by Emma Hart
Damn him.
I was beginning to think that this man was sent to test me.
Well, I wasn’t beginning to. He was, because he was testing me.
“You should go,” I said, pulling back again. “It’s getting late. Knowing my luck, your sister followed us back here and is waiting to see when you’ll leave.”
He squeezed me, laughing. “Probably. That’s the kind of thing Kirsty would do, but I just want to know you’re okay.”
“I told you, I’m fine.”
“Women who say, “I’m fine,” are never fine.”
“Statistically, we are fine at least fifty percent of the time, but we do it to keep you men on your toes.”
“Great. More psychology. Is there a part of you that’s simple?”
“No. I wouldn’t be nearly as interesting as I am if I were easy to figure out.”
“True story.” His eyes flashed with laughter. “So, is this “I’m fine” a genuine one or a pretend one?”
“Why would I tell you that?”
“To cut me a fucking break?”
I laughed, pressing my face into his chest. “Why would I want to do that?”
Mason groaned, dropping his head so his chin almost hit his chest. His cheek brushed mine, the rough stubble of his jaw tickling my skin.
It felt good—too good.
I drew in a deep breath and turned my head to the side. My lips were just millimeters from his, and the temptation to move and close the distance was almost overwhelming.
Just to see what it would feel like to kiss him for real.
“Lauren?”
“What?”
“Would you kill me if I broke the rules and kissed you right now?”
“Why don’t you find out?”
He hesitated for all of a second before he touched his lips to mine. They were soft and full and warm, and I leaned right into the kiss. My heart thumped inside my chest, and the fabric of his shirt bunched easily inside my hands as I made them into fists.
Mason slipped one hand up my back to cup the back of my neck. I didn’t think he could hold me any tighter, but he did, and now our bodies were pressed completely together. The only way we could be any closer would be if we were naked.
Right now, as he sent shivers down my spine, it didn’t seem like such a bad idea at all.
He deepened the kiss, flicking his tongue against my lower lip. I moved onto tiptoes to respond, parting my lips for him. He kissed me gently at first, his tongue moving against mine tentatively. When I didn’t pull away, he went deeper, kissing me with the kind of passion that sent shivers all over my body.
We kissed for what felt like forever. Night and day could have passed and I would have been oblivious, even though I knew in my mind that it was nothing more than a minute or so.
I was dizzy, like I’d been spun around a thousand times and left to find my own balance. Fiery lust flooded through my veins, and—damn it.
Would it be so bad?
To break the rules?
Just for one night?
In my heart of hearts, I knew the answer was yes.
The only way I could save myself was to stop kissing Mason Jackson. Right now. This very second. Doing anything else; continuing this, doing more, would be nothing short of a very stupid fucking idea.
Yeah, well, someone needed to tell my clitoris that.
Actually, my entire body needed the memo. My hardened nipples, my flushed cheeks, the goosebumps that coated my arms, the hairs that stood on end on the back of my neck—all of me needing telling that this was a very, very bad idea.
This was a bad decision.
I didn’t make bad decisions. Well, not regularly. Not like this.
But here I was.
About to throw caution to the wind and pretend like breaking the rules was totally okay. Like we weren’t going to walk down a path that potentially gave us a one-way ticket to Regret-ville.
Mason pulled back slowly, dipping to kiss me one last time. “You didn’t kill me yet.”
I shook my head, raising my gaze to meet his. His eyes look as if they were on fire, blazing with indiscernible feelings that I didn’t want to get into and dissect right now.
“Don’t say a word about this.” I dropped my hands, grabbed his, and pulled him through my apartment toward my room.
“Lauren—”
“I said be quiet.” I shoved the door open and pulled him into the room with me. “Before I change my mind.”
He raised one eyebrow. “What about the rules?”
“We just broke them. May as well obliterate them entirely for tonight.”
“Are you sure?”
“No, I regularly bring men into my bedroom to have sex with them without being entirely certain,” I drawled. “I’m starting to think you don’t want to have sex with me.”
“I didn’t say that.” He paused. “I just don’t want to complicate our relationship.”
“Mason, strangers have sex with each other all the time. I think we can both admit that we’re attracted to each other—otherwise, you wouldn’t have kissed me, and you wouldn’t have a third leg in your pants right now.”
He adjusted the waistband of his pants. “A third leg. Interesting.”
“I didn’t bring you in here to talk. My offer only stands for another thirty seconds before I kick you out and take care of myself.”
His eyebrow went up again, this time taking his lips with it in a dirty smirk. “Take care of yourself? And you’re here snarking about me having an erection.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “I’m turned on. I’m not ashamed of that. So, either you do something about it, or I will.”
“I suppose we both benefit from this.”
“And it’s only happening once. I won’t offer again. This is literally your only chance to get you some of—”
He cut me off with a swift kiss, yanking me against his body roughly. His hard cock pressed right against me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back, grazing my teeth over his lower lip.
He groaned, sliding one hand down to cup my ass. Together, we staggered back toward my bed. My legs hid the side, and we fell down together, laughing between kisses as he covered my body with his.
Every inch of me was ready for this. My dress rode up my thighs when I wrapped them around Mason’s waist, pulling him right down on top of me. He was all too happy to oblige.
We kissed, both of us running our hands over the other’s body. Mine explored his broad shoulders and strong back down to the hem of his shirt and under while he used one of his hands to steady himself and the other to probe at my thigh.
Together, we sat up. Mason stood and pulled his shirt over his head, revealing a sculpted body from his shoulders to his abs. I wanted to run my tongue along the lines of his muscles, to trace the frame of his abs to commit them to memory.
He pulled me up after him and reached behind me for the zipper to my dress. He slid it down slowly, his fingers trailing over my skin after. I shivered as he reached up and pulled the straps down over my arms, lowering it so it fell to the ground around my feet.
He smirked. A quick, sexy smirk that disappeared in a flash as he kissed me once again. This one was hotter, more desperate. It was a rush of lust and heat through my body as we collapsed together on the bed. It was messy and chaotic, the way he kissed me and ran his hands over my body in exploration.
It was hot and heavy and loaded, from the way he removed his pants to the way he positioned himself so that he could slip his hand between my legs to play with my clit.
I grabbed his neck on both sides and kissed him as his fingers toyed with me. They dipped in and out of my pussy, slicking through my wetness, making my hips buck as I silently pleaded with him for more. He rubbed and teased and played until I could almost taste the brink of my orgasm.
Then he did the asshole thing and pulled his hand away.
“Condom,” he said between kisses.
“Drawe
r.”
He got up and moved to the drawer, pulling it open and pulling out the box. “They’re out of date.”
I shot up to sitting. “What?”
Mason grinned. “Kidding.”
I leaned over and slapped his arm. “Don’t do that!”
“Why? Were you scared?”
“I happen to take sex seriously. Now shut up, put on that condom, and come over here.”
He burst out laughing, but he stripped off his boxers, pulled out a condom, and tore the packet open. I watched a little too intently as he rolled it from the tip of his hard cock down to the base.
Peering over, he smirked.
I shrugged. I wasn’t bothered at all. What was I supposed to watch? The TV?
A man putting a condom on was pretty damn sexy.
Mason Jackson doing it was orgasm-inducing.
I reached over and grabbed his hand, pulling him to me. He came easily, pushing me back down when he reached me. My hands ghosted over his body until they reached his neck, then it was my turn to position us.
I opened my legs, and Mason settled between them. His cock pressed against my clit, but he didn’t rush. No, he took his sweet-ass time kissing my lips and my jaw and my neck. He took his time running his hands all over my body while he did that, and I swear I was on the brink of screaming.
Finally, he moved.
He slid his hand down between us and, after running his fingers through my wetness, he positioned his cock and slowly pushed into me.
Warmth flushed through me. My body responded in an uncontrollable way, and I took a deep breath in as he stilled inside me.
That second was all he gave me. He took my mouth with his, this time vigorously moving his lips across mine as he dipped his tongue against the seam of my lips.
We moved together easily. It was like we’d done it a thousand times before—Mason’s thrusts were fast and ferocious, and I responded to him like it was second nature. I tilted my hips, and he went deeper. He fisted my hair, and I offered him my mouth. He dug his fingers into my skin, and I squeezed my legs around his waist.
It didn’t take long for my orgasm to it. It came in a wave of heat and sweat and pure pleasure that rippled through my body. I cried out into Mason’s mouth and clenched around him, my entire body going rigid.
He thrust into me, guiding me through it, and when I was almost done, he groaned out his own release. He buried himself deep inside me as he came, and he fisted my hair so tightly that my scalp stung.
Still, I held onto him, wrapped right around him. It was weirdly comfortable, but that was probably because I was desperately trying to catch my breath as I recovered from the pleasure he’d just given me.
I sighed, sagging down into the mattress.
“All right?” Mason laughed breathily, moving his head so he could meet my gaze.
“Half left, actually,” was my equally breathless response.
He laughed, propping himself up on his hands. “Always the joker.”
I grinned, but I was sure it was a half-drunk one. Not because I was actually drunk, but because that was how I felt. It was the same sensation as having six tequila shots one after the other.
God bless orgasms.
Mason slowly pulled out of me and stood, taking a few steps back.
I heaved myself over onto my side and onto shaky legs, pushing past him to reach the bathroom first.
“Should I be offended that you can walk?” he shouted through the door.
“No,” I called back, dropping onto the toilet. “But what goes up must come down, and I don’t want any bodily fluids on my bedroom carpet!”
“So sexy!”
I laughed. It took me a minute to pee and clean myself up, but when I was done, I grabbed the towel from the rail next to the shower and wrapped it around myself. Opening the door, I stopped and grinned up at him.
He was holding his cock in his hand. It was totally limp, but the condom was still on. “Do you mind?”
“So sexy,” I shot back at him.
It was his turn to laugh as he swapped places with me. After changing into some panties and a tank top, I went into the kitchen and poured two glasses of ice water.
Mason appeared a few minutes later wearing his pants with his shirt in his hand.
I looked at it. “Going somewhere?”
He glanced at the shirt. “I wasn’t—I didn’t want to assume anything.”
I walked over to him and handed him his water. “Mason, it’s one in the morning. I’m not going to send you home, okay?”
“You almost kicked me out earlier.”
“Yeah, well, you’ve given me an orgasm since then. The least I can do is give you a bed to sleep in.” I winked and tapped his cheek. “Turn off the lights, would you?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN – MASON
I rolled over, my body colliding with another person.
I froze.
What—
Shit.
Lauren.
It was Lauren.
I was in bed with Lauren.
Because after I’d kissed her last night, she’d marched me into her bedroom and demanded I take care of her horniness before she did it herself.
Fuck me dead, she was something else. She had this confident front—this ballsy, out there persona, but she was hiding a lot. She was hiding a quiet, gentle side of her. I’d almost touched it several times, and I wanted to uncover it. I wanted to peel back the layers of Lauren Green and see what made her tick.
Because, damn it, I was falling for her.
I didn’t want to. I’d tried to fight it. I’d fought myself every step of the way, but here I was, lying in bed next to her, and there was no doubt about it.
My feelings for my fake girlfriend were very, very real.
Stupidly fucking real.
She moved, tilting her head my way. She’d pulled her dark hair into a loose bun on top of her head before we’d gone to bed last night, and it was now a bigger mess than it was then. Dark, loose tendrils framed her face, and a huge chunk of her hair had unwound itself and spread across the pillow.
Her long, dark eyelashes cast a shadow across her cheeks, and when I ran my eyes over her whole face, I smiled at the sight of a zit forming on her chin.
I have no idea why. I just… did.
Her phone buzzed on the nightstand next to her before it emitted a shrill ringing noise that made me wince. Lauren groaned, rolling over. She batted her arm around the air for a moment before it made contact with the nightstand and, on the fifth ring, her phone.
“Hello?” she said groggily into the phone before she realized it was upside down and tried again. “Hello?... What?... Iz, I had a late night. Stop judging me… Eleven? Okay. I’ll go. Where’s Jared?... Uh-huh, ‘kay. I got you. I’ll see you there… All right, bye.”
She pulled the phone away from her face and jabbed at the screen until it showed that the call was ended. “I didn’t sign up for this shit,” she muttered, putting the phone down and pulling the covers over her head.
I waited until she stilled, then I moved my foot across the mattress and tickled the back of her foot with my toe.
She screamed, jerking away from me so violently she fell off the bed.
I burst out laughing, falling onto my back.
“Oh, my God! You jerk!” Lauren jumped back onto the bed and shoved at me. “What the hell? Why would you do that?”
“Good morning to you, too,” I managed to get out through my chuckles. “You look pretty today.”
She leveled me with a glare that said she was not awake enough for my bullshit. “Shut up.” She climbed back under the covers, giving me a lame kick for good measure.
“What does a guy have to do around here to get some breakfast?”
“Go looking for the fucking fridge,” she muttered into the covers. “Out the door, down the hall, and turn left. Tall silver thing. You can’t miss the fucker.”
Ah.
“You’re a morning person I s
ee.”
“So help me, Mason, if you keep fucking talking to me, you’ll turn into breakfast.”
I rolled over and plastered my body against hers, tugging her right back into me so we were spooning.
“What are you doing?” she murmured.
“Spooning you.”
“That’s against the rules.”
“Yeah, but last night my cock was a good seven inches inside your body while it broke the rules. I think you can take it pressing against your ass this morning.”
She grunted, but she didn’t argue any further. She actually snuggled in a little further, not that I let on that I’d felt her do it.
There was something between us; if she didn’t want to admit to it right now, that was fine. But her body would give it away, just like it already was.
I didn’t know what to do about any of it.
The closest I’d come to getting any kind of emotion out of her was her admission that she was attracted to me.
It was better than nothing.
Her phone rang again, and she swore under her breath as she moved to grab it. “Hello?... Yes, Mom, she called… Of course I’m going… Yes, I know… Mom, she called. I said I’d go. I have to go shower now, okay?... All right, bye.”
Lauren threw her phone onto the rug.
“That sounded fun.”
“Ugh.” She rolled onto her back and looked at me. “My family is hard work.”
“Is everything okay?”
She sighed and got up, shoving the covers to the side. “As okay as it can be in my world. My sister’s going to the doctor this morning and she wants me to go with her. I suppose I should get ready.” She looked over her shoulder at me. “Do you want to take a shower? Do you have to go to work today?”
“No, you’re good. I can shower when I get home.” I sat up and rubbed my hand through my hair. “Mind if I get some coffee?”
“Help yourself.” She tugged the band out of her hair and let it fall down her back. “I won’t be long.”
She left the room and turned toward the bathroom next door. The sound of the door clicking filled the quiet air, and I got out of bed. I put my pants on and grabbed my shirt before I walked into the kitchen to make coffee.
