Fall in Love

by Anthology

  “Even getting mad at you last night was new for me, unusual. I don’t want to be used—”

  “Oh, Mason, I’m sorry—”

  “No. I mean, the reason I was mad was legit, but I don’t get upset with the women I date. I don’t usually care that much, I guess. If we don’t agree on something, we finish dinner and don’t get together again. I only get upset about work.”

  She could tell that meant something. Her heart skipped and she decided to give him some assurance.

  “Mason, every time we’re together, I find myself smiling more and wanting to get naked more than I have in a really, really, really long time with a guy. Nothing else matters. I can tell you what the next step is, but if you roll over here, I’ll show you. Which will be way more fun.”

  He gave an aroused groan. “I’m already having more fun than I can remember.”

  Oh, she really liked that.

  “So come here.”

  He did. He turned and stretched out beside her, bracing himself on his left elbow, pen poised in his right hand. “I need to take some notes, before I forget.”

  “I’m guessing you haven’t forgotten something in…ever,” she said with a smile.

  “I haven’t been distracted by you before.”

  He smiled too, but his eyes held a heat that made her tingle.

  “Then you better start writing.” She inched the bottom of her shirt up to the bottom of her bra. “Because I’d like to get even more distracting. Soon.”

  He took a shaky breath. Then the only sound in the room was the click of his pen. The tip touched the skin over her ribs and she felt her stomach quiver. He seemed intent on his task, but she noticed that he was definitely breathing faster. She felt like she was holding her breath and her heart thundered, but she didn’t feel the panicky tightness she usually got when that happened. This felt good.

  He wrote notes across her stomach from left ribcage to right about an inch below the underwire of her bra. Then he started again, left to right above her belly button. Then below it.

  He cleared his throat and finally looked up at her. “I need a little more room.”

  Without a word, still holding his gaze, she lifted her hips. Watching her face, he popped the snap at the top of her shorts, lowered the zipper and then sat up slightly to hook a finger in the waistband on both sides and slide the shorts down to mid-thigh.

  Her panties dipped low in front, giving him a few more inches of skin, and his attention dropped from her face to the black silk. He traced the top edge of the panties with the pad of his index finger.

  Then he chuckled.

  She felt herself smile, though she had no idea why. “Thought of another joke?”

  His finger kept moving between the elastic edge and her skin and she felt her entire body growing warmer from that one touch.

  “I was thinking of all the books, all the researching…and it’s all deserting me at the moment. I can’t think of a single thing right now except that I want to touch you all over.”

  She moved her legs restlessly. “Touching me all over sounds like a great plan. No offense, Mason, but I’m caring a little less about your plant research projects right at the moment.”

  He chuckled again and dipped his finger deeper, skimming lightly over her soft curls. “Not plant research, Adrianne. You. Women. Sex.”

  The word sex from him made her stomach flip. Which was stupid. It seemed rather obvious that they were heading in that direction, but that confirmation made her want it.

  “What do you mean? You’ve been researching women?”

  “Of course.” He gave her a grin. “Studying and analyzing is my natural reaction to things that fascinate me that I don’t fully understand. Women and female sexuality certainly fall into that category.”

  It was funny. He’d been a nerd in high school by all counts, but that grin and the matter-of-fact statement about studying women and sex were full of confidence.

  “How do you study female sexuality?” she asked, eyes narrowed as a thought occurred to her—how many women had Mason Riley been with since leaving Sapphire Falls?

  “Like I study everything else—books, observation, interviews. Experiments.”

  Her eyes widened. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “I’ve used all of those methods.”

  He had to be kidding. “How?”

  “There are hundreds of books written on the subject. One I like in particular is Lou Paget’s How to Give Her Absolute Pleasure.”

  Adrianne didn’t know who Lou Paget was or how he knew all about absolute pleasure, but Mason didn’t seem to be kidding.

  “And the observation? Are we talking porn here?”

  He grinned. “Some of that. But the mechanics of sex aren’t hard to understand. It’s the flirting and seduction that I needed to understand. So I observed men and women interacting in bars, restaurants, the office, anywhere I could to figure out what worked, what didn’t, what made women respond, how to tell if she was responding.”

  “How do you tell?”

  “With you, it’s your mouth.”

  Her lips tingled and she pressed them together.

  “Like that,” he said. “When you’re aroused, you press them together, you lick them.”

  She did then without thinking.

  He chuckled. “Drives me crazy. Then there are the other signs too—you breathe faster, your pupils dilate, your cheeks get a little pink.”

  “I didn’t realize I was giving so much away,” she said softly.

  “It’s natural. I see the effect I have on you and it makes me want to do even more.”

  She swallowed. “Oh?”

  “As nature intended.”

  Right. Scientist. Nothing magical or special—just pheromones and the like.

  His finger was still in the waistband of her panties, but it wasn’t moving. She tipped her head. “What about the interviews?”

  “I’ve talked to dozens of women about what they like, what they want from men…”

  “Are they naked while you do this?”

  He raised an eyebrow and she was sure he noticed the jealous note in her voice, but he didn’t comment on it.

  “Not usually,” he said. “Often they were fully dressed and drinking coffee.”

  “You bought random women coffee and asked them about sex?”

  “I knew all of these women in some capacity and had reason to believe they would be comfortable talking with me. You’d be surprised—women love to have a man who will listen to them and wants to know what they want. Sometimes it was a planned meeting, sometimes it was casual conversation.”

  She wouldn’t be surprised. He had a point. Most women wouldn’t likely have that conversation with a total stranger, but if they got to know Mason she could see them being willing to spill. He was a researcher. She could imagine the sincere, intent way he’d look at them, the straightforward way he’d ask the questions.

  “And then of course…the experimentation?” she asked.

  “Well…” He trailed off with a wicked grin.

  She rolled her eyes but found while the jealousy was still there, she was curious what he’d learned.

  “So this is all very academic for you.”

  He leaned in and moved his finger along her tummy again. “It’s also very fun.”

  She recalled what he’d said earlier. “But this feels different with me?”

  “I can’t remember anything specifically from the books,” he admitted. “I want to look at you and feel you and taste you. And do whatever it takes to make you moan. Period.”

  Right after she sucked in a quick breath as heat poured over her, she laughed. He really seemed at a loss. “You don’t have to use special techniques, Mason.”

  “I’m not good without a plan,” he said.

  “I’ll give you a plan,” she said. “Put your mouth on me.”

  His eyes darkened and his voice dropped to a husky tone. “Where?”

  “Anywhere.” Sh
e meant it. She was more turned on from this crazy conversation than she ever had been. He couldn’t do it wrong, she was sure of it.

  “I’m not giving any money to that damned building project.”

  “Okay.”

  “You still want me? This?”

  “More than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life.”

  And without anything more than a simple nod, he lowered his head and kissed her stomach, then kissed her again, adding a little lick of his tongue. She sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes sliding closed. Yep, she’d been right—he couldn’t do this wrong.

  “Now the plan is to keep doing that. All over. Wherever you want.”

  He chuckled, his mouth still against her stomach. “I feel much better now.”

  They were both on their way to feeling really damn good, but she couldn’t tell him that because he’d wiggled her shorts down and off her legs before she could form a syllable.

  When he’d tossed them away, he crawled up, sliding his body along hers until they were face-to-face. “This is somewhere I really love to put my mouth.”

  And he kissed her. It was a slow meeting of their lips, a lift, a change in angle and a reapplication of the sweet pressure. At first. Until he parted his lips over hers and she willingly opened. The kiss grew longer, hotter, wetter, and he stroked his tongue in along hers.

  She couldn’t keep her hands to herself. She ran her palms up and down his back before gripping his butt and pulling him closer. He pressed against her, but it was more against her hip than where she really needed him. She wiggled against him, turning toward him and lifting her leg to drape over his hip.

  The position spread her thighs and Mason, being a genius and all, took advantage of that. He smoothed one hand down her side, stopping to rub the center of his palm over the rock-hard tip of her breast before running it over her ribs, waist and hip. Finally, he cupped her butt, pressed her a little closer and slid his middle finger under the curve of her buttock and along the edge of her panties.

  “Mason,” she groaned when he didn’t continue on. “Keep going.”

  “I thought the plan was to put my mouth wherever I wanted,” he said gruffly.

  Oh, yeah. “Right. Have to stick with the plan,” she said quickly.

  He laughed—she loved that deep rumble in his chest—and he lifted his head. “Some techniques are coming back to me.”

  “There are…techniques to this?”

  “There are techniques to everything. But the important part is making sure that it’s working for you. They don’t all work for every woman you know.”

  No, she didn’t really know. She and her girlfriends had never spent a lot of time talking about which oral sex techniques they each preferred. “I’ll take your word for it.”

  “So I really want you to let me know how things are going. I like to play with cause and effect.”

  There was that cocky-in-spite-of-being-a-science-geek grin again. “I’ll let you know,” she said dryly.

  He was still holding her left buttock in his hand and he gave her a squeeze. “I’m thinking I’ll be able to tell with you easier than most.”

  That was an…interesting…comment. “Oh?”

  “You’re very expressive.”

  “With you I am,” she said with a little sigh. “It’s like I can’t keep from saying or doing what I’m feeling.”

  “It’s a good thing,” he assured her. “I like results.”

  His grin was wicked and sexy, and she felt a heavy warmth settle low.

  “I’m all for results myself.”

  The hand that had been holding her butt slid up, and he hooked his fingers in the back of her panties and pulled them down as he moved her leg off his hip so he could get rid of them entirely.

  Then he rolled her to her back, rubbing his hand back and forth over her stomach as he looked at her naked from the waist down.

  “You’ll smudge your notes,” she said breathlessly.

  “The real notes are above this. I kept writing because I didn’t want to stop.”

  She lifted her head. Sure enough, the notes above where her panties would have rested were simply the alphabet. She laughed. “Genius move.”

  He gave her a wink. “It comes in handy.” He ran his hand down along her bare thigh. “We can try any position you want.”

  She of course had a vague idea of what other positions might work, but she hadn’t used any others for this. This was a fairly rare occurrence for her.

  “You’re the expert,” she told him.

  He took a deep breath. “Several things are coming back to me.” He moved and urged her knees apart so he could kneel between them.

  Adrianne supposed she should feel very exposed, but instead she felt ready. He bent her knees, pushed her knees toward her chest and spread her thighs in one smooth move.

  She was wide open to him and she felt…hot. She would have typically expected to feel vulnerable, maybe even shocked by how specific he was about the positioning, but the look on his face made her want to cause it again and again, whatever it took.

  “God, you’re gorgeous,”

  He studied her, his gaze moving over her body, including her breasts, her face, her hair and, of course, the heart of where she needed him.

  “You like nipple stimulation,” he said.

  She licked her dry lips and nodded. She sure did.

  “Take your bra off.”

  She reached behind her, unhooked and peeled it and her shirt up, exposing her breasts.

  “Play with your nipples while I do this.”

  She moved her fingers to her right breast, rubbed over the tip and rolled it between her thumb and forefinger. She added the left breast too when she saw the effect on Mason. “Is that good for you?” she asked.

  “That is so far beyond good I don’t have a word.”

  She saw what he meant about cause and effect.

  Then he really showed her. He put his finger right at her entrance, feeling the beginning of her heat and wetness. He slid it up and down, stopping short of her clit.

  “Most women orgasm easiest and hardest with clitoral stimulation.”

  She was definitely in that camp. “That’s what works best for me,” she said when she found her voice.

  “Good to know,” he muttered and lowered his head.

  The first touch of his tongue made her back arch and she moaned. When he moved his fingers to spread her as open as she could get, she caught her breath. When he licked, dragging his tongue over her slowly and sweetly, with perfect friction and pressure, she felt like crying.

  “How is that?” he murmured after a few minutes. “More pressure? Less?” He slid a finger into her, then out and added another finger.

  “I’ll tell you this,” she gasped. “If you stop doing that, I’ll hunt you down and…”

  He sucked on her, pressing his tongue against her clit while also drawing on her. The fastest orgasm she’d ever had crashed over her and she cried out his name.

  She couldn’t move of her own accord after that. He set her legs down and stretched them out before he slid up next to her and pulled her into his chest.

  “Wow,” he said against her head. There was a long pause before he said, “I’m really good.”

  There was a beat of silence and then Adrianne started giggling. She curled into him, her face against his chest, letting the feel and sound of his chuckle and the little flashes of heat that still sparkled along her nerve endings wash over her. Amazing. He was amazing.

  She said it out loud too.

  “That’s one of the things I like best about you,” he said. “How much you like me.”

  He said it with a light tone, stroking his hand over her hair, but she sensed a kernel of truth, or vulnerability, or something in his voice.

  She wiggled closer.

  They lay like that for several minutes. Finally, noise from downstairs filtered up and Adrianne realized they couldn’t stay—not all night like she wanted to.

>   But he did need to transcribe this latest set of notes.

  “Come to my house with me,” she said, propping her chin on his chest. “You can use my computer to do something with these notes. Then we can explore more cause and effect.”

  He grinned down at her. “Had I known how great a visit to Sapphire Falls could be, I would have come back a lot sooner.”

  Right. A visit. Just a visit. That would end. In a couple of days.

  She didn’t let her smile falter, but dammit—he wasn’t staying. She knew that. Wasn’t surprised by it. Was surprised more that she’d sort of forgotten. But it was good. She was willing to risk a few hard heartbeats for a couple of days—well, she didn’t seem to be able to help it anyway—but she wanted a quiet, peaceful, easy life. Mason lived in Chicago. The place she’d escaped. He flew all over the world, slept in hotels, ate strange food, had pressure and odd hours and a hectic schedule. He was important. His work was important.

  She didn’t want any of that.

  She wanted to make candy in a tiny Midwestern town where teenagers smoking in the park was the biggest excitement.

  So this was a fling. Mason would leave and it would all be good.

  She was going to enjoy it while he was here. Once-in-a-lifetime events were like that—meant to be thoroughly enjoyed and remembered forever.

  Oh, and she had to keep him away from Hailey because she truly, honestly liked him and didn’t want him to be used or hurt.

  “Seven twelve Crimson, right?” he asked, shifting away so she could sit.

  She pulled her fingers through her hair and was glad she barely wore makeup—no lipstick to smudge. “How did you know that?” All of the east-west streets in Sapphire Falls were named after colors. The founders had, apparently, thought that was quite clever. She found it odd and funny, another quirk of a small town she truly did love.

  “Phoebe told me at the bar. It’s Mrs. Hanson’s place,” Mason said, watching her pull her panties and shorts back on.

  Wow, he really did have a great memory. She started to say that yes, she’d bought it from Mrs. Hanson’s daughter, but she looked at him watching her, saw the heat in his gaze, remembered how he’d bent his head and taken her hot and fast to heaven, and she couldn’t not take him to her house and…take him.