Jocelyn paced the grand living room of her luxurious home in Kingston Heights in the west hills of Portland. It had been three days since her birthday, three days since she had enjoyed an adventure with a strange man, and three days since Mason had kissed her. On the cheek, she reminded herself. The cheek was a platonic place…wasn’t it? She’d been to many formal events where she had been greeted by a hug and light kiss on the cheek.
Jocelyn had been able to ignore the memory, until now. She re-read the text message for the fifth time.
Mason: Hey Joss. I’m working tonight and it’s dead. Come see me. Plz!
Jocelyn was on unfamiliar territory. She’d told her best friend, Taylin, about the whole night, and she was no help.
“You did what!” Taylin’s voice screeched over the phone.
“He was nice. And I was game for a little adventure,” Jocelyn defended. “It was nothing really. I just wanted to tell you about what I saw downtown. You and I should really go sometime. I think you’d like it.”
“Umm. I think I’ll pass on that. But I am glad you had a good time,” she said softer now. “But tell me, just how good of a time did you have?”
“What?” Jocelyn asked, taken aback by the bold question.
Out of everyone, Taylin knew her the best. They’d been friends for ten years. She’d been Jocelyn’s rock when Cliff passed away. And while Taylin wasn’t always the voice of reason, she was a comforting voice…most of the time.
“You know… Did you get laid?”
“Taylin! Of course not!”
“Why the hell not? It sounds like he’s into you. What guy does something like that just to be nice? And it might just be what you need to get out of your funk.”
Jocelyn’s feelings were hurt by the comment about being in a funk. She hadn’t been with a man since Cliff, but it was out of respect. And the fact that she didn’t really know how to go about dating. Besides, the idea of dating hadn’t held the same appeal as it might have once. Jocelyn was at a crossroads; she couldn’t go back, but she didn’t know how to move forward, so she chose to ignore the comment.
“Are you saying that he was expecting to get laid?”
“Well…”
“Well nothing. It wasn’t like that. He was bored, and I needed a distraction.” Jocelyn defended the innocent encounter.
“You’re out with a hot guy, a gentleman even, and you don’t consider going home with him? I guess you can lie to me if you want, but lying to yourself is just dumb.”
She wasn’t lying to herself. He was attractive, but the idea of going home with him hadn’t crossed her mind. The soft kiss on her cheek, however, had caused her to press her thighs together to extinguish a warmth in her core. It had been so long since she’d felt a man’s touch that her body couldn’t help but react.
“You’re no help,” Jocelyn said. “I just called to tell you about the scene in Portland.”
“Fine. Fine. I’ll consider going down there with you sometime. But if he calls you, I think you should take advantage of the opportunity for a nice…evening.”
“Stop it!”
“I need to live vicariously through someone. I haven’t had sex in months.”
That was news to Jocelyn. Taylin had been married for years, decades, to a man who was good friends with her late husband.
“Wanna talk about it?”
“No. It’s fine.”
“Really?” Jocelyn pushed.
“I wanna know the minute he calls you again!” Taylin changed the subject.
“Sure. We’ll talk soon, maybe lunch this week?”
“Sounds great. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Jocelyn hung up the phone more confused than she had been before the call. But then again, she might have gotten different advice had she told Taylin about Mason’s age.
Pacing the room as the conversation faded from her mind, she stopped to look at the time on her cellphone—5:30. She shook her head, scoffing at herself, at her life. She knew what this night held: reality TV, wine, and bed by ten PM. This was not the life Jocelyn wanted or had expected for herself. She wanted adventure and excitement but had no clue how to go about obtaining either. At this rate, she might as well buy some cats and submit to a life as a sad recluse. Plopping down on the sofa, she covered her face at the thought.
Taking a deep breath and exhaling loudly, Jocelyn sat up straight. I can’t stay here anymore. A step forward, even in the wrong direction, is still a step forward! What the hell. Mason, here I come!
* * * *
An hour and a half later Jocelyn stood outside the bar entrance of The Viggo, trying to control the rapid beating of her heart, feeling foolish for being so nervous. She was essentially meeting a friend for a drink. That was nothing out of the norm, or so she tried to convince herself.
What was really making her nervous was Mason. Jocelyn had met friends for drinks, but never male friends, not without her husband. Meeting a man for a drink gave the impression of a date, at least to onlookers.
She might not be interested in pursuing him, but there was no denying that Mason was handsome, charming, and gentle. She enjoyed the attention he had given her, but she didn’t know how to act around him. They’d thrown the word friend around, but she didn’t really know much about him. That’s the adventurous part, she reminded herself.
Jocelyn took a deep breath, trying to compose herself before walking into the bar. She considered letting Mason serve her another shot of tequila, hoping it might calm her nerves. Looking around the bar, she relaxed a bit. Mason wasn’t kidding when he said it was a slow night. A few couples sat in booths, but other than that, the place was dead.
Quietly taking a seat at the bar, she watched Mason talking at the far end with a fair-haired man. Waiting patiently, she unloaded her bag onto the bar. She’d brought the photography book again, thinking it might be fun to look through and give them something to talk about.
Really, what can you have in common with a twenty-seven-year-old? Taylin had ideas about what Jocelyn could have in common with him, and that scared the hell out of her. And it was something that couldn’t be farther from her mind.
Company was nice, not feeling so alone and desperate, that’s what he was giving her. And while she felt like she should be embarrassed by that thought, she couldn’t risk wasting any more of her days in fear.
“Joss, you made it!” Mason’s cheerful words startled her out of her thoughts.
“Of course.” She smiled at him. What was she supposed to say to that? She nodded over at the man Mason had been talking to. “It looks like you have a chatty customer, so at least you had some company.”
“Ha. No, that’s just Preston, my business partner. The restaurant’s pretty dead for a Friday night, and we’re trying to figure out if there’s a potential for a big rush later tonight. It’s hard to say with all the events they have going on down at the riverfront park.”
“Business partner?” Jocelyn was surprised they hadn’t discussed that aspect of their lives. But really, she hadn’t asked much about him, other than to enquire if he had a girlfriend, and all she shared was a brief bit about her husband. Honestly, she hadn’t considered actually becoming friends with him, so the thought to even go there was moot.
“Yeah. Technically, we own this place together, but he runs the restaurant side and I run the bar,” Mason said casually as he shuffled behind the counter, mixing up her usual, setting the fruity cocktail before her.
“Thank you. And you still work the bar?” Jocelyn was shocked. She didn’t know any business owners who would take on such a lowly role at their own business. Sure, a manager or checking in on the staff, but not serving customers.
“I like it. I like people, and what else would I do, sit at home? I pick my hours, it’s nice.” Mason leaned on the bar and winked at her. “I got to meet you, so that’s worth it.”
Jocelyn’s heart skipped, and she felt the heat spread on her cheeks. She didn’t know how to respond.
“Yes. I’m glad we met,” she decided after a moment.
He was an interesting character, quite unlike anyone she had met. It was easy to assume he didn’t run in the same circles she did, even though he was a business owner.
“So, Joss. What do you do for a living?”
She couldn’t help but snicker at the question. It was a good question. Her friends wouldn’t bat an eyelash at her life and how she lived. They all lived the same way. Housekeepers and maids, never wanting for anything. Hobbies that included fundraisers, gala events, travel, and shopping. Some might find it thrilling, but they were all obligations. She married into this life, and while content, she was quite bored.
“Frankly, I don’t do anything,” she said with a coy smile before pulling the sugar-coated martini glass to her lips, finishing it in one gulp. “I was married for seventeen years to a very wealthy man. Being a wife was my job. And now…”
Jocelyn paused. Reflecting on her life was something that had been weighing on her. She had been with Cliff since she was twenty, and now she wasn’t sure who she was without him.
“Now I’m trying to figure out how to live. I guess?” She laughed again. “How shallow does that sound?” Desperately wanting to change the subject, Jocelyn lifted her glass. “I’d love another.”
The ever-polite Mason didn’t question her or push her for answers as he brought her a new cocktail. Jocelyn enjoyed how easy it was to be around him. She just was around him. Nothing more, nothing less. He didn’t have expectations of her like her friends. She wasn’t expected to talk or act a certain way. Jocelyn felt as if a weight had been lifted, but that could have been the cocktail.
“All right, Joss. I’m off in an hour. You up for another adventure?” Mason’s blue eyes sparkled with genuine excitement. She had wondered if he’d taken pity on her the first time, since she had been spending her birthday alone. But surely tonight this wasn’t pity. And she’d shown up for a reason.
“Sounds fantastic!”
“Do you have a camera with you by chance?”
“In the car. Why?”
Mason raised his eyebrows, flashing a smile. “Tonight, I show you places you’ve never seen.”
She rolled her eyes at the goofy smile on his face and leaned across the bar. “I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but that isn’t hard to do.”
“What?” He pretended to be offended. “Are you saying I need to up my game?”
Jocelyn giggled at him and shook her head. “You know what, Mason, you’re a good kid. I think I’m glad we’re friends.”
Her eyes widened with trepidation as the happy-go-lucky expression on Mason’s face vanished. When his eyes locked on hers, she didn’t know what to expect. She looked around the bar, hoping that she hadn’t caused a scene.
“Jocelyn.” Mason’s tone was hard as he leaned in, his face inches from hers. “I’m not a kid. I haven’t been a kid for many years. I’m a consenting adult, just like you.”
Jocelyn’s mouth went dry as she watched Mason gaze down at her lips and then look back up at her eyes. Her body was reacting in a way she should have expected but was caught off guard by. She was aware of the heavy rise and fall of her breasts, and her sensitive nipples hardening against the fitted bodice of her dress. She pressed her thighs together to try to ease the heat rising from a place that hadn’t had a man’s touch in what felt like ages.
“What are we consenting to?” she asked in a low, breathy tone.
Mason shook his head and straightened up, moving around the bar and setting two shot glasses down. “You’re agreeing to have a shot with me, and then to having another adventure.”
Jocelyn couldn’t make herself look at Mason. She was embarrassed by her reaction, and hoped that he hadn’t noticed. But she couldn’t help but wonder if that was how women normally responded to him.
Deciding she couldn’t let him get to her, she took the shot glass in front of her and held it up. “To new adventures!” she toasted, clinking their glasses together.
She sighed inwardly, pausing before taking the shot of caramel colored liquor. Mason Kopp, you are my adventure, and a dangerous one at that.