He couldn’t help thinking he should have kept his distance from the get-go and made extra efforts to shut down the attraction between them, but that would have been like trying to stop a speeding train. Their connection was too powerful, too real to turn off. But he should have stopped the kiss, even though he knew that wouldn’t have stopped the stalker from rearing his ugly head. The asshole would have found another impetus for his threat.
Fuck.
That kiss.
And all the incredible kisses that followed.
He’d thought working with Remi and not being able to touch her was hell. Man, was he wrong. He was frustrated, angry, and yeah, he was fucking scared. The thought of something happening to her? Of some dirtbag getting his hands on her and doing Lord knew what? That was hell. And the fear he’d seen in her eyes? That was an image he’d take to the grave—and willingly give his life to erase.
He heard Remi’s bedroom door open and sprang to his feet, meeting her in the hallway. Anger and hurt twisted inside him at the fear welling in her eyes. She hadn’t torn down his barriers. She’d effortlessly peeled them back until she’d exposed his raw underbelly and burrowed her way into his heart. How could he ever go back to the life he’d had before her lips had touched his? Before he’d held her?
“I keep hearing things,” she said softly, fidgeting with the hem of her pink sleeping shorts. Her matching pink top stopped just above her belly button, revealing a path of toned, tanned stomach.
Defenseless against her bottomless hazel eyes, which told him everything she felt without words, he reached for her. “Come here, Princess.”
A flicker of apprehension shone in her eyes, and then those gorgeous eyes trailed down his bare chest, to the gray sweats he’d thrown on after his shower. She took his hand, stepping willingly into his arms. He felt mildly guilty for taking pleasure in her soft curves melding to his hard frame. If she couldn’t tell he was commando before, there was no hiding it now. He tried to shut off the part of his brain that wanted to dance with the sexual devil and focused on helping her feel safe.
“I’ve got you,” he reassured her. “You’re hearing the wind, the house settling. Nobody can get anywhere near you.”
She lifted troubled eyes to his and said, “Can I lie with you just for a little while?”
“Of course.” He led her into his bedroom, moved his laptop to the nightstand, and pulled the covers back.
As he turned off the lights, she climbed into bed. He lay beside her and gathered her in his arms. Her cheek rested on his chest, her hand on his stomach, and she sighed, a long, relieved sigh, like she’d been holding it in for hours. He felt the same way. Every minute they’d been apart was torture.
“You have cameras all over?” She pointed to the security videos on the laptop.
“Inside and out.”
She was quiet for a few seconds before asking, “In my room?”
“No. Just the hallway. Your window’s too high for someone to break in.” He kissed the top of her head, inhaling her feminine scent, like sweet apricots. “There’s a control room on the lower level with live feeds from each camera, but I didn’t want to be that far from you.”
“Aiden told me about it.” Her fingers moved over his stomach and ribs. “I couldn’t have gotten through today without you,” she said softly. “Thank you for making sure I knew everything that was happening. Is it always that intense with your job? When you’re doing investigations?”
“Sometimes, but this one is a bit more complicated.”
“How so?”
Honesty came easily for Mason, but there was nothing easy about the truth he was about to expose. “Because this time I stand to lose something important to me. The stakes are higher.”
She angled her face, the fear in her eyes replaced with warmth. “You do care.”
“I do, Remi. You’ve gotten so deep under my skin, I can’t fight it anymore. But what we both want and what you need are two very different things. There’s no margin for error.”
“I know.” She pressed a kiss to the tattoo on his chest. “You’ve made that clear.”
He smoothed his hand down her back, hoping to hell she wouldn’t hate him for what he had to say next. “I don’t like having to suggest this, but for now, even with my team in place, we should keep this—us—private. I hate to be that guy, and I sure as hell don’t want to be him with you, so if you want me to keep my distance until after all this is over and you’re out of danger, I’m okay with that.”
Hurt shone in her eyes. “Are you? Okay with that?”
“If I have to be in order to keep you safe, yes.”
“That says a lot about you.”
She traced the hair down the center of his stomach, sending a rush of heat to his cock, and her fingers slipped beneath the waistband of his sweats. He touched her wrist, their eyes meeting with a blaze of fire.
“This is dangerous territory, Remi.”
“I want to be dangerous with you,” she whispered.
“We riled up that guy today. I will not knowingly put you in danger, so are you sure you’re okay with keeping us private—a secret—for now? Because the last thing we need is for that asshole to strike out because he sees something between us.”
“Yes,” she said, her eyes darkening. “I’m okay with it.”
He shifted onto his side, bringing their mouths a whisper apart as he said, “Once we cross this line, we can’t undo it. There are no take-backs, Princess.”
“I want you to take,” she said seductively. “And I want to give you everything.”
His mouth came hungrily down over hers.
Mason was a force to be reckoned with. He kissed like he did everything else—passionately, thoroughly, as if pleasuring Remi was his sole focus. He seduced her with a penetrating rhythm, lulling her with sinful sounds of appreciation as he intensified the kiss. His tongue probed soft and rough at once. He tasted rugged and manly, like nothing she’d ever experienced before, and it was utterly addicting. She was dizzy with desire, her body pulsing and clenching as he rocked his hard length against her center. His hand moved over her heated flesh, pushing beneath her shirt, and he cupped her breast, rolling the taut peak between his finger and thumb. She moaned into their kisses, arching beneath him, craving so much more. He drew back and traced her lower lip with his tongue, drawing a needy whimper from her lungs.
“You do me in, Princess.” He brushed his lips along her cheek and whispered into her ear, “You make me cross every line, and I don’t know what that says about me, but I sure as hell know how special that makes you.”
He crushed his mouth to hers as he swept her beneath him, like he couldn’t wait another second to devour her. His mouth left hers abruptly, kissing a path down her neck and between her breasts. Then those devastatingly blue eyes caught hers, and he stripped off her shirt, tossing it to the floor. His gaze swept over her face and slowly down her chest, as if he were committing every inch of her to memory.
“Oh, my sweet Remi, you are divine,” he said in a gravelly voice that sent shivers of heat skating along her skin.
He lowered his mouth to her breast, kissing, licking, and teasing her into a needy, writhing mess. When he sucked the peak into his mouth, he moaned, as if he were savoring the taste of her.
“I want all of you,” he said hungrily.
“Take me, Mason . . .”
His heady groan moved over her skin as he lowered his mouth to her other breast, giving it the same toe-curling attention. He sucked and teased, sending her entire being into a torrent of desire. Just when she thought she’d lose her mind, he rose and captured her mouth in a plundering kiss. Their bodies ground together, his glorious muscles flexing deliciously against her chest and stomach. He was so big, so broad and athletic, and yet somehow his weight was perfect bearing down on her. When he eased his efforts, kissing her intoxicatingly lighter, heat streaked down her limbs, tingling from the very tips of her fingers to the ends of her toes. She felt l
ike she was floating and grounded at once, overwhelmed by the emotions taking root inside her.
“Princess,” he breathed against her neck, pressing a kiss there. He brushed his nose along her cheek and whispered, “Oh, my Princess, I will protect you with my life.”
He sealed that promise with another passionate kiss, and she believed him with every iota of her being. He whispered sweetness against her skin as his magnificent mouth moved down the center of her body—“So beautiful . . . Only you . . . Kiss you forever . . .” The honesty and longing in his voice made everything more intense. She fisted her hands in the sheets as he stripped off her shorts. He nudged her legs open with his broad shoulders, kissing from the crook of her knee all the way up to the joint at her hip, and goose bumps raced up her flesh. His hands curled around her waist. She’d never experienced anything as sensual as the warm press of his lips, the whisper of his breath over her skin, and his rough and then demanding caresses. She was trembling all over, high on anticipation. Her body tingled and burned as he pressed the feathery kisses to the juncture of her thighs.
Her hips bucked involuntarily, and a whimper escaped before she could stop it. Her eyes were closed, but she could feel his gaze on her face. He kissed her softly all around the place she needed it most, until she was unabashedly begging for more.
The first slick of his tongue was so slow, so exquisitely erotic, she cried out. He must have liked that, because he did it again and again, making her swell and ache as he teased her right up to the edge of madness.
“Mason,” she pleaded, and he brought his hand into the mix, playing over her most sensitive nerves with deadly precision. “Oh God . . .”
He sealed his mouth over her sex, thrusting his tongue, teasing her with his thick fingers, until she was gasping for air, drowning in pleasure. He did something wicked with his mouth, and she spiraled over the edge, bucking wildly, a stream of indiscernible sounds flying from her lungs. Just as she started to catch her breath, he did it again—and repeated the pattern until she was delirious, unable to concentrate on any one sensation. The anticipation of finally having him inside her was unbearable. Like an addict needing a hit, she begged for more, clawing desperately at his shoulders, ready to sell her soul to the devil if it meant she’d get more of him.
“Mason, I need you—”
He crawled up her body, taking her in a fierce kiss. He tasted of her, and she didn’t care. She pushed at his sweats, and he tried to take them off while they kissed, but it was awkward and impossible.
“How do we make it look easy in movies?” she said playfully as he moved to the edge of the bed. “Hurry!”
She went up on her knees, kissing the back of his neck, her arms circling his waist as he tugged off his pants. She took his thick length in her hand, stroking him as she kissed his neck and shoulder. She’d never been this aggressive with a man before, but with Mason she didn’t want to hold back. He swelled in her hand, and a low growl escaped his lungs. He tackled her to the bed, both of them laughing.
“Greedy girl,” he said. Then he kissed her.
“I never was before you. You must have had lots of practice at all that stuff to be so good at it.”
His brows knitted, wiping the smile off his handsome face. “No, Princess. I’m not like that. I’ve only been with a handful of women, and it’s been an embarrassingly long time since I’ve been with anyone.”
“I didn’t mean . . .” He was being so honest, she didn’t want to lie. “I did mean that, but I wasn’t judging you. It’s been a long time for me, too, and I haven’t been with a handful of men, unless you have a very tiny hand.”
He kissed her again, slow and sweet. “Tell me you’re on the pill, Princess. I’m clean, and I want to feel all of you.”
“I am,” she whispered. “And I want to feel you, too.”
Their mouths connected, and their bodies came together slowly, his girth stretching, pushing, claiming until he was buried to the hilt.
Mason buried his face in her neck and said, “God, you feel so good.”
How could five little words make her feel so special? She couldn’t speak, could only feel as they found their rhythm. They kissed, whispered, pleaded, hips grinding, hands searching, nails piercing, as he stroked over the magical spot that sent her soaring so high she felt like she was flying. Mason was right there with her, protecting her even as she lost her breath, breathing air into her lungs. He cradled her face between his hands, kissing her deeply as he loved her. And oh, how he loved her. He was tender and dominating in equal measure, lighting her up like she’d been living in the dark. But she felt his restraint in his corded muscles, and when he gazed into her eyes, she saw it in the punishing intensity of them.
“Let go with me, Mason,” she pleaded, needing to feel all of his emotional power.
He touched his forehead to hers. “I don’t want to hurt you. I’m a big guy, and you’re so small. If I let go and lose my mind, hold you too tight . . .”
“You won’t. I trust you. Do you trust me?”
“Yes, of course,” he said.
“Then take away all of my fear, anger, and hurt by showing me with everything you have. Believe in my trust in you. Two-way street, remember? Lose yourself in us, Mason. Let me feel what you feel.”
“God, Princess. What stars had to align for me to deserve you?”
He slanted his mouth over hers and proceeded to love her like she’d never been loved before. Slow and deep, then fast and hard, like storms colliding in the night. Their kisses were urgent and messy, teeth clanking, tongues dancing. They moaned and groaned, laughed and gasped, tickled and clawed, in a frenzy of discovery, every single touch bringing them closer together. When she lost control, he captured her cries in toe-curling kisses, and then he followed her over the edge, reveling in their ecstasy.
After the last aftershock jerked through their bodies, Mason gathered her in his arms, both of them panting between kisses. Their bodies were covered in a sheen of sweat. Mason’s skin had red scratch marks from her nails, and she was sure she’d wake up tender in places she’d never imagined being sore. But as he moved one of his legs over her hip, grinning against her lips, and said, “I’ve got you, Remington Aldridge, and I might never let you go,” she had a feeling that the place deep in her chest that had always been lonely and scarred would never feel that way again.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
MASON AWOKE TO Remi’s beautiful ass nestled against his hips, her back cocooned by his chest and arms, and the delicate fingers that had stroked and taunted him before they’d made love for the third time interlaced with his.
Oh-dark-thirty had never looked so good.
He listened to the even cadence of her breathing, wondering how he could feel so much so fast. Sex had always been a release, a way to satisfy a physical urge. But with Remi everything had been different from the moment he’d seen her searching for an escape on the dance floor. And what they’d done last night? That wasn’t fucking. He’d wanted to pleasure her until she didn’t remember a single man who had come before him. He didn’t want her to just forget the nightmare bearing down on her, but to be her escape, her safe haven. Last night had changed more than their relationship. He wanted to get her out from under the shadow of her life belonging to others and help her spread her wings in all the ways she not only deserved, but wanted.
Guilt threaded into his thoughts. He was hired to protect her, and he’d broken his cardinal rule. An even more uncomfortable thought occurred to him. What if she woke up and regretted what they’d done? He’d be forced to walk away and let other men take care of the only woman he’d ever cared about.
His gut told him there was no way she would regret last night, but what the hell did he know about women and relationships? His own mother had loved drugs more than she’d loved him. And that wasn’t the worst of it. He was a protector. He’d seen things no man should ever see, and he couldn’t turn that part of himself off. Not even for Remi.
She
made a sweet, sleepy sound. A smile lifted her lips as she blinked awake. He told himself to hold back, to try to read her feelings beyond that welcoming smile, but he was no match for the emotions trampling through him.
He kissed her cheek and said, “Good morning, beautiful.”
“What time is it?” she asked groggily.
“Too early for you to be awake.”
She made a warm, pleasure-filled sound, turning in his arms to face him, and said, “But in a few hours I won’t be able to do this.” She pressed her lips to his.
“Oh yeah, I like doing that.” Relief swept through him as he kissed her, but there was a nagging thought in the back of his mind. Remi could have any man on the planet. She needed to know what type of man she was getting involved with, and he forced himself to break the kiss. “Princess, I need you to be sure that you want this, that it’s not just your emotions running high because you’re scared, or—”
She touched her lips to his again in another sweet kiss. “I told you, I’m in, Mason. I like you. After everything we did last night, why are you questioning us?”
“I’m not questioning us. You put your heart in my hands, and I just want you to be happy. I want this, and I want you, but you need to know something about me.”
“That you tried to fight what’s between us? Because so have I, and luckily we both sucked at it.”
He chuckled. God, he loved her sense of humor.
“I have a confession to make,” she said softly. “Before we were introduced, I saw you outside the fundraiser, and I swear my heart skipped a beat. I’d never felt anything like that before. I wanted to be on your arm that night.”
“I love knowing that. And I’m sure you could probably tell when I carried you in that night that I wanted to carry you to my bed.”
Her cheeks flushed. “I thought maybe, but . . .” She buried her face in his chest.
He lifted her chin, pressing his lips to hers. He could kiss her from morning until night and it would never be enough. “All of that underscores why I have to tell you this. I know how to protect and to give my all to my team, but I’m not sure I’ll be a very good boyfriend. I can’t just turn off my protective nature, and you hate being suffocated.”
This is Love Page 15