“Go away,” he heard her say. Her voice sounded funny, muffled by a sound he was unfamiliar with.
“Sugar, what is wrong? Open the door, baby.”
“Baby?” she said, he was convinced by her tone she was crying. A sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach sent notions of urgency to his head to get inside the tiny room, now.
Mikala never cried.
“Let me in, Mikala, or I’m breaking the fucking door down.”
The lock clicked open and in one fell swoop, Mikala tore from the room and heaved her outstretched body onto the bed. She buried her face into Mason’s pillow and sobbed as Mason climbed on the bed and lay beside her. His hand stroked up and down her back as he listened to her cry, not knowing what else to do since he had never dealt with Mikala crying before.
“Sugar?” he cautiously whispered into her ear. “Why’re you crying?”
“My fucking life is over,” She hollered. “How am I going to do this and run a fucking night club? You’re going to leave me,” she sniffled and hiccupped. “And I’ll be all alone again.”
“Sugar, what the fuck are you talking about? I’m not going anywhere, why would I leave?” Mason grasped her shoulders turning her onto her back. She covered her face with her arm and held out something long and white in her hand.
“What’s this?” he took it and rolled it between his fingers and swallowed hard when he saw two blue stripes in a small oval window. “You’re fucking pregnant,” he said, as his mouth gaped open.
“I already know that, stupid,” she cried out. “My life is over!”
He peeled her arm back from her face and wiped the tears away. He grinned into her face, and there it was, the happiest smiling eyes she had ever seen.
“No, no baby your life…our lives have just begun.”
“You’re not angry?” she asked, rising up onto her elbows.
“Fuck no!” He pulled her into his arms and peppered kisses over her face and neck and then moved her back so his face was only an inch away and proudly announced. “I Mason Reed am the happiest man on this fucking planet. I’m going to be a fucking daddy!”
He brushed his hand along her jaw, pulling her from her thoughts. Mason reached into his pocket and handed her a business card.
“A business card,” Mikala read the name and number and gave him a quizzical look. “I don’t understand. I’m not in the mood for more of your games.”
“No games,” he said, pointing to the card. “That’s my real-estate agent.” He watched the confused look on her face and decided to put her out of her misery while he had her nicely wrapped around his hips. “I sold the loft.”
“Really?” her voice raised a full octave, as did her brows.
He nodded. “I have one small problem though.”
“And this small problem would be what?” she asked.
“I’m kinda homeless,” he said, impishly teasing. “You wouldn’t know of a place where a beautiful, extremely sexy redhead lives, that might have a spare room to rent?”
“Possibly.” She grinned. “But there’s a tiny problem with the only room she has available.”
“Uh huh?” He nuzzled his nose between her breasts and deeply inhaled her scent.
“Yes, it seems you’d have to share the great big bed in this room, with the redhead.”
“Oh, I think I’d be willing to make the sacrifice.” He trailed his tongue from her cleavage, up to her lips and licked along the crease. “In fact, I’m positive we could come to an amicable arrangement.”
Mikala threw her head back and laughed, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and hugging him tight.
The lock clicked and the door slowly opened, but neither cared enough to separate their bond.
“Not on the new table for Christ’s sake,” Chase whined. “If I find one scratch in that polish you owe me ten grand.”
“Yeah, put it on my tab,” Mason jokingly said, lifting Mikala from the table and shielding her while she sorted herself. “Not sure Mik’s bare ass won’t leave a mark on the finish, but I’m pretty sure it’s not permanent,” he snickered.
Chase’s eyes looked apprehensively from Mikala to Mason and back. “We all good?” he asked.
Mason turned to Mikala as if repeating Chases question with his eyes. “Mason’s taking me out for dinner…” She smirked at Mason. “So we can finish our talk.”
“Glad to hear it. We’ll talk later then?” Chase asked her.
“Later.” She took Mason’s hand and led him out the door.
Chase called out before they made it too far, “Missing something, Miss Santino?”
Mikala ran back into the board room past Chase swooping her panties from the table. “Oops…sorry,” she laughed and ran off down the hall.
Chase wasn’t sure whose face was redder, his or hers, but he was happy they were talking.
Glad that the restaurant was quiet, Mikala took a long swig of Mason’s beer and curled her nose up at the bitter taste. Instantly regretting her idea to tease Mason by suggestively sucking sauce from his plate off of her finger, she needed something to put out the flames on her tongue. He was nearly in tears at her antics. She excused herself and after brushing her teeth and tongue with a disposable toothbrush she kept in her purse, she reapplied her bright red lipstick and ordered a fresh drink on her way back to her seat.
Mason, who insisted on feeding her French fries from his plate after she refused to finish her salad, ordered a large scoop of chocolate ice-cream and two spoons and sat grinning.
“Let me make one thing clear,” Mikala said, as she took a spoonful of cold, chocolaty, decadent splendor holding it to Mason’s mouth. “I won’t have you making me fat. Keep your calorie ridden snack shit out of my kitchen.”
Mason exaggerated a pout after licking chocolate residue from his lip. “Any other rules I need to know?”
“A few,” Mikala placed her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her clasped hands. “The right side of the beds mine, the guestroom is the only place I better see your work out gear and the ball cap goes.”
“Not the ball cap, I need that hat when I run,” he said, running his hand up her forearm and snatching her hand into his. “Serious moment, okay,”
“Okay.”
“Are you sure you’re alright with all this? I mean, I don’t want you to feel forced to take me in. I can find a place if you’re not comfortable.”
Mikala pulled his arm across the table and held his palm to her heart. “You’re not going anywhere, Mr. Reed. I’m not letting you out of my sight. Consider yourself officially mine and only mine. I think we’ve fucked up enough to realize we need each other, don’t you?”
“Without a doubt,” Mason smiled. “I know I fucked up royally, but that’s over. I intend to refrain from fucking up any further. I’m going to spend every minute of every day making up for all my fuck ups.”
Mikala scowled as she shook her head. “I don’t need ass kissing…well, maybe a little ass kissing,” she tittered. “What I really want, really need…?”
Mason placed a finger over her lips to stifle her words. “I know what you want, sugar, I’ve known all along what you want, I’ve just been such an asshole that I couldn’t admit it’s what I want too.
Mason slid his hand into his pant pocket and held out his clenched fist. When he opened his palm, Mikala looked down at the two platinum braided bands glinting in the restaurants low light, her jaw dropped.
“I had them engraved…Two hearts-One soul,” he told her.
“Beautiful,” Mikala said.
“Mikala, this is my vow to you.” He held her ring between his thumb and index finger. “From this moment on, I promise to be there for you and that no matter what obstacles come our way my feet will stay planted right beside yours. I’ll never leave again. Never. I love you madly.”
He slipped the ring to the first knuckle of her ring finger and stopped. “This is the finger, right?” he asked, and she nodded with a smile as he sl
ipped it the rest of the way.
Taking his ring from his palm, she smiled. “I love you madly, too.” She took a deep breath. “I’ve been so busy concentrating on all the bad stuff, I forgot just how much, but not anymore. From this moment on there won’t be a day that goes by that I don’t remind you how much…and I’m not going anywhere either.” Mason helped her clear the ring over his knuckle and clamped their hands together.
“I still,” Mason hesitated, “think it’s a good idea if we get some of that counselling you talked about before, I don’t think I’ve dealt with Charlie properly and I really need to.”
“Me too,” Mikala said. “I miss him every day.”
“Sugar,” Mason asked, staring at the surface of the table. “Do you think that maybe someday in our future…?”
Mikala hooked his chin with her finger and lifted it until he looked into her eyes. “Maybe someday.”
It wasn’t a promise or a vow, but it was all she could give him for now. The notion of another baby was a terrifying idea at best, for them both. She knew that Mason’s insistence to use condoms, even with her on the pill, was because of his fear of getting her pregnant, the same fear in her that refused to oppose.
Mikala merely desired some normalcy in her life, playing house with Mason was what she believed to be the perfect solution as she smiled into Mason’s beaming blue eyes.
***
“Thirty days, it was a short sale,” Mason said. “My friend Ami and his girlfriend are getting married in a few months. He wants to surprise her with the place as a wedding gift, but needs to make a few changes. He wants to remodel the bathroom, kitchen and some other shit.”
“So you’re not moving in for a month?” Mikala asked, disappointed with the idea.
“Well actually, I was thinking of moving in this Sunday, if that’s fine with you.”
Mikala gazed around the living room. “You do realize the apartment is half this size?”
“Point being?” he asked.
“Where are we going to put all this?” She eyed the room.
“Not to worry, sugar, I sold the place furnished. All that’s coming is my gym, the pictures on the walls, my clothes and my favorite pink make-out chair.”
Eager to show her appreciation, Mikala teasingly removed her blouse at an excruciating speed and slowly released her milky white breasts from her bra. Watching as Mason’s eyes widened, she grasped his cock and slid it between her breasts, teasingly fucking the tip of his cock with her tongue.
Once she had him naked, his body tipped forward, his hands on the window and his feet firmly planted on the cool hardwood floor, he watched her drop between his legs as her mouth enveloped his cock and he grew to full thickness in her mouth. He could see the grin in her eyes as she fisted him and slid scrupulously back and forth along his shaft with her cheeks hallowed. His first instinct was to close his eyes and thrust his hips forward, only to feel her mouth detach and her warmth pull away.
“Behave,” she scolded, as she caressed his balls. “You don’t want me stopping just yet, do you?”
“Fuck no. I’ll be good, promise,” he said, like a good little boy scout.
“That’s what I want to hear.” Mikala winked and ran her tongue through his pre-cum oozing slit making him groan loud.
“Fucking hell, baby, suck me,” he pleaded.
“Are you begging?” Mikala teased.
“Begging? Fucking right I’m begging,” he said, dropping his chin to his chest and sucking a breath through his clenched teeth, as her mouth wrapped around the head of his cock and she continuously sucked him in and out of her mouth with wet slurping sounds.
“You do that much longer and I won’t be held responsible,” he cautioned, pulling away with a chuckle.
Mikala wiggled her body up between the glass and Mason’s body and melted her mouth over his. Their tongues tangled in a coupling as Mason slid his hands down her sides and grasped her at the back of her thighs lifting her off the floor.
“Consider this a hostile takeover.” Mason said, pushing her against the glass. “Hold on tight, sugar.”
He stepped forward and slid his aching dick between her folds and let out a relieved sigh as he sunk into her warmth. “Oh…this isn’t going to take long, so wet, so tight, so fucking warm,” he said, as he thrust forward and she heaved out a breath each time he slammed her against the glass.
Mikala was left exhausted and tender from the multiple orgasms Mason had treated her to, his insatiable ability to go for hours on end had her stunned. She squeezed her muscles around him and dug her nails into his shoulder blades until she was sure she was drawing blood, and he cried out her name as he climaxed and slid them both to the floor.
“You have to tell me how you do that,” she panted. “How you last so long, or do I not excite you enough to get you off?”
“Sugar, I never want it to end when I’m with you. You feel so good I make myself crazy holding off. If I could stay every minute of the day inside your hot, wet silkiness I would.” He kissed the tip of her nose before pulling out and rolling onto his back, pulling her with him when he sat. “I’m going to start the shower for you and then I’ll make us dinner.”
“You’re spoiling me, when you move in will it all stop?” she asked, as he left the room.
“Never!” he yelled, down the hall.
***
Mikala sat pondering over Mason’s sudden quiet behavior. When she came from the bathroom, after enjoying the most delicious shower ever, she found him texting in the kitchenette. She chose not to question what had him so rapt, after he quickly pocketed his phone and had avoided eye contact. After dinner, if he was still in a mood, her questions would start.
He made spaghetti with tomatoes and feta cheese and garlic toast, one of her favorites. They sat in silence while they ate. Mason cleared away their plates proceeding to fill the sink with water. Mikala pressed her chest to his back and held the edge of the counter with both hands, caging him in, as if she had a chance of corralling the man if he truly wanted to get away.
“Got something to say to me?” she asked, placing her cheek between his muscular shoulder blades.
“It can wait till later,” he said.
“No it can’t,” she demanded bluntly. “Spill your guts…and I mean now!”
“Pretty demanding little thing when you want to be.” He turned and discovered a disgruntled scowl on her face.
“Something’s wrong, what is it?” The worried look on his face told it all, it was definitely not going to be a good thing. “Just tell me already.”
“I have to go away,” he said. “Not sure how long.”
“Is it business?”
“Something like that,”
“Either its business or it’s not. Where are you going?”
“I can’t say.”
Her brows rose and her lips puckered as she chewed the soft tissue inside her cheek to hold back her anger, her fear. “Is this a fucking joke? What about Sunday, you’re moving in remember?”
“About that,” he curled up his nose and she stormed away in a huff.
“Don’t even!” she screamed, slamming the bedroom door in his face.
When he opened the door and peeked into the room, Mikala was face down on the bed with a pillow held over her head. She yelled from under the pillow, “Remind me to get a fucking lock installed on that door.”
“Sugar, don’t be mad.” He lay alongside her and pried the pillow from her hands throwing it onto the floor. “This is important; I wouldn’t leave if it wasn’t. Will it make you feel better if I tell you Chase is going with me?”
“Chase?” she rolled onto her side. “Is this thing you have to do dangerous?”
“I can’t say.” He grabbed her as she turned to bolt, straddled her hips and pinned her arms above her head fast as a lightning strike. “Hear me out.”
“Do I have a choice, dickhead?”
“That’s Mr. Dickhead.” He attempted to make light of the
situation but her narrowed eyes told him otherwise. “Chase and I have to take off soon. I don’t want to go, baby, I have to go. The minute we’re back I’m moving in.” He leaned forward and peppered kisses across her tightly sealed lips. “That is, if you’re still up for a roommate?”
“Depends on how long you’re gone,” she said. “Maybe I won’t be here when you get back.”
Mason’s face became sullen and he released his hold on her wrists. “Sugar, that’s not funny. I need to know that when I come back you’ll be here.”
“I’m always here. Where the fuck else would I go?”
She sat on the bed and watched as he packed. With the few items of clothing he threw into his duffle, she convinced herself he wouldn’t be more than a few days away. He zipped the bag and then pulled her to her feet.
“Go,” she said. “Don’t forget, this is where you come home to.”
“So, you’ll be waiting for me with open arms?”
“Don’t know about the open arms, but I’ll be waiting and you better not take any stupid chances.”
“Baited breath at least?” he grinned, as she began to soften.
Mikala rolled her eyes and pulled him to her chest for a hug. “Up for a quickie?” she whispered into his ear.
“Always up for you, baby,” he said, sliding his hand under her pajama top and grinding his growing erection against her pelvic bone with a groan.
***
Mikala stood in the clubs doorway with her arms crossed over her chest refusing to wave, in fact she refused to say goodbye at all and covered her hand over Mason’s mouth when he attempted to say it too. She put on a faux smile and pressed her lips hard against his and watched gloomily as Mason and Chase drove away. She was thankful it was going to be a busy night at the club, Thursdays usually were, and she welcomed the thought of the next few nights keeping her from herself.
“Carl’s looking for you, Mik,” Landon said, placing his hand on her shoulder as an understanding gesture. “Mason will be back before you know he’s gone.”
She nodded yes and turned away, her heart already knew he was gone and the tug she was feeling felt unwelcomingly familiar. It was as if she was reliving that terrible day after Charlie’s funeral when she had gone in search of Mason.
Mikala's Passion (Pulse Series Book 2) Page 23