by Cara Scott
I leave it for a minute, letting her conscience do the trick. Then, I plant a seed.
“Alice will need a court appointed advocate. You know, a guardian for her legal rights. If you were in private practice again, she could request you. She's asked after you a couple of times. A few of the kids have.”
“I can also help her in my role as prosecutor.” She looks at me, hopefully.
She’s clutching at straws. “Come on, Maura, you know enough now to figure out how this will go down. It will never get that far.” I take her chin in my hand and brush my lips against hers. “It will take months to build enough evidence for them to even look at an investigation and then they'll just quietly close the place, keeping the sordid details under wraps.” I sit back and look her in the eye. “The best we can hope for from the kid coming forward is to get her out of there. In particular her own guardian advocate,” I tilt my head towards her and touch her chest, marking her for that role. “You can protect her and reallocate her safely within the system.”
She shifts in her chair and leans on the breakfast bar. “I hate to admit it, but you’re right. This Gemcor crap has shown me how much cases can get mired down in technicalities.” She lets out a long breath. “Okay, I’ll think seriously about quitting and taking Alice’s case.” She pauses and takes another sip of her wine. She sits up straight and puts her shoulders back. “Right now I have to figure out how to get Stevens to let me off the Gemcor case.”
“I’m real glad to hear you say that. Means you’re less likely to be pissed at what I did.”
She looks at me suspiciously. “What did you do?”
I pick up her cell from the far end of the counter and place it right in front of her. “You can now erase every single message from Gemcor or anything to do with their case.” I put her glass of wine in her hand and lift mine in a semi-salute. “You never have to look at them or worry about them again. I sorted it out with Stevens. You're off the case, no hard feelings.”
Her spontaneous response to this announcement shocks us both. She puts her glass down and launches into my arms. She’s flooded with a gratitude that astonishes me.
“Oh, Mason. Thank you! Thank you! I'm so glad to never, ever have to think about them ever again.”
Stunned by Maura’s reaction, I perform a miraculous juggling act, just managing to avoid soaking us both with wine. Putting my glass down, I lift her chin to give her a hard, fast kiss. After the kiss, I hold her fiercely against my chest. My voice is just as fierce.
“Damn it! I knew it! I should've put my foot down over this months ago.” I stroke her hair, my voice only a little less forceful. “From now on, I'll do exactly that when necessary. I'll go with my gut over your needs and there will be no nonsense from you over it!”
She stifles a smile at my outburst, but makes no protest. She’s probably still too euphoric at the removal of the burden she’s been dragging around for almost half a year. I tighten my hold and continue, “I should've paid more attention! I let your stubbornness piss me off when I should've seen past it and sorted this out for you sooner.”
She plays with the buttons on my shirt and shifts her gaze to them. “You can’t blame yourself, Mason. How could you know how much I wanted off this case? I didn’t even know myself until just now when you told me I was free of it.” Relief floods her face and body again. “I never thought for a moment that you should take care of my needs in that way. I don’t expect you to take on that much responsibility for me and my welfare.”
“Yeah, well expect it,” I tell her gruffly.
She’s quiet for a moment and then makes a point of reassuring me. “We weren’t in a relationship then, so you can’t hold yourself accountable.”
“Mmm, maybe.” I murmur. Stroking her jawline in a caress, I ask. “We weren’t in a relationship, then. Does that mean we're in a relationship, now?”
The moment of truth. She takes her eyes from the buttons of my shirt and looks up at me. The glow in her eyes answers my question. I spend the next several minutes letting her know just how all out, fucking happy that makes me.
Maura
When Mason finally lets me surface, I catch my breath, straighten my mussed up hair, and ask him. “So, Jim Stevens really has no hard feelings over me quitting the case? That surprises me. I'm kinda leaving him in the lurch.”
Mason replies with a twist to his lips. Like he’s remembering how that went down. “Not exactly. But I persuaded him that firing you isn’t in his remit. I pointed out it would be unwise to hold a grudge as long as you continue to work together.”
I stare at him, my mouth open. “You mean you stopped him from firing me. Why? I thought you were hoping for that. That you want me to quit.”
He nods. “Exactly. I want you to quit. I don’t want him to fire you.”
He takes a slow sip of his wine and then kisses me. It's a sweet, succulent kiss, wet with wine from both our lips. He slips his tongue in and swirls around. I taste the ripeness of the fine vintage in my mouth before he answers.
“It should be your decision to quit, sweetheart. You need to feel good about it. I plan to persuade you to make the decision soon. I’m sure it’s the best choice. And I'll be far happier about this kid’s future if I know I can rely you as her guardian advocate.”
I flush at his concern and praise. I move against him, walking my fingers up his shirt. “Mmm. How long before dinner? Do you have time to use your powers of persuasion on me before then?”
He shrugs like it’s no big deal. “Well, there's no rush to eat.” He puts his glass down and makes a show of deliberating. “We did both eat earlier. The lasagna will be a while yet.” He taps his fingers on the counter, wickedly enjoying my obvious frustration with his stalling tactics. “It's cooking from frozen and the timer will make sure it doesn’t burn.”
He sits quietly for a moment and then throws me over his shoulder and heads for the bedroom. I squeal in delight against his back, laughter gurgling in my belly. The laughter subsides into moans when he slips his hand up under my dress to part my thighs and caress the soft wetness between them.
I gasp at his touch. Desire for him grips me. “Oh, Mason. Just hurry up and fuck me!”
He slaps my highly accessible butt, trying hard to keep the laughter out his voice. “Enough with the crudity, woman! This is supposed to be a touching moment.”
“Yeah! Right. So get on with the touching!”
We reach his bed and he flips me down, cradling me at my nape and under the backs of my knees. He guides me so I land with the softest possible of falls. He stands and drinks me in for a moment. I can’t believe he'll soon be inside me. Bending, he slides his hand under my dress up to my stomach.
He splays his hand over my belly, circling my navel with his thumb. I’m surprised at the immediate arousal at his touch there. I make an ooh with my mouth and my pelvis clenches up towards him. He gives a satisfied smile.
“This an erogenous zone no other man’s explored with you,” he affirms.
I draw in my breath. My voice is husky. His possessiveness is such a turn on. “There’s only been a few and no-one’s taken the time to get creative.” I tell him.
“Good,” he growls arrogantly at this revelation. “I intend to find many more places, all over your beautiful curves, making every part of your gorgeous body mine and only mine.”
Taking my lips in a deep kiss, he unbuttons my dress and removes my sandals. Looking down at me through the parted material, he runs his hands over my lace covered breasts. His mocha eyes are burning with a powerful emotion. He looks deep into my eyes.
“I can’t hold it in anymore,” he tells me. “I love you, Maura,”
I radiate joy and fling my arms around his neck.
“I love you too, Mason.”
I can’t believe it’s actually happened. Mason Johnson has told me he loves me.
And now he’s making love to me.
Slowly, very slowly, he traces my body with his fingers, his
tongue, teeth and lips, all the while smoothly working his magic. I stretch catlike as he lowers his mouth, taking his time to lick and suck teasingly at first my breasts and then to travel lower. First his tongue and then his fingers pleasure me. I arch up towards him inviting him in, thrilling to this enticing, teasing trail towards ecstasy.
At last he takes me to the edge, holds me teetering for a moment and then plunges me down into a sizzling flare of physical and emotional sensation. Stroking me, matching the waves, he pulls me close in his arms, murmuring endearments I'm too dazed to decipher.
We're both still for several minutes. Gently breaking our embrace, he sits up and leans over to kiss me, his strong upper body above me. I reach with both hands to take off his shirt. His body feels so good, his shoulders and arms as solid as his other muscles. Feeling his strength under my hands, I run my hands over his chest and arms, admiring the small smattering of tattoos he has across them.
“Hmm, nice, Maura. I like you undressing me.” He bends to nibble at my ear and then looks me straight in the eye with his molten, chocolate gaze and demands with a low growling murmur. “Let me make love to you. Maura.”
I'm tempted to ask him what the fuck he thought that last orgasm was, but I know what he means. I take a deep breath and meet his gaze. “Oh, yes, Mason. I need you on top of me and inside me.”
His eyes blaze so much it’s scary. I reach for his belt buckle to finish undressing him, but he beats me to it, shucking off his chinos, boxers and socks in one fluid movement. He moves back on the bed towards me. I swallow at the sight of his erection. I want to say something profound, something to mark the importance of the step we're about to take.
Only nothing is good enough. Mason doesn’t speak either. He kisses my eyes, my cheeks, trails his tongue across to my ear. Taking my chin in his hand, he traces the curve of my jaw with his thumb and my lips with the tip of his finger. He reaches into his drawer, rips the packet open and sheathes himself.
Then his body is on top of me. He feels strong and large and makes me feel small and taken. Using his knees, he spreads my thighs apart, preparing me for his final penetration. I've lost count of the times I’ve savored this moment in my imagination. The magical moment when Mason Johnson holds me in his embrace, poised above me, ready to enter and impale me.
As far as I'm concerned, missionary is awesome. But it has never been more awesome than now. When this man, I have secretly loved for almost a decade, slips rock hard and yet sweetly silken deep, deep inside me, filling me completely at last.
Mason
I groan loudly reveling in the feel of thrusting deep inside Maura. How often have I imagined this? No matter how often, and in what ways, they’re nowhere near to the reality of making this woman, who has driven me crazy from the moment we met, finally mine.
She's wet but tight when I enter her. I take it slow at first. We're both silent in awe of the moment. I savor the hushed atmosphere. It's not often I have Maura quiet and seldom so mellow. Our heartbeats and breathing surround us, gaining momentum as I gradually increase the tempo of my thrusts.
Maura responds to my setting of the pace, meeting my thrusts in time with my rhythm. She's only content to follow for so long. Soon she's arching, thrusting towards me, her hot core sucking me deep inside. I've never felt so hard or so complete inside a woman. Typically, she thrusts faster and harder, pushing us further. She's as recklessly fiery under me as she has been in every other interaction we've engaged in over the years.
I hold us both still for a moment and look down at her. She looks back, eyes glazed, her voice thick and frantic with emotion. “Oh God, Mason. You feel so good inside me. I love you filling me. Don’t stop. Please, please, don’t stop!”
Responding to her pleas, I start to move inside her again. She moans and arches her appreciation in a way that fills me with fire. I slide into the hilt over and over. She matches me wildly thrust for thrust. We're both noisily vocal, grunting and moaning with sharp screams and guttural shouts.
Taking possession of Maura is better than I ever dreamed. She starts clenching around me, causing me to contract as well. We’re beginning an undulating journey into a climax I fear will send us both hurtling into permanent oblivion. I stop, little by little, pulling her closer to me, slowing her gyrations as I still my movements.
She looks at me with passion glazed eyes, her voice husky, “Mason?”
No matter how powerful the moment, I don’t want this first time she comes with me inside her to be frantic and fast. No, we'll mutually savor and slow dance our way into that shattering vortex.
“Trust me, babe.” I tell her.
Moving slowly inside her, I begin a tender path to what I'm determined will be a final joint explosion. We move together, closer and closer to our mutual goal. I lift her right leg over my shoulder. The position opens her up and I thrust inside her even more. I stroke her, inside and out, with my hand and body, while taking her lips and mouth with my teeth and tongue. I lower her leg and grab her gorgeous ass with two hands, rolling us both over so she's now on top.
Gazing down at me, her eyes glow a deep emerald in heightened passion and emotion. “Okay, hon.” I tell her quietly. “You have the control for now. Tell me when and where to touch you.”
Licking her lips, she lowers further into me and it's my turn to loudly respond with a guttural groan of appreciation for her movements. I'm desperate to touch her, but true to my words, I wait for her instructions. She teases me, closing her eyes as she rides me, leaning back and placing her hands on her lower legs at my side. She moves back a bit at a time until she's holding her ankles.
Her slow undulations are driving me crazy. It's all I can do not to put my hands at her shoulders to bring her nipples to my mouth. Trying to distract myself, I look only at her face, growing fascinated by her expression and emotions. With her eyes closed, I can observe her intimately. The hot image makes me jerk frantically inside her and her eyes fly open.
Placing her hands on either side of my chest, she worries her lips. When she speaks, it's with a slow, heavy desire. “Caress my breasts, Mason.”
I obey at once, loving the feel of her round, heavy flesh. This is the best position to enjoy her beautiful tits as they hang down voluptuously into my cupped hands. Thumbing her nipples brings an immediate response. Her softness clenches around my stiff hardness.
Giving a little yell she spasms against me, digging in her nails as a soft orgasmic wave hits her. It washes over her and she goes limp, leaning back.
Swiftly, I turn her back under me. I move inside her at a calculated, slow pace creating a mouth-watering cadence. Our breathing heightens as we grow close to dual release. As we near the edge, I drink in her face. Her teeth grip her lips, her cheeks are flushed. Her hair, softly damp, frames her lovely face.
Her eyes are fixed on me. Waiting. She's shockingly sensual in her expectancy. Her mouth opens in a perfect ahh as I start to convulse inside her. Words of devotion hover on my lips. Through blinding pleasure, arching into our passionate joining, I hear the sound of both our declarations.
“I love you.”
Any remnant of our separate existence is blown cataclysmically apart all around us. Right then, I know that this woman, I idiotically resisted for far, far too long, now holds me irrevocably enthralled. Passion, affection and tenderness for her washes over me.
I'm done not having her.
High maintenance or not, I want Maura in my bed and in my life.
For Always.
Epilogue
Maura
Three months later
The judge bangs his gavel and a cheer goes up in the small courthouse. It’s filled with relatives, new siblings and townsfolk who want to share in the joy. The judge steps down to join the group as everybody crowds out of the spectator rows to congratulate the official adoptees and their new parents.
Tears start to well up at the back of my throat. I don’t have time to shed them before I’m practically knocked over
by the jubilant teenager who runs across the room to hug me. I laugh and steady us both before voicing my joy.
“Congratulations, Alice. You’re officially a Johnson.”
Alice hugs me tighter and beams back across the courtroom at her adoptive family. Tears are flowing freely in her eyes. “I can't believe it! I’m so happy. Who’d have thought you’d find families for all of us? I never imagined that Cole and Steph would take me in. Adopt me too, not just foster. I get to be a big sister to Simon and Laura. And live on the ranch.”
“They’re proud to have you. We all are Alice. Without your testimony, I’d never have been able to get the county to close the home.”
A shadow crosses Alice’s face. With her lush dark hair and curvy body, she looks more like a young starlet from the Hollywood era, than a fifteen year old teenager. It was that look and those curves that put her at risk. The reason she sharpened her art tool for protection against some of the older boys and quite a few of the houseparents.
Her voice is hesitant. “Yeah, just wish I’d stepped up sooner, but I didn’t know who I could trust. Even though you and Mason helped me avoid Juvie, I was still scared. Mason’s a cop and then you became a prosecutor working for that jerk Stevens. I’m so glad Mason didn’t give up and that you quit to help us.”
My stomach turns at what went on in that home before Mason helped me close it down. I hate those group homes. Privately owned but government supported. Very few of them exist anymore. Still a few too many. They’re outdated and open to abuse. Fostering and adoption in families is a much better option.
“You came forward. Be proud.” I tell her. “You led the way. The others stepped up because you did.” I pull her in for another hug.