He Loves Me Not (Bunch-A-Blooms 1)

The knock on the door saved him from another round of arguments with himself. He hurried to the main room and opened the front door. Petunia stood in front of him still clad in her work clothes; a pair of black slacks and a crisp white button up. She’d taken her hair down, and the dark brown strands framed her heart-shaped face. She sucked on the bottom of her full lips, and her upturned chocolate brown eyes were filled with apprehension. Tension radiated from her in invisible waves.

His stomach lurched. She’s going to say no.

“Hi.”

“Hi,” she said quietly.

Stepping back, he let her come in, scared to say the wrong thing and make the situation worse. She’d never responded to his charm like other women, so he opted to remain silent as he locked the door and followed her into the living room. She sank onto the couch, and he followed, sitting beside her with his body angled toward her.

“If we do this, you have to agree to some terms.”

“Okay,” he said as hope soared in his chest like a bird.

“I pay you back everything you loan me.”

“What? No. I’m not going to do that to my wife.”

“I won’t budge on this, Mas. It’s not your job to save me. I’m not a damsel in distress waiting in a tower.”

“No one said you were. We all need help every now and then, Petunia. There’s no shame in that.”

“I agree. However, that doesn’t apply in this situation. If you let me pay it back over time, you’ve helped me. If you expect me to simply take what will end up being thousands, it’s a donation.”

“Yes, to a worthy case. You deserve a break, too.”

“Mas.”

He cupped her face. “Why won’t you let me do this for you? It’s nothing for me to loan you this. The money will be a drop in the bucket for my oldest friend. There are no strings. I’m just sick of seeing you struggle. When your grandparents retired, you took over the shop and made improvements. You restructured the way they worked, brought in new customers, and did one hell of a job with PR. The business flourished.

“Your grandparents going into a nursing home and your father’s kidneys being removed were tough on your entire family, but none as much as you. You took over the running of the store by yourself, supported your mother and everyone else who was falling apart, and exhausted your funds. I’m not saying it was the wrong thing to do, because I would’ve done the same, but it’s the reason why I can’t say yes to the terms. I’m not going to take from you, too.”

Her eyes grew glossy, and she sniffed. “Damn you, Mason.”

“What?” He rubbed her cheek with his thumb. “For telling the truth?”

“For always knowing what to say to me.”

“I know you, P. You know I won’t let you pay me back.”

She sighed. “You don’t want to, but I need you to.”

He moved his face in and touched their foreheads. “How about we negotiate a portion you pay back, and the rest we’ll call an investment. I’ll buy into Bunch-A-Blooms.”

“Are you serious?” She pulled back.

“Yeah. I got you, P … always. You know that.”

She smiled and released a shaky breath. “That I can do.”

“Good.” He let his hand drop to his lap. “What else you got for me?”

“I don’t want our families to catch on to the fact that this is fake. It’d break their hearts more than our eventual divorce will.”

“Agreed. I guess you have a plan on how to avoid that?”

“We have to get our facts straight. When did we start dating? Why did we keep it a secret? Dates we’ve gone on.”

The barrage of questions made his eyes want to cross.