled, I don’t think I will ever tire of that smile.

  
‘There are loads of kid’s stores I thought you may like, for Lily.’

  
‘That’s very considerate of you Mase.’

   His smile grew even wider at my new name for him. When we arrived at the Designer Village, Mason parked in valet parking and showed us around a little before Lys and John decided to go their separate ways for some time alone, as they put it, so Mason, Lily and I continued to look around the kid
’s stores. Everything I even glanced at seemed to find its way into my shopping basket. I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed by Mason’s generosity so after a couple of hours and five bags of clothes later we sat down with a coffee while Lily played in the kid’s area.

  
‘Mase, I’m not comfortable with you buying things and spending your money on Lily and me. It’s not fair to you and makes me feel like I’m using you. I don’t like this feeling. I’m a simple person, Lily doesn’t need all this stuff and I don’t want her thinking this is the norm.‘

  
‘Sweet girl, you don’t need to feel that way, I’m sorry if I have made you uncomfortable but I just wanted to treat you guys to something nice. I know you don’t need material things, Summer, but I kind of like shopping with you guys. It’s a first for me, usually somebody else shops for me.’ He pouted and said ‘Please don’t stop my fun.’ How could I say no? So I just laughed and nodded, he then continued to say

  
‘I’m not sure what you know about me but I’ve been successful in most of my business ventures so you don’t need to worry about my spending money on you. It’s nothing.’ Wow did he really just say that? Ok.

  
‘What does that mean? I don’t know anything about your business Mase, I would like to get to know more about what you do but I’m not interested in the financial side, that’s your business not mine.’ I turned to walk away but he stopped me

  
‘I’m sorry I didn’t mean it like that I just want you to know that money means little to me, what I need in my life is something real, something I can look after and hold onto. The money is just a perk to help me live my life they way I want to, out of the public eye.’ He looked so sincere.

  
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that you’re only concerned about money. I know that’s not true. You’re a genuine, special person.’ He beamed again and just like that the conversation was forgotten.

   When we eventually got back to the hotel, we ate and everybody including Lily decided to call it a night, so I retired to my bedroom, with Mase on my heels. I wasn
’t even conscious of sitting on the bed until he sat next to me.

  
‘Shall we talk?’ he said so I just nodded and he began.

  
‘I can’t believe how much I missed you this past week. It feels strange to me and I know that we haven’t known each other that long but I feel drawn towards you. This week confirmed that for me. Since the first moment I saw your eyes. You….you didn’t see me watching you outside your hotel that first day, you looked my way, and you had this look of complete happiness on your face, I couldn’t take my eyes off you. When you turned away, I got out to catch up to you, but before I knew what was happening you had stopped that guy from stabbing me and all I could do was watch you slump to the ground. I don’t think my heart has ever beaten that fast before. Then when you looked at me with those amazing brown eyes and asked if I was ok, wow, I didn’t know what to do, but I wanted to kiss you so bad. Then my brain kicked in and I realised that you were seriously hurt and also looking for Lily.’

   I just sat with my mouth hanging open, listening to him speak from the heart, I can
’t believe he saw me before the attack, a tear slipped out and he wiped it away before leaning forward and kissing me. It was sweet and simple but a very loving gesture that told me what he couldn’t say aloud. He was right of course the day I was stabbed I was happy, it was happiness brought on by knowing that we finally had our lives back and nobody would ever hurt us again. I had no idea what to think or even say to him after such an honest explanation. So I leaned back to tell him why I had been happy that day.

  
‘You know, I was so happy to have my life back, and the thought of giving Lily new experiences, that was why I had a smile on my face, I don’t regret pushing that knife away from you Mase, who knows what would have happened if they had succeeded.’

   I grimaced at the thought as he held onto me. We snuggled together on my bed with no other thoughts apart from being close together. I decided a game of twenty questions was in order, so I started

   ‘What kind of movies do you write music for?’

  
‘Anything, but I prefer romantic movies, the music is always sweet and happy. What type of movies do you like?’

  
‘I love movies with a happy ever after, doesn’t matter what kind of movie as long as the ending is happy.’

  
‘I can understand that. When’s your birthday?’

  
‘September 30
th
, you?’

  
‘October 1st. Wow that’s weird huh, so were both Libra’s. Balanced’ laughing he carried on ‘When was Lily born?’

  
‘August 1st. It’s her birthday soon, it would be great if we could celebrate it here.’

  
‘Why can’t you? I mean you’re not in a rush to get back are you?’

  
‘No I guess not, but our visas are only valid for a couple more months, I would need to get an extension.’

   This conversation was starting to get a bit heavy so I steered us back to lighter questions.

   ‘What’s your favourite colour?’

  
‘Humm, I love the colour brown.’ Ok I thought, ‘How about you?’

  
‘I love the colour blue, all types of blue but especially ocean blue. It’s calming, and beautiful, and reminds me of you.’ He looked at me and I was helpless to pull away from his eyes, so I leaned in and kissed his lips, he breathed me in but made no other moves toward me which I was grateful for. The last thing I needed to do was something I wasn’t ready for. We would need to have a talk soon, which I didn’t want to have. When he pulled away we lay together with our hands entwined and continued question time. After a while we began to drift and before I knew it sleep overtook me. My dreams that night were so peaceful that I forget about how bad my past had been.

Chapter 5

Summer

   The next day I woke up warm and comfortable, when I opened my eyes, I came face to face with those beautiful blue eyes.

  
‘Morning beautiful, sleep well?’

Oh My God, we slept together, I mean no sex but still what was I thinking? Well, why not? He
’s amazing and we enjoy each others company. My internal rant continued until he stroked my cheek and I had to fight to breathe.

  
‘Sorry what did you say?’

  
‘I asked if you slept ok. I slept like a log, which is odd. I never usually sleep for that long, Oh well it must be you.’ He laughed at the expression on my face and simply leaned over to give me a small peck on the lips. I didn’t argue with him, because I felt the same. I hadn’t slept that well in forever actually, so who cares. At that exact moment Lily decided to make her presence known by running into my room and jumping up onto the bed.

  
‘Mummy she yelled, your awake, Mase, your still here, yeah. Can we go out today, please, please, can we go to the park? Can Mase come too, please Mummy?’

She looked at me with those big blue eyes and I couldn
’t say no, apparently neither could Mase. Lily had him wrapped around her tiny finger and he loved every moment.

  
‘We need a minute baby so we can get dressed, is Uncle John up yet?’

  
‘Nah their both sleeping, boring.’

  
‘Ok I’ll get you something to eat and then you can sit down with a puzzle while we get dressed ok?’ Before she could reply, Mase said

  
‘Actually, do you mind if I come have breakfast with you Lily, then you can show me your puzzle?’

Lily beamed and jumped right into his arms. He cuddled her to his side and walked right out of the bedroom, winking at me over his shoulder. It gave me a chance to wash and dress before everybody else gave me the third degree. When I walked out Lily was busy doing Mase
’s hair, he had a bow, and clips on one side of his head and ties on the other.

  
‘Very cute.’ I said laughing out loud.