Along with her crush on Thom Nichols, Sophie’s wealth was one more wall standing between them. But Mason was determined to knock down those obstacles and clear the path for a chance with her.
“Sophie might be filthy rich, but she’s not a snob. She works very hard.”
Nadine shot him an impish smile. “How would you know? I never see you cross the hall to HR. You always have your head buried in your own work.”
If Mason explained to Nadine that he often spotted Sophie working late at night, then he’d also be admitting he had a habit of staying long after quitting time, too. And Nadine might misconstrue things and get the idea that Mason put in overtime just for a chance to see Sophie alone. Which was completely untrue. Until last night, he thought sheepishly.
“For your information,” Mason said matter-of-factly, “the state bird of Texas is the mockingbird and we have plenty of them flying around the building. They tell me lots of things.”
“Pertaining to Sophie, I presume.” Nadine picked up her smartphone and pretended to swipe. “I’m going to find the best psychiatrist in the city of Austin. Hopefully a doctor can help you with this bird disorder you’ve developed.”
Shaking his head, Mason shoved back his chair. “My coffee is cold. I’m going back to work. Are you ready?”
Groaning, Nadine ran a hand through her wispy blonde hair and glanced around the room. “Sure, I’m ready. There’s no men around here giving me the goo-goo eye anyway.”
Mason smirked. “If a man was, you’d promptly tell him to go stick his head in a garbage can.”
Nadine laughed. “Not if he was the right man.”
Mr. Right. Mason was sick of hearing that term and even sicker of picturing Thom Nichols as the definition.
He rose to his feet and started to follow Nadine out of the breakroom, when behind them, Sophie suddenly called out to him.
“Here’s your chance,” Nadine whispered. “Better go say hello. I’ll see you later.”
Feeling like a nervous teenager, but trying to be cool, Mason walked to the end of the table where his dream lady and Mr. Heartthrob were chatting as though they’d been friends forever. To say this was a fast turn of events would be putting it mildly.
“Hi, Mason!” she said cheerfully. “I saw you leaving and wanted to say hello before you got away.”
“Hello, Sophie. Thom.” He smiled at Sophie then forced a polite glance at Thom. The other man reminded Mason of one of those handsome movie stars who always played the hero on screen, but in reality couldn’t do so much as change a flat tire if a dozen lives were depending on him. “How’s the coffee?”
“Great,” Thom quickly answered and gestured to the small thermos sitting in front of him. “Sophie brought her own special brew from home and talked me into trying some.”
Mason wanted to knock the leering smile he was giving Sophie right off the other man’s face. Instead, he focused his gaze on Sophie.
“Good planning,” he said sagely. “About the coffee, I mean.”
Color swept across Sophie’s cheeks and Mason knew she’d picked up on his subtle comment.
“I try to think of the little things. They make the work day go brighter,” she said with a wide smile, then looked adoringly at Thom. “Did you know Thom is heading the marketing for your new sports app? The media blitz he’s planning is bound to make it a huge seller.”
Mason had rather believe the app would be a huge seller because he’d developed a good product. Not because of a slick talking salesman who could convince folks on Galveston Island to buy a set of snow chains.
Mason said, “I like to think Sports & More is a worthwhile project that deserves plenty of marketing.”
“You’re lucky, Mason,” Thom spoke up. “Mr. Robinson made the decision to spend a bankroll on the marketing for Sports & More. You must have done something right this time. I love sports, but to be honest, I perform better on the dance floor than I do the gym floor.”
In Mason’s opinion, the grin Thom was giving Sophie could only be described as lecherous. Which made it even more puzzling to Mason as to why she’d want a guy like Thom in her life. But women viewed things differently than men, and clearly she was seeing something in Thom that Mason was missing. Whatever the reason for her infatuation with the man, Mason couldn’t just stand passively around and watch this beautiful woman get her heart crushed.
“I’m sure you’ve had lots of practice doing the...hustle,” Mason replied.
Sophie’s brows arched upward, but she didn’t make any sort of reply. Thom merely let out a cocky laugh. Mason decided he should make a quick exit before he really insulted Thom and made both of them angry.
Glancing at his watch, Mason said, “Well, my break is over. Nice to see you two.”
Once he’d returned to his desk, it was only a matter of seconds before Nadine sauntered into his cubicle and propped a hip on his desk. “Okay, what happened? Did you score points with the girl?”
Frowning, he tried to focus on the computer screen in front of him, but the only thing in front of his eyes was Sophie. “I wasn’t trying to score points. Which is just as well. I came close to calling Thom a creep right to his face.”
Nadine groaned. “Let me give you some advice, Mason. The more you toss insults in Thom’s direction, the more she’s going to defend him.”
He turned and glowered at her. “I know that much. It’s just that whenever I’m around the guy I get the urge to vomit. And then things start coming out of my mouth before I can stop them.”
“Look, my friend, if you’re really interested in snagging Sophie’s attention, you need to forget about Thom Nichols and start concentrating on how to make yourself more appealing to her. If you do things right, she’ll start looking at you instead of him.”
“You think so?”
“Trust me. You have loads to offer a woman.” She patted his shoulder. “I better get to work. Wes has assigned me the job of coming up with a mother/baby app store. I can’t imagine what our boss was thinking. My daughter is twenty years old now. What do I remember about having a baby?”
“Hmm. I expect it’s like riding a bike. Once you learn, you never forget.”
Nadine laughed, causing Mason to chuckle along with her.
“Well, a person can get rusty if he doesn’t practice,” he agreed. “But you can always knock off a little rust.”
“And how am I supposed to do that? Have another baby?”
“Why not? Women your age are having babies all the time.”
Her expression softened in a way Mason had never seen before and then she reached out and gently patted his cheek. “You are the sweetest man ever. Sophie’s an idiot if she doesn’t latch on to you.”
Sweet.
