by Stella Rhys
“It really is.” Sofia stared blankly out the window. “But you know what the weirdest part is?” She brought her earnest gaze to mine.
“What?”
“That you’re not upset about it. Not even a little,” she murmured with a little grin. “In fact, you’re happier than you’ve ever been in your life because every day with Mason keeps making your smile brighter and brighter, and while I kind of hate him for getting you over Aaron like I couldn’t, I also fucking love him for doing whatever he did to heal you,” she said quietly, tangling her fingers in mine. “I couldn’t fix it when you lost the baby, and I couldn’t fix it when Aaron left you. And as your best friend, it was the worst feeling in the world so thank God for Mason because now you’re back. And I can see it – you’re better than ever.”
I smiled back at her.
I couldn’t argue that at all.
Chapter Seventeen
“This place is beautiful, but we are fucking idiots,” Noah declared upon arrival. The Sundara Resort was a gleaming paradise set atop a lush, five hundred acre beach. It was evening but we could see the colorful fish flitting in the waters of the crystal clear cay, and we could make out the towering silhouette of the majestic mountains that encompassed the hotel.
But none of us could quite enjoy the scenery just yet because thanks to champagne-heavy plane ride, we’d forgotten to change out of our New York outfits before touching down in St. Lucia. Wrapped in winter sweaters, thermal leggings and thick jeans, we dragged our feet into the front desk of the hotel, laughing miserably at how breathtakingly stupid we were. Trailing behind Sofia and Noah, Mason and I snorted, watching them whine like children and strip off as much as was appropriate for being in public. Picking up the scarf she left strewn on the floor, I agreed with Sofia’s proposal that we check in then promptly jump in the pool.
Set with our key cards, the four of us split up to find our rooms and find each other again at the pool. As if I weren’t hot enough, I felt the heat of Mason’s stare on me as we rode up the elevator.
“God, I’m looking forward to seeing you in a bikini.”
“Mm. Too bad that’s all you’re going to be able to do.”
“Come again?”
I smiled mischievously. “You can look but you can’t touch.”
Mason gave that sexy laugh. “I didn’t realize we were still on that.”
“Oh, we are.” I pressed myself against the opposite side of the elevator. “I think it’d be fun to torture you a bit. If you think it’s funny to make fun of my lame birthday wish and then gift me a pair of Wednesday panties, then you deserve a little bit of punishment.”
“I know I shouldn’t be but I’m turned on. Any idea what kind of punishment?”
“Somewhat,” I replied.
We left it at that before finding our beautiful suite on a floor of only four others, the room tucked behind a brush of coconut palms. It was beautiful, with sunset-colored hardwood floors, bright accents splashed about and a plush, white hammock right by the balcony overlooking the water. I genuinely couldn’t wait to get into my swimsuit and dive in but after searching fruitlessly through my luggage, I remembered that some of my new purchases were in Sofia’s luggage, so Noah let me do a quick switch-a-roo, coming to my room to have a pre-dip drink with Mason while I went downstairs to get changed with Sofia. Since the entire resort was rented out solely for guests of the Leo-Tully wedding, she had apparently bumped quickly into familiar faces and learned exactly everyone was hanging out tonight.
“There’s supposedly a spectacular infinity pool upstairs and even better, Aaron and Eva won’t be there because they’re having some boring-ass dinner with her parents,” Sofia said, tying the neck of her teeny, tiny floral bikini. She grinned as she watched me pull on mine. “I see we’re going for heavy torture tonight,” she remarked, nodding with approval for my choice of swimsuit.
“Thought it’d be fun to rile him up as much as possible before giving him some much-deserved relief,” I grinned, adjusting the cups of my white crochet bikini before pulling on a peach cover-up that I left open and untied. “I’ve already blue-balled the living hell out of Mason. I might as well take him to his limit before letting him…”
“Fuck your brains out.”
“Yes.”
My heart was beating out of control at just the thought of it, but I couldn’t wait anymore. I needed Mason. I needed to feel him, every part of him and considering how careful he’d been with me thus far I knew the ball was in my court. So tonight was the night. I’d made the decision on the plane and surprisingly, there were no nerves. I hadn’t had sex in months, I hadn’t had good sex in years, and I’d only ever been with two other men in my life but I wasn’t afraid of whether or not I’d satisfy Mason. Just the ways he looked at me had me feeling beyond good enough, and the fact that he got hard almost every time I touched him pumped me with the confidence and total reassurance that I had nothing to be nervous about tonight.
“Gotta say, way to break a dry spell, lady,” Sofia said, taking my hand as we made our way out of her room and through the hall. “Mase is a good man.”
“I never thought I’d say this, but I agree.”
“That said, you still better make him work for it tonight.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” I laughed. “I plan to.”
*
The infinity pool at the resort looked about ten times as big as the one at Noah’s TriBeCa apartment and rather than views of city lights, it boasted grassy mountains, moonlight and stars beaming over the never ending ocean. At each corner of the pool were four cabanas, their saffron curtains pulled open to show off the plush couches and chaise lounges inside. But they remained mostly empty since the younger guests of the Leo-Tully wedding were all gathered around the pool, either splashing inside or sitting at the edges with their legs dipped in, beachy garnished cocktails in hand.
I plucked the maraschino cherry off my piña colada and popped it into my mouth, shaking my damned head as I eyed Mason. He had clearly taken his dip with Noah already because he was still dripping wet and looking downright lick-able in his black swim trunks. Blatantly ogling him, I had to remind myself that technically, at least in this moment, that man was mine. That athletic build with all those wet, godly muscles reflecting more than their fair share of moonlight – that was mine to run my hands all over and sink my frickin’ teeth into if I wanted.
“Spotted,” Sofia smirked when Mason’s gaze found me from across the pool. It sparkled with the same instant need that I’d seen in his eyes at Noah’s party but this time, he sat stunned as I went over to him, letting the gentle breeze blow my robe lightly open.
“I have a new proposal that we take back everything I said on the plane,” he said, pulling me to sit sideways on his lap when I reached him.
“Nah,” I smirked. “This is your punishment.”
“For what? Decades of being an asshole before I met you?”
“Yes.”
“Well considering how much it already hurts, I’d say it’s pretty fitting,” Mason said, running his hands over my bare legs. I knew there were people doing everything from peeking at us to flat-out watching us, but I was no longer self-conscious about having an audience. I had better things on my agenda – like simply watching Mason touch me as if it were all he wanted to do for the remainder of the night. Running his hand along my cover-up, he pushed it slightly open to expose one lacey white triangle. Seated on him, his mouth was at the level of my breast. I writhed a little. Catching the look in his eyes, I was convinced for a second that he’d shove me down right there and tear the bikini clean off my body. Instead, he looked up at me. “Do you have any idea how fucking sexy you are?” he asked seriously.
The breeze blew my hair against his carved cheekbones. “I think I might now.”
“Good,” Mason murmured, his blue eyes fixated on mine. “But I don’t think you know,” he wet the slow curve of his lips, “just how fucking long I’ve thought you were.”
“What?”
“The sexiest, most fucking beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on.”
My heart fluttered. “Then tell me.” I settled in on his lap. “Tell me your first memory of me.”
Mason broke into a gorgeous smile. “Honestly? It’s not that romantic because it was through text. Aaron was pretty pleased with himself so he sent me some pictures of the girl he was seeing. I’ll admit my reaction was to call him and ask where the fuck he’d found you.”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “Really now. What picture was it?”
“Just some shot of you sitting across from him at a restaurant. It was summer and it was outside. You were wearing a dress that was… actually a pretty similar material to this,” Mason said, thumbing the edge of my bikini bottom, his fingers unknowingly teasing the hell out of me. With a little groan, he laughed to himself. “And something about your smile told me Aaron didn’t fucking deserve you, but that was probably irrational. And it was probably just me being annoyed by how smug he was over you.”
“I bet,” I rolled my eyes, wondering if half of Aaron’s motivation to date me came from the fact that he knew Mason liked the way I looked. But I didn’t wonder for long because I genuinely didn’t give much of a shit about my relationship with Aaron anymore. I was surprised by how little nostalgia I felt for him despite Mason’s trip down memory lane. “Well, what about the first memory you have of meeting me in person?” I asked.
“You don’t remember?”
“No? Should I?”
“Considering how insanely pissed off you were, yeah. Probably.”
I frowned, trying hard to sort through my memories but I couldn’t come up with the first time I’d met Mason face to face, or why I would’ve already been pissed. Studying the troubled look on my face, Mason laughed.
“Alright, don’t hurt yourself,” he said, catching my hand before I could smack him. “It was on Aaron’s birthday three years ago. You asked him to let you into his apartment and give you the day so you could clean for him and set the place up all nice for whatever dinner you were cooking. You wanted him to stay out with his friends till eight o’clock so you’d have the time to get everything perfect. But I got him shitfaced by six-thirty, so he wound up needing to go home and pass out for a little before mustering up the energy to eat whatever meal you’d just slaved over. It was…” His laugh sounded almost nervous. “Bad. Really fucking bad. I still remember how you looked at me when I carried him into the apartment, and that was the first day we ever met.”
“Oh my God.” My mouth hung open as I suddenly remembered the day I’d probably pushed from my memory out of pure rage. I was still in my honeymoon stage with Aaron and I’d decided to make his birthday the hugely elaborate affair I’d never had for any of mine, so I spent a week researching recipes, pulling favors from our favorite vendors at Vandermark and gathering the most beautiful array of flowers, candles and dinner ingredients. I ended up with an absolutely perfectly curated spread gathered from the top florists, decorators and gourmet markets from all five boroughs and even some farms upstate. I slept barely a wink the night before because I was so excited to create this masterpiece of an evening for Aaron, but he wound up staggering drunk into the apartment, sleeping through dinner and waking up around midnight to stuff some of my herb roasted lamb loin in his mouth before going back to bed and throwing it up an hour later. “Oh… my God,” I breathed, letting the memory sink in. “Oh my God, I’m getting so pissed off just thinking about it again!” I laughed in disbelief, smacking Mason repeatedly and so hard even Noah yelled at me from a few chairs down.
“I’m sorry!” Mason dodged me with a giant grin on his face. “I didn’t realize you had all that planned for him. He didn’t tell me. And look, I was pretty drunk myself that day but I could already tell when I walked into the apartment and saw you that you were way too fucking good for him. I’d never seen his place that clean and I’d never smelled food that incredible so yeah, definitely the one time in my life I felt jealous of Aaron.”
I covered my face with my hands. “My hair was a mess. I remember I was sweating and I was covered in flour and lemon juice and probably a bunch of other stuff.”
“Yeah, well,” Mason laughed. “You still looked better than anything I’d ever laid my eyes on in my life and I remember looking at you and just selfishly fucking wanting you right away.” Mason slipped his hand under my robe, stroking the small of my back. “I think I had ten fantasies about how to steal you from Aaron before you even told me your name,” he muttered, rubbing his jaw as he smirked at himself. “It was pretty rough, but you definitely made it easier on me when Aaron started distancing himself from me. From the family.”
I frowned, confused. “Why?”
“It sucked not seeing him as much, but the bright side was that I did prefer to forget about you. It was easier to pretend you didn’t exist and there wasn’t something out there I couldn’t have. And most of the time, I could do that just fine. I didn’t think about you every day, I promise you that. But then the random nights when I did… when I thought about you and what I knew about you, how good you were to Aaron… it would fucking hurt.”
My voice was small as I ran my finger along his collarbones and down the deep line between his chest. I couldn’t help thinking about his undeniable history with women. “I have a feeling I know what you’d do when it was late at night and you felt down.”
“You’re not wrong about it either,” Mason said honestly, his voice low. “Felt good at the time though. At least I thought it did. But I’m realizing now how much more you feel it when you’re with someone you’ve wanted for awhile. Every touch or kiss or just the way she looks at you – it feels nice with any pretty girl, but with the one you’ve been fantasizing about for years, it’s like a fucking high.” His eyes traced his fingers, which brushed down my calves. “It starts to become an addiction and all you can think about anymore is when you’ll see her next. All the things you want to find out about her – what she looks like happy or sad, how she laughs when she’s nervous. What sounds she’ll make when you touch her a certain way.”
God, Mase. He was describing my own recent feelings to a tee but coming from his mouth, they sounded so goddamned sexy.
“I can relate. To that curiosity… just wanting nonstop to discover more,” I said softly, the blue of Mason’s eyes burning into me in a way that sparked all my senses. His bare skin felt hotter under my touch. I could hear every dip, every hum and lilt of his voice and it certainly felt like I was seeing differently now. “She’s a lucky girl,” I smiled as Mason leaned into me. “Any chance I know her?”
The way his lips twisted up was irresistible. “I’d say so.”
I was swooning at this point. I didn’t care that Sofia and Noah were laughing at me from the pool either. I was falling and there was no hiding it, so leaning into Mason, I let his sweet lips kiss me. But I’d felt barely a flicker of his tongue before we both found ourselves doused by two giant splashes of water.
“Get a room!” Sofia eyes twinkled impishly as she clung to the edge of the pool, laughing with Noah and several others. “Seriously, you have a room, so use it. Like… now.”
As she wiggled her eyebrows, I plucked the pineapple slice from my drink and chucked it at her. “I’ll do what I want to do when I want to do it.”
“Fine!” Sofia huffed, splashing me once more before swimming away. I laughed as Mason yelled after her, both of us blinking water from our eyes. He was still running a hand over his face when I got up from his lap to shed my soaked cover-up. But once his eyes found me again, they lit up like diamonds.
“Christ.” His stare devoured me as he rose to his feet and grabbed me like I might disappear if he didn’t. “Taylor, you look fucking…” He cursed at his own loss of words. “I’ll do anything if you let me take you to our room right now.”
I smiled. “Why? Your permission to touch me ends once we get back to our room. Remember?”
“I do,” I grinned as he held my waist tight and kissed my neck. I breathed out hard when I felt his tongue flick over me, drawing a wet, hot line along my tingling skin.
“You’re fucking twisted,” Mason smirked against the underside of my jaw. As his fingertips snuck under the edges of my bikini top, he nipped at me, getting me so painfully hot and bothered. Rolling my head back, I closed my eyes, far too aroused to care about the fact that we were in plain view of the guests of his brother and my ex’s wedding. The engagement itself was built upon tackiness and bad taste, so surely it didn’t matter if I decided to show a little PDA with Mason at the hotel – even if it was the kind that had me briefly cupping his package and squeezing till he gave me that deep, masculine grunt. “Fuck, what are you trying to do to me, Taylor?” Mason whispered pleadingly.
I didn’t answer, only wrapping my arms around his neck and going on my tiptoes to kiss him. My tongue teased his, darting quickly between his lips and disappearing, repeating over and over till he groaned in frustration and slammed me against his chest with two handfuls of my ass. When I gasped, he pounced, thrusting his tongue into my mouth and sweeping voraciously through me, without an ounce of apology.
“God, I can feel how hard you are,” I whispered, my smile pressed against his.
“Only you get me this fucking hard,” Mason muttered. “You have no fucking idea, Taylor. You don’t know how many times I’ve fantasized about you.”
“Tell me.”
“I lost count awhile ago, but trust me when I say I’ve thought way too many times about sucking on those perfect tits and burying every inch of my cock inside you. I’ve waited long and hard for you, Taylor.” Mason’s tone was intense, his shallow breaths serrated. One firm squeeze of my left breast and I gasped again, pushing off of his body. I scolded him with the wicked look in my eye.
