“Your hunting rifles might have to keep gathering dust,” I said.
He chuckled, and I leaned forward. “I’m really sorry about what happened with Layla,” I said. “You didn’t deserve that. And she didn’t deserve you.”
“Thank you for saying so. Judging from the photo she just handed me, I suppose she’s known about you and Mason for a while,” he replied.
“Yes. She found out and told Mason that she’d take the pictures to the tabloids and create a massive media storm painting her as some victim and me as some sort of whore if he didn’t break it off with me. She was hoping I’d be so upset that I’d leave, because she didn’t like having me around.”
He laughed; a short, sharp bark. “Of course. Sounds exactly like her. Well, I think she’ll find that she doesn’t quite have the influence over the media that she thinks she does without me around. After all, I’m a majority shareholder in News Corp.”
I cast my eyes down. “We should’ve told you.”
“Yes, you should have. I could have easily cleared up that problem for you. You should know by now that I’m always here for you. That’s what a Dad is for. But it’s water under the bridge now.”
He took another sip of his drink and then spoke to me in a gruff yet playful tone. “Now off you go. Tell your boyfriend I’m not going to kill him. I need to make a couple of quick calls.”
I smiled and stood up, then leaned down and kissed his forehead before going inside and heading upstairs. I found Mason sitting in his old room, engrossed in reading something on his phone.
“What are you looking at?” I asked with a smile.
He glanced up at me. “Just this stupid tabloid site. Someone already broke the story of what Victoria did to you.”
“That was fast.”
“You’re gonna have to get used to it,” he replied with a grin. “Sometimes I get pissed off by all the media attention, but right now everyone’s calling me a hero so I can’t say I’m all that upset by it.”
I playfully jabbed him in the chest. “Of course.”
His relaxed smile faded, and he pulled me down to sit on the bed next to him. “So what happened? Am I a dead man walking?”
I shook my head. “No. It’s fine. It was surprisingly anticlimactic. He said it wasn’t what he expected, but it isn’t going to be a problem, especially since he and your Mom are splitting up.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Wow. That is anticlimactic. So he’s really okay with us?”
“Uh-huh. He said he’ll only kill you if you break my heart.”
He grinned and pulled me close, taking a deep breath before he let out his next words in one big exhale. “I love you so much. You’re so perfect.”
“You’re pretty decent yourself,” I replied.
“Ha. Still a comedian, I see.”
“Come on,” I said, rising to my feet and pulling him up with me. “I think we need to spend some time with my father. After everything that’s happened with Layla and Victoria, I daresay he could use some company.”
“Yeah, good idea. But not before I do this.”
He brought his mouth down on mine and wrapped his arms around my back. It was like one of those kisses from the movies; my back curving as he leaned over me, my hands gripping his shirt, his warm lips closing over mine…for a magical moment we were off in our own private world all over again. I was his, and he was mine.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
MASON
Two years later
I never ended up doing the tell-all interview about my mother. It seemed too harsh, even for her. When the news has broken about her affair and subsequent divorce from Roy, she’d been crucified in the media without me having to say a word, and not long after that, Emile had ditched her and published a sordid memoir detailing their affair and other juicy tidbits of information about her that she’d confided to him during their relationship. My Nights With Layla, it was called. That had sealed her fate in the public eye, so in a way, she’d dug her own grave without me having to lift a finger.
As for what I’d been doing instead…well, that was another thing entirely. At the same time as my mother’s world of glitz and glamor had been collapsing around her, the story about me rescuing Arizona from Roy’s psychotic assistant had also gone national, and I’d been offered a hefty sum to appear on several talk shows to discuss the incident. I’d used the money from that to start up my own non-profit charity which helped bring kids over to the States from developing countries in Southeast Asia and Africa in order for them to obtain lifesaving medical treatment that they couldn’t otherwise afford or have access to in their home countries. I’d always loved children, so it seemed like the perfect idea. Maybe one day Arizona and I would have our own kids, but until then I was fulfilled by helping out others.
It was now public knowledge that Arizona and I were together, seeing as we were no longer trying to hide it. Occasionally a reporter would bring it up, but since Roy and my mother were now divorced, it seemed like a moot point. Arizona was still working for Roy, and I was proud of how hard she worked at her job. A lot of people in her situation would probably be happy to laze around and spend their days blowing through their inheritance, but she wasn’t like that. She wanted to earn it along with her father’s respect.
Oh, and if you were wondering – yes, that man at the marina did get his little motorboat back, along with a nice mention in the papers about how he’d helped in saving Arizona from crazy Victoria. As for Victoria, well, she was currently serving out a sentence at a correctional psychiatric facility for what she’d done, and she wouldn’t be free for a long time.
Speaking of prison sentences, Tom Keller had been sentenced to seventeen years after his trial, and while that seemed like a slap on the wrist compared with what he’d done, the end of the trial had been a massive weight off everyone’s shoulders. We all just had to remember how happy we were that Arizona and Roy were back in each other’s lives. That was the main thing that mattered in the long run.
Right now Arizona and I were on a rare vacation, sunning ourselves on the shores of St. Barts, where we’d attended Roy’s third wedding a few days beforehand. Yep, he’d remarried, and this time he’d met a decent woman who was the total opposite of my mother. She was a lawyer named Chloe Brent, and he’d met her while testifying at Victoria’s trial. He more than deserved the happiness he’d found with Chloe after all the shit he’d gone through in his life, and while we knew he’d never forget or stop loving his first wife, Rosa, we all understood the importance of moving forward and finding love again.
The ceremony had been small with no big drunken reception afterwards seeing as Roy had always valued his quiet time and privacy despite his status, and where better to do that than a tiny island? Arizona and I had taken a week off after the wedding to lie on the beach and soak up some rays, and I had to say, being near the ocean didn’t bother me one bit anymore. I’d kicked that fear’s ass the second I stepped out onto the Newport marina on the day Victoria had gone mental.
“It’s nice to see your Dad so happy,” I said, trailing my hand through the grainy white sand as I looked over at Arizona.
She was reclining on a white sun lounge, her golden skin glowing from all the lotion I’d had the pleasure of applying to her sexy body earlier, and she smiled and slid her sunglasses off. “Yeah, I know. It’s really great.”
“I don’t think I’ve seen him this happy since you came back into his life,” I said, reaching over and trailing my hand over her leg. “Anyway, let’s head off. I forgot I ordered lunch to be delivered to our room at one.”
She grumbled. “But it’s so nice out here.”
I grinned. “I know, but you’ve gotta eat. You’ve never been one to turn down a snack.”
She stuck her tongue out at me and followed me back to our luxury villa at Eden Rock, where I’d arranged for the staff to put together a little afternoon surprise. Arizona gasped as we walked in, her eyes widening as she looked around. All the cur
tains had been drawn and the main room was lit only by the pink glow of Himalayan salt lamps and strings of little white lights hanging from the ceiling, and the table had been cleared away save for some rose petals and a small blue jewelry box in the center. Yep, it was a total cliché, and one which I was more than happy to participate in.
She whirled around to face me. “Mason…you…”
Before she could say anything else, I grabbed the box and sank to one knee, and her lips fell open in a perfect O-shape as I opened it and looked up at her, displaying the classic round brilliant-cut diamond ring set in a white gold band.
“You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved, and you’re the only one I will ever love. Say you’ll be mine forever?” I said.
She gasped ‘yes’ over and over as I slid the ring onto her left hand, and then she wiped a tear from her cheek before throwing her arms around me. I held her close and murmured into her ear. “I hope those are tears of joy.”
She drew back, her eyes shining with emotion. “Of course they are. I can’t wait to marry you.”
“Who said anything about marriage? I only asked you to be mine forever; I didn’t say anything about getting married,” I teased, my eyes crinkling up.
She laughed. “Oh, so now you’re the funny one, huh?”
“Well, you can’t always have all the glory.”
She tilted her head up to kiss me, and although she might’ve started the kiss, I was determined to finish it. I cradled the back of her head with one hand and placed the other at the small of her back, pulling her hard against me. She let out a short gasp, and I knew she could feel my hardness pressing against her abdomen. For a second I forgot we were on a paradise island; nothing else mattered except the electric connection we shared.
Arizona’s small hands roamed all over my bare chest, stroking and caressing every inch of my frame. My own hands tore her sarong away and then moved up to her bikini, and I fumbled with the knot behind her back for a second before ripping it away as well, groaning with delight as her bouncy breasts filled my hands a second later. Leaning down, I kissed her nipples and gently ran my tongue over her soft chest. She tasted slightly salty from the beach, and she pulled me back up and tore open the fly of my shorts. I helped her out and tossed them onto the floor after sliding them down, and Arizona knelt down as my cock bounced free only inches from her face, pointing straight up.
She smiled up at me and then enveloped me in her mouth, doing her best to swallow my length as a tingling heat built in the base of my groin. Sliding my hands into her hair, I gripped her head and guided her as she wrapped one hand around the part of me that she couldn’t fit in her mouth, and I groaned deeply as I thrust into her mouth before suddenly pulling away.
“I don’t want to come just yet, but you’re gonna make it happen if you keep doing that, baby,” I said, and she looked up at me with a grin.
“Okay.”
In the blink of an eye, I was on her, picking her up and setting her on the table filled with rose petals. She gasped as her warm skin hit the cool surface, and I slid her bikini bottom down her legs as I hovered over her, breathing hard. Then I grabbed her legs and threw them over my arms so that she was spread wide for me, and she bit her lower lip in anticipation.
Instead of just driving my cock into her like I so desperately wanted to, I lowered my face down between her legs, kissing and licking all over her inner thighs and then gently brushing my tongue over her sensitive lower lips. I flicked my tongue over her clit, teasing her until she began to buck and moan on the table, and I tightened my grip on her legs, holding her still.
I swirled, kissed, laved and nibbled until she was a quivering mess beneath me, each and every muscle tightening in wanton anticipation.
“Please,” she whined in protest, running her hands through my hair. “I’m so close.”
I drew a deep breath, unable to wait a second longer to be inside her, and we both shuddered with a need for release as I finally entered her, her warm tightness massaging my cock to perfection. Arizona lost it only seconds later, her muscles clenching around my shaft as she came. Her toes curled and her back arched, my hands crept around her waist, holding her in place as I fucked her harder and harder.
Her nails dug into my back as she gasped and whimpered, and it was that little mixture of pleasure and pain which finally drove me over the edge, growling with pleasure as I pushed all the way in, pulsing thickly while she clung to me.
A long moment passed before we relaxed and climbed off the table, and we slumped onto the floor together with contented sighs. Arizona had a silly grin on her face, and I was sure I looked pretty much the same. Fuck, life was so perfect right about now. Being with her had made me happier than anyone or anything else in the world, and if I had my way it’d last forever.
I reached over to find our clothes on the floor, and she slapped my hand away.
“What?” I protested.
“I think I’d prefer it if we’re both naked for the rest of the trip,” she replied, giving me a devilish smile as she climbed to her feet. “C’mon, let’s get in the shower and clean up so we can get ourselves dirty all over again.”
Was I going to say no to an offer like that?
Hell no.
CHAPTER THIRTY
ARIZONA
Six months later
A string quartet played an instrumental version of ‘We Belong’ by Pat Benatar, and I took a moment to glance out over the white chairs that had been set up in the expansive gardens of the Rosewood Hotel. The place had finally finished being refurbished, including the outside grounds, and when Mason and I had decided where we wanted to get married, there really wasn’t any question about it. The Rosewood might have been in a lame little town and it might not have been a ritzy five-star place, but it was where we’d first met. That made it perfect.
Everyone I knew and cared about turned to smile back at me as I took a deep breath, and my father linked an arm with mine and looked down at me.
“Ready?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
He grinned and began to walk me down the long crimson runner, and my pulse raced as I looked up to the ivy-covered arch at the end and saw Mason standing there in his tux, a huge grin on his face. Everyone else seemed to fade away for a moment as we stared at each other, and I honestly felt like I was about to burst from excitement.
“I’m proud of you,” my father murmured into my ear, jolting me back to reality.
“Thanks, Dad,” I whispered, my heart swelling even more. I was so lucky to have a father like him. I’d only been in his life for a relatively short period of time, but he’d already taught me a hell of a lot and given me so many wonderful opportunities to grow and make a life of my own.
Tina was my maid of honor, and she winked at me as I approached the end of the aisle and handed her my bouquet. She had an official date to the wedding – Mason’s friend and best man, Anders. At first I’d been surprised when they met and started dating, because from what I’d seen and heard, Anders was a bit of a sleazy man-whore. Then again, Mason had been the same as him before he met me, but he’d changed all that when our lives came together. He’d changed for the better, and if it could happen to us, then I was certain that it could happen for Tina and Anders as well. Fingers crossed.
Layla wasn’t here. She and Mason hadn’t spoken since the night my father had kicked her out, but he didn’t see it as too much of a loss considering the things she’d done. Also absent was Ewan. Tina had been worried that he might show up at the wedding and cause a scene seeing as it was in Leyton, but it had been so long since our last encounter that I didn’t think it would be an issue. I was right – he didn’t bother showing up, although he did send me a rather passive-aggressive message ‘congratulating’ me on my impending nuptials. Probably the closest thing Mason and I would ever get to an apology, but hey…some people just sucked, even if they’d once been a good friend.
I took my place next to Mason, and his eyes crinkled
around the edges with joy as he took in my white dress and glowing features. It really was amazing how much he’d matured since we’d first met. His charity was doing well, and while it was never going to be a grand moneymaking venture, it made him happy. That was the most important thing.
The celebrant began to take us through the ceremony, and I felt giddy with excitement as I finally spoke the two words that I felt like I’d been waiting a million years to say to my man.
“I do.”
“Well…we all know what time it is now,” the celebrant said. “Time for you to kiss the bride, Mr. Crest.”
We grinned at all our friends and family before turning our eyes back to each other. Love was and always had been a crazily unpredictable yet beautiful thing. If you asked a million different people how they ended up with their significant others, you’d get a million wildly varying responses. Mason and I were two completely different people who’d been thrown together by what I could only refer to as fate, and we’d grown out of our silly, self-absorbed immature phases and shared in experiences that had taught us one undeniable fact. We were made for each other.
He leaned down and kissed me, one hand tucking a strand of hair behind my ear as everyone else cheered and whooped.
“You’re mine,” he murmured. “All mine.”
Damn right I was…
THE END
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Mine - A Stepbrother Romance Page 19
