“Hmm?”
I couldn’t find words. All I knew was that I needed him. My hands went to the buttons on his shirt, fumbling in my haste.
The corner of his mouth kicked up. “In a hurry?”
I nodded, tugging his shirt off those broad shoulders. Skin lightly tanned from the sun stretched tautly over lean muscles. My fingers itched to explore all of it. Instead, they moved to the button on his jeans. Mason chuckled as I got frustrated with his zipper. He finally took pity on me and shucked the jeans himself. His boxer briefs, too.
And then…there he was. So gorgeous it almost hurt to look at him. And this man wanted to be mine.
Mason’s fingers hooked in the sides of my lace thong, slowly tugging the panties down my legs. The drag of his knuckles against my skin pulled that cord within me impossibly tighter. As if it would only take one slight movement to have me breaking apart.
He knelt on the floor, looking up at me through hooded eyes. I felt so exposed, bare but for my bra, but at the same time, so incredibly safe. Mason trailed a finger down my center, and I let out a soft moan.
As he rose, his exploration continued. Teasing and taking all the time in the world. My head fell forward against his chest as my fingers wrapped around his shaft. My strokes were almost lazy when I felt anything but.
Mason hissed out a breath as I hit an especially sensitive spot. “Anna,” he growled.
I raised my head, meeting his gaze but still stroking. “Yes?”
“You are going to kill me.”
“But it’ll be a damn good way to go.”
He moved so fast, I barely had time to blink before I was in the air and landing on the bed with a whoosh. The movement startled a laugh out of me.
“You keep laughing that you’re my undoing.”
The look on his face, the intensity in his gaze, stole the laughter from my tongue. “You’re mine, too.”
He stalked towards me, then paused. “Shit. Condom.”
“I’m on the pill. And I have a clean bill of health. It’s been a long—”
Mason cut off my words with a kiss, leaning over me and letting me feel all of him against me. “I’m clean. And it’s been a while for me, too. Are you sure?”
I nodded. I didn’t want anything between us—nothing to steal even the slightest sensation.
Mason’s tip bumped against my entrance, and then he was pushing inside. I inhaled sharply, trying to adjust to his size. He stilled, lowering one bra strap and then the other, his fingers circling my nipples, turning the bite of pain into heat. “You okay?”
“More, please.” I rocked my hips against him to punctuate my request.
Together, we found our rhythm. The back and forth, give and take. The gentle movements became more desperate as if we both needed to burn ourselves into the other’s bones. To leave no question that we had been there.
That hint of feral need broke the last tether I had to control. I gave in and let myself go for the first time in over a decade. I lost myself in Mason, his touch and the thing that would only ever be ours.
I arched against him as my nails dug into his back. Mason thrust impossibly deeper, and I fractured. Lights flickered across my vision, but I never lost sight of him as I came apart. And I vowed I never would.
33
Anna
Mason linkedhis fingers with mine, stopping my fidgeting. “You’re going to do great.”
I was glad he was confident, but I wasn’t quite there. Between facing my parents and opening myself up to a cross-examination from their lawyer, my insides were tied into knots. “We’re the final two people to testify. I want our case to finish strong.” And I didn’t want to be the reason it failed.
Keisha had done a good job of giving us an update each day, but she’d also said that she didn’t have a read on the judge. As our social worker testified, he had been stoic. And, unfortunately, my father and mother had apparently been convincing on the stand. Keisha hadn’t been able to trick my father into exploding. I just had to hope the judge would put the most weight on where Justin and Lyla wanted to be.
Mason swept his thumb back and forth across my hand. “You practiced with Keisha. You know what to expect from Paisley. You’re ready.”
