Stolen: Suspense Mystery Thriller Romance (Hartness Security Book 1)

by Mia Faith

  “No,” he shook his head and looked up to meet my eyes. “No, not Bob. My real dad.”

  His real dad... does this mean...?

  Chapter Eight

  “Your... real dad?” I stammered, unsure what I should reveal. I knew more than I should have, and I didn’t want him to think that I’d been talking behind his back. “I erm... I didn’t...”

  “Ethan never told you? He didn’t let you know that I was adopted?” I half shrugged, not wanting to blow anything. Ethan was more than likely never supposed to tell anyone that, and I didn’t want to betray anyone. “Well, I found out a while back. Right before Monica broke up with me.” Shit, as he started to open up to me, it all felt a little too much, it was all happening too quickly. I didn’t know what to do with any of the information he was giving me. “My mom and dad adopted me when I was a baby because my real parents couldn’t look after me. They were far too hopped up on drugs to care, really.”

  “That’s awful,” finally I reached out to rub his back, giving him the comfort he so desperately needed. “I can’t even imagine how hard that was to find out.”

  “Yeah, well, by the time I’d adjusted to the news and started looking, I was too late to find my mom. She’d already overdosed and died. That hit me hard; I can’t even begin to explain to you what that did to me.”

  I nodded slowly, wishing I could think of the right words to say. “I... I’m sorry.”

  “Well, I did find my dad, and to be honest, that was worse. He was in this awful crack den, covered in needle tracks, his face all drawn and weary. It made me feel sick, and even worse, there was nothing I could do. I tried, a little, but he was too far gone. So, I left.”

  Oh God, he was blaming himself; I could see it written all over his face. “None of this is your fault,” I told him, holding him closer to me. “There was nothing you could have ever done. If having a baby wasn’t enough to pull your mom and dad off drugs, then nothing ever would be. You can’t blame yourself because things weren’t great when you found him. He was never there for you.”

  “But now he’s dead,” Mason cried out angrily, pounding his fists down on the table. “Maybe if I hadn’t got freaked out, and I had stuck around to help him, that wouldn’t have happened. He’d still be alive now.”

  “Addiction is much more complicated than that.” I didn’t really know that myself, but it seemed obvious enough. “There wasn’t ever anything you could do. It was up to your dad to make that decision.”

  He fell silent while he pondered this for a while, and I remained quiet too. I simply held him and waited until he needed me again. I felt helpless, sick; this wasn’t what I thought it would feel like to have him open up to me, but I was glad I could be there for him. At least that was something. At least he wasn’t going through this alone. That would have been so much worse.

  “What do I have to do now?” he asked me, sounding as hopeless as I felt for him. “Do I have to go to his funeral? Am I supposed to mourn him? I don’t even know him?”

  “There aren’t any rules,” I did my best to reassure him. “I don’t really know how you’re supposed to feel or what you should do. I guess it’s up to you what you do.”

  “God, I don’t know what to do,” he groaned loudly. “And we have all this work stuff to deal with...”

  “Don’t worry about it for now,” I demanded. “I’ll do it tomorrow. I think it’s time to get out of here right now. That problem isn’t going anywhere, and it also doesn’t matter if it gets fixed in the morning. You need to focus on you for now.”

  He stood up slowly, a range of emotions crossing his expression. “You’re right, I do need to get out of here. Will you come with me?”

  “Where?” I cocked my head curiously, not totally sure where he was going with this. “I don’t know if this is a great time to be drinking or anything.” I was careful with my words; I didn’t want to upset him, but he needed to be smart. This situation sucked, and booze would only highlight that.

  “No, I don’t want to drink,” he shook his head hard. “I think I might just want to walk, clear my head, you know? And I don’t want to do it alone.”

  “I’ll come with you,” I jumped up rapidly. “Walking I can do.”

  The cold air blew past my face, causing a light shudder to race through me. It was that weird time of year where the days were warm, but the evenings were almost wintery, meaning I was never dressed quite right. The coolness didn’t seem to be bothering Mason, though; he had his shirt sleeves rolled up and his top button undone, not showing any signs of feeling the temperature at all.

  “Sorry, for unloading all of this on you tonight; that was probably a bit of an unexpected one,” he told me coyly, looking about as far from the tough, ice-cold Mason as he possibly could.

  “Well, it was a curve ball for you too!” I wanted him to tell me, I wanted to be the one he confided in. Of course, this was a tough one to start with, but I hoped I was doing okay with it.

  “The hospital only found me because of DNA. They were so desperate to find someone connected to him. How sad is that? You live your whole, sad life doing whatever, and there’s no one around to mourn you when you die? I never want to be that way,” he shook his head so violently that I felt a little afraid for him. This was affecting him deeply, cutting him to the core. Who knew where his head was going now? “Do people really hate me at work? If I died tomorrow, would anyone care?”

  Oh God, that wasn’t what I meant when I told him that. If I’d known this was going to happen, I never would’ve said anything at all. I would have kept my stupid opinions to myself. “Of course they would,” I reassured him carefully. “People understand that you need to be a hardass, but I’m sure they know you’re a good guy deep down.”

  “Yeah, right,” he scoffed, hanging his head in shame. “Whatever.”

  “Well, I would miss you,” I told him instinctively. “I’d be absolutely heartbroken.”

  He turned to face me, instantly causing the rest of the world to slide away once more. He had that intense look in his eyes, one that made my heart hammer in my chest, but whatever he had me feeling, I couldn’t let him act on it. Not while he was so hurt. I didn’t want to ever be anything he’d go on to regret.

  “Come on,” I did a bright, fake smile. “Let’s keep walking. I can even get you something to eat. It is my turn to pay after all.”

  “All right.” If he felt disappointed, then he didn’t show it. “Yeah, that sounds good. Let’s go.”

  ***

  By the time we’d finished eating I could see a noticeable change in Mason. He was still torn up about his father, and he probably always would be, but he was a little bit back to himself too. He was smiling, laughing, making jokes, and everything he said made me feel even closer to him. We had a real bond now, a deep-seated connection, and that felt incredible.

  “So, today has been a wild ride,” he announced playfully. “I’m so glad it was you there with me. You have no idea how calm you’ve made me.”

  Woah... that was a powerful statement, one that had all kinds of emotions running through me. “Well, I... I’m glad I could be there for you too.” I felt like I was trembling all over.

  “You really are incredible.” Oh God, it seemed that we weren’t done with the compliments yet. I didn’t know if my heart could take anymore! “Honestly, no one else would have stuck around for me like you have.”

  “I... I’m sure they would,” I felt scrutinized under his gaze, and it was making me unsteady. This felt like a monumental conversation, and I couldn’t be cool with it to save my life. This felt a little like a nightmare that I couldn’t wake up from.

  “No, you don’t understand,” he took my hands in his and my heart literally skipped a beat. “I’ve tried to date a little bit after Monica cruelly dumped me, but no one has ever made me feel like you do. Hell, she didn’t even make me feel this way. I thought it was love back then, but I was wrong. I was infatuated with her, and she didn’t give a sh
it. She left at the first chance, proving that to me...” he trailed off for a moment, and I found myself holding in a nervous breath. “Anyway, you make me feel totally different.”

  I couldn’t hold it back any longer; the emotions were surging through me. I knew it wasn’t the wisest decision that I’d ever made, but I couldn’t seem to help it. I pulled him sharply to me, crushing his body up against mine, and I kissed him passionately. At first, he seemed stunned by my crazy reaction, and maybe I was a little bit too, but then he melted into me, his arms wrapped tightly around my waist, and he kissed me back.

  “Come back to mine,” I whispered against his lips as we finally pulled apart. I wasn’t sure exactly what I had in mind, but I knew for certain that I didn’t want him to be alone. “Stay with me.”

  “Are you sure?” he replied, gazing imploringly into my eyes. “I don’t want to...”

  “What, make things complicated?” I giggled. “Don’t you think everything is confusing enough?” At least we were addressing things now, at least we were dealing with the issues. That felt much more serious than what we had before...

  “True, true, that’s fair enough,” he was laughing with me, but there was something unsure about it. “I know this isn’t the most typical situation, but in all honesty, I’m not too great at... dating, or feelings.” Well, that blew any theories about him being a player out of the window.

  “Trust me,” I took his hand in mine and started leading him towards home. “It’s gonna be fine, we’ll... work it out, or whatever.”

  As we walked from the food place and back out onto the streets, I felt like all eyes were upon us. I may have just been being paranoid because I knew we were potentially about to do something that we really shouldn’t, but what was I supposed to? I couldn’t leave Mason by himself, and honestly, what we had between us was so intoxicating and addictive... we were going to have to cave eventually. It was inevitable. There was only so long we could keep pushing all of this to one side.

  A thick, sexual tension clung to the air as we walked back towards my home, taking all other emotions away. Mason was growing increasingly excited, I could tell, and I couldn’t help but hope that what would come next would be the start of something amazing and new for both of us. We were both inexperienced with relationships – in all honestly, me more than him – but together, if we both wanted it badly enough, we could make it work.

  Either that or it’d be a complete and utter disaster. I supposed we’d find out one way or another.

  Chapter Nine

  As we crashed through the front door to my apartment, my head was all over the place, I felt completely and utterly on fire. We were kissing fast and passionately, giving into the temptation before we even really had a chance to think about it. Maybe I should have pushed him off for a moment, just to let him think, but to be perfectly honest, this moment felt like it’d been a long time coming.

  I grabbed Mason’s shirt and began tugging at it, needing it gone. Unfortunately, my fingers were trembling much too violently for me to really get it done so he finished the job for me. Once I started running my fingers over the most incredible muscles that I’d ever experienced in my whole damn life, he yanked my blouse so violently that the buttons shed in a heartbeat, and I didn’t even care. What did one top ruined mean compared to being with this amazing man?

  Gone was the vulnerable, sweet side of Mason. The domineering, powerful side of him was back with a vengeance – only this time I really didn’t mind. I was more than happy to give everything up to him, to let him take control.

  He reached around and unhooked my bra and we both watched in silence as it tumbled to the ground like a worthless piece of paper. He growled in pleasure, gave me a look that was full of a thick, needy desire, sending a bolt of lightning electricity right down to my core. When he stared at me like he was desperate to devour me, I became a helpless, quivering mess.

  “You really are something else,” he panted at me before crashing his lips into mine again. Every single time we kissed, we sizzled; it was wonderful. As his hands explored my curves, my heart pounded harder and harder, until it was damn near impossible for me to hold myself upright for another second longer.

  “Follow me,” I gasped, sliding my fingers through his. As we walked towards my bedroom, I found my hips swaying seductively. I was like a sexual, twisting goddess and that felt kinda cool. I hadn’t ever felt so body confident before, which was bizarre because Mason was by far the hottest guy I’d ever been with.

  It had to be him, and the way he made me feel. That was the only explanation.

  I tumbled playfully back onto the sheets as soon as we were inside, and he climbed above me in an instant, as if he couldn’t bear to be away from me for even a second. We started kissing, even harder and more passionately than before, and it was making me feel all kinds of things.

  This meant something; it was leading somewhere. We’d been through an emotional time together tonight; there was a bond growing and we were simply building upon that.

  Eventually, my head lolled to one side in sheer ecstasy and my eyes slid shut for a second. Mason took full advantage of my vulnerability by running his mouth all over my exposed neck and collar bone, amping everything up a notch. He was sending shivers of intense desire traveling all the way down my body, and if he carried on the way he was, I wouldn’t be able to control myself for much longer.

  “Oh shit,” I groaned as his mouth finally found my breasts. His tongue flicked everywhere, exploring every inch of my nipples, and he was driving me absolutely wild. I’d never felt so out of control before, so wild, so animalistic, and it honestly felt great. One moment my hands were balled up in my hair as I gasped loudly with sheer joy, the next they were grabbing onto him, digging into his shoulders like there was no tomorrow.

  “You’re incredible,” I heard myself murmuring carelessly. “Everything about you...”

  All of a sudden, I found myself silenced by the feel of his fingers dipping under the waistband of my skirt to start playing with the outline of my underwear. I had on a red, expensive pair of lace panties, but in the heat of the moment, I didn’t care about that. I wanted them gone so much, I wouldn’t have cared one iota if he tore them to shreds just to get at me. My hot, wet desire was pulsing for him, screaming so loudly that I couldn’t think about anything else.

  Yet he didn’t seem to understand how desperate I felt; he was teasing me, toiling with me, rubbing me enough to have me fisting the sheets anxiously beneath me without actually giving in and letting me have what I so desperately needed. The frustrated pressure was growing deeply inside of me, balling up like fire, and I could feel myself about to scream...

  “You want me?” he hissed playfully into my ear. “You want this?”

  “Yes,” I whispered back needily. “So fucking badly.”

  With that he slowly, tantalizingly pulled my skirt down, making sure it brushed every damn inch of the hypersensitive skin on my legs. If this was some sort of game, he was definitely winning. I was in shambles, completely submissive to him.

  “Now,” I managed to demand, just a little bit louder. As he sat up, I could see his cock straining against his pants, so by the looks of things, he was just as desperate as me. “I need it now.”

  He rewarded my demand by sliding my panties to one side and sliding just the one finger in. An involuntary moan escaped past my lips and I arched my back against him. This felt phenomenal and I needed so much more. He was giving me joy but it wasn’t enough. I hadn’t held back so long just for this. Luckily he seemed to sense my intense need because it wasn’t long until another finger was slipping in, followed by one more.

  The whole time, Mason’s breath was tickling my thighs; I could sense him licking his lips; I started to get the sense that...

  Yep, he whipped my panties off in a second, and now he was edging his face nearer and nearer to me. Remembering how wonderful his tongue felt as it darted between my lips gave me an indication of how good it
was going to feel when it finally connected...

  “Oh fuck,” I yelled in sheer ecstasy as he rolled it over my clit, flicking it to create the most sensational patterns. This was like nothing I’d ever experienced before and it had my body to soaring to God knows where. I wasn’t even sure I was on the planet anymore. Whether it was the intense powerful connection Mason and I had, or whether he was just an expert at this, I wasn’t totally sure.

  All I knew was that I felt like I was free-falling, teetering on the knife-edge of desire far too soon.

  “Stop,” I finally panted as the warmth began to spread. I hated to end this, it was absolutely killer to do so, but I didn’t want this night to be just about me. I wanted him driving into me, I wanted us to both experience pleasure together, and if I didn’t stop this now, I’d be too far gone. “Stop. I need you.”

  He propped up onto his elbows and shot me a wicked grin. I did my best to smile back, but I wasn’t totally sure it was coming off well. My lips were too quivery, everything about me was trembling, and I could barely hold it together.

  As he shimmied up my body and I felt his length teasing my entrance, begging for entry, I arched my back against him, hoping that the feel of my hot, sticky body up against his would be enough to send him over the edge, and from the way his breaths became ragged, I could see that it was.

  “Do you have any?” he asked cautiously, his arms shaking with the pressure of holding himself upright.

  Oh... of course... condoms!

  I’d never understood how people could make that mistake in the heat of the moment, until now. Now I’d almost done it myself and if it hadn’t been for Mason, I never would have even considered it!

  “Oh, yes, hang on.” I reached across and tugged one out of my nightstand drawer. “Here.”