“I’m not used to you silent and sitting in a corner. I don’t like it.” Mason laid his hand on hers and leaned closer. The heat of his hand leeched into her body and she imagined what it would feel like to have that same hand trailing over other parts of her body, his warmth surrounding her. She closed her eyes and let his scent drift in, his spicy aftershave and something else mixed in that was just clean, sexy male. Mason’s scent—I’ll miss that, too.
Cassie opened her eyes and stared at him, trying to burn the image of his face into her memory. His dark eyes had heavy brows slashing over them, parted by an angular nose that had been broken at some point and never set exactly right. She wanted to reach out and run her finger over the little bump it had left, ending on the firm, full lips below it. Her breathing quickened as she thought about him sucking her finger between his lips, just like she wanted him to suck the nipples that now tightened under her thin blouse.
“I know this party’s for me, but I really don’t feel like all the noise tonight. Want to go back to your place?” Mason said lowly near her ear.
Cassie trembled slightly as her body reacted to his warm breath against her. Lust seemed to swell in his gaze again, and she fought to control her raging body. Mason squeezed her hand gently and rubbed his thumb along her palm.
Getting control of herself, she smiled. She was letting her imagination run away with her. But he’d read her mind. She’d wanted him all to herself and it looked like she was going to get her wish. “Sure,” she said, trying not to sound too eager. Realizing she’d been the one to plan the party, she paused. “But everyone came out to see you. Are you sure you want to go?”
Mason smiled. “I’ve talked to everyone here I wanted to. I’m ready to say goodbye,” he said as he stood and pulled out her chair.
“If you need some quiet, I’m sure everyone will understand,” Cassie said, trying to sound logical when she felt anything but. She rose and glanced up at his towering form. Cassie always felt petite next to his six plus foot height and broad shoulders, especially since he made her five foot three feel even tinier. It made her want to cuddle against him. She fought the urge to do just that as they said their goodbyes.
Chapter Four
Mason put the car in gear, his hands sweating slightly on the wheel. He rubbed his palms along his thighs, trying to calm himself. The clamminess wasn’t from the summer heat, but from his apprehension. He glanced over at Cassie as they pulled up to the first red light, and smiled. She gave him a wobbly smile back.
All night, she’d been quiet and her mood made him nervous. Did she sense how wound up he was inside?
Feeling like this wasn’t anything he was accustomed to. Years of good ‘ole Southern charm had been bred into him from an early age. Mason had no problem coaxing a woman into doing just about anything he asked when he turned that on.
But Cassie was different.
She was a friend, a really good friend. A friend he’d fallen for and that raised the stakes all around. With Cassie, there was no coaxing. She’d already wrapped him around her little finger without even knowing she’d done so. At first, her magnetic pull had felt odd, but now he couldn’t imagine being anywhere but by her side.
Over the course of the two years she’d dated Dave, Mason had slowly become ensnared by the woman. He enjoyed her friendship and her company, and he couldn’t recall ever having a real female friend without a sexual relationship, in his entire life. It wasn’t until Dave had skipped out that Mason had realized just how much he felt for her.
Cassie had been too good for her ex. Way too good.
Maybe the guy had realized that fact. If Dave knew he wasn’t man enough, perhaps he’d self-destructed unconsciously and he’d screwed everything up on purpose. Either way, Cassie was better off without him. Mason just hoped better would include him.
“There’s a question I’ve wanted to ask you,” Mason said as he pulled onto the interstate.
“What’s that?” she asked as she pressed buttons on the radio, searching between stations. She was fiddling—which meant she was nervous. Why was she nervous?
“Why did you stay with Dave so long? You were together two years. I’d say that was twenty three and a half months too long.”
Cassie sat up straighter, frowning. She looked deep in thought when he glanced her way.
“I’m not really sure. It was ... comfortable, I guess. He had his moments.”
“You were too good for him. You know that, right?”
Cassie squirmed a little in her seat, apparently uncomfortable with the conversation. “Why are we discussing this now? I’m over Dastardly Dave.”
Mason chuckled at her nickname for Dave. The smile on his lips slowly faded as his mind whirled. “Are you over him? Really?”
Cassie was silent a moment. “Totally moved on,” she said firmly.
Mason felt a jolt through his body, his limbs tingling. “So you’re ready to date again?”
Cassie stiffened beside him. “Ready to date? Um ... yeah. I guess. Maybe.”
Her inability to answer deflated him a little. He’d kept his distance the last few months because he’d wanted to give Cassie time to get over Dave, not that she’d appeared overly torn up. Mason hadn’t wanted to take advantage or end up being one of her regrets. The little snippet of her conversation he’d overheard replayed in his mind. I’m not Mason’s type. I never will be. There’s no point ruining what we have.
He needed to show her that she was indeed Mason’s type. His mission wasn’t without risk. Mason valued her friendship and couldn’t imagine being without it. But the reward was worth the danger.
He cast another quick glance her way and his chest tightened. Her chestnut hair was swept up tonight. Cassie’s long, graceful neck was on display. His fingers itched to stroke her there, a precursor to his lips. Then he’d move them down her lithe body, learning every inch there was to her.
Mason could still see those long, delectable legs from the corner of his eye. How much better they’d look wrapped around his waist as he found comfort inside her body.
When he did, she’d look at him with her lovely gray eyes and they would become one. As he came, he would kiss her full, swollen lips, and breathe in her screams of release. He wondered what her cries would sound like and knew he needed to hear her satisfaction. If he had to seduce her tonight, he would turn on the charm some.
Mason shifted slightly in his seat. His body was hard for her. A tremor roiled through the hand that rested on the stick shift, near her long legs. Soon. Soon he would show her how he felt and hope she shared his feelings.
Mason took her exit and headed for her house as quickly as possible. After months of patiently waiting, he wasn’t leaving the States without letting her know exactly how he felt about her. It could be his last chance to face her. Tonight, Cassie was his.
*****
Cassie walked into the darkened apartment and headed straight for the nearest light. Her legs felt like rubber and she was scared she’d trip on her own feet in the dark. She flipped the switch and spun on her heel to glance his way.
What she saw in his gaze nearly took her breath away.
The conversation about her ex in the car had confused her. She’d felt something in the air between them, yet he asked about Dave? Then he asked if she planned to start dating? It only showed how wrong her instincts were when it came to him. Her desire was making her see things that weren’t there.
“So what did you want to do?” she asked before swallowing her longing. “A movie?”
He stared at her, the emotions on his face completely alien to her. She knew this man, but right now, he was changed. Mason wasn’t acting at all like himself and it was throwing her off guard. Cassie swayed, moving her weight from one foot to the other while she waited for his response. She was so amped up, the thought of standing still was impossible.
Mason stalked a little closer, his stare focused on her. Stalked was a good word for it, too. She felt like his prey.
He stopped inches from her and she saw the heat in his gaze. There was no more denying it. Mason wanted more than popcorn and a movie on her couch.
Her body was driven to the edge, the desire to reach out to him immense. But she couldn’t do that. Their friendship was at risk.
Or could she? She felt so damned jumbled, her nerves frayed.
“I’m thirsty,” she announced and rushed to the kitchen. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but the air between them was suddenly electric, filled with promise. Cassie needed a moment to clear her head. She didn’t want to fight the rising need within her, but what choice did she have?
She reached for a glass, then moved to the fridge. Once she opened the freezer to get some ice, she felt the blast of cold air coursing over her heated skin. The chill felt refreshing and she stood there a moment, hoping the brisk air would help her think a little more clearly and cool her fevered body.
When she felt Mason’s lips at her ear, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Her glass slipped from her fingers. Luckily Mason had cat-like reflexes and he caught it, only losing a couple of cubes. She turned to look at him, pulling her head back some to truly see him. “What are you doing?”
“The cold air feels good,” he murmured, one of his hands landing on her hip.
A shiver raced up her spine at the close contact. Uncertainties spun in her head, but the confusion was slowly ebbing away and the developing desire was taking over. After so many months of hiding how she felt, the idea of acting on her emotions was so tempting—to taste him, to love him—before he left her. They weren’t promised a future. These next few days could be all they’d ever have.
Cassie shook off the negative connotations of that last thought. He would return to her.
She leaned back into his hold, wondering if she was making a mistake. Cassie felt him stiffen slightly, and her stomach pitched. When he pressed a chaste kiss against the side of her forehead, she could breathe again. Mason sat her glass on the counter before grasping her other hip with his now free hand. Need built even higher within her so quickly, making her tremble.
“Are you cold?” he asked, closing the freezer door.
“No,” she whispered.
Mason pressed his lips against her ear in a tender kiss. Although gentle, it wasn’t the kind of kiss you’d give a friend. It was a lover’s kiss and when she realized his intentions were seductive, her heart began to race faster in her chest. Her neck bent involuntarily, offering more of her ear, her neck, to his firm, full lips.
“Are you afraid?” he asked.
“Yes,” she answered. “And no.”
Mason pressed a kissed just behind her ear and she melted a little more into his embrace.
“I don’t want you to be afraid of me,” he whispered in her ear. “I would never hurt you.”
Cassie sank back further into his arms. “I know you wouldn’t.” Not intentionally.
After Mason turned her to face him, he stared down at her, a whisper of a smile on his lips. She wanted those lips to kiss her senseless, had wanted him to do so for so long. He lifted a hand to brush a few tendrils of escaped curls away and cradled the side of her face in his hand. “You’re my best friend,” he whispered. “I’ve held back, but I can’t any longer. I need more. And I won’t leave without you seeing how much I want you.”
Her pussy throbbed with need. She knew want and she wanted him with every fiber of her being. No man had made her long like she longed for Mason. “You asked me why I stayed with Dave so long. I didn’t tell you the whole truth.”
Mason leaned back slightly, a frown changing his expression. “What’s the truth?”
“If I’d left him, I wouldn’t have been able to ... spend time with you anymore,” she answered. As soon as Mason had asked the question in the car, it was the answer that had sprung to mind. But she’d been too afraid to say it.
A smile stretched Mason’s lips as he gathered her face in his hands. Leaning in, she thought it had to be a dream. When his lips met hers, she felt she’d combust from within.
The kiss started gently, as he tested her with little nips and pecks. Soon enough, he was drinking from her lips, a starving man feasting on her mouth. Cassie opened to his insistent tongue, letting him slip it inside and taste her. After a few moments, she grew embolden and pressed her own tongue against his, warring with him.
Mason let his hands fall away from her face. He grasped her waist soon after and tugged her closer, until their bodies molded together. Mason’s hardness fit against her soft curves, and made her writhe against him so she could feel even more.
Cassie tugged at the edges of his t-shirt, needing to touch the hard plains and ridges of his body. Once she gathered them up halfway, he took over. Mason drew from her lips for a moment and the shirt was no more. As soon as it was floating to the floor, his mouth was back to teasing and tempting her again, making her wish he’d taste her elsewhere.
Her pussy throbbed with every heavy beat of her heart. She wanted him to touch her there, along her folds. Cassie was wet, her body opening for him. Mason’s hands began to roam, trailing up and down her back, gripping her ass, and pulling her ever closer. There wasn’t an inch between them, their bodies pressed to one another, yet he seemed unsatisfied with their distance.
As was she.
Their clothing needed to disappear. She pushed him away slightly and started to unbutton her shirt with shaking fingers. Mason rested his forehead on hers and watched as each one was pressed through the small hole. Cassie struggled to get her fingers to do as told. His breathing was rapid; the heat of it rushing across her already fevered skin. Sweat beaded on the back of her neck and along her brow, the heat of his body adding to the inferno building within.
Impatience apparently got the better of Mason. He brushed her hands away and took over the task of disrobing her, but he wasn’t as gentle as she. Cassie heard the gentle ping of some of her tiny pearl buttons hitting the floor around them. She couldn’t find the energy to care about them at that moment, not when he was pushing her blouse down her shoulders and pressing his muscular chest against hers.
Skin to skin, she could feel his heart beating like a drum and smiled to herself. He was just as wound up as she was, and that helped to build her confidence. Under assault from his wandering hands and kisses, she let her own fingers roam. Cassie went to the core of him, gripping his hard shaft through is jeans, letting her fingers trace the girth and length of him. Her lips parted as she noted his large size. Mason would fill her more than any other and she was suddenly overwhelmed with the need for him to be inside her—now.
Her skirt soon found its way to the floor as well, and she stepped out of it, leaving it in a pile along with their tops. Cassie stood there in her bra and panties, along with the heels she still wore. Mason stepped back. His gaze traveled down her body and back up. She sucked in the little pooch she had, suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious with him seeing her nearly naked for the first time. With him standing there observing her so keenly, she felt vulnerable.
Her body wasn’t perfect like his cut, hard planes. She was a little curvier than her friends, and the women Mason usually dated.
“Beautiful,” he whispered as he stuck out a hand and trailed his fingers along her thigh. “Perfection. Just as I knew it would be.”
Cassie let the air slide from her lungs. Later, she’d admonish herself for not being more confident in her curves. For now, she needed to hear that he liked what he saw. And apparently he had from the scandalous grin he now wore.
He took his time, looking his fill when she desperately needed his hands back on her flesh. She stepped forward and grasped the buckle of his belt. Cassie worked better at the belt than she had at her tiny buttons and soon had the thing undone. She worried her bottom lip as she undid the top button. Mason breathed in slightly to allow her fingers easier access. When she’d completed her task, she reached for the top of his zipper. Their eyes met and somehow she knew that this was the point of no retu
rn. Once she undid the closure, their fates were sealed.
She slowly lowered the fastener, the sound against the teeth seeming loud as it echoed in the small kitchen.
A smile hitched on one side of Mason’s mouth as if he understood the silent treaty she’d just signed between them. “Are you sure?”
Breathless, unsure her voice would work, Cassie nodded her head, reaching inside the opening of his pants to stroke his shaft through his briefs. He was thick, hard, and hot in her grasp, but she couldn’t get to all of him. Before she could pull her hand out to fix the situation, he tugged the edges of his jeans down past his hips to give her better access.
She gazed at the tented dark blue fabric, the last piece of clothing between him and utter nakedness. Tiny sprigs of hair arrowed from between his carved pecs down to the band of his underwear, and more than likely continued on underneath. Cassie slid her hand under his dog tags and pressed her hand to the top of those curls on his chest and trailed her fingers down through the soft hair, pausing once she met the band of his briefs. She dipped one finger under the edge and touched the thicker hairs above his cock.
He moved to pull his pants and briefs off, but she stopped him. Mason looked up at her in confusion.
“I want to see you. I’ll take them off.”
Mason halted, his jaw clenched. She sensed he wanted to be in control, yet he stood there as still as a statue, giving her what she wanted. His eyes soon closed and his breathing grew shallower as he seemed to await her caress. She gripped his underwear and pushed them down slightly, letting the head of his shaft pop out. The tip glistened with a pearl of fluid, and she couldn’t help herself from touching him. She lowered her forefinger to spread the seed over the red, swollen head before lifting that same finger to her lips.
Mason’s eyes flew open and his mouth hung slack as he watched her taste his cum. His breathing deepened and his fists hung clenched at his sides, as if he fought for control.
Cassie liked seeing that kind of reaction from him and couldn’t remember another who’d ever looked at her the way Mason did right now. His pupils were dilated, and she was almost convinced his eyes were black. Even dark, they glistened with want. His skin was flushed and pink, and his lips were slightly swollen and red from kissing her.
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