Free Misunderstanding Mason by Claire Ashgrove Page A

Too quiet to keep her gaze from straying out the kitchen window to
the house she’d left behind. What was he doing? Working on Lisa’s project?
Hashing out something new for Gamesquare?
    Missing her
as much as she missed him?
    For the third
time in less than an hour, her phone sang. Annoyed he couldn’t take the hint,
Kirstin glared at the LCD, only to find a number she didn’t recognize staring
back. Crap! She hadn’t even considered her clients.
    Hurrying to
answer before voicemail could, she jabbed her thumb on the connect key.
“Hello?”
    “May I speak
with Kirstin Jones?” a smooth as silk masculine baritone rumbled in her ear.
    Kirstin took
a startled step away from the kitchen window. Wow. “Speaking.”
    “This is
Steve Whitmore. I don’t know if you remember me, but we’ve met a few times at
Gamesquare launches.”
    A vivid image
of a muscular blond with a Hollywood-white smile and dark copper skin leapt
into her head. Oh yeah. She remembered Steve—along with the way he stood just a
little too close when Mason accepted his award at the SIGGRAPH convention last
fall. The too-intimate, too-uncomfortable, way he set his hand in the small of
her back to escort her to the table when the General Manager of Pixar cornered
Mason afterward. How in the world had Steve found her number?
    “Hi, Steve.
What can I do for you?”
    “It seems we
have a mutual acquaintance—other than Mason.”
    “Oh?” Kirstin
meandered to the washing machine and dumped her clothes inside.
    “Lisa Bennet.
I just got off the phone with her.”
    The heavy
metal washing machine lid thumped closed. Kirstin lingered at the dials,
curiosity piqued.
    “She
mentioned the project you’re doing for her, and that you’d had to outsource
some development needs.” Leather squeaked on the other end of the line. “I’ve
known Lisa a long time—I’d be happy to save you the trouble.” He paused, then
added with emphasis, “And Lisa the cost.”
    Kirstin
frowned at the cycle selector. That didn’t make sense. If Lisa knew Steve, why
didn’t she just hire him? At this point, Kirstin would be happy to let the
project go, money or not. Working with Mason was just too difficult. And if
Lisa had phoned to hire her, someone else would eventually too.
    “I’m sorry,
I’m not following.” She flipped the dial and turned the machine on. “Are you
saying you’d like to take the project off my hands?”
    “No, no.” His
husky chuckle sent an unpleasant ripple down her spine.
    “Then why are
you calling? Mason is doing my development. We’ll be finished with the project
in a week or so.” Pushing the laundry room door open, she stepped back into the
kitchen and went to the fridge for an orange.
    “I, ah…”
Leather squeaked again. “I don’t mean to pry, but Lisa mentioned you and Mason
split. I thought, maybe, you’d like to get away from that awkward situation.”
    Bent over at
the crisper drawer, Kirstin shot upright, smacking her head on the butter tray
in the door. She pressed a hand to the back of her head and winced. Oh, holy
hell. Mason was going to kill her. This was exactly what he didn’t want to
confront tonight—word spreading through Gamesquare that their relationship had
come to an end. Goddamn her.
    “Ah… Well…”
she fumbled.
    “I’d do it
gratis. I’ve been in the position of having to establish myself—I’m even
willing to offer some additional work, if you’re interested.”
    “I…Wow.” She
swallowed. Fire Mason and work with Steve? Talk about a situation even more
awkward than the current one. But the extra work was damn tempting.
    Kirstin
closed the refrigerator. “I’m sure you can appreciate this is a surprise,
Steve. I need some time to think about it.”
    “Sure, sure.
Take all the time you need.”
    She glanced
out the window again and spied Mason exiting the patio door, barefoot,
newspaper in hand, along with a mug of coffee. Her heart lurched, her pulse
kicked up a notch. She