by Peters, Liz
Her mouth went dry as she lifted her eyes to his. The room felt a lot hotter than it had before, and there was a strange look in Mason’s eyes as she looked at him: part fiery desire, part resignation. There was no anger like she would have expected.
Instead of yelling at her to get out, Mason strode across the room, seized her by the shoulders, and tugged her into a hard, passionate kiss.
Raine wanted to shove him away. She didn’t want to give in to her attraction to him. She didn’t want to be attracted to him. But she found herself clutching his shoulders and returning the kiss desperately, tongue and teeth clashing in a heated battle as he closed the door behind her and pushed her up against it.
Panting against his mouth, Raine lifted her leg and hooked it around his hip, pulling him closer. Through the flimsy towel, she could feel how hard he was, and he groaned into her mouth as his hips met hers.
All of a sudden, though, he pulled back.
“Raine,” he rasped, his grip on her loosening.
“No talking,” she demanded, recapturing his lips as she ran her hands down his smooth chest and slipped her fingers under the edge of his towel, feeling how heated his skin was.
Part of her screamed that that was the perfect opportunity to stop this insanity. But she didn’t care; the taste of him was addictive, and maybe this was what she needed. Maybe this would get him out of her system.
It wasn’t logical, and she knew she was going to kick herself for this tomorrow. But, as she pulled away from the kiss and latched onto the pulse beating wildly in his neck, nipping and sucking at it as he arched toward her, she found that she honestly didn’t give a damn.
The heat built until it was almost unbearable. Gasping for breath, Raine put both hands flat against Mason’s chest and pushed him. He stumbled back, looking surprised and wounded, but that expression soon turned back to desire as she stalked toward him, walking him backward until the backs of his knees hit the bed, and he collapsed back onto it. She crawled over him, straddling his hips.
Mason’s hands roamed over her, slipping under the loose shirt she had planned to wear to bed that night, leaving trails of fire in the wake of his fingers as he brushed over her stomach and against her sides. Impatiently, Raine pulled the shirt over her head and leaned over him, her hair falling like a dark curtain around her face.
“I’m not glass,” she hissed, sliding one hand beneath his loosened towel and gripping him tightly.
She didn’t want gentle and careful like Mason was trying to give her. Right now, Raine wanted fast and furious and dirty. She tangled her other hand in his short hair and pulled him into a bruising kiss.
He growled beneath her, and then, the world shifted as he flipped them over. Suddenly, he was leaning over her, one hand kneading her breast and tugging at the nipple while the other yanked the drawstring of her pants free and shoved them down.
His towel fell away, neither of them trying to keep it up any longer, and Mason lowered himself on top of her, their naked skin finally meeting as he ground his hips against hers.
Raine looked up at Mason, her gaze clouded with desire. For a moment, he looked more familiar than he ever had before, as though they had been here once before, a long time ago… but then his hand swept the thought away as it traveled down between her legs, forcing her knees wider as he positioned himself between them. He trailed his fingers along her skin, slipping one finger inside her and then brushing over her clit.
She tightened her hold on him as he teased her, digging her nails into his skin. “Stop teasing,” she gasped.
His eyes blazed. When he entered her, Raine threw her head back, chest heaving, and he paused. She sucked in a harsh breath and met his gaze again. For a moment, they stared at each other. Then, Raine locked her legs around Mason’s waist.
She didn’t need to say anything. A brief grin flitted across his face as he pulled back and thrust in hard, making stars explode behind her eyes. He thrust again and again, his desperate desire spilling over and making his movements erratic.
Raine couldn’t speak, couldn’t think, could only revel in the sensation as she reached up to grip Mason’s shoulders. She dug her nails into his skin again, clutching him as though he was the only stable thing left in the world. Her heart was beating so loudly that it would have surprised her if he couldn’t hear it, too.
She pulled him down into another kiss as he sped up, both sensing that the end was near. When their passions spilled over, Mason swallowed Raine’s gasps, their bodies shaking as they rode the climax together.
Slowly, the heat faded to a warm, comfortable glow. Mason collapsed beside Raine, panting. Barely able to keep her eyes open and not even remembering how all this had started, Raine looked over at him. Mason started to smile, but a yawn overtook him.
“Go to sleep, Raine,” he said, reaching down to tug the comforter over them.
Sleep sounded good. What came after sleep… that, she wasn’t interested in. She knew she would eventually have to face the morning, face the consequences of what they’d just done. All those earlier emotions had abandoned her, leaving her with only a tired emptiness that made her want to sleep for a week.
Yes, for now, sleep sounded good. She could figure all this out in the morning.
Chapter 9
When Mason’s alarm clock went off the next morning, he groaned and rolled over to slap the snooze button, unwilling to get up just yet. His muscles ached as if he’d gone through a particularly strenuous workout yesterday, and a little voice in the back of his mind reminded him that there was something urgent he needed to think about this morning.
But he didn’t want to think. He wanted to lie here for another twenty minutes—at which point he would have to get up if he didn’t want to be late—and enjoy the unusual warmth of his bed.
As the source of that warmth, a soft, feminine body, stirred and pressed against his side, Mason froze.
Wait. What?
Still too drowsy to remember what was going on, he turned his head. At that exact moment, Raine lifted her head and blinked up at him with bleary eyes, the blanket falling from her bare shoulder.
Comprehension hit them simultaneously, and Mason watched Raine’s eyes widen as the memory of what they’d done last night slammed into her. He was sure his face displayed the same look of dawning horror that twisted her features.
Well… shit.
* * *
Mason hadn’t been able to get out of the house fast enough. Raine had fled the room, gathering her clothes and running out the door before he could try to say anything. Not that he planned to try; he had leapt from the bed, just as she had, to dive for the bathroom and slam the door behind him.
How could he have been so stupid? The thought carried him through work all day, distracting him from the mountain of paperwork he needed to read and sign, and he knew his colleagues had grown tired (after the third time) of him asking them to repeat what they had said. But he couldn’t help it.
Every bit of resolve he had gathered had gone down the drain the moment Raine had barged in his door last night. He still didn’t know why she had come in as though the hounds of hell were on her heels, but he hadn’t cared; he had taken one look at her and given in to the desire that had plagued him since the moment he met her.
She hadn’t been complaining, either. She had probably been just as caught up in the moment as he had been.
Mason groaned and put his head in his hands. He had just slept with his son’s nanny. This was just going to complicate everything. Was there any way to un-complicate this?
A knock on his door drew his attention away from the crisis at hand.
Joshua Bryant, a shy man with an incredible eye for marketing—and the youngest member of Mason’s current staff—poked his head in. He cleared his throat nervously. “Mr. Parker?”
“Come in,” Mason said with a sigh, gesturing to an empty seat. “What can I do for you?”
“We’re having a small celebration for Imogen Sands
at Dartz tonight,” Joshua said, stepping into the room but not sitting down. “I’m just trying to estimate how many people are coming.”
Mason smiled, more to himself than anything. He used to go to Dartz, a popular nightclub, all the time in his youth. In fact, he and Emily had met there, many years ago.
But he had no place there now. He had a son to think about, and a nanny to deal with. He didn’t need to go to a club full of people dancing and flirting and drinking…
Mason’s mouth, which had opened to issue his refusal, snapped closed. He considered Joshua, his eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “What time?”
“Seven,” Joshua said, lighting up. “Are you coming, then, sir?”
“Yes,” Mason said, coming to a decision. “And I’m bringing someone with me.”
He couldn’t fix what had happened last night. But maybe he could take both his and Raine’s attention off it; a night out with other people might be just what they needed to get over this unhealthy fixation.
A tiny voice in the back of his mind noted that he was genuinely falling for Raine and that a night out wouldn’t work to reverse that. He ignored it. This had to work, especially if he wanted everything to go back to normal.
* * *
Raine had planned to spend the rest of her time at the Parkers’ mansion (and who knew how long that would be, considering she had slept with her boss) avoiding Mason as much as possible. From the way he had run away that morning, not even stopping for breakfast, she had thought he felt the same way.
As such, she felt a little betrayed when he breezed in that afternoon, told Oliver that his grandparents were coming over to watch him, and then informed Raine that the two of them were going to a work party.
“But—” she tried.
He cut her off. “No excuses.” There was an odd gleam in his eyes that made her hesitant to argue any further. “This will be good for both of us.”
She wasn’t sure how forcing them into proximity would be good for either of them, but she reluctantly got dressed and allowed Mason to usher her into the car when his parents arrived to watch Oliver. Mason, dressed in slacks and a button-down shirt, made her feel scruffy and underdressed in her jeans, shirt, and leather jacket.
“Where are we going?” she asked, crossing her arms and slumping down in her seat.
She didn’t want to be so close to him, not when she could still remember how his heated skin had felt as he pressed against her…
“Dartz,” Mason replied. “Ever been there?”
“A long time ago,” Raine said with a shrug.
They were going to a club? At least there she could lose Mason and pretend, for a little while, that last night never happened. She still couldn’t believe she had let something like that happen; she should have pushed him away the moment he’d kissed her.
But she hadn’t pushed him away, and they had done a lot more than kiss. They had slept together. Now there was an awkwardness between them she wasn’t sure she wanted to dissipate. The only reason she had agreed to this stupid party was because she wanted to keep her job.
At least this party invitation meant her job was relatively secure. If Mason was giving her the night off to go to a party with him, then she doubted he was preparing to fire her.
When the two of them stepped into the club, lights and sounds overwhelmed Raine’s senses. It had been a long time since she had been somewhere like this, and she unconsciously stepped closer to Mason, her arm brushing against his. Mason jumped as though her touch had electrocuted him, and Raine moved back, her face flushing.
“Sorry.”
Mason offered her a strained smile. “It’s fine.”
Maybe it would be better if he did fire her. Was their working relationship even going to work now that they had slept together? Or would they flit around each other like they had today, too uncomfortable to even look at each other?
“My colleagues are over there,” Mason said with a nod toward a group of people clustered in a corner. “You should come and meet them; they’ve been asking about you.”
She gave him a puzzled frown. “Why?”
“I don’t let just anyone close to me,” he said with a laugh.
He meant it as a joke, but they both flinched the moment the words were out of Mason’s mouth, reminding them both of just how close they had become last night.
Mason cleared his throat. “Anyway, they’re this way.”
He led her through the crowd, ducking around the groups that littered the dance floor. Contrary to what he had said, Mason’s co-workers seemed no more interested in Raine’s presence than if she was a random stranger, but she put that down to the fact that all of them already had drinks in hand.
“They’ve been here a little while already,” Mason murmured in her ear, his breath a warm caress against her skin. She shivered. “I left work late, so they’ve had a head start on the drinks.”
“I see,” Raine said, stepping away from him.
She looked up at him. Here, in the blinking lights and shifting shadows, he looked so much like someone she had once known. She squinted, trying to match his face to a fleeting memory, but then he stepped back and the memory disappeared. She had felt that same unexplained familiarity last night.
In fact, there had been something about Mason from the moment she had met him, some strange connection that had sprung up between them as though it was just snapping back into place. Raine had felt drawn to him from the first, spurred on by half-forgotten impressions, whispers of long-ago words, and the ghosts of hidden memories.
No, her mind had just created those imaginary connections. She didn’t remember ever having met Mason before. He likely just looked like someone she had met years ago, and her mind had pieced together a faulty memory to drive her even crazier than her impossible theories about Oliver.
“Problem?” Mason asked.
She shook her head. “None.”
“Right… well, I’m going to go get a drink,” Mason said. He hesitated. “Want anything?”
She had sworn off alcohol a long time ago, and she refused to return to those addiction-filled days. Unable to voice this, she shook her head with a tight smile.
Raine thought he’d come back; as much as she didn’t want to be around him right now, he was the only person she knew in this crowd. The minutes slipped by, however, and he didn’t return. When she scanned the crowd for him, she found him lounging at the bar, deep in conversation with a tall, blonde woman.
Right, he wasn’t coming back, then. Raine stayed where she was, glancing around for someone she might have once known. She wondered if she would even recognize someone she once knew if she saw them after a seven-year-long absence from their lives. Then she wondered if any of them would recognize her; she had changed a lot in that time.
Maybe she ought to go home; she didn’t belong in a place like this, and she would be far happier curled up in an armchair in the living room with Oliver, reading a storybook. Hopefully, Mason’s parents wouldn’t mind too much if she came back early.
She turned back to find Mason again in the crowd, making sure he was where she had last seen him so she could approach him and tell him her plan. When her eyes found him, however, she froze.
Something dark and ugly roared through her as she watched the blonde woman reach out and place a hand on Mason’s shoulder, leaning forward to speak to him, her red lips inches from his. The feeling took her by surprise, and she clenched her hands at her sides, her nails digging into her palms.
After a few moments and some deep breaths, the strange feeling subsided, but it didn’t go away. She wanted to go over there, rip that woman away from Mason, and make sure she never returned.
Oh. Raine flushed as the realization hit her. She wasn’t an idiot—even if it took longer than it should have for her to get it. She was jealous.
Was it because she had slept with Mason last night? Or was it because she had been one of the few to spend time with Mason over the last two weeks, making her b
elieve that, in some way, he was now hers? The thought made her cringe, because she so badly wanted to hate Mason, but then, she remembered their frantic love-making the night before.
She wanted to hate Mason, but instead, she just wanted him.
It was then that Raine understood what Mason had intended tonight. He had brought her here so they could put last night behind them, so they could separate and meet other people after being cooped up together for so long.
It was strangely sweet.
It also meant that she couldn’t ruin his plans by going home yet.
Well, if Mason was going to make an effort to restore the status quo after their mistake the night before, then she could at least make an effort, too. She headed to the bar to ask for some water. Maybe, if she was lucky, she would even have a little fun tonight.
* * *
Mason was glad to see Raine relax. He watched as she chatted with Joshua at the bar, seeing the way the younger man’s eyes lit up at whatever they were talking about. Joshua was about Raine’s age, wasn’t he?
This was a good thing.
It was.
He swallowed the lump in his throat, pretending he hadn’t seen the way Joshua grabbed Raine’s hand and pulled her, laughing, to the dancing floor. He turned away, back to the beautiful blonde woman he no longer wanted to talk to.
This was what they needed to do to get back to normal, he told himself.
He wondered who he was trying to fool.
Chapter 10
When Raine went to bed that night, it was with a smile on her face. Joshua had given her his number, and had shrugged when she told him she wasn’t interested right now, laughing and saying it was worth a shot. She felt relaxed and happy for the first time in a long time. She would have to thank Mason; even if the night out hadn’t quite achieved the outcome he’d wanted, which was to make her forget that they ever slept together, it had helped her anyway.