I bit his bottom lip and enjoyed the growl it pulled from him. He kissed down my neck and I arched my back, pushing my breasts into his hard chest. He was so familiar. I shivered and got lightheaded at how hard his body was as my body slid down his and felt every single inch of him.
“Bedroom,” I rasped, unable to form coherent sentences. He nodded and pressed his forehead to mine, trying to calm his breathing. His head dipped low and caught my lips in the sweetest kiss, and then he reached down and picked me up. I squealed, and he chuckled, walking toward my bedroom.
When we got to my bedroom, Mason set me onto the bed and stood in front of me; giving me a show, as he removed his clothing one by one, dangerously slow. I was salivating, watching his body reveal itself bit by bit. Forgetting my nerves, I reached down and discarded my shorts and panties, and then pulled my shirt off in one easy motion.
Mason’s eyes wandered along my curves, and I wondered if he was seeing everything I saw when I analyzed my naked form in the mirror. I held my hand out and he took it, moving to hover over me. His mouth smashed into mine and then he pulled back. “Tell me I’m dreaming. Tell me this is all an elaborate dream, and I’m going to wake up. Because you are more beautiful than I remember you, and I remember you more often than is healthy.”
Without answering him, I kissed his lips and ran my hands along his back. He dropped to one elbow and used the other to hold my face to his. Then he ran his hand down my body and came to a stop at my center. I wanted – no needed – him to touch me. I squirmed, letting him know how impatient I was for his touch.
He took pity on me and his fingers grazed over my skin. “Fuck, you’re so wet. Is that my doing? Is that for me?” he whispered, kissing along my neck and shoulder.
“Yes,” I whispered back, chasing his promising fingers with my body.
His naughty thumb that I remembered all too well found my clit as his cock teased my entrance. I was dizzy with all the sensations meshed together from his mouth to his fingers. He seemed to be everywhere all at once, and I was quickly building.
Then he removed his fingers and used them to guide himself into me, and I moaned far too loud. I hadn’t remembered a time I had been built up this well. I arched my back as he pushed into me, and his hand went to my waist to guide me to him over and over.
I kissed his bicep next to my head and enjoyed the way his muscles seemed to ripple and roll as he pushed in and pulled out of me. With our centers still connected, Mason shifted up on his palms on the bed and pounded into me, and I moaned his name over and over.
I was dizzy watching his hard abs work to bring us both pleasure. He was strong, this I already knew, but watching his incredible body at work was simply mesmerizing. I begged him not to stop, as he rolled his hips and brought me to my climax. Then my muscles began to contract around him, and he moaned into my ear and pushed three more powerful thrusts and stilled as he spilled into me.
Covered in a sheen of sweat, we breathed like we were desperate to find air. And as our breath finally evened out, our hearts began to slow to their normal rate together. Then he lifted back up to his palms and kissed my cheek, my nose, and finally my lips, and then he rolled out of me and stood to make his way to the bathroom.
I, on the other hand, couldn’t move quite yet. I was exhausted, I was glowing, I was in shock, and I was ecstatic, all at once. I always knew it would be good between us, but the small glimpse I had gotten years ago, and the dreams I enjoyed didn’t even come close to the reality.
Mason came out of the bathroom and collapsed onto the bed beside me. He smiled over at me and placed his hand on his beautiful, bare chest. “Fuck, it’s been so long since I’ve done that. I’m so tired.” Then we both chuckled, and I curled up in his arms and we fell fast asleep instantly.
I woke the next morning to the unmistakable smell of bacon and wandered into the kitchen to find Mason flipping pancakes fully dressed in his clothes from yesterday, and Ash sitting at the table, chomping away at a plate of bacon. “Now, you save some of that for your mother, Ash. Don’t go finishing that plate all by yourself,” Mason teased, pointing at my son with the spatula in his right hand.
“I’m so sore, I could have slept for hours,” I murmured in Mason’s ear, as I passed him on my way to that plate of bacon.
“Flattery will get you everywhere, Scarlet,” Mason joked as he gave me a cup of coffee and a wink. As we knew he would, Ash finished his plate of pancakes and ran to the living room to turn cartoons on.
Without tiny listening ears in the room, we were free to speak candidly. “So, what happens next?” I asked, not wanting to come right out and say it, but knowing the conversation needed to happen sooner rather than later. Mason wiped his hands off on a paper towel and took my face in his hands.
“Scarlet, I won’t lie to you. Now that I’ve had you in my arms, I don’t want to let you go. I want you to be mine as long as you’ll have me.” He kissed my lips, and I tried my best not to tear up. For the first time in such a long time, I felt overwhelming happiness that I had missed so heavily. It weighed on my heart and I didn’t want to give it up.
“I am yours, Mason. But we still have important things to discuss.”
Mason nodded in understanding. “I don’t want to lie to Leah, Will, and Eliza. We need to tell them.”
I ran cold instantly at the thought of coming clean to those closest to us. That was a very difficult hurdle that I did not want to jump yet. “I don’t want to lie to them either, but I think we should wait a little longer. We’ve only been together, really together, for a few hours now. I want you all to myself for a little while before our happy bubble is burst.”
He huffed. “I don’t want our happy bubble burst just yet either, but I really don’t like keeping secrets from them. We’ve kept this secret too long already.”
I remembered how tortured he was over our brief affair long ago. I understood how important trust was to him, and I didn’t want him to hurt.
I also didn’t want my parents to hurt him either though. I felt the need to protect what was mine, and he was mine. “Okay. How about we pick a date a few weeks out and tell them then, and until then we just stay in our own happy, little bubble together?”
He smiled. “Okay, but you have to promise me we won’t go too long without telling them, okay? The sooner we get that over with, the bigger chance we have of them forgiving me. If we let this go, they may never forgive me, and I can’t handle that. I love you, but I love them too.”
I agreed to his condition because he was right.
Sixteen
Mason and I shifted easily into a relationship. He came over as often as he did before, and he helped me out around the house just as much. But the addition of the physical relationship was the best thing that could have happened to us. We often found ourselves stealing sweet kisses while making dinner, and starting passionate make out sessions during late night movies.
We were very careful to keep our relationship platonic around Ash though. He had lost his father, and the last thing we wanted was to confuse him. As much as Mason wanted to tell the families soon, time was not on his side. With Leah and Sebastian’s upcoming wedding, we decided it was best to put off our news until after the happy couple tied the knot.
They had been engaged for years, and everyone was excited to finally celebrate the upcoming nuptials. We wanted everything to be perfect for them. So we kept our life quiet. The wedding itself was the hardest. Mason looked like every woman’s dream man walking Leah down the aisle in a sharp, black suit.
My heart hammered in its cage as I gazed upon the love of my life. Then I was hit with the harsh reality that I couldn’t touch him in front of anyone at the wedding. I couldn’t kiss him, I couldn’t dance with him, I couldn’t stare at him, and so I forced myself to look away before I started crying for an entirely different reason than people usually cry at weddings.
During the reception, I watched as Mason sat right next to my father. They talked for hours
with tumblers of whiskey in their hands. They cackled and howled, a million inside jokes between two people who had been best friends their entire lives. It hurt to think my position in Mason’s life would soon put that close friendship on the rocks.
I hadn’t worn my wedding ring in months, so to the world and all of our closest friends and family I was a single woman. One of Sebastian’s buddies from college, Julian, obviously liked what he saw, because he spent half of the reception flirting with me. He pulled out all the stops, getting me drink refills that I didn’t ask for, telling me tales of medical school that I didn’t request, and generally standing too close and making too much eye contact.
The minute he followed me out on the dance floor, I knew I needed to put an end to it or Mason was going to blow our cover. I could feel his stare on Julian’s back as we made our way over to Leah and Sebastian. My two best friends nearing on indecent right there at their own wedding reception, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
I loved how into each other they were. It really made me feel good knowing they both had one another. “Get a room, lovebirds!” I yelled, dancing to the music.
“We have one at the Crowne Plaza!” Leah yelled back with a wink. Sebastian’s cheeks went beet red, and he buried his face in Leah’s neck at the mention of their newlywed suite.
For as wrong as I felt when I had dated Sebastian, and as angry as I was when he had put me in the position of all or nothing with him, I was content in that moment and felt nothing but happiness for him. He had found the love of his life, and I had found mine. That was a beautiful thing.
An arm snaked around my waist, pulling my attention away from my best friends. “Dance with me, beautiful?” The arm felt foreign though, and I stiffened. This man didn’t know me. He didn’t know all I had been through. He didn’t know that I had been through too much pain and fought too damn hard to be casually pulled up against a stranger like that on the dance floor.
I looked across the room to find the man I knew so well. Mason stood, drink in hand. I could see the fight in him. It took a lot of effort on his part to stay where he was. Fire blazed from his eyes, and beyond looking extremely pissed off, he also looked hurt.
I shoved at Julian, putting distance between us. “Let go of me. I’m married,” I said, walking away from him. I don’t know why those words came out of my mouth. They were the first thing I could think of that would make sense. I know Leah and Sebastian heard me though because they both stopped dancing and watched as I ran out of the reception hall and into the parking lot.
Across the other end of the parking lot was a beautiful forest area with a large lake. I walked to it and tossed my shoes aside, sitting down in the grass. I could feel tears falling, but I didn’t wipe at them. I was wearing waterproof make up, but I didn’t want to test it by rubbing my face. It would dry on its own, hopefully not smearing too badly in the process.
I heard my name being yelled, and I turned to see Mason frantically searching for me around the building. I pulled myself up to stand, and his eyes caught mine immediately. He ran to me, but tripped on the curb and almost fell on his face. I went to catch him, but the sheer mass of his toned body made me lose my balance, and we tumbled into the grass laughing.
His looked at me, and he sobered up in an instant. “I saw you with him.” He twirled one of my dangling curls at my temple.
“I wasn’t with him, Mason.”
“Did you want to be? It would make more sense, you know. He’s your age. He’s a doctor.”
I cringed. “Mason, I want to be with you. I don’t give a shit about some doctor my age. I want the same man I’ve wanted practically my whole life.”
“You mean that?” he asked, and I nodded.
“More than anything. I love you. You know this.” His mouth met mine in answer, and I tasted nothing but whiskey on his breath. It was dizzying and strong. Like I had just taken a shot.
We broke away from our kiss, but not before I saw a pair of unmistakable eyes land on us. Sebastian. He had seen our kiss. I knew that without a doubt by the confusion in his gaze.
“Scarlet?” he asked, most likely hoping he hadn’t just seen what he did.
I jumped up immediately. “Sebastian, oh God.” He was shaking his head and getting angrier by the minute.
“What is going on here, Scarlet?” he asked.
“Sebastian, please! Nothing is going on, and you can’t say anything about this!” I urged, looking around to make sure there were no more witnesses.
Mason just glared at Sebastian, like as Leah’s father he could just intimidate Sebastian into keeping quiet. “This is fucking sick! Did you just kiss her? I have to tell Leah! I can’t keep something like this from her!” Sebastian yelled.
“You can’t! Please! This is my fault! I kissed him. He’s wasted, and I don’t know why I did it, but I did. You can’t tell Leah, Sebastian! It will kill her.” He looked back and forth between us, and my tears must have convinced him. Because though he looked extremely troubled by the entire situation, he pinched his eyes closed and relented.
“I’m not going to tell her tonight. I’m not going to tell her on our honeymoon next week. I might decide never to tell her. But, Scarlet, I can’t promise I won’t. I can’t promise to keep something from my wife, even for you. I’ve never lied to her, and this is too big to keep from her.” My tears fell in a rush as I nodded my head over and over so that he knew I understood.
Then he left us and headed back inside, and I fell into Mason’s waiting arms.
“How do we find ourselves in this situation so often where we know we’re hurting everyone else around us even unknowingly, but we just can’t keep away?”
“I’m so sorry, Scarlet,” he whispered into my hair as he held me to him.
I didn’t want him to be sorry. I wanted everyone else to be okay with our relationship. I wanted a fairytale and this was a nightmare. For the longest time, we sat there. We didn’t speak. We didn’t need to. We knew how each other felt. We knew how messed up the situation was. We also knew we weren’t going to give up without a fight though.
“So, Will told me you used to date Sebastian?” he asked in an odd tone after saying nothing for what felt like hours.
“I did. He was my best friend in college, though apparently, he was also good friends with all those groomsmen in there and I don’t know half of them. Maybe they got close after we broke up.”
He nodded and seemed to think for a moment. “Did you sleep with him?” I turned and looked at him, and he seemed to instantly regret his question. “Sorry. You don’t have to tell me. I don’t have a right to ask.”
“Why are you asking then?” I questioned.
“Because I’m being a jealous bastard again. I’m sorry. I just don’t know how to handle this feeling. I don’t like thinking of you with other men, which is completely fucked up.”
“Yes, I did sleep with him. Does that make you want me less?”
He turned in my arms and looked me in my eyes, as he confessed,
“Nothing you could do or have ever done would make me want you less. I’m just trying to bury my jealousy, knowing a man that I’ll have to see for the rest of my life has seen that blush you get right here as you come.”
He kissed a spot on my neck, and I took pity on him. “Then you have nothing to be jealous about. I may have slept with him, but he has never seen me come.”
Mason smiled mischievously.
“Will wants me to go to some after party with him. Seems a little backward to me. As the father of the bride, I should be inviting him out to celebrate, not the other way around. He said I need to let loose and live a little.”
“Oh? So, are you going then?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Depends on if this beautiful woman I’m crazy about is going to let me see that spot on her neck that pinks with blush when she comes tonight or not…”
“I have a feeling your chances are high, but you might want to switch to water if you plan on stay
ing up long enough to find out.” I chuckled, and he bit my neck playfully.
“Maybe you need let loose and live a little,” he teased, as he poked me in the ribs. I laughed out loud and wiggled to get away from his prodding fingers. “God, you are stunning. But if that Julian guy touches you again, I’m going to break his fingers, doctor or not,” Mason said, getting serious again.
I smiled understanding exactly how he felt, for I would have done the same if the tables were turned. With everything we needed to say said, Mason and I made our way back to the reception to celebrate the girl we both loved so dearly.
Seventeen
True to his word, Sebastian kept our secret. Though the few times I saw him after that night, he wouldn’t even look me in the eyes. It was a tiny taste of the hell I knew would come when everyone else joined him in knowing about our little love affair. I just hoped everyone would get over it one day.
Our next big feat was Ash’s third birthday. After a long and hard debate, we decided it was best to wait until after Ash’s birthday party to tell our families about us. I didn’t want our families to skip out on the party because they were mad at us, so I convinced Mason to push the talk back yet again.
He was mad at me, but really, he was just worried about keeping the secret. He still came over that morning to make sure everything was ready. He still showed up on time with the largest present for my little boy. He still stood on the other end of the room and shot me secretive smiles when no one else was looking.
He even met me in the hallway when I took a short bathroom break and pushed me up against the wall in a passionate kiss. It was a thrill, knowing at any moment one of our guests could have walked around the corner and seen us.
“You look goddamn incredible, and I’ve been so mad I haven’t gotten to kiss these lips in way too long,” Mason whispered, and then he let me go and walked back into the living room as if nothing had happened. I, on the other hand, had to take a minute to get my wits about me.
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