by Holly Renee
She looked at me over her shoulder, standing there in nothing but a pair of tiny black panties, and every damn ounce of the alcohol left my body. It seemed that there was nothing clouding my mind at that moment except for her.
I felt sober yet staggering drunk at the same time. Intoxicated on her.
She grinned as she pushed her panties down her legs. Then without a second thought, she jumped headfirst into the pitch-black water, and there wasn’t anything in this world that could stop me from following her in.
Chill bumps broke out across my skin as I hit the water, and it still couldn’t clear her from my mind. I shook my head as I reached the surface, and there she was. Her dark black hair was pushed back by the water that soaked it and seemed to gleam under the moonlight.
“This feels awesome.” She laughed, and the sound pulled me closer to her.
“I cannot believe Staci Johnson has never been skinny dipping before. I’m shocked actually.”
“I lived in Oklahoma most of my life. There isn’t a lot of skinny dipping where I come from.”
She splashed me with water before she ran her hands over her head pushing the excess water out of her face.
“Why did you leave Oklahoma?”
I could see the hesitation in her eyes. The fear that she hid behind her shield. I had crossed the line. I knew before she even opened her mouth that she wasn’t going to tell me.
“I guess it’s time for another shot, huh?” She laughed, but it was fake and sounded horrible coming from her lips.
“You could always lie to me.” I reached out and touched her hand under the water. I was close enough to her that I could easily see her body, but I didn’t let my gaze drop from hers.
And I begged her to lie to me.
Staci
You could always lie to me.”
His words echoed in my head.
His fingers grazed against mine under the water. I knew what he wanted, and God, I wanted to lie to him. Every ounce of my body was begging me to, but deep down I knew that crossing that line with Mason would be a mistake.
There was nothing in the world that I wanted more in that moment than him, but he was already getting closer than I typically ever let any other guy.
And that scared the shit out of me.
This thing with Mason was just a game—a fun night, a quick fuck.
Why did he have to ask about Oklahoma?
Of all the different questions I had expected to come out of Mason’s mouth, he managed to find the one topic that could gut me. The one topic that I refused to think about even to myself.
Because I didn’t talk about home.
I didn’t talk about the girl I was there.
Because I had left everything about that girl behind. I couldn’t even remember her. The girl who left a trail of tiny fucking pieces of her heart as she ran out of that state before she could change her mind.
Before she ran back to the man who had been crushing her for years.
Just thinking about it made me shudder and made me remember why I had become the woman I now was.
“Just lie to me, Staci.” Mason’s voice broke through to me, and I stared at him, my entire body begging me to give in, but I was too smart. I had learned my lesson a long ass time ago, and no matter how badly I wanted him, he wasn’t worth the risk.
He wasn’t worth my heart.
I pulled my fingers away from him and put some distance between us. I couldn’t think when he was that close to me. I couldn’t fight him off.
“Mason Connor, are you trying to steal a kiss?”
He grinned, the moonlight glittering across his face, and he looked like a wolf that wanted to eat me alive.
“I’m just following the rules of the game, babe.” He reached up onto the dock and pulled down the bottle of whiskey before handing it to me. I watched him as I placed the bottle to my lips and let the warm liquor burn my throat. I felt intoxicated just on the taste, and I knew I had to get out of there.
“What do you want to do now?” I handed him back the bottle, and he slammed it against the dock before making his way closer to me. “What are you doing, Mason?” I swam backward, my back hitting the dock, the wood biting against my skin.
“You only get one question, Staci.”
“You didn’t answer my question.” I pointed out.
“Right. I really need a drink right now.” He continued moving toward me and my breath raced out to match his pace.
“You just put the bottle on the dock,” I said, completely confused, as he reached me, his arm wrapped around my back.
“Well, it looks like I fucking lied.”
His deep rattling breath echoed against my cheek, and he gripped my wet hair in his fingers. Then he lowered his mouth to mine, and my heart thundered in my chest. The word stop was on the edge of my lips, but I couldn’t get it out. I couldn’t do anything as I felt his lips touch mine. It was feather-light, barely a whisper of a kiss, and it was so unexpectedly gentle that my body betrayed me as it arched into him seeking more.
His callused fingers trailed down the arch of my back, and a shiver of pleasure ran through my body.
I wanted more.
It was all I could think about.
All thoughts of self-preservation flew out the window. I didn’t care what happened. I just needed him.
I leaned into his kiss, and he retracted an inch.
I huffed out in frustration, and he laughed before he nipped my bottom lip in between his teeth.
I groaned and pushed my body closer to his, and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders as I tried to pull his mouth closer to mine. But his hand in my hair tightened and my legs creeped around his waist. He dropped an infuriatingly gentle kiss to the corner of my mouth before his lips trailed a path down my neck.
His teeth nipped at my skin before he traced the delicious ache with his tongue.
I gripped my own hand in his hair and tried to bring his face back to mine, but Mason didn’t let the bite of pain I knew I was causing deter him in the slightest. It only seemed to fuel him, and it drove me fucking crazy.
He used the lake water that trailed down my skin as a map. His tongue followed the rivets as they ran down my skin. He caught the water between his lips before he sucked it off my skin like he was dying of thirst.
My legs tightened around him, my body involuntarily begging him for more, and his hand gripped my thigh holding my center just a breath away from him as his teeth lightly sank down around my collarbone.
“Mason,” I cried out his name as I gripped my fingers tighter into his hair.
But he just ate up my cries and continued his torture.
A sweet fucking torture, and I felt too vulnerable.
A vulnerability I didn’t allow. A vulnerability that I was incredibly careful to never show, but Mason refused to let me hide.
He refused to let me do anything but hang on to him and take in the pleasure that he was allowing me to have.
And it was infuriating.
I groaned in frustration at having no control or from the fact that he was somehow making me not care. That he was somehow making me want more of whatever he was willing to give me.
Then with an unexpected roughness that made me mad with lust, he sucked on the skin just behind my ear and let his ragged breathing dance against my skin.
The urge to tell him how badly I needed him was on the edge of my lips, but I was silenced when he peppered three excruciatingly gentle kisses against my skin then pulled away from me.
I blinked my eyes open slowly, the moonlight hitting me only moments before the fire in his eyes.
A fire that I knew was staring straight back at him.
I waited for him with my heart thundering in my chest. I waited for his next move, for his next touch, but I didn’t expect his hand to graze against my cheek before he pushed some stray hairs out of my face.
He pulled my arm from around his shoulder before he took my hand in his.
“Le
t’s go.” His voice was rough and laced with want.
“Where are we going?” I asked as I unwrapped my legs from around his body.
He stared into my eyes for a moment too long to ever be casual. “I want to show you something.”
So, I let him guide me out of the water, and for the first time in as long as I could remember, I let him take the lead.
Mason
Staci’s hand rested in mine as I searched for the key on the keyring in the dark. She giggled as I tried two different keys with no luck.
“Are you sure we are supposed to be here?” she whispered before looking around the neighborhood. “I’m not equipped for jail.”
“Yes. I’m sure.” I gripped another key in my hand and sighed in relief when metal slid upon metal and the lock finally opened.
I pushed the door open and tugged her in behind me.
I watched as she took in the dark space. She ran a hand over the wood covering one wall as her other hand slipped out of mine. She walked toward the kitchen, her fingers flicking the light switch before she turned toward me.
“No lights?” I could barely see her cocked eyebrow.
“No. The electricity won’t be turned on until later this week.” I pushed off the wall and made my way to her.
“If I didn’t know better, I would say that you either brought me here to seduce me or kill me, Mason Connor.”
I chuckled as I reached her, and I pinned her against the counter. My body pressed fully against hers.
“Are you sure that you know better?” I ran my nose along the skin of her neck and breathed in her scent.
“Well, I pray that you didn’t bring me here to murder me.” Her words were breathless, and I knew exactly how she felt.
“Then there is always seduction.” I pressed my lips against her neck where I could feel her rapid heartbeat, and I watched chill bumps break out on her skin.
But she wasn’t completely correct. I had no damn clue why I brought her here. I just knew that I needed more time with her. I needed more than a quick fuck in the lake.
Because if I let it, that was all we would ever be.
So, I pulled away from her and reached for the flashlight that was sitting on the counter behind her before I clicked it on and illuminated her gorgeous face.
“Would you like the grand tour?”
She smiled at me, a smile that was mixed with lust and something I couldn’t quite put my finger on, then she followed me through the house.
“So, you built all this?” She constantly trailed her fingers over different elements of the house. She ran her finger down the wall of the hallway. She rubbed circles with her tattooed finger against the barn wood door that led to the bathroom.
“I mean I didn’t do it all by myself, but yeah, my company did.”
She sat down on the floor of the master bedroom and I followed her before I balanced the flashlight on the ground.
“It’s incredible, Mason.” She laid down, her back pressed against the floor as she stared at the ceiling.
“Thank you.” My shoulder bumped against hers as I rested my head next to hers.
“You’re going to build me a house one day.”
She was so sure of her words, and I turned my head to watch her and I could see her ideas practically dancing in her eyes.
“I want a house with a huge wrap around porch because I love to be outside when I draw. And I want a huge kitchen. Not that I cook or anything.”
I snorted, and she nudged me with her elbow.
“Why do you need a big kitchen if you don’t cook?”
“Because surely someone will cook for me.”
I huffed, and she shushed me.
“Stop talking. You’re ruining my day-dreaming.”
I turned my head back toward the ceiling and tried to hide the smile that was on my face.
“I will have artwork everywhere. I have so many pieces that I’ve collected that I have nowhere to hang in my apartment, and I’m going to have the biggest damn bathtub you ever saw. I mean huge.”
She spread her arms out as far as they would go.
“I will soak in that damn thing every single night.”
“Is your manservant going to come in and feed you cheese and grapes as you relax?” I looked at her out of the corner of my eye, and I watched her mouth twitch.
“If I feel like being bothered.”
I watched her inked skin as she moved her hand theatrically as she spoke. There was a red watercolor rose on her right forearm that had words bleeding into the ink, but I couldn’t make out what it said with such little light. I wasn’t sure how I never cared to read what it had said before.
How was I so uninterested?
“I’ll make you a deal. I’ll build your first house if you give me my first tattoo.”
She turned toward me so quickly that I jumped back slightly.
“What are you talking about?” She was on her side, and she had her head resting on her elbow as she stared down at me.
“Which part?” I asked hesitantly.
“You mean to tell me that Parker James is your best fucking friend and you don’t have a tattoo?”
“No. I don’t have one.” I shook my head.
She sat up completely then and lifted my shirt as she went.
“I don’t believe you. There is no damn way.”
“You just saw me completely naked in the lake. I think you would have noticed if I had a tattoo.” But I didn’t stop her search.
“I wasn’t really looking for tattoos at the time.” She pushed against my side to get me to roll over so she could look at my back.
“Distracted?” I asked as I wiggled my eyebrows.
“Please.” She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t even look down there.”
“Sure, you didn’t.” I chuckled as she rolled me back onto my back.
“Let’s go.” She climbed to her feet, and I just stared up at her.
“Where are we going?”
“I’m going to give you your first tattoo before you change your mind.”
I sat up on my elbows and looked at her like she was crazy. “You’ve been drinking. There is no way that I’m letting you give me a tattoo tonight.”
“Be serious.” She crossed her arms over her chest, and even though I tried my hardest not to, my eyes dropped to her breasts. “I haven’t had a drink in hours. Plus, you drove me here. Would you have done that if we had been drinking too much?”
“No,” I said hesitantly because she was right. I never would have driven her if I was at all impaired.
“Then let’s go.” She rubbed her hands together, clearly excited.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I stood up off the floor and followed her back through the house before looking down at my watch. “It’s two thirty in the morning.”
“Mason Connor, are you being a fuddy dud?” She arched a perfect black eyebrow at me, and even though I did think going to get a tattoo right now probably was a wild ass idea, I was craving her brand of wild.
“Don’t use my own words against me.”
She just smiled, and I clicked off the flashlight and followed her out the door.
She spun around in the yard, the only light that of the moon, and I laughed as she danced around in pure bliss.
“You are not going to regret this.” She pointed at me as she made her way around my truck and climbed into the passenger seat like she belonged there.
“I’ll remember you said that.” My truck thundered to a start and my hand grazed her shoulder as I turned to back out of the driveway.
“Don’t you trust me?” She batted her eyelashes at me playfully, and I wanted to tell her that I didn’t know because the girl in front of me was unlike anything I had ever met. She was different from every other woman.
She was wild, she was real, and even though I did want to fuck the shit out of her, I was genuinely having fun just being around her and that scared the shit out of me.
Staci
I pushed him back in the tattoo chair and stifled my laugh as he huffed.
“I swear it’s not going to be that bad.” My fingers slid into my black gloves, and he watched every move I made.
I poured ink. He watched every drop of every color.
I hooked up my gun, and his eyes jumped to my hands when it began buzzing.
“I swear to God if you tattoo a penis on me, I will murder you.”
The snort that left me was beyond unattractive and also beyond my control. “I hadn’t thought of that actually, but thank you for the idea.”
He rolled his eyes and leaned his head back against the headrest.
“It’s bad enough that I’m letting you give me my first tattoo in the middle of the night in an abandoned tattoo shop, but letting you decide what to give me…” He shook his head. “This is a bad fucking idea.”
“Live a little, Mason. I had taken you for the adventurous, adrenaline junkie type.”
His eyes turned to meet mine. “There’s a difference between jumping out of a plane and getting something permanently marked on your body that you aren’t even seeing first.”
I just smiled at him because even though he looked scared to death that I might actually tattoo an appendage on him, I knew he was going to love the actual design.
“Take off your shirt.”
He groaned again but leaned forward and pulled his shirt over his head. I just stared. Because even though I had just seen him shirtless in the lake, Mason had a body that took your breath away no matter how many times you looked at it. And under the bright lights of the shop? Holy shit. It was really unfair how perfect every little line and ridge of his body was. He either worked out a ton, or he really worked his ass off when he was at work.
And I was going to put my artwork on his perfect, unmarred body.
Just the thought had a chill running down my spine.
“Okay. Don’t look.” I gripped the drawing that I had been working on for the last hour in my hands and slowly pressed it against his ribs where he said he wanted it. His eyes were focused on the ceiling, and I pressed the contact paper firmly against his skin before I slowly peeled it away.
