Only the Truth

by LJ Bradley

  “You don’t need to know what you’re doing to respond to touch.” His fingertips trailed down the side of my body, and when I shivered and pressed closer to him, he smiled. “Or to know what you want, what feels good. I don’t know if I deserve to be your first, but I’m honoured you’d even ask me.”

  He’d always had a talent for saying the right thing at just the right time. Relief rushed through me and I suddenly felt so much lighter. When my eyes flicked back to meet his, the smile I found there only further convinced me. “So, what now?” I asked.

  “What were you hoping would happen when you came in here?”

  I frowned. “I didn’t think that far ahead.”

  He smiled. “Tell me.”

  My gaze dropped to his mouth and a thrill shot through me. I’d made out with my share of boys in the past, but whenever it came time to take the next step something had always held me back. I hadn’t specifically been waiting for Mason to open his eyes and see me, but there’d been an element missing with other guys that I knew wouldn’t be lacking with him. I wanted to experience it firsthand, to know what it was like to be touched by a man who could set my skin on fire with a single glance.

  “I wanted you to kiss me,” I said.

  I’d never been shy around Mason before, but I couldn’t look at him now. The silence that descended felt like a physical thing, the weight so heavy it ended up being easier to just hold off on breathing for a while. His fingers dug into my hips, but he didn’t make a move to grant my simple wish. He just let the tension hover, and waited—for what, I didn’t know.

  Just when I’d lost all hope this might turn into something more, he urged in a low voice, “Keep going. Tell me what else you want.”

  When I heard the subtle amusement in his voice, excitement coursed through me and I smiled. He was playing with me, teasing me and waiting to see how I’d react.

  How far could a person with my limited experience push a man like him? Should I test the boundaries, shock him? Leave him with no doubt he had a full-grown woman standing in front of him instead of the teenager he once knew? I leaned in and let my lips hover over his temple. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to press my mouth there or prolong the agony until I turned desperate with wanting.

  Mason made a growling sound and yanked me even closer. And then it didn’t feel quite so much like a game anymore. “Do it, before I lose my mind.”

  His gruff demand caused heat to bloom in my chest. I was an elastic band wound tight, the tension so strained the tiniest of movements could be the one to make it snap. I met his eyes and gathered my courage.

  “I want to be fucked. Hard.” The moment the words left my mouth I gasped. There was direct and then there was direct. I hadn’t planned on being so blunt. My pulse hammered. I wanted to close my eyes to shut out his reaction, but I couldn’t make myself look away.

  One of his hands slid up my spine, his fingers diving under my hair to squeeze the back of my neck. “Don’t stop now, sweetheart,” he said, his voice filled with an all too appealing tenderness. “It was just getting good.”

  My embarrassment began to fade in the face of his encouragement. I hadn’t overstepped any boundaries. He hadn’t said or done anything to make me feel like my efforts were awkward or amusing. There was absolutely no reason for me to hold back.

  Drawing on every ounce of confidence, I touched my fingers to his cheek then went ahead and laid it all out there, told him everything I’d ever yearned for.

  “I want to feel a man’s mouth between my legs,” I said. Just the thought of him putting his mouth there sent heat rushing to that very spot. “I want to be taken care of and pushed to my limits. God, I just want to find my limits—with someone who cares about me. I want to lose my breath, my mind. I want to scream because it feels so good. I want it all—and I need you, Mason,” I said breathlessly. “I need you to teach me.”

  “Goddammit, Sadie.”

  Then he turned his head and kissed me, and I just about lost my mind.

  A shocked sound tore from my throat. My eyes closed, and I gripped his hair. Our first kiss wasn’t sweet or restrained. It wouldn’t be one of those moments I looked back on with a smile or a contented sigh. He took control of my body like he wanted to brand me, make me understand I belonged to him and no one else. It was more than I’d ever hoped for and everything I’d been missing.

  His tongue warred with mine, his mouth hard and demanding. One of his hands supported my waist while the other cradled my throat. He overloaded my senses. His nearness, his strength, the feel of his mouth. For a split second I wondered if I’d pushed him too far, maybe taken on way, way more than I could handle—but then his grip on me gentled and his thumb caressed my neck.

  He tilted my head to get a better angle and softened the kiss. His mouth slowed to a more relaxed pace, his lips almost massaging mine now. The scrape of his five o’clock shadow pulled a sigh from me and I melted against him. I would have done anything he asked of me in that moment. Anything. Seeing his control in action, the way he could slip so effortlessly from passionate to slow and easy, ended up being more of a turn-on than I’d expected.

  A loud thump on the door interrupted the moment. I jerked back from Mason like I’d just been slapped, my mind spinning with all the sensations bombarding me.

  “Mase, you got Sadie in there?” Andy called out, giving the handle a rattle. “The door’s locked so the answer better be no.”

  My eyes went wide, and I touched my fingers to my mouth while I tried to recover. Holy crap. That kiss had been phenomenal. I barely had time to catch my breath let alone say anything. Mason gave my lips a long look, his eyes filled with humour and need. “Yeah, I’m doing her right now. Can you give us a minute?”

  I held back a laugh and shoved him. He grinned and planted a smacking kiss on my mouth. A world-weary sigh came from the other side of the door. “Thanks for the help, asshole. Her bag’s still in the kitchen but she’s disappeared. Claire’s worried. Let me know if you see or hear from her, okay?”

  “Will do.”

  Neither of us moved while we waited to see what would happen next. Going by the lengthy silence that followed Andy must have headed off to look for me elsewhere.

  “So…” Mason said, his voice deep and calm like we hadn’t just been about to tear each other’s clothes off. “Where were we?” He clasped my hips and pulled me back against him, touching his mouth to my throat in an all-too-brief kiss. “Here?”

  “Ahh, no.” Going from all that intensity back to teasing touches left me feeling like I’d just stepped off a spinning merry-go-round.

  His lips travelled higher. “Was it here?” He gave my earlobe a gentle nip.

  The man knew exactly what he was doing to me. I could hear the smile in his voice. “No?”

  He let out a husky laugh and stroked my hair back from my face. “God, you’re sweet.” His lips moved to my cheek and he pressed a warm kiss there that made me clutch his shoulders. “What about here?”

  “I don’t think that was the spot either.” Not that I cared. He could put his mouth anywhere he wanted as long as he kept touching me.

  “Why don’t you remind me then?”

  The idea of being able to take the lead while he sat there patiently made my stomach flip. I cradled his jaw, stroking his sun-bronzed skin while I looked him over. The man was seriously beautiful. Dark and masculine, with a glimmer of warmth in his eyes that softened the rough edges. I still couldn’t believe he was mine to play with—at least for now.

  He’d given me the chance to draw the moment out the same way he’d done to me, but when it came to Mason I just didn’t have that kind of self-control.

  I pressed my mouth to his to pick up right where we’d left off, and as soon as our lips met the passion between us exploded again. He wound his arms around me with a groan and pulled me against him. My eyes closed as my mouth moved with his, the kiss so wild right from the start that my back arched, and a strange keening noise sounded i
n my throat.

  The desperate need to be closer to him overcame me. I climbed onto his lap and rested my knees either side of his thighs. Mason welcomed the change in position, smoothing his palms under the rising hem of my dress. The moment he discovered I’d worn a thong tonight, he made a deep, male sound of appreciation.

  The feel of his erection beneath me had me breaking the kiss to let out a breath. It was all too much, but I couldn’t stop myself from taking more. With my forehead pressed to his I moved against him, shifting my hips slowly forward then back, creating a friction so addictive I had to press down harder to intensify the sensation.

  We stayed like that for a while, building the tension until our breaths grew harsher and my movements more deliberate. When Mason finally spoke again, his voice was a deep rasp. “If you keep that up I’m going to come in my pants, and I haven’t done that in at least a couple of years.”

  How was it possible to be amused and painfully turned on at the same time? I wanted to laugh and kiss him and torment him until we both lost control, but the need for release hit me right then and suddenly nothing else mattered. I ground my hips against him a couple more times, riding the fly of his jeans, increasing the pressure until a wave of sensation flooded me.

  My mouth dropped open, and a moan slipped free as I gripped his shirt. Our eyes didn’t meet—he didn’t say a word—but I knew I had his full attention. I rubbed myself against him until I’d extracted every ounce of pleasure, and my God, it felt so good to do this with someone else for once.

  As the tremors eased, Mason cupped my face and lifted my chin. His gaze roamed my features, his voice filled with wonder. “Sadie. Jesus.”

  When he looked at me like that I couldn’t find the energy to feel embarrassed or try to hide the fact that I’d come without any real effort from either of us. With a shaky breath I smiled at him. “I didn’t mean to do that. It just got too much and I had to go with it.”

  “Don’t explain. Use my body to get off anytime you want.”

  With a laugh I pushed his shoulders until he fell back onto the mattress. I had no idea what he expected from me now but need still thrummed inside me and I wanted to know more of him. “Seems like it might be your turn.”

  He closed his eyes for a moment then looked at me again. “I can’t believe I’m saying this… but not tonight.”

  Heat rushed to my cheeks and I scoffed in amazement. “I can’t believe you’re saying it either. Neither can this guy.” My hips moved against his erection just to remind him of the hardness still wedged between us.

  He swore under his breath and gripped my thighs. “Don’t move. Don’t. I’m hanging on by a thread here.”

  I raised my hands in surrender and leaned back, trying not to be offended by what felt very much like rejection. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry.” I suddenly wanted to look anywhere but at him, unwilling to meet his eyes in case I saw sympathy in them.

  Mason sighed and took hold of my wrists, pulling my hands down to rest against his abdomen. “Don’t be sorry. It’s not what you think. Claire would have organised a search party by now,” he explained while I stared at the front of his t-shirt, “and I don’t want to be in the middle of something with you—something there’s no way in hell I’d want to stop once we got started—when the helicopters start hovering.”

  A reluctant smile tugged at my mouth and I lifted my gaze to lock eyes with him. I had a sneaking suspicion he’d just handed me an out to stop me from taking a step I’d had no time to think through, but I wouldn’t push him. Not right now, anyway. “That makes sense, I guess.”

  He swept his thumbs over the insides of my wrists and studied me, his expression intense at first but relaxing more with each passing second. “When we go there,” he said, “there won’t be a party on the other side of the door or any chance of us being interrupted. We’ll take our time, make it good. So good you’ll be begging for more.”

  How could I argue with him when he put it like that? “All right. You win.”

  I pushed myself off his lap and stood beside the bed, tugging my dress into place while I worked on calming my raging heart.

  There were more important things for me to worry about now, like how my sister might react when she found out we’d been hiding in here this whole time.

  We’d only been gone for half an hour, but so much had happened in our short time away that it felt like forever since we’d left the party. As we headed down the hall to re-join the guests, Mason clasped my hand and gave me a reassuring squeeze, letting me know without words that he’d picked up on the nerves churning in my stomach.

  We’d done nothing wrong. I shouldn’t be concerned, but it didn’t stop me from expecting the worst. Claire had never outright said she hated the idea of the two of us as a couple, but something told me this new development wouldn’t go down well. Each step closer to the living room had me feeling like I was about to introduce my fresh-out-of-prison boyfriend to my overly disapproving mother.

  When we rounded the corner the first thing that hit me was the wall of sound. The music had been dialled up a couple of notches and voices were raised to compete with all the noise. A group of guys had a dance-off going on in the living room, and a couple were making out on the nearby couch.

  People were scattered everywhere, but other than Andy’s coming to search for me it didn’t look as if anyone had noticed we were missing. Maybe it wouldn’t be too difficult to blend in with the crowd. If we committed to the idea now we could enjoy the rest of the night without having to explain our absence.

  Just as we came to a stop, a whoosh of air blew through the room followed by the slam of the front door. Andy walked by, too caught up with shaking the rain from his auburn hair to notice Mason and me standing at the end of the hallway. He headed straight for the kitchen, where a trio of Claire’s friends were lining up shot glasses on the bench.

  Claire had her back to us while she snagged a bottle of tequila from the overhead cupboard. My guilt got the better of me and I opened my mouth to call out to her, but Andy caught her attention first. She turned and they exchanged a few words, then she frowned and scanned the room as if hoping I’d appear out of nowhere.

  As soon as she spotted me, my hand gripped Mason’s in unconscious reaction and I knew—I just knew—my guess had been right and the party wasn’t going to be ending on a positive note. She spared me an absent smile, kind of like a silent hey, there you are, but when her attention shifted to my left her eyes narrowed and her expression changed to something a little less amiable.

  She took in the sight of our joined hands then stared at Mason, not all that surprised but not pleased with the situation either.

  “Aaannd… it finally clicks.”

  I nudged his shoulder and hissed under my breath, “This isn’t the time for jokes.”

  He gave my shoulder a return bump. “This isn’t the time for caving under pressure either. Don’t let her push you around. Do what’s right for you, and if doing me turns out to be what’s right for you… I’m the last person you’ll hear complaining.”

  While Claire stalked over to us with Andy in tow, my worries eased for the briefest of moments. “You want me to do you, huh?” I asked, looking up at Mason as if he’d just made the sweetest declaration ever.

  He laughed and pinched my chin between his thumb and forefinger, dipping his head to press a kiss on my mouth. When our lips had barely parted he muttered, “Oh, yeah.”

  “Oh, hell no.”

  And with those words our moment came to an abrupt end.

  Mason sighed and swept his thumb over my jaw before releasing me. I turned to see Claire with her fists jammed on her hips and her mouth pressed into a firm line. Her grey eyes flashed at me but beneath the anger I saw something else. Something that looked a lot like disappointment.

  In a way I could understand her feelings. No one actively encouraged their sibling to get together with their best friend, but I wished it could have been different and that she’d tr
y to find a way to be happy for us. Andy stood beside her pushing his glasses higher on his nose, looking more uncomfortable with the situation than confrontational.

  “Hey, Claire-bear. Having fun?” Mason’s tone gave the impression the tension had no impact on him, but I knew now whatever you saw on the surface didn’t necessarily reflect what was going on inside him.

  Claire apparently had him all figured out as well. “C’mon, enough with the easy-going routine. Weren’t there enough options for you here tonight? You just had to go and put your hands on my sister?”

  Mason’s fingers clenched around mine, but his attention remained on Claire. “Put my hands on her? Like all I care about is getting laid?”

  She looked like she wanted to roll her eyes. “You’re telling me you two didn’t just have sex?”

  Before he could respond to that I jumped to his defence. “Claire, what the hell? We haven’t slept together—not that it’s any of your business. He’s been good to me.”

  She scoffed and gave Andy a look. “Yeah, I’ll bet. He’s always good to women. Lots of them.”

  “Babe.” Andy clasped her upper arm to stop her from saying something she couldn’t take back. She didn’t shake him off, but she didn’t back down either. Her eyes stayed on Mason, daring him to refute what she’d just said.

  Mason scrubbed his free hand down his face and threw me a sideways glance. I could tell he wanted to let her have it, but when he saw my pleading look he somehow managed to keep his voice calm. “They were rumours, Claire. Most of them bullshit. I haven’t slept with a woman—any woman—in months. You should know. We share a house.”

  I didn’t have the heart to point out he could have sex just about anywhere he wanted. Claire seemed to be aware of this, too, because she spared our joined hands another glance and let out a humourless laugh. “It doesn’t matter. None of this is even relevant. I asked you to stay away from her, remember?”

  Her admission had a trickle of unease starting in my gut. The urge to run hit me hard, and I suddenly wanted to be anywhere but here.