Shelby - Mandy Harbin Page 0,20

the corner of her eye. “I’m not sure I want to say. It might taint your perception of me.”

He chuckled. “Well then, now you have to tell me.”

She smiled and gave the answer she’d prepared to give when her profession was addressed. “I’m a massage therapist.”

“Now why would that taint my perception of you?” he asked as he playfully tapped the tip of her nose.

“Well, for one, I help people cope with pain, yet you dish it out. Sorta makes me look like a woman who doesn’t know what she wants.” Shelby shrugged. “And two, if I had a nickel for every time a male customer asked me if I gave ‘happy endings,’ it’d be the only currency I’d ever have to use.” He chuckled, but she continued, “You might think I was the type of person who did that for strangers since I sought you out for my own sexual experience.”

Mason frowned at her then. She didn’t like it when he did that. It was as if she’d disappointed him somehow. But that shouldn’t matter. He shouldn’t matter. Not beyond this case.

“Shelby, your profession doesn’t define who you are. You’ll learn there are all walks of life that dabble in this life. Police officers, doctors, those who stitch up wounds by day, may do bloodletting play at night. You can certainly help clients with their pain, but enjoy being spanked. Hell, experiencing various levels of pain could actually help you in treating your clients.”

Shelby gaped at him. She knew Mason was talking about her cover job, not her role with the FBI, but she couldn’t help but apply it to her real life. She’d always felt the FBI did define her. Hell, the bureau had basically ordered her to have sex with this person of interest. And she’d complied with little question.

And you liked it.

Definitely time to go.

“As for the ‘happy endings’ comment, I really can’t blame them for trying.” She blinked at him, trying to clear her thoughts as he pulled her back into the conversation.

“Yeah, well, it’s illegal.”

“Sometimes legality is just a frame of mind. There’s too much gray area for there to always be right and wrong.”

Spoken like a criminal. She shifted and stood. This time, Mason not only let her, but he guided her and stood with her.

“I’ll be here next week.”

He lifted his hands and gently stroked her cheeks. Then he ran his fingers into her hair and tilted her head back. She gasped at the sudden power he emanated. He should scare her.

He did…but not for reasons she could prepare for.

“I’ll be looking forward to it,” he murmured as he lowered his head. He brushed his lips across hers, then took her top lip between his two lips. His mouth was soft and hot as he tasted her. She moaned softly, body tingling all over still from his earlier attention. His mouth covered hers completely, and he kissed her fully for the first time. She’d never had sex with a man before the first real kiss. But this right here felt more intimate than what they’d gone through tonight. Heat flooded her, and she did her best not to grab him and kiss him harder. He controlled it anyway, took what he wanted, and she was way too eager giving it.

As he devoured her mouth, she knew right then no matter how much she tried to remain detached on this mission, she wouldn’t be able to deny this man anything.

She liked everything he did to her.

Every single bit of it.

Chapter Five

Shelby sat across from Viola at lunch on Monday, barely eating her sandwich and fries. She was both mentally and physically exhausted after giving her very uncomfortable report on Friday night’s events to her team members. It had taken nearly two hours this morning for her to divulge almost everything. Almost.

She’d omitted the part where she actually had intercourse with a possible criminal. She hadn’t been asked pointblank, but her description had been very detailed otherwise, so Shelby figured her boss hadn’t had a reason to suspect there’d been more. She wasn’t ready to admit that. She didn’t know if she ever would be. Regardless, if Rick ever found out she’d left that one tiny detail out of her official investigation, there’d be hell to pay. There was no going back now.

True on so many levels.

“So, does it hurt to sit down?” Viola asked with a sympathetic wince.

Boy, did it ever. “I was still numb most of Saturday. Yesterday, I started hurting, and