by Bonnie Dee
A dash of cold water in the face broke his lust trance. He gasped, and his eyes flew open.
Ava’s eyes were half-lidded, drowsy with desire. She was sexy as hell, water-soaked and sensual in her little blue bathing suit.
“Do you want to…?” he asked.
In answer, she took his hand and led him toward the shore. As they emerged from the heated water, a chill breeze cooled his skin and his libido. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” She glanced at him. “Are you?”
“Hell, yeah. But I wasn’t sure how you felt about having a fling. You know I’m not going to be around here more than a few months. I want to be clear about that.” Good, Mason. Way to put a damper on the moment.
“I realize.” Her tone was curt, though she didn’t let go of his hand as they squelched through the mud and onto the shore. “I don’t care. You’re not the only one with needs.”
“Okay.” He smiled to put an end to the discussion.
Together they spread the blanket she’d brought in the shelter of some boulders and giant ferns. A little privacy if someone else should approach this spot.
If there was any doubt Ava had come today with sex in mind, it was banished when she produced a box of condoms from her backpack. The mere sight of them, and the intention they implied, made his cock harder, his desire hotter. They fell to their knees on the blanket, facing each other, hands touching every bit of exposed skin possible, then sliding under material to touch more.
The taste and texture of Ava’s mouth filled his senses as he kissed her. He lost all knowledge of himself as a separate being and felt them becoming a single entity. This was sort of the way he felt when power flowed from him into whomever he was healing, a blurring of lines between where one began and the other ended. Except, this wasn’t all him giving and her taking, but an equal exchange of energy. Energy that grew stronger by the second.
Mason removed his shorts, struggling to get the soaked material down his hips and off his legs. He stumbled over the shorts and kicked them aside, while watching Ava peel off her wet swimsuit. Beautiful round breasts and full hips. A sweet triangle of hair marking her pussy. Plump legs and soft knees I’d like to kiss. That was all he had time to note about her nude body before he dragged her to him again.
Their damp skin didn’t slide well as their bodies rubbed together, but the sensation of warm flesh against his was blissful. Endorphins shot through him like fireworks sparks, igniting kindling deep inside him he didn’t know was stored there
They pulled apart long enough for Ava to roll a condom on him. The sight of her hands doing that intimate act—hands he’d watched do mundane things like wiping tables or serving food or steering a car—seemed incredibly erotic. Her touch on his aching erection forced him to draw a calming breath to steady himself so he wouldn’t come right in her hands.
Ava stretched out on the picnic blanket, and he moved onto her, cradled between her legs. Although billions of couples since the beginning of time had lain exactly this way, it felt brand-new, as if they’d discovered some exciting activity no one in the history of the world had ever imagined.
Mason guided his cock to her entrance. As he pushed inside, he felt it again—that same weird buzzing as when their gazes had locked across the restaurant, the same feeling as when he’d touched her bare arm that time—only amplified.
When he looked into Ava’s face, he saw a mirror image of the sense of wonder and shock he felt. Her eyes glowed and her lips parted as she whispered, “This is…”
“Yes.” An indescribable emotion surged through him, not just the weird energy passing between them, but a sense of something like coming home. And they’d barely even begun to slide together.
As Mason moved in and out, the friction built and so did the intensity of the baffling emotions. This must be because of Ava—a woman he barely knew but with whom he’d felt an almost instant connection. Such strong feelings could only spell trouble.
Shoving aside his fears, Mason concentrated on penetrating Ava with a long, slow glide that made her gasp. Then out—a wonderful friction against the tender skin of his cock. Back in again as he bent to kiss her panting mouth. And out—her hips rose with him as if she were reluctant to let him go.
She slid her palm down the length of his spine to settle at the small of his back, and hooked her legs around the backs of his thighs so he could push even deeper.
Mason thrust as slowly as he could, trying to make these amazing moments last, but it was hard to keep control, when his body demanded he rush faster, push deeper. He was so focused on holding himself back that it took him by surprise when Ava began to shudder beneath him. She groaned and her hips bucked as she climaxed, so soon and so easily she must be in as much need as he was.
Mason let go then, pumping hard and wild. The rush of blood pounding through his body and a paroxysm of pleasure seized him. He gave a loud, guttural groan he barely recognized as his own.
When the last shred of ecstasy had blown away like the tattered threads of an old flag, Mason came back to himself. He’d collapsed on top of Ava, her arms and legs binding him to her. That strange sensation of belonging still filled him, as if this moment with this woman was something he’d been searching for all his life. Crazy that he’d wasted several precious weeks barely talking to her when this had been waiting for him.
But what was “this”? Maybe just some really good sex. He didn’t really know her, and she sure as hell didn’t know him, not the secret part of him, and he’d like to make sure she never did.
Mason pushed up on his arms so he could look into her face. “Okay?”
A slow, sly smile brought a sparkle to her eyes. “More than.”
“I guess we both needed that.” He rolled to his back and lay beside her, an arm flung casually above his head. Cool. Nonchalant. Not as if it had been anything more than a release of stress.
“Too long without,” Ava said.
“Yeah?” He glanced at her, wondering about her sexual past but not wanting to pry.
Her hands rested just above her breasts, which were rising and falling as she regained her breath. “I’ve had a few boyfriends, but nothing recently and never anything serious.” She smiled. “Not like my huge crush on Connor Blakewell back in middle school, and that was just daydreaming from afar. You’d think actually having sex with a guy would form a deeper connection, but that’s not always true.”
Was she giving him a message, letting him know she was taking this lightly and he should too? It wasn’t exactly what he’d expected.
“That didn’t come out right,” she amended. “I don’t mean I’ve never felt anything with the men I’ve been with, but nothing ever made me ache like that first crush did. I thought I was really in love.”
Mason looked away from her, up to the blue sky and tree branches above them. “Maybe you were. People dismiss kids’ feelings, but when we’re young, we’re more open. Things hit hard. They’re raw and intense. We have no barrier to protect us yet.”
Ava shook her head. “I never even talked to Connor Blakewell. I don’t think it was true love. Anyway, remembering that crush is embarrassing.”
“It shouldn’t be. We’ve all had a perfect someone who didn’t work out.”
“Did that happen to you?” She turned her head on the blanket to look at him.
He nodded, not wanting to talk about Samantha even after all this time. He sat up and peeled off the used condom. “Are you hungry yet?”
She reached for her bathing suit. “I wouldn’t mind one of those beers. They should be cold by now.”
As he dressed in his clammy shorts, Mason watched Ava struggle into her wet swimsuit. Her breasts jiggled with the effort, managing to start his cock stirring again. He considered interrupting her efforts to dress by sucking on her erect nipples, but she’d already covered them with that damned bathing suit that concealed way too much skin.
After they were both dressed and had a beer in hand, they waded into the hot
springs again and found comfortable places to sit. The heated water lapped around Mason’s body, and his muscles melted like candle wax. He slouched into the amazing heat. Even more amazing was the fact he was sitting here with Ava. It was like he hadn’t seen her clearly before, but now she was sharply in focus. He could scarcely drag his gaze from her face.
“How’s Bryan doing?” he asked.
“Okay. I think he’s happier, but I’m not sure. He doesn’t talk to me these days.”
“Because you’re his sister.” He paused, then prodded gently. “Your mom isn’t much help with him?”
Ava shrugged, beads of water rolling off her smooth, round shoulders, mesmerizing him. “She isn’t much help with anything. She drinks, and she’s on prescription drugs that keep her pretty out of it. I think she’d sleep her life away if she could.”
“Sorry. That’s tough.” This was the tip of a family iceberg it wasn’t his business to bump into.
But he didn’t have to pry. Ava suddenly began to talk as she turned the beer bottle slowly in her hand.
“It started after my dad died. Bryan was two. I was fourteen. Mom couldn’t cope. She’d barely adjusted to Bryan having muscular dystrophy, and she was left to handle him and our family finances all alone.”
“Except she wasn’t alone. She had you to lean on, and she’s been relying on you ever since.”
“That’s about it.”
Mason studied her face, closed off and thoughtful as she stared at the label on the bottle. She would have been really young when she’d started being the family caretaker. “I think you’re doing a really good job raising your brother. Bad moods aside, he seems like a great kid. You can be proud of what you’ve done for him.”
He wished he could offer more than encouragement. He wished he could take on some of her burden. But that was the one thing he couldn’t do. He didn’t have that much to give.
Ava looked up at the tree branches shaking violently in a passing breeze. “Weather’s changing.”
Mason sank deeper into the hot water as the breeze chilled his shoulders. “Fall in the mountains must get pretty cold.”
“And rainy, then snowy before you know it.” Ava had set her beer on a rock, and now she rested the palms of her hands flat on the surface of the water. “Do you think you’ll stick around for winter?”
“Got no place I need to be.” And a real good reason to stay, for now, at least.
A small smile played at the corners of her mouth. He wanted to lunge forward and kiss it. “I can teach you to cross-country ski if you want.”
“Sounds like fun.”
Mason couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so relaxed and content, comfortable and unburdened. Whether it was from the minerals springs or from being with Ava, he didn’t know, but he wanted this feeling to continue. Winter in Waller sounded perfect to him.
Chapter Nine
Ava’s mom came up behind her as she was brushing her hair into a ponytail before work. Their eyes met in the bathroom mirror. Mom’s were clear for a change. Somebody was home inside. “You look happy. Have a fun date?”
“How’d you know about that?”
“Bryan. He said you’ve been seeing this guy from work. Martin?”
“Mason.” Ava snapped the elastic band in place and dropped her gaze as she put the brush in a drawer. “I don’t know about ‘seeing.’ We went to the fair and then hiking. He doesn’t know anybody here. I just showed him some local spots.”
Why did she feel she had to downplay her friendship with Mason, if that was what it was? Maybe because they hadn’t claimed to be dating, or maybe because her mom so rarely expressed an interest in anything Ava did. It was unsettling to have her suddenly play the role of caring mother.
A teasing smile curved Mom’s lips, and years dropped away from her face. “Is he cute?”
“I guess.” Ava slammed the sticking drawer and pushed past her mom to get out of the tiny room. “But it doesn’t matter. We’re just friends.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Her knowing tone and smile annoyed Ava even more. She didn’t want teasing or judging or any other sort of input from her mother. She sure as hell didn’t want the advice that came next.
“Just be careful. You’re taking precautions, I assume.”
“Stop it, Mom. I’m twenty-four years old. I don’t need a talk about birth control at this late date.”
“No. Of course not. You’re a grown woman. I forget that sometimes.” Mom trailed after Ava as she fled to the front hall and grabbed up her coat. “But if you ever want to talk, I’m here, and I’d love to listen.”
“Sure. Thanks.” Ava hurried out the door and shut it gratefully behind her.
*
The prospect of starting a shift at the diner had never filled her with this much excitement. Work was less of a chore when there was someone she wanted to see there. As she walked to the Cozy Café, she replayed the previous day’s date; making love in the tall green grass just like in that old pop song, then plunging into the delicious hot springs. The place had been a haven for two, a real dream date.
The intensity of their coming together—surely it hadn’t been only she who had felt it, something heavy and deep stirring underneath the surface and slowly rising to the top. A sea monster of breathless, heart-stopping feelings bubbling inside her. An energy that shot back and forth between them.
In case it was just her, Ava had played it casual afterward, right up until Mason kissed her good-bye at her front door, for a good fifteen minutes! She’d floated blissfully through the rest of the evening and watched one of those CSI shows with Bryan, even though she disliked them, because it was his favorite.
In the morning, she rose half an hour early because she was too wired to sleep any longer. All the symptoms of a mega-crush were present, which was pretty scary. It was a short step from going crazy over some guy to suffering a broken heart. But Ava couldn’t deny the way she felt. Even her mom had noticed a change in her.
At work, Stella Rae greeted her with a frown and an order to fill the salt and pepper shakers. “Somebody didn’t do it last night,” Stella growled. “That Fran is a useless flibbertigibbet. Sooner she takes herself off out of here, the better.”
“Leaving only the two of us to work while Deb drags her heels on hiring somebody new,” Ava pointed out. “Frannie’s okay.”
Besides, she’d miss her friend if Frannie actually moved away. Ava had badly wanted to call Frannie last night and talk about her date. But it was too new. She and Mason hadn’t even figured out what they were to each other, so she couldn’t tell Frannie yet. Good thing Frannie wasn’t working today or she’d have guessed something was up with Ava and dragged it out of her.
Mason wasn’t coming in until later that afternoon, so Ava swallowed down her impatience to see him. She zipped through her opening chores and the breakfast rush.
As he filled orders, Nash didn’t say good morning to Ava, which was completely out of character for the gruff but friendly cook. When there was a midmorning lull, Ava approached him in the alley where he was having a smoke.
Ava leaned against the wall beside him. “Hey, what’s up? You don’t seem like yourself today.”
Nash released a plume of smoke from between his teeth, dropped the cigarette butt, and ground it under one heel “Nothing’s wrong, and that’s what’s buggin’ me. Not a single burn. Except I felt it, searing pain like meat on a grill. My skin was red and blistered, then Mason touched me, and it wasn’t.” He looked at Ava, his bushy brows knitted into one long caterpillar over his eyes. “I been trying to figure out a way to make it make sense. But the fact is, when he touched me, I felt something like cool water go through me. It put out the heat, took away the pain.”
“You believe Mason healed you.” Ava tried to muster surprise or ridicule for his belief but couldn’t manage either. What Nash suggested fit with what she’d seen in the kitchen that day. Not to mention the strange sensation she’d felt several
times in Mason’s presence. He had some sort of special power. Goose bumps rose on her bare arms, and she rubbed them.
Nash took out his pack of cigarettes but didn’t light another. “So I went on the Internet and typed in his name, just to see if I could find anything.”
“You did an Internet search?” Ava was possibly more shocked that Nash knew how to use a computer than she was at the thought of Mason having healing powers.
He scowled. “I’m not a caveman. I ain’t no expert on doing background checks or anything, but Mason Reed’s name popped up right away.”
“You’re sure it was him and not somebody else with the same name?” Suddenly she didn’t want to know what Nash had learned. No good came from poking around in people’s private business. If there was something to know about Mason, she wanted to hear it directly from him.
Nash put the cigarettes away. “Come on. I’ll show you. Picture’s worth a thousand words.”
He led her to Deb’s tiny office wedged between the kitchen and storage room. It was the size of a closet with just enough room for a desk on which sat a bulky old computer. Firing the thing up and navigating to Youtube took a full two minutes.
Nash leaned over the keyboard and pecked out Mason’s name with his big fingers. A couple of videos came up. One of them was labeled “Miracle Man Mason Reed.” Another read “Revival Healer For Real.”
Nash clicked on the first clip, and the wait began. Between the ancient computer and the bad Internet connection, it was going to take a long time to load.
Stella Rae knocked on the door. “What are you two doin’ in here?”
“Just a minute,” Nash bellowed, then he spoke to Ava in a quieter voice. “Check it out later. Some crazy stuff. I think we got some sorta saint here.”
Revival healer. Miracle man. Saint. The labels whirled through Ava’s mind as she worked on autopilot, taking orders and delivering food. Stella Rae’s detailed description of the varicose vein surgery she was about to have went in one ear and out the other as Ava thought about Mason. How would she act when she saw him again, pretend everything was normal, or admit that she’d knew something about his history?
