head swirls with conflicting emotions, part of me wanting to hold on and the other terrified of acknowledging too much. “I’m so used to being naked.”
“Mm, I get that.” His hands make long and gentle passes up my sides, around my back and over my shoulders, avoiding my breasts completely.
I ache all over for him, wanting his touch to be firmer, secretly hoping he’ll lose control and get rough. I want him to take from me because then I won’t have to feel. I won’t have to think and second guess. If he were like all the others, after me for one thing, this would be so much easier. But this tenderness, his touch against the inside of my elbow, the flare of my hips, and my collarbone, it’s all too much.
“Mason, I—”
“I wanted to kill him,” he says so softly I wonder if I misheard. “The night at the hotel room you were straddling Jayden like this, and he touched you.” His eyes flash to mine with steely resolve as his hands continue to move over my skin. “I wanted to rip his arms off his body.”
“Why? You hated me.”
“I never hated you, baby.” His fingers fork into my hair, and his lips are so close I can feel his heated breath. “I was a goner the second I laid eyes on you.”
I push him back and tilt my head, lowering my mouth to his. He opens to me with a low growl that jacks my hips forward. His fingers dig into my scalp as his tongue lashes against mine.
My heart races with a desperation I’ve never felt before. The burning urge to get beneath him, to feel the weight of his body between my legs as he fills me, is overwhelming. I’ll ask for it, beg for it, because in this moment, I need it more than air.
He takes control of the kiss, tilting my head in the opposite direction as if he wants to taste me from every angle, explore every inch of my mouth. He nips and sucks at my lips, as if doing so will produce more of what he wants as we drink from each other’s mouths with gluttony.
I arch my back, pressing my breasts into his chest, searching for the friction that will surely detonate me. He moves, pushing me to my back on the couch and taking position between my legs. His hips move in a slow rolling rhythm that mimics love-making. Hard and long he rubs against me, the scrape of denim against my lace panties so good and yet so mind-numbingly frustrating.
He runs the tip of his hot tongue down my neck to my breast, sucking one nipple deep into his throat. A zap of pleasure shoots down my torso, and I cry out for more. More of him, more of everything.
I reach down and unbutton his shirt, my fingers fumbling as nerves and excitement race through my veins. He helps by sliding his arms from the sleeves and sitting up only long enough to rip his undershirt off over his head.
My mouth instantly floods as I adjust to the sight. Mason drops back down on top of me.
“Wait.”
His body freezes, and his lips still at my neck. “What? Did I—?”
“Get up.” I wiggle to get out from under him, but it doesn’t take much because he pushes back with his hands held up and sits back on his heels.
His chest is rising and falling faster than I’ve ever seen it and his blue eyes are dark with lust. “I’m sorry, is this too fast?”
Ha! If he only knew, not fast enough. “No, not at all. I just . . .” I push up to my knees on the couch and move to him. I place my palm flat over his heart and soak in the furious pounding of his heart behind warm smooth skin. “I just want to take a second to see you.”
He lets out a long breath and drops his chin, his hand coming over mine. “Fuck, I thought I’d done something wrong and you were about to bolt.”
Relief washes over his face as I run my hand over the swollen muscles of his abdomen and chest. So soft and yet incredibly powerful. “I’ve never seen you with your shirt off. I wanted to get the hands-on experience.”
He cocks his head, and a tiny grin tilts his lips. “If you let me take you to bed, I’ll give you the all-night experience.”
I scrape a nail over his