ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (195 page)

She glanced at her phone, checking the time. It had been a long drive cooped up in the car with Carl. She decided that she would take a shower and freshen up before dinner.

She began unpacking the few things that she’d need to shower and carried them all to the bathroom. It was very nice, and, despite the fact that the house was old, the shower and all of its features appeared to be state-of-the-art.

She undressed quickly, placing a few of her toiletries on the shower caddy and then turning to the rather complex shower.

“Oh!” she said, crying out in surprise as she pressed a button and water came shooting out of the side of the shower wall. She pressed another button and water began spurting out of the wall across from it. She pressed another button and water came raining from the ceiling. The pad was lighting up and the water was coming out in different colors, much to her surprise. The more buttons she pressed the more water came out; however, it appeared that water came out of every area but the showerhead.

“This is ridiculous,” Amanda muttered, grabbing her shampoo and body wash as she stepped into the waterpark of a shower.

The shower was odd to say the least. She washed herself as quickly as possible and fiddled with several more buttons when she finished, unable to figure out how the shower turned off. She pressed the buttons that she had first pushed, but nothing happened besides changing the speed of the water to a masseuse setting that, if she were honest with herself, felt pretty nice.

She looked around, wondering if there was some sort of instruction manual or something that would help her when she realized, much to her dismay, that there were no towels in the bathroom and she had not packed any with her.

She stood in the shower for a few more moments, beginning to shiver from the cold temperature that the water, that had now turned blue, began to take on. Taking a deep breath and shouldering what dignity she could, she called Buck’s name.

Amanda knew he’d heard it, even if he was downstairs. But, she called again: “Buck, kindly get your ass up here.”

Amanda waited for another few moments before she heard a knock on the bathroom door.

“Is everything okay in there?” came Buck’s voice from the other side of the door.

“No, everything is not okay,” Amanda said through chattering teeth. “Your evil shower is trying to kill me, and who has a shower that has water come out of every orifice but the showerhead? And, who has a bathroom without towels?” she demanded.

“So, what are you saying?” Buck asked, clearly confused, “Do you need a towel or me to come in and turn off the shower?”

Amanda thought it over. “Both?” she said meekly, embarrassed as her whole body flushed at the thought of him seeing her naked so soon.

“Okay,” Buck said, beginning to open the door.

“Wait, no!” Amanda yelled, “Get out!”

“What, what, what is it?” he asked, freaking out. “I thought you wanted my help!”

“Get the towel first you dodo!” she yelled, stepping right into the spray of water as she hid behind the stone of the shower wall.

“Right! Sorry, sorry, so sorry!” Buck said, slamming the door shut. Amanda sighed, placing her head in her hand as she heard footsteps thundering out of her room and down the hallway. A moment later Buck was back at the door, knocking politely.

“Okay, this is how we’re going to do this,” Amanda said loudly, making sure that he heard her clearly, “Open the door just a crack and toss the towel onto the counter. Make sure your eyes are closed tightly and don’t you dare try to catch a peek at me!”

“Alright, alright, calm down,” Buck said, doing as she said.

She remained behind her defense system of the shower wall and listened for the sound of the towel landing on the counter and the door shutting.

“Okay, just stay out there for a second,” Amanda said as she hopped out of the shower and walked quickly to the sink. “Alright, come in,” she said once she had firmly wrapped and secured the towel around her.

“Are you sure?” Buck asked, opening the door cautiously and putting his hand over his eyes as he entered.

Amanda sighed, “Yes, I’m sure, I’m wearing the towel and everything, take your hands away and help me alright?”

“Right, okay,” Buck said, removing his hand and looking around.

“Hey!” Amanda said, noticing where Buck’s eyes had settled, “My eyes are much higher than that and the shower is the only reason you’re in here, you got it?”

“Got it,” Buck said, walking over to the spraying shower and rolling up the sleeve covering his right arm. “Why did you turn on everything at once?” Buck asked, staring at the shower baffled before he turned to focus on the shower panel. “Did you at least read the settings guide?”

“What settings guide? There’s no settings guide,” Amanda said indignantly.

“Yes, there is,” Buck said, amused. “It’s right there.”

Amanda looked to where he was pointing, and, much to her embarrassment, laminated and stuck to the side of the wall next to the shower panel was a small sign with a diagram and labels explaining how to work the shower.

“Well, that’s humiliating,” Amanda muttered, “but, I’ll be sure to read that later, stop laughing and just turn everything off and leave me to get dressed in peace.”

“Fine. I’ll turn off the shower,” Buck said, holding up his hands in compliance, “but you know, you don’t have to send me away, I’ll be as quiet as a church mouse.”

“Not gonna happen, now get to work,” Amanda said, motioning for Buck to turn as he shrugged with a small laugh and turned around to start pressing buttons, one spray of water shutting off after another.

“Voila,” Buck said, gesturing towards the now deactivated shower.

“Why thank you,” Amanda said, shaking her head a bit in embarrassment that she had missed the instructions. “Now please, get out so I can get dressed and we can go.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” Buck said, eyes glancing at Amanda’s wet form, “I can help you get dressed.”

“Out, now,” Amanda said, laughing in spite of herself as Buck jogged out of the room, shutting the door softly behind himself.

Quickly, she dried off, blow-drying her hair out and running a comb through it before she got dressed.

She walked outside, the breath leaving her in a whoosh as she ran straight into a hard chest. She heard a deep chuckle.

“You’re that excited to see me?” Buck asked, hands coming up to rest on her biceps to steady her.

“I wasn’t the one waiting outside of your door all creepy like.”

“I was just coming to knock; now, are you ready?”

Amanda stepped back, eyes running up the very well-dressed man before her and feeling just a tad self-conscious. He wore a nice pair of gray slacks, a lavender button-up and a gray sports jacket. All-in-all, he looked as though he had just stepped out of a men’s clothing magazine.

“Yeah,” she said, swallowing as her eyes scanned him up and down once more, “let’s go.”

Buck took her hand, the warm grip feeling nice to Amanda as he led her down the stairs and out of the house.

“So,” Buck said, as they passed the cars and started walking down the long gravel road, “tell me about yourself.”

Amanda shrugged. “What’s there to tell.”

“Anything, everything; I figure we’ll have to get to know each other rather well if we’re going to get married.”

“Yeah, about that,” Amanda began, “I know you said we could go as slow as I wanted, which I appreciate by the way, but don’t we need to officially get married and everything before whatever treaty thing that you’ve got going on with Carl and my pack is made official?”

Buck sighed, sticking one hand in his pocket and looking up at the sky that was now changing hues to light purples and pinks as the sun moved in the sky.

“I had a feeling that you were going to ask that.”

“Can you blame me?”

He chuckled. “No darlin’, no I certainly can’t. Well, to answer your question, we’re set to go through a formal ceremony at the end of the month. But, Amanda, it’s just a formality. You don’t have to share a room with me, you don’t even have to like me by then.”

Amanda snorted. “I assume that we’ll be expected to consummate the marriage.”

“We will, but one of the perks of being an Alpha is I’m never required to do what’s expected, I just have to make the decisions that are right for the pack. Of course, I’m hoping that we can consummate the marriage in a month’s time, but that’s not a requirement.”

Amanda smirked. “That eager hug?”

Buck flushed, but still kept his wide grin in place. “What can I say? I see a beautiful woman with a cute smile and a great sense of humor and yes, I admit, I do want to have, er, ‘relations’ with her. Wait, wait; that came out wrong. What I mean is, you’re beautiful, and, one day, eventually, it would be nice to see if things get more physical.”

Amanda looked at him, and his flush deepened.

“Wait, I mean, I’m not; that’s not what I mean. I’m not just in this for the physical. Of course, you’re beautiful, but, I also care about the emotional as well. I really do want to get to know you; you seem like a great person. And, oh boy, do you think we could change the subject and go back to the original question? I really would like to get to know you better.”

Amanda laughed, feeling much better now that Buck had seemed to embarrass himself as much as she had earlier.

“Well,” Amanda began, attempting to get Buck’s mind off of his embarrassment, “I’m an only child, I got bitten by a rogue wolf when I was twenty and Carl found me and took me in. Probably saved me from a lot of trouble too. My favorite book is Little Women, my favorite movie is The Matrix, I prefer dogs instead of cats, naturally, my favorite color is green, and, when not being pelted by water on all sides, I like to sing in the shower.”

Buck nodded, staying silent as he took in all the information, storing it in his mind for later use.

“Your turn,” Amanda said, grinning.

“Well, I have a younger brother, he’s in the pack and you’ll probably get to meet him tomorrow. I like to cook, and my blueberry muffins are amazing. My favorite color is blue, my favorite music group is the Beatles, and I used to be a schoolteacher before I got bitten in my twenties and later became an Alpha.”

“Really?” Amanda asked, genuinely interested, “What subject did you teach?”

“Math.”

“Math, really?” Amanda asked, shocked.

“Don’t sound so surprised,” Buck laughed, leaning down to pick up a purple wildflower on the side of the road and handing it to Amanda. “I’m pretty smart.”

Amanda blushed, smelling the flower and sticking it behind her left ear as she began swinging their clasped hands back and forth between them.

“Thank you,” she said, grinning at him. “So, are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“Nope,” Buck grinned, his smile only widening as Amanda rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“Why not?” Amanda pouted, picking up their pace a bit in the hopes of getting there faster. “Another thing you should know about me is I hate surprises.”

“Huh,” Buck chuckled, “I’ll keep that in mind. I probably won’t heed it, but, it’s a good fact to know.”

Finally, upon coming through a clearing of the thick trees that lined either side of the path, they came to a fork in the road, at which they went right. Five minutes later they came to a string of shops and restaurants. Amanda began reading the signs on the store fronts, trying to figure out which one they would be going to. She was so caught up in trying to take it all in that she missed it before Buck suddenly tugged her to the side, sweeping her inside a rather small-looking building that was nestled between two other large buildings.

“What is this place?” Amanda asked as they walked inside, looking around.

The interior was beautiful; it looked like the inside of an Indian palace, with brightly colored drapery and gold chairs. The room smelled delicious, the scent of cinnamon and other spices drifting from the kitchen towards them. There didn’t appear to be anyone else in the restaurant, not even staff. The only signs of life that Amanda could sense were the sounds of bustling people making preparations in the kitchen.

Another fact, that Amanda was a bit embarrassed to have just noticed, was that there was only one table in the entire area. It was a small, round table with a purple table cloth covering it and two gold chairs placed on opposite sides. There was a candle burning in the center and neatly arranged plates with golden silverware on it. On either side of the candle there were four different dishes of delicious smelling food that made Amanda’s stomach grumble with hunger that she hadn’t realized that she had until now.

“Shall we?” Buck asked, gesturing to the table.

“Where is everyone?” Amanda asked as he led her forward, thanking him as he pulled her chair out for her and helped her pull it in to the table once she sat.

“Gone; there’s just one chef in the back. He’s a good friend, and the best cook I know. I rented the place out for the night; I wanted to get to know you one-on-one first. I hope that’s okay.”

Amanda smiled, taking the swan-shaped napkin off of her plate and unfolding it, placing in her lap.