All She Dreamed

All She Dreamed
 All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2023 Rhonda McKnight
 This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the story a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places and incidents is entirely coincidental.
 This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
 Table of Contents
 Copyright Page
 All She Dreamed
 Dedication
 Prologue
 Chapter 1
 Chapter 2
 Chapter 3
 Chapter 4
 Chapter 5
 Chapter 6
 Chapter 7
 Chapter 8
 Chapter 9
 Chapter 10
 Chapter 11
 Chapter 12
 Chapter 13
 Chapter 14
 Chapter 15
 Chapter 16
 Chapter 17
 Chapter 18
 Chapter 19
 Chapter 20
 Chapter 21
 Chapter 22
 Chapter 23
 Chapter 24
 Chapter 25
 Epilogue
 What’s Next...
 Other stories in the Bennett Family series.
 About the Author
 All She Dreamed
 Rhonda McKnight
 Dedication
 
 For Sherri Lewis. I pray you have all you’ve dreamed for! 
 Prologue
 
 Labor Day – Forest Hills, Georgia
 ––––––––
 SIENNA WAS LIVING HER best life, walking around the park in a gorgeous, white linen, Betsey Johnson sundress like she owned the grass, the trees, and all the other landscaping. She was wearing white because it was Labor Day, and tomorrow, her favorite color, if you could call white a color, was off limits—save for the winter versions. She was looking good and feeling good and enjoying the success of the event she’d planned until he arrived. 
 Mason “who the heck is this guy really” Jones was in Forest Hills again. She’d barely escaped his visit on the Fourth of July. She imagined Labor Day was right up his alley because he’d put in work in the gym to look good in that slick running suit he was bulging out of. 
 She raised her Dolce frames and fanned herself. Lord, why did You have to make him so fine?
 She thought looking at him from a distance was all she’d be doing today. That was until Mayor Jackson Bennett wrote her name next to Mason’s on the whiteboard. She’d been paired with him for the games. 
 Oh, heck no! 
 She hadn’t even signed up. She wasn’t going to spend the day with him as her partner. She wasn’t getting in a potato sack with him or rolling eggs or doing any of the activities that required her to get close to All That Man. 
 That’s what she thought, but she couldn’t escape him. Not when the mayor said, “Come on, Sienna, this event was your idea. He signed up late and there’s no one to match him with. Show some leadership. Be a good sport.” 
 Hours later, Mason popped a blanket and put it on the ground. After helping her down, Sienna stretched out her long legs. She inspected the trunk for bugs, when she decided nothing was there that would eat her, she leaned back against the tree. She and Mason had just finished playing balloon darts. “You’re good at all this stuff.”
 Mason’s perfect white teeth gleamed against the backdrop of the sun. “I’m outdoorsy.”
 “Hmmm,” Sienna grunted. “You know you never did tell me how you know the Bennetts.”
 Mason chuckled. He rolled over on his back. “Why are you so curious about that?”
 “Because they’re married to my sisters.”
 “Then we have that in common. My sister has a relationship with them too.” 
 Sienna peered at him. “You alluded to being a former employee before.”
 “Nooo...” Mason stretched the word. “I wouldn’t have said that.”
 “You did. I asked you at the wedding reception.” 
 “Well, even if I worked for Bennett International at some point, that wouldn’t mean I have a relationship with them.”
 “So it’s complicated?” she asked, rolling her neck back. 
 Mason pushed himself up on his side and reached into their assigned picnic basket. “It’s not. It’s simple. I don’t know them, and they don’t know me.” He pulled out a slip of paper with the words written for their next assignment. “We have to build a house out of cards.”
 Sienna squinted. “Are you any good at that?” 
 Mason got on his knees and then in a squatting position and pushed up. He extended his arm and opened his palm to her. “I have steady hands.”
 Sienna’s heart beat double time. She had a feeling he wasn’t exaggerating about that. She allowed his fingers to close around hers. He tugged her up. “Let’s go see how steady you are.”
 They gathered their things and walked to the recreation center where the inside games were happening. After taking a seat at one of the tables, Mason opened the new deck of cards and shuffled them. 
 “You don’t have to shuffle the cards. We’re not playing Bid Whist,” Sienna said. 
 “What do you know about Bid Whist?”
 “Everything. I’m Black.”
 Mason chuckled. “My aunt loves that game. She taught my sister and I how to play.” He slapped a card on his forehead. 
 Sienna couldn’t resist being amused by that. She reached for the rest of the deck. She split it in two. “What’s our strategy, genius?”
 Mason removed the card from his head and added it to his half of the deck. “I don’t know. I have steady hands, but I suck at building card houses.”
 Sienna smiled at him curiously. She appreciated his honesty. Most men liked to pretend they were good at everything. She teased, “Finally, something I do better than him.”
 He shrugged. “You do other things better than me.”
 “Oh yeah, what have you observed?”
 “You’re good with people.”
 “My job.”
 “Has to be natural. You can’t learn that skill. Not the way you deliver.”
 Sienna fought blushing. “Feed my ego.