The wild boy was confessing to the sky like he was sinning, and Harley held her hand
over her stomach, attempting to keep her belly laughs down to a minimum. An occasional giggle slipped out though when he did little fist pumps here or little karate-chops there. Otherwise she just stood there in utter amazement.
Mason Daniel had officially gone and rocked her world.
Chapter Sixteen
Mason couldn’t stop smiling as he stared over at his gorgeous, newly defined girlfriend.
Her eyes seemed to dance in the shadow of the dashboard light as she stared back. Her skin felt so damn good under his thumb, under his fingers. He wanted to pull over his car, kiss her till dawn, and tell the whole entire world to go to hell.
Harley should have been running, and he should have been too. Now all that thought did
was terrify him! He couldn’t leave now, could he? It’d kill him, but his dreams … they still meant so much to him. The last thing he would ever be able to do was forget about them.
“Mase,” she stammered. Her eyes downturned towards his scheming hand that was dying
to move further up her leg. “Can I ask you something?” She questioned as he skidded to a stop in his driveway.
“Yeah, little beast, of course you can!” He reached out to grab her hand, lacing their
fingers together. She was so delectable, and his hands were starving to touch her skin.
“Well, um, have you ever actually had a girlfriend before, I mean before me that is?” She looked so shy, so insecure that he thought about lying to her, but didn’t he promise to keep his lies to a minimum?
“No. I haven’t actually had a girlfriend before. You’re, uh, my first.” She relaxed, but he couldn’t let her completely, not when he had to set the record straight with the truth. “But I’ve been with girls before. Lots of them actually.”
Her lips pursed together, but she didn’t snap at least. Instead, she looked almost knowing.
Boy, she really hadn’t thought highly of him, had she?
Good girl…
“ Well then, what exactly made you want to start?”
“You changed my mind, Harley,” he tipped her chin up with his finger until their eyes held. “Didn’t you hear anything I said to you at the park?” The truth was that Mason didn’t know the answer to that exactly either. Maybe it was because she just so happened to be the only girl who’d gotten under his skin.
Her intense eyes went back to focusing on the dark night sky while her hand messed with
the lone diamond hanging from her neck. He ran the back of his hand down her shoulder, and she shuddered under his touch. No skin had ever felt so good underneath his fingers before.
She was so distant though. Selfishly, he wanted her undivided attention, but apparently
her head had other plans.
“Did I say something wrong?” She looked over at him abruptly, shaking her head.
“No. You said everything right actually. You kind of always do, and that’s the part that
freaks me out.”
“Don’t be scared,” he brushed his hand over her leg again in an attempt to soothe her. He
wanted to cure her and take hold of her pain and dump it into the ocean like he had tried to do in the past. That way she’d never have to feel it again. “I care about you, and I want to do right by you too. That’s why I am trying to be honest here.”
Reaching for his cell in the console of his car, Mason continued to hold on to Harley’s
hand as he dialed his sister’s number. “Let’s just forget about the logistics of our relationship and focus on being happy together, okay?”
Damn, when did you become Mr. Sensible?
Harley nodded, but her eyes still appeared unsure. Apparently he still had a lot of walls to break down.
The ride to the dance was quiet. Harley had moved to the backseat next to Maisy while
Aric rode up front. The guy couldn’t be trusted being so close to his sister. He was sixteen.
Mason knew what sixteen year olds wanted. This guy wasn’t going to be getting any of those
wants fulfilled with his sister either.
Walking into the school gym, Mason grabbed Harley’s hand, interlocking their fingers as
he pulled her close. He couldn’t get enough of her touch and probably never would. School
dances were not his thing, but being there with Harley felt right. Good.
“Dance with me, Mason,” Harley demanded, low and sexily in his ear as they walked into
the stale smelling gym. He glanced over at her, his own devilish smile playing out on his lips.
He couldn’t tell her no even though he danced like a hunchbacked old man. Still, the
temptation of holding Harley in his arms pulled tightly against his body as they grinded to the beat of the music was too hard to pass up. He could do slow dances at least, and lucky for him, that’s exactly what the music had changed to.
The sound of old school Al Green took over the air. He didn’t stop to think how weird
that was since this was a high school dance, but the man’s slow voice was all the direction he needed to pull Harley into his hold. The silk of her dress was soft against his hands. He couldn’t stop touching her. With little thought, Mason brought his mouth to her ear and sighed, singing the chorus about staying together to the one and only girl who made him think that those words might actually be possible.
“I … am so in love with you … whatever you want to do … is alright with meee …” She
stiffened under his touch, but he was determined to keep her close. Eventually, she relaxed as he continued to whisper-sing the words to her. He felt goose bumps rise under his fingers as he stroked part of her bare back. Would she ever not feel this velvety against him?
Then the song ended. The moment between them ceased. She pulled back just enough to
look up at him. Her eyes were hooded. Her lashes brushed her cheeks as she blinked. There was longing in those chocolate wonders with a fire to which he definitely could relate, especially as he stood there peering down at her. Without any kind of control, Mason lowered his lips to hers, disregarding anything and everything around them.
Screw the crowd of their peers. Screw the worry of drawing attention. All he could think
about was getting a taste of her lip gloss. That kiss … wow. It poured fire through his veins, a perfect burn inside and out, but it was also was a kiss of promise, a kiss of hope and maybe even a kiss of something more.
Harley Anderson had officially bewitched him.
* * *
Later Harley stood next to the refreshment table, her hands braced against the plastic
cloth covering, her head hung low. She was trying to wrap her head around everything that had happened tonight. She … had a boyfriend. She grinned slowly at that word. She had a hot boyfriend. One who kissed the hell out of her and made her crazy in the head, but before she was able to turn around to wait for her said boyfriend to return from the bathroom, an unfamiliar pair of extra-large hands circled her waist, holding her in place against the table. The smell of alcohol lingered in her nose, the scent so strong that even a sickly, stuffed up, fevered girl couldn’t ignore. She jumped as the hands moved up her waist, coming to sit right below her chest, pressed firmly against her ribs. The unmistakable voice of Toby sounded menacingly in her ear.
Crap, not here…
“Hey, sexy girl, come dance with me.”
He turned her around to face him. She attempted to shove him away with her hands
against his chest, but the move only encouraged him to keep pushing. Push he sure as hell did.
“No, Toby. Leave me alone. I’m here with Mason, and we’re together now. Back the hell
off!” Harley stared up at him, her brows narrowed to the point of touching while her finger poked his chest with every word she spoke. A part of her wanted to panic and not because of Toby this time but because if Ma
son were to see him there like that, then there’d be no telling what he’d do.
“I don’t see pretty boy around right now, so I’d say you’re technically free. Besides, you
know you want me. You’ve always wanted me, Harley. Don’t deny it.”
Harley tilted her head and began to study him. He never used to be that disgusting. His
jagged teeth she could once ignore and his squinty eyes used to be sweet. His hard jaw used to be sexy. He was once that perfect, boy next door that every girl crushed after. Now though, she was embarrassed to admit that she had ever been one of those girls.
Toby licked his lips, tiny bits of spittle splattered onto his chin. She inhaled and exhaled, determined not to back down. The last time he’d cornered her like this, he’d screwed with her head, but this time, it wasn’t going down like that.
“You’re right, Toby,” she attempted to relax, running her palm against his black lapel, in
an up and down motion. “I do want you, all six foot of you ...” His grin turned cocky as his nostrils flared. Harley smiled with all the menace she could find “… to take a flying leap to hell, you sick bastard!”
Her knee, so perfectly proportioned to his groin, connected with his jewels like the
freaking kung-Fu pro she totally should have been. Toby grunted and held tight to the table as his cries echoed throughout the room. He staggered away, but it wasn’t getting him far. Harley
smiled in satisfaction, wiping her hands together in that my-work-is-finished-here sort of way.
She was wicked. She was kick freaking ass, and best of all, she’d done it. She’d literally
kicked him where it counted, and she felt damn good about it until her head started to spin and her eyes began to burn.
Crap, being sick took all the glory out of everything.
“Everything all right, little beast?”
Harley jumped. A strangled gasp too easily escaped her mouth. Mason stepped in front of
her. Okay, so maybe she was a little tense. His voice was soothing though, and she leaned into his outstretched arms seconds later, welcoming his warmth. She felt like crap and was so worn down from the amount of adrenaline she’d just lost that it only increased the incessant pounding in her head.
“Yep, I’m good,” she lied, nodding briskly into his neck. She closed her eyes as she
inhaled his sexy smell through her mostly clogged up nose. “I just need my delicious boyfriend to dance with me again.”
She leaned back to state her needs, and his eyebrows rose at in question, his lips quirked.
She bit her lip as he glanced back over his shoulders, praying he wouldn’t put two and two
together. Luckily, he didn’t respond as Toby stood and limped away, hands directly plastered over his unmanly parts.
“Okay, little beast, we’ll dance one more time, but then we have to get you home because
you honestly look like your about ready to collapse.” With a resolved sigh, she sank deeper into his hold, and his hands pulled her tight against his body. He placed a single kiss against her forehead as they began to sway to the slow ballad playing melodically over the speakers, but seconds later, he pulled back to look down at her. The frown on his face said it all.
“You’re burning up! Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” Her eyes were heavy as she
stared back at him with a blank, duh-like expression. She rolled her eyes at him and his
protectiveness.
Yeah, okay, so she felt a little bit shitty. There was no denying that. She’d been feeling
this way since they stepped through the gymnasium doors, but she didn’t want to ruin their night, especially now. “I’m going to take you home, okay?” With affection brewing heavily in his baby blues, he rubbed the back of his hand down her cheek.
“What about those two love birds?” Harley didn’t deny her need to leave, only closing
her eyes at his touch. She gestured with a free hand towards Maisy and Aric dancing only a few feet away.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be back for them ,” his voice promised angrily. “They can’t get into too much trouble here. Besides, I want to get you into bed.”
A giggle escaped her mouth, he groaned back at her in obvious embarrassment. She
opened her eyes to stare up at his abnormally red cheeks. He was so cute! And those lips. God, she loved them especially when they turned up on one side like they were doing in that moment.
“Is that so, Mr. Daniel? ‘Because I’m pretty sure my parents wouldn’t approve of such
behavior in their home. My dad’s already threated the nunnery thing before in the past, you know.” She teased as they made their way out the door, his hand lingering on the small of her back.
Part of Harley was dying to know what would happen though if she took his words to
heart. Her pulse spiked with the thought.
“Let’s get you home, you dirty minded girl.”
He gripped her tighter and winked, pulling her towards his car. The air was freezing her
overly heated skin. Not even the light sweater she wore or Mason’s heated body could take the chills away. She was a mess. “Are you okay, or do you need me to carry you to the car?” Harley shook her head annoyed. She was sick, not an invalid, but apparently her answer wasn’t
convincing enough because soon after, she found herself being swooped into his arms and
cradled protectively against his chest. She screeched, giggled, and then sunk in to his hold.
Apparently she was worse than she’d thought.
Or he just felt so good. So comfortable.
Once home, Harley was so exhausted and drained that she was barely aware of the
anxious voices surrounding her as she lay in her bed, shivering almost violently under the covers.
“Her fever is one hundred and three,” her mom’s voice was surprisingly calm as she placed a cold, wet compress against Harley’s cheeks. “She never should have gone tonight. I should have made her stay home. She’s been fighting this for days.”
“Should we take her to the ER or something? I’ll call my mom. She’s a nurse, and she
might know what to do.”
Mason frantic voice echoed off the walls, and she already heard the tapping of fingers on
a phone just as the door clicked shut. Her mom was there again, this time surprising Harley with a chuckle and a sigh. “Oh honey, that boy would walk on water for you, do you know that?” She pulled the blankets up tightly around Harley’s neck like she’d done many times when she was a little girl.
Harley just let her eyes have their way, and they stayed shut. There’d be time to talk to
her mom tomorrow. Sleep was necessary. After a few more minutes of mommy pampering, she
felt her body shifting as her mom got off the bed. Faintly, she heard her telling Mason something along the lines of not too long, and she needs rest, but Harley couldn’t be sure. Her wits were so far gone that nothing made much sense.
Sleep – she needed it so badly.
Soft, tentative footsteps tapped against the wooden floor. “Little beast, are you awake?”
She might have made a moaning noise back, but she couldn’t be sure.
Then gently she felt him lay down behind her. His chest pressed to her back, and she
shivered with his breath inhaling and exhaling against her neck. He draped an arm over her
waist, running circles over her hip bone. It was probably not meant to be intimate, but even fevered beyond belief, her body was still responding, pushing back into him in a way that said pull me closer – impossibly closer.
He chuckled in her ear, “Go to sleep, beautiful.” He kissed her the tip of her ear, “There
will be plenty of time for that another day.” The promise of those words left her eager and a little bit ashamed. She was turning into a regular old hoochie-mama. She’d never acted this way with a guy before. Not even with Aiden…
/> Just before sleep won out, during that slightly awake but too close to sleep to respond
phase, her name became an echoed sound in her ears. It was sweet and so sincere sounding that she felt a small smile creep upon her lips in response, but Mason didn’t stop at her name. No, something else completely unbelievable sounded in her ears. She tried not to stiffen. She tried to pretend to stay asleep, but it was almost impossible, especially with what she’d just heard.
She held her breath deep in her lungs as her fingers grappled with the ragged edge of her
tee. She waited for something more to fall from his mouth, an apology or other words of regret maybe, but the only sound that she could hear was his steady breath in her ear. There was
nothing to show that he’d changed his mind.
It was all a dream or a hallucination maybe. It had to have been because there was no
way in hell that Mason Daniel could have just told her he loved her.
Chapter Seventeen
It was well past ten when Mason had finally left Harley’s house. He’d patiently waited
for her to go lax in his arms, for her breathing to even out, for that moment when he could finally tell her how he felt.
Damn, he was so far gone it wasn’t even funny.
The warmth of her fevered body still lingered against his skin as he drove his sister’s date home. The scent of strawberries was still fresh on his clothes as he pulled into his driveway, and the words he had spoken were still loose on his tongue as he turned off the car. Harley had become a part of him in a way that no girl ever had before.
“What’s up with you, Mase? You haven’t spoken more than two words since you picked
us up from the dance. You okay?” Maisy’s inquisitive words knocked him for a loop as she
tugged at his coat sleeve. He’d been in a zone, a far gone, Harley zone.
He shook his head as she stared back over at his sister. “Sorry, Sis. Just tired and worn
out from the night.” He wasn’t up for sharing the details. She’d figure them out on her own soon enough.
Tonight was his night to marvel at his new found non-bachelorhood.
Maisy yawned, stretching her arms above her head as they headed towards the front door.
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