“Feel better, Kierra,” Finn said, leading the others back up the hill towards the sign so they could take a picture of it to prove they found it when the team returned to base camp.
“Lean on my as much as you want,” Mason said, propping her up comfortably. “I can take it.
“Got it.”
They hobbled down the rest of the hill together. Thankfully the ground here wasn’t as steep, and Sycamore house was closer to the quarry than most of the others houses.
His warmth against her, the smell of him so close, was enough to heat her cheeks and turn her thoughts in frantic circles. Mason smelled of some tangy, citrus scent, from his cologne or aftershave. Why couldn’t he be stinky from all the running we’ve done all day? His muscles flexed around her, holding her up and keeping her safe.
Soon enough they were standing in the courtyard of Sycamore house, the four stories of historic brick looming above their heads.
“I have a first aid kit in my apartment,” Mason said. “We should get some ice and maybe even a brace on that.”
“If you think we can make it up four flights of stairs.”
He grinned, taking the challenge in stride. “If you’re asking me to pick you up, I’m more than happy to oblige.”
“You don’t have to-“
But he did, swinging his arms under her legs and swooping her up like a traditional husband with a new bride. The world swam and swirled for a moment, and then she was laughing as he walked her into the building and headed towards the stairs. God save me from this boy.
“Don’t drop me!”
“Never,” Mason promised, taking the stairs one at a time. “Though I may collapse completely once we get upstairs.”
“It’d be ironic if you hurt your ankle helping me out with my ankle.”
“Sweet poetry,” he agreed as they reached the top of the first flight of stairs. “One down, three to go.”
A girl passed them on her way down the stairs, giving Kierra a “WTF are you doing” look that made her blush.
“This is silly,” she said, wiggling in his arms. “I can make it on my own.”
“Nope. I’m not done yet.” Securing his grip on her, Mason continued to carry Kierra up the flights of stairs.
The rest of their arduous journey passed in complete silence, Kierra’s heart beating so loud she swore he should’ve been able to hear it. She could certainly hear his, which was straining to keep up with the physical exertion of carrying her up so many steps.
Finally, they reached the top, and Mason gently put her down. Kierra kept her arms around his neck, gingerly placing her foot on the ground to test how it took her weight. Not at all, as it turned out; wincing, she picked it back up.
“Don’t worry, I gotcha,” Mason said softly, taking up her weight with his shoulder and helping her hobble down the hallway. “Just a little bit further and then we’ll get that thing iced.”
“Thanks so much for this,” Kierra said, realizing that she hadn’t thanked him yet. “Really, thank you.”
“It’s the least I can do.”
They reached his room, and Kierra eased as much of her weight off of him as she could, despite the twinge that emanated from her ankle at the movement. “I got it from here,” she said.
“If you say so.” He opened the door and she stepped confidently through, ignoring her little limp. “It looks like you’re limping.”
Kierra made it to the couch and flopped down, sighing as the pressure eased off the sprain. “Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Yeah,” he said, ducking down the hallway and out of sight, “I would say that’s true.”
“I just can’t believe I hurt myself so easily.” She grumbled. “What a klutz.”
“It could’ve happened to anyone,” he called from around the corner. “I almost fell down the hill myself.”
Kierra snorted at that idea. He didn’t even come close. She knew that he was trying to make her feel better, though, and it warmed her heart - which was, in and of itself, dangerous. Freeze back up, heart of mine.
But like Anna after Elsa’s kiss, her heart insisted on melting.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Tender
Mason had quite the skill with an Ace bandage.
Kierra watched as he carefully iced for a moment, then removed the ice pack and began wrapping the ankle to support it, his cool fingers a welcome balm against the swelling.
“I swear you have practice at this or something,” she said, observing the way his fingers danced across her skin.
“Something like that,” Mason said, his voice soft. “I’ve changed quite a few bandages in my life.”
“How so?”
He glanced up at her, something odd in his expression. “Just sports injuries and such. I’m a bit of a klutz myself. In fact I’m shocked I’m not the one who fell down the hill.”
“I’m not,” she said. “If it was bound to happen to anyone, it was going to be me.”
There was a lull for a moment as he tightened the bandage a bit and tapped it shut. “There, all good. The compression should help keep the swelling down. You may want a brace for it if you’re going to keep trying to put weight on it, though.”
Kierra laughed softly. “I promise not to run up any stairs anytime soon.”
“Oh, stair running is fine. Just don’t leap out of any windows,” he said, a smile dancing across his lips. “Do you want anything to drink or eat? As long as we’re sitting out of the physical activity, we may as well enjoy it.”
“Well…” Kierra trailed off for a moment, weighing her desire to stay versus her desire not to become entangled in anything as romantic and complicated as Mason. Face it, you’re not exactly unentangled at the moment anyway, she thought. “You could go back to the scavenger hunt if you’d like. I’m sure you could join up with them if you call Finn and find out where they are.”
“Nah. To be honest, I just wasn’t into this week’s scavenger hunt. Too many hills for my taste.” Walking to the kitchen, Mason took out two tall glasses and opened the fridge door. “We have water, orange juice, what I think is melted Jell-O shots, and some margarita mixer.”
“I’ll just have water, thanks.”
“I’m gonna get you some snacks, too.”
She watched him for a moment as he busied himself around the spacious fourth floor kitchen he had. No one else seemed to be home; maybe his roommates were out enjoying the temporarily warmer weather, or maybe they just stayed in their rooms. Either way, Kierra felt a strange, safe calmness when she was alone with him. Now that she’d blocked Brooks' number from her phone, she knew that his calls - and memories of him - weren’t going to interrupt and ruin her day. For the first time in a while, she felt both cared for and utterly content.
Mason returned from the kitchen with a bad of cheese puffs, two bars of chocolate, and some beef jerky. “Guy kitchen,” he said apologetically as he handed over her glass of water. “We don’t really have anything healthy.”
“You’re making the classic assumption that I eat anything healthy. I’m proud to tell you that I’m health food free since ’93.”
He cocked an eyebrow at that. “’93? Really?”
“It rhymes.”
“Fair enough.” Mason took a seat next to her on the couch and started fiddling with the armrest. He seemed preoccupied for some reason, like he had something on his mind.
For a moment they stewed in awkward silence, neither of them saying anything. Then Kierra reached forward to grab a snack, and at the same time Mason reached forward, so they collided from wrist to shoulder.
“Sorry,” he said, pulling his hand back. Kierra stared at his face, so close and so handsome.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said, watching as his eyes darted to her lips and then back up to her eyes. “I forgot what I was even reaching for.”
“Yeah.”
The tension was palpable. Mason didn’t lean back. Kierra didn’t lean back either. Instead sh
e licked her lips.
In response, he leaned forward.
They met like two supernovas colliding in the empty void of space: inevitably, destructively, and with white hot passion.
His lips on hers were cherry-sweet and rough with hunger, his hand pressing at the small of her back, his chin coarse with stubble. Kierra explored his chest with her hands, forgetting about her ankle, her ex-boyfriend, her every fear. Why fear when his warmth was a balm to her still-aching heart?
Mason’s mouth moved across her cheek and down her jaw, drawing a line of fire with his mouth. Kierra pressed herself against him, falling into the chasm of passion.
“Are you okay with this?” he asked against her skin, his hands clasped at her back like a prayer.
“Definitely,” she breathed. Thoughts tumbled through her head, one after another, but chief among them was a single desire: make me forget. Let me lose myself in this.
And she would.
They stumbled to his room, hands barely breaking apart long enough to give them room to walk, Mason pulling Kierra up and wrapping her legs around his waist. His lips explored her jawline, cheeks, earlobes, and every other bit of skin he could get to. She clasped his waist tight, enjoying the friction of their bodies meeting through layers of clothing, her skin warm with unbridled desire.
“Stupid - doorknob-“ he muttered, reaching for it even as he held her up with his other hand.
“I’ll get it.” Kierra leaned over him and grabbed the knob, Mason stumbling into his room as the door swung inwards. They both laughed, eyes meeting, tension dropping between them.
Kierra unwrapped her legs from his waist and jumped down, hands resting on his shoulders. She pushed the door shut with her foot, the sudden privacy almost overwhelming.
Leaning down, he kissed her again, slower and more deliberately this time, his lips finding every sensitive part of hers with expert precision. She gave as good as she got, standing on tiptoe to meet his mouth with hers, injured ankle curled up.
His hands moved down her back and then beneath the edge of her shirt, fingers drawing circles in her skin. Kierra pulled back for a moment, barely breaking their kiss, only to take her shirt in her hands and pull it above her head.
Mason stared at her, frozen to the spot, eyes drinking her in. She watched him look at her, heart beating double time in her chest, all-too-aware of the state of her weekend athletic bra.
“You’re beautiful,” he breathed, his eyes full of heat, his hands drawing her close. She smiled, and they kissed once more, legs tangling as he backed them towards his bed.
“You’re not half bad yourself,” she said, straddling him as he sat on the bed. Kierra hooked her fingers under his shirt and pulled it off, revealing tight, tanned skin and a wide, well-muscled chest that tapered to his hips.
Mason’s hands roamed her body, cupping her chest as he bent down and kissed her between the breasts. Softly moaning, Kierra pushed her fingers in his hair and guided him further south, leaning back so he could trail kisses down to her belly button.
With clever fingers he unhooked her bra, everything falling away in an instant.
Arms around her waist, he picked Kierra up, turned around, and gently tossed her on the bed beneath him. She opened her legs to him, gasping as his fingers found the zipper on her jeans and he drew them down to her ankles. He kissed his way back up, breath ghosting on the skin of her calves, then knees, then thighs, pausing at each place to briefly worship her with his mouth.
Kierra moaned and shivered as he got closer and closer to her hips, lips drawing invisible symbols on her skin. “That feels good.”
“I was hoping,” he said, caging her chest with his arms and hovering above her on the bed.
“Something’s wrong, though,” she said, lacing her fingers behind his head.
“What’s that?” Mason cocked an eyebrow at her, devilish smirk on his lips.
“You’re still wearing pants.”
“I think we can fix that.”
“Really?”
The smirk turned into a grin. “Really.” He stood up, unbuckling his belt slowly and drawing it out. “So you want a strip tease, huh?”
“You’re a real piece of work,” she said, a smile lighting up her face. “Just take them off already.”
Mason dropped the belt and undid his zipper. “Someone’s impatient. That’s okay - so am I.”
He pulled his jeans off, revealing a tight pair of dark blue boxers and a tantalizing glimpse of what lay beneath. Am I really going to do this? Kierra thought, nervous in the pit of her stomach. Mason strode towards her and took her in his arms, his muscular body pressing against her as their lips met once more. The feeling of him against her drowned out everything but her own lust. Yes. Yes, I definitely am going to do this.
Now only the thin cotton of their underwear separated them. Mason tipped Kierra back on the bed, his mouth roaming down to her breasts as he took her nipple softly between his lips. One of his hands danced down her stomach to her hips, then slid beneath her panties.
“Oh God,” she moaned, squirming and pressing up against his fingers as they stroked her skin. Further south he went, parting her folds and brushing up against her clit. “Right - there?”
Mason’s mouth moved. “There?” he experimented with his fingers until she moaned, twisting towards him. “There,” he confirmed, with smug satisfaction in his voice.
Kierra kissed him, clutching her fingers between her thighs and pressing her hips towards him. Mason’s shoulders clenched as he pulled her tight against him, his hips falling between her legs, hand slipping her underwear down.
“I can’t - wait anymore,” he warned, hips jerking as the outline of his cock rubbed against her.
“Don’t.”
In answer, he pushed off his boxers, and they went on the floor along with her panties. Kierra stared down at him, stark naked between her legs, rock hard cock curving towards his abdomen. He held himself in one hand, tantalizingly close to her naked pussy.
“Condoms?” she asked, her voice choked with her own desire. Fuck me, now, she left unsaid, but by the spark in his eyes she knew he heard it.
“Got it.” Mason paced around the bed to the nightstand, his eyes never leaving hers. He pulled out the drawer and took a wrapped condom from it, the foil crinkling in his hands. His cock came to her attention - the whole long, thick length of it.
Kierra crawled over to the edge of the bed and placed her hands on his hips. “This looks like it needs some attention,” she said, glancing up at him from beneath her leashes to appreciate the hunger in his eyes. Her mouth was oh-so-close to the head of his cock, and it wasn’t hard to see it was affecting him. “Let’s wrap it in something besides latex for a moment.”
Mason swallowed, his hand falling to her hair to stroke the top of her head. “Sounds good to me.”
She drew his tip into her mouth, tongue working the slit. Groaning, Mason drew her closer, and she let the first few inches of him fall into her mouth. At the same time, she put her hand on his sheath, working him slowly.
“Ah - yeah, just like that,” he groaned, head falling back. “Fuck.”
Exactly. Kierra worked him back and forth, reveling in the sounds that fell from his mouth, the look on his face when she glanced up to him. Soon he was all worked up, his mouth falling open, his hips thrusting back and forth into the ring of her hand and mouth.
“Ugh- God.” Suddenly he stopped, pushing her head back. “This is all well and good, but I’m ready for the main show.”
His cock fell out of her mouth and he sheathed it in the condom, hands playing through her hair. “Sounds good to me,” she said, drawing him back towards the bed, legs fallen open to make room for him. They came together on the bed, all wandering hands and entangled legs, hips lining up like a prayer, mouths meeting with a gasp of air.
Mason’s hand on his cock guided him towards her, his eyes meeting hers as he guided himself slowly, gently, inside her body. She gasped and
he paused, but she didn’t want him to stop; so she pushed her heels against his back and brought him forward, groaning, further into her. Her body parted and stretched for him, part discomfort, part pleasure all at once.
“Ah - fuck. You good?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I’m good.” They kissed, delicately. “Keep going.”
Mason braced himself and worked his way into her, hips slowly, inexorably, pushing him further and further into her. She moaned as he pressed against her pleasure centers, his body rubbing up against her clit.
She pulled him in, reveling in the feeling as he sank deep into her, their bodies neither beginning nor ending. This close, the green in his eyes sparkled and danced, and his breath mingled with hers.
“Kierra,” he moaned her name, pulling out and pushing back in. “Kierra, you’re so perfect.”
“You feel amazing.”
He picked her up and turned her over so that she was straddling his lap, her hair cascading forward to brush against his chest, her legs folded up on either side of him. She braced herself and worked him in and out of her, picking up speed as her body relaxed and adjusted to his girth inside her. He worshipped her with his eyes, and she brought herself closer and closer to climax on top of him.
“Faster,” he whispered, taking her hips in his broad, strong hands and guiding her on his lap, thrusting in time with her body. The bed began to creak and groan beneath them.
Throwing her head back, Kierra lost herself in the rhythms of their bodies colliding together again and again. Warmth spread through her belly, her clit sending messages to the rest of her. She ground down on Mason, groaning as she hit her climax, fingers tightening on his shoulders, mouth falling open in sweet relief. Her thighs clenched around him, body spasming again and again, his lips on her neck as he urged her on with his body and his voice.
“Come for me, that’s it,” he muttered, as she did so.
“Mason,” she breathed, looking down into his eyes and kissing him as she relaxed all around him.
“Fuck, you’re beautiful.” He took her in his arms and rolled with her on the bed, his cock briefly falling out as he braced himself above her. But he entered her again with some guidance, filling her up and stretching her pleasurably. This time he thrust harder, faster, losing himself to the rhythm of desire, and she let him with abandon.
The Valentine's Dare (The Sycamore Serial Book 1) Page 6
