by Abbi Glines
“I hate him. I don’t know who he is, but I loathe him with every fiber of my being,” I whispered against her hair.
She tensed in my arms for a moment, and then her body relaxed as her arms tightened around me as if she was seeking safety and comfort from me. I could give her that. Even if she wasn’t ready for me to give her other things, I could give her peace.
“It’s late. You need to go to bed,” I told her, wanting nothing more than to crawl into that bed with her. Even if it was just to sleep.
“Will . . . will you stay here tonight?” she asked against my chest.
“Nowhere else I’d rather be.”
She pulled back from me, and I let her go. She walked over to the bed, pulled back the covers, and climbed under them. Then she patted the spot beside her. “Sleep here. Beside me.”
Her wish was my command. I lay down beside her but stayed on top of the covers. I was fully clothed, so I didn’t need covers anyway. Holding out my arm, I looked at her curled up on her side, watching me. “Come here,” I said, and she immediately moved to tuck herself into the crook of my arm and shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her and held her.
Staring at the ceiling, I wondered how I would go back home on Sunday morning. Leaving her wasn’t going to be easy. I didn’t like thinking of her here alone.
The need to protect her had grown into something fierce and possessive inside of me. I thought of her all the time, and all I could think was that I wanted her safe. I wanted her with me. I didn’t want anyone else touching her or comforting her. Just me.
I was supposed to fix her problems. I was the one who should be holding her when she cried. It drove me crazy to think of anyone else doing something for her that I should be doing.
This girl was making me crazy. I felt out of my depth with her. I didn’t know why I had this insane urge to wrap her up and run off with her. It couldn’t be healthy. I had always been protective of Harlow and my mother. But other than those two, no one else was that important to me.
Until now. And this was a league all its own.
Why her? Why was she affecting me like this? I had seen hot bodies before and gorgeous smiles. It was more than her outward appearance. Beautiful women only interested me for one thing. Reese had reached something else inside of me and squeezed it tight, from the moment I ran into the room and found her sitting on the floor surrounded by broken glass.
I had actually been pissed at the mirror for hurting her. Who gets fucking mad at an object?
“Mase?” her soft voice said against my chest.
The blood in my veins warmed and sped up with the sound of my name on her lips. Or at least, it felt like it. My whole body reacted to her. “Yes,” I replied, gently wrapping a silky lock of her hair around my finger.
“It was my stepfather,” she said, so softly I almost didn’t hear her.
Everything in my chest felt like it was twisting into knots. It hurt to breathe. Holy fuck, it hurt so bad. I had to force oxygen into my lungs as the reality of what she had just admitted to me settled in. Rage unlike anything I’d ever experienced crashed through me, and I wanted to murder another human being for the first time in my life. No, I wanted to torture him slowly first. Listen to him scream in agony. Then I wanted to watch him die.
“Mase?” Reese’s voice called my name again, and I inhaled sharply, putting the revenge and hate for a man I didn’t know to the side. My girl needed me now. She didn’t need me losing my shit over this. She’d trusted me with it.
“Yes, baby,” I replied.
“I hate him, too.”
Those four words just about undid me. “I’m going to wash it all away. I swear to God, I am, Reese. One day, all you will see or remember is me and what we feel like together. I swear.”
She turned her head and kissed my chest, then snuggled closer to me. “I believe you.”
Reese
It took me a few seconds to awaken fully and remember that I wasn’t alone in my apartment. I didn’t have to open my eyes to know that I was alone in bed. I could feel Mase’s absence. His warmth was gone.
But he was in the other room. The smell of coffee filled the small apartment. And Mase’s voice, although he was talking quietly, drifted through the closed door.
I made quick work of brushing my teeth and hair before going into the living room to face him after last night. The fact that he was here still amazed me. He had come to stop me from going on a date with Thad. And in return, I’d freaked out on him while doing something as simple as kissing and touching.
I opened the door and stepped into the room, and my eyes went straight to the tall form of perfection standing at the window with his back to me. He was on the phone. He was still wearing the jeans and T-shirt he’d had on last night, but his duffel bag sat on the sofa. He had come prepared.
“I’d rather not come, Harlow. I like Tripp and all, but I wasn’t planning on being here this weekend, and I didn’t come down for his party. I have other things I’d rather do tonight,” he said in a frustrated tone, although he was still talking in a quiet voice.
His jaw worked as he listened to whatever his sister was saying. It seemed she really wanted him to go to a party tonight. I started to speak up and tell him he should go.
“Fine. I’ll go if Reese wants to. But if she’d rather not, we’re doing something else. End of discussion. Now, I love you, but I gotta go. I was going to try to make some breakfast before she wakes up.”
I closed my mouth and stared in surprise at his back. He wanted to take me? To a party with his crowd? And he was going to make me breakfast? Not blurting out that I loved him was hard, because after listening to this conversation, I wanted to open the window and alert all the neighbors that I was in love with this man.
He turned, and his gaze locked on mine. A slow, sexy smile touched his lips, and I was sure I might swoon right here on the spot. “I gotta go. She’s awake,” he said into the phone, and ended his call.
I stood right where I was, unable to move, with that gleam in his eyes and the warmth of that gaze slowly trailing down my body and back up again.
“You even wake up gorgeous,” he said in a gentle tone.
“Thank you,” was my silly response. I didn’t know what else to say.
“You hungry? I was going to take inventory and make us some breakfast,” he said, as he walked over to the kitchen. “I’ve already made coffee.”
“Yes, but I can make breakfast. I make really good homemade waffles.” I followed him into the small kitchen area.
He glanced back at me over his shoulder. “Homemade waffles? Sold. All I can do is eggs and toast.”
“Then you go sit over there, because both of us are not fitting into this kitchen.”
He was pouring more coffee into his cup. Then he turned and walked back out of the corner hole I had for a kitchen. I may or may not have been checking out his butt in those jeans. I had to snap my head up when he turned back to me.
A knowing grin lit up his face, and he took a few steps back in my direction and placed his cup of coffee on the bar. “I’m going to admit something that I think you should know. I’m a bit of a caveman. The idea of you cooking for me turns me on.” His voice dropped as he said the last part, then he bent his head and pressed a warm kiss to my lips.
I was ready for another round of kissing if he was. I went up on my tiptoes eagerly. I was five foot nine, but Mase was at least six-three or six-four. He made me feel short.
His hand slipped around to my lower back and pressed me closer to him, just before his mouth opened and I was given the yummy taste of his peppermint goodness. I moved my hands from his arms to his neck to help pull me up even farther on my toes.
Mase moved his hands over my butt and cupped it, and for a moment, we both stilled. When panic didn’t set in, I leaned closer, and Mase inhaled sharply, then pulled me up his body while holding on to my bottom.
Just when I was getting ready to explore his lips some more, he broke the k
iss and took a deep breath. “Reese, baby, I’ve got a thing for your ass. I’ve had a thing for your ass since day one. And now that I’ve got my hands on it, I need a minute to calm down without your hot little mouth turning me the fuck on,” he said in a husky voice that made me shiver.
I ducked my head to hide my smile. He liked my butt. It was too fat, but he liked it. I couldn’t keep from grinning.
“I see that smile,” he said teasingly, as he squeezed my bottom in his hands and then groaned. “Fuck . . . that’s nice,” he said in my ear. “Either I carry you over to that sofa and continue to hold the finest ass in the world in my hands while I kiss you, or I let you go so you can make those waffles. Your choice. I want to do what you feel comfortable with.”
This man and his words made me feel like goo inside. All melty and mushy. Who needs breakfast, anyway? “The sofa,” I whispered, and he let out a pleased growl as he picked me up off the floor. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he kept his hands on my bottom. In three long strides, we were sinking down onto the sofa. I felt the stiffness under my bottom, and he stilled.
I would not panic. This was Mase. This was Mase.
I kept my eyes locked on his handsome face and watched in fascination as his eyes flickered with something so sexy and needy that it made my center ache.
“You can pull your legs out and hold yourself up over my lap, if feeling what you do to me makes you nervous.” His voice was tight, as if he was hurting somehow.
I moved so that my legs were folded on each side of his and I was straddling him. Just like last night. If I sank back down, I would feel his erection against me. But there was a tingling ache there that hadn’t been there before. The idea of putting any pressure on it excited me.
Mase’s hands flexed on my bottom, and he breathed out heavily through his nose as we kept our gazes firmly locked on each other. Slowly, I let myself sink down onto his lap. The hard ridge of his penis fit right along the slit between my legs, and I gasped loudly when a spark that felt so good it was almost painful shot up my body from the contact between my legs.
Mase swallowed so hard I could hear him. His breathing was heavier now, and his hands had tightened their hold on my backside. “You OK?” he asked in a voice that sounded like he was in pain.
“Am I hurting you?” I asked, horrified. I hadn’t even thought about how this might feel to him. I started to get up, and his hands immediately moved to my thighs as he held me down.
“No. No. Don’t. This is . . . fuck, baby. I don’t have words for what this is,” he said, then let out a hard laugh as he laid his head back against the sofa and stared at the ceiling. “I need another minute.”
His hands squeezed my thighs as he sat there like that. I admired the thickness of his throat. It even looked muscular. Did necks have muscles?
Feeling brave, I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his neck. His hands flexed on my thighs, but that was the only move he made. So I kissed him again and inhaled his scent. He reminded me of leather and the outdoors. My body must have liked the two smells, because I had to press down to get some relief from the pulsing ache between my legs.
“Baby,” he said softly.
“Yeah?” I asked, taking a small little taste of his skin with the tip of my tongue.
“Fuck,” he groaned, and then I was moving away from him. His hands were on my waist, and he was placing me on the sofa as he got up and moved away as fast as he could.
I had been so lost in him I hadn’t realized what was going on until I saw him stop and put his hands on his knees. I watched him take several deep breaths before he stood back up. I was afraid to ask him anything. I waited for him to say something first.
It seemed like forever before he finally turned around and looked at me. I had pulled my knees up in front of me and wrapped my arms around them. Something was wrong. I was waiting to hear him tell me what that was, exactly.
“I’m sorry. I . . . you’re . . .” He stopped and laughed at himself, then shook his head in frustration. “I want you naked, Reese. I want my hands and mouth all over your sweet little body. I want to bend you over and kiss the freckle I know is right under your left butt cheek, the one I saw the first time I met you. I was greeted with your perfect ass bent over on display, and I’ve dreamed about that ass ever since. But more than that, I want you to always feel safe with me. I want to take it easy and slow with you, so I never have to see that haunted look in your eyes or the terror in your expression again. So we may have more moments when you press that”—he closed his eyes and breathed hard through his nose—“when you press against me and touch me in ways that drive me so crazy I’m afraid I will snap and touch you where you’re not ready yet.”
Hearing him tell me that he wanted to kiss me and touch me naked had my heart rate up again. It produced a mixture of fear and excitement. The sensation between my legs was still there. There was a needy ache that reminded me of a time when I was much younger and a guy I’d had a crush on at school cornered me and touched me, calling me beautiful.
After he’d ignored me and let his girlfriend call me horrible names the next day, that ache had never returned. Then other things happened that made any excitement in that part of my body die. Just remembering the past doused the feelings left behind from being in Mase’s arms.
I was relieved that the ache was gone and sad that this kissing session with Mase was over when I stood up. “Then I guess it’s time for breakfast,” I said, forcing a smile.
Mase was studying me carefully, and I didn’t want him to think for a minute that I was upset with him. He was doing this for me. He cared enough to put his own needs aside and be gentle with me. It made me love him even more.
“Do you understand?” he asked, his voice full of concern.
A real smile formed on my lips as I looked at him. “I understand. Thank you. Things like this only make me trust you more.”
Mase
This was not how I wanted to spend my last night with Reese. I wasn’t sure when I would get another weekend to come stay with her. I had spent most of the morning staring at the ceiling while I held her, thinking of ways to persuade her to come to Texas. I was ready to move her into my house. That’s how far gone I was, and we hadn’t even had sex yet.
Luckily, Tripp Newark Montgomery’s fiancée, Bethy, wasn’t one of the uptight Rosemary Beach females who made everything black-tie. She had worked at the Kerrington Club with her aunt for years. This party had been planned under her supervision, so we were all dressed for a party on the beach.
I glanced down at Reese, who was holding on to my arm tightly. She was wearing a bikini under her sundress, and I could see the straps peeking out. Swimsuits were the suggested attire. After the groundbreaking ceremony for Tripp’s brand-new five-star hotel, everyone was moving to the Kerrington Club pool, which was more like a tropical island with waterfalls and palm trees.
“It seems like my wife can get you to do her bidding, too,” Grant Carter said with a smirk, as he walked up to us. “Hello, Reese. Glad to see my brother-in-law has good taste.”
“Hello, Mr. Carter,” she said, her voice giving away how nervous she was.
Grant frowned. “You’re dating Mase and having cookie breaks with my wife. You can call me Grant. Please.” He turned his attention back to me. “You staying in town long?”
Reese tensed beside me but only for a second. If I wasn’t so attuned to her every move, I would have missed it. “I have to leave tomorrow. I left things in a bit of a mess,” I admitted.
Grant chuckled, and his eyes flicked over to my left. “Yeah, I hear you swooped in and stole Thad’s date for the night. He’s currently drinking heavily and has a woman on each arm. So he’s recovering.”
I didn’t even bother looking. I didn’t doubt Grant for a second. “Where’s Harlow?” I asked, changing the subject.
“She’s feeding Lila Kate. I offered to do it, but she said I was the one who needed to be out here showing my face, not her.”
“I have to say, I like the relaxed atmosphere. I’m not sure Harlow could have gotten me to come if this were formal.”
Grant chuckled like he didn’t believe me.
A server appeared with a tray of champagne flutes. I took two and handed one to Reese. “You thirsty?”
She grinned and looked at the glass, then at me. “What is it?”
“Champagne,” I replied, unable to take my eyes off her face. Every expression she made was something I wanted to etch into my memory.
“I’ve never had champagne before,” she said softly.
“I think you’ll like it. Just take a small sip.”
She placed the glass to her lips, and her eyes stayed locked on me as she tasted the blush-colored drink. Her eyes lit with pleasure and excitement. She liked it. And watching her experience it was fucking amazing. It was just a drink, but she made everything an adventure. “It’s really good. It tickles my nose.”
There were several places I wanted to tickle her. But I kept that thought to myself. Glancing over, I realized I’d forgotten about Grant, but he’d moved on from us anyway.
“Hello, I’m Della. You must be Reese.”
I turned back around to see Della Kerrington, Woods’s wife, smiling at Reese. Della was a nice person. I felt safe with her approaching Reese. She hadn’t come from this world, either, although she was now the wife of the owner of the Kerrington Club.
“Yes, I am. It’s nice to meet you,” Reese said, with less nerves this time. It seemed to be only men who made her withdraw.
“It’s lovely to meet you, too. I’ve heard so many good things about you from Harlow.”
Reese’s eyes went wide, and she glanced over at me quickly before smiling back at Della. “Oh. Well, I enjoy working for Mrs. Carter. They’re a really nice family.”
Harlow would hate that Reese still felt she had to call her Mrs. Carter. I didn’t correct her, though, although I could see the confusion flash in Della’s eyes. She wasn’t expecting Reese to be so formal about her relationship with my sister.
