Chapter 13

 

Moonfleet Manor was an elegant Georgian manor house about five miles outside of Weymouth, and overlooking Chesil Beach and Fleet Lagoon. To me it looked like the kind of establishment that charged you for walking through the front door, the kind of place I could never hope to afford even for one night. But, despite the grand setting, and luxurious décor, the staff were friendly and welcoming and not in the least bit perturbed that their famous guest had brought an extra body back with him.

The bar, an attractive male receptionist informed us regretfully, had just closed for the night, but he would, he assured Mason, be more than happy to send room service up to the suite. Mason looked at me uncertainly.

“You don’t have to,” he said, “I know it’s not what we agreed.”

“It’s fine, Mason. I…I trust you.”

“You’re not the one who worries me,” Mason muttered with a wry smile. “Your friend Alex is.”

“I can handle Alex.”

Not that I could, of course, but I could probably persuade Stefan to my way of thinking and then he could wrangle Alex into submission. Mason led the way up the grand staircase and I followed, telling myself that going to his room wasn’t the same as agreeing to sleep with him. I really did trust him not to try and force me into anything I didn’t feel ready for. And if I did feel ready? Well…we’d have to wait and see.

Mason’s room…or rather, suite…was easily sixty-five foot of wall to wall extravagance. We walked into a spacious, open plan lounge area with an open fireplace at end. A set of doors led through to the bedroom and a vast, four-poster bed. I glanced away quickly, hoping Mason hadn’t noticed me looking.

“Wow, this place is…”

“Ostentatious?” Mason said glumly. “Over the top?”

“I was going to say amazing, but now you come to mention it…”

“I keep messing up, don’t I? You probably think I’m showing off again, trying to impress you with my wealth.”

“I don’t think that, Mason.” I perched on a rather delicate looking sofa and patted the cushion beside me, trusting the spindly legs would take Mason’s weight. The sofa groaned and creaked worryingly as he lowered himself down beside me, but it held. I surprised him by reaching out and taking his hand. “You don’t have to impress me, you should know that by now. Stop trying so hard, Mason. Relax, and let’s see where this goes.”

Some of the tension left Mason’s broad shoulders and he smiled, almost shyly, a far cry from the rock star persona he had displayed in the pub before.

“I just want you to like me.”

“I already like you, Mason. But my head is still all over the place after everything that’s happened these past few days.”

“That’s all sorted,” Mason protested. “I called off the injunction and got you your job back, didn’t I?”

If only it was that easy, I thought. Mason meant well, but he didn’t seem to understand that there were other issues in my life that could not be fixed with a click of his fingers. Aside from the emotional turmoil caused by the injunction and being suspended, I had split up with my boyfriend after eighteen months. I thought I’d been in love. Rufus, it turned out, thought I was a convenient source of cash. I had a job to go back to, but nowhere to live and no car. I was attracted to Mason, I couldn’t deny that…but was I ready to jump straight into something with him?

“So…” Mason shot me a wary look. “Is now not a good time to mention I had your car towed and taken to a garage to be fixed?”

I sighed. There was just no getting through to this guy. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“It was my psycho ex who wrecked it, so actually I think I did,” Mason argued. “At least I’m getting the old one repaired and not buying you a new one.”

“That’s something, I suppose.”

“Although, if you want a new one…”

“Mason!”

“Fine. Whatever. I’ll back off.” There was a knock at the door and Mason went to answer it, although not before I saw the roll of his eyes. “Look. This is me backing off.”

Neither of us spoke while room service wheeled in a trolley containing a surprising selection of alcoholic beverages. I didn’t remember Mason ordering anything when we were at reception and I had no previous experience of room service, so I didn’t know if delivering such an array of drinks to our room was normal or not. Our room…my mind was racing ahead of itself again. Okay, so I’d privately admitted to the attraction I felt toward Mason – it didn’t mean I was staying the night.

“Mason,” I said, swallowing hard as I noticed the way his shirt stretched taut over his back muscles, the sleeves straining across his huge biceps as he poured the drinks. He hadn’t asked what I wanted and, with his back turned to me, I couldn’t see which bottle he had in his hand. “I don’t want you to back off. Not completely.”

“Really?” Mason turned, a dubious expression on his handsome face as he carried two glasses of amber liquid back to where I still sat on the sofa. “How not completely are we talking here?”

Suddenly nervous, I snatched a glass from his grasp and knocked it back in one without thinking. The alcohol burned my throat and took my breath away, causing me to cough and splutter embarrassingly. Mason rubbed my back and laughed, humiliating me further.

“I was going to say you could kiss me,” I wheezed once I could speak. “Though I doubt you want to now.”

“Are you kidding me?” Mason knelt on the floor in front of me and, taking my chin between thumb and forefinger, he tilted my head back so I was looking at him. There was concern in his dark eyes, but there was longing too. He looked at me with the same heat and hunger that Alex had whenever he looked at Stefan. “I’ve wanted to kiss you since the first time I saw you. You think a bit of spittle running down your chin is going to put me off?”

My cheeks flooded with heat, as much from the intensity of his gaze as his words. Quickly, I wiped my chin on the back of my hand. The moment I lowered my arm, Mason leaned forward and pressed his full lips to mine in a firm, demanding kiss. He pressed me against the back of the antique sofa, his hands coming up to cup my face.

“Mmmm,” he murmured, coming up for air. “You’re all bourbon flavoured.”

“Glad you like it,” I grumbled, still slightly breathless from his kiss. “It tasted bloody awful going down.”

“That’s because you’re supposed to sip it,” Mason chuckled, his breath warm against my skin. “I can see I’m going to have to educate you on some of the finer things in life.”

He scooped me up in his arms and stood, as though I weighed no more than a small child, and carried me into the bedroom. I meant to protest, I really did, but before the words left my lips I was distracted by the huge four-poster bed that totally dominated the room. The sheets were black, the curtains a deep, glorious red. It was beautiful…and sexier than I could ever have imagined.

Mason set me down on my feet.

“Stand there. Don’t move.”

Being ordered about that way by anyone else would have got my hackles rising, but coming from Mason it sent delightful shivers of anticipation running down my spine. For the first time, I could understand why Stefan practically glowed when Alex went all macho on him. I stood, stock still, exactly where he told me to, and watched as he closed the bedroom door.

He turned back, taking my face between his hands again as he had done before. “It might not seem like it,” he told me, “but you’re in charge, Eric. We won’t do anything that you don’t want to do. If you want to stop just tell me and we’ll stop. Okay?”

“Yes, Sir,” I said, because in every book I’d read where one character assumes dominance over another in bedroom, the submissive one always called him ‘Sir’. I don’t why I said it when Mason hadn’t done anything to suggest that was what he wanted. I blushed, feeling like an idiot for turning this into something that probably hadn’t entered Mason’s head.

“Sir?” Mason arched an eyebrow. “Oh, I like that.” He dropped his hands to my waist. “Arms up.”

Obediently, I lifted my arms and Mason pulled my T-shirt over my head and tossed it onto the floor. He took a moment to admire my naked torso before stepping forward again to unbutton my jeans. His fingers brushed again my stomach, sending small jolts of electricity straight to my dick. Gently, he eased my jeans down my legs and I thanked God for clean underpants. Mason straightened up, his eyes meeting mine.

“Are you okay with this?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

Quick as a flash, Mason reached around and delivered a resounding smack to my backside. I yelped, more in surprise than pain. Mason smirked.

“Yes, what?”

“Y-yes, Sir,” I said, trying not to smile too broadly as I realised what Mason wanted. Damn, I never thought I’d be into all this dominance stuff, but with Mason doing the dominating it was as sexy as fuck.

He smiled, apparently satisfied by my response, and knelt down in front of me.

“Lift,” he instructed, tapping my left leg.

I obeyed, placing my hands on his broad shoulders for balance. He peeled off my shoe and then my sock before pulling my foot free of the leg of my jeans. We repeated the process on the other side and Mason got to his feet. He pointed a finger at me.

“Stay.”

Oh, so now I was a dog? I might have objected if my breath, heart and dick hadn’t all leapt simultaneously at his one syllable growl.

Mason pulled off his own T-shirt and I suddenly felt woefully inadequate. The guy really was a walking, talking wall of rippling muscle. I crossed my arms over my puny, pale chest, suddenly embarrassed. What the Hell did an Adonis like Mason see in a short, skinny weakling like me?

“Hey.” Mason pulled my arms away from my chest and positioned them back at my sides. “You’re beautiful, Eric.”

“Right.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m like a pre-pubescent teen compared to you.”

“Hardly,” Mason laughed. “You look like you’re all man to me.”

He dropped his gaze to my crotch and I felt myself blush again. God, the things this man did to me.

“Get on the bed.”

I didn’t need telling twice. I still wasn’t sure I wanted full-on sex, but my body definitely wanted something from him! Scrambling up onto the wide bed, I turned to watch as Mason stripped off the rest of his clothes. He went a step further than I had, removing his boxers as well, before joining me on the bed. I couldn’t help but check out his package, impressed to see his dick was thick and long, in perfect proportion to the rest of his body.

Wetting my lips with the tip of my tongue, I imagined him pushing that big, beautiful shaft inside me. We hadn’t had that conversation yet, but somehow I didn’t see Mason as a bottom. It was a good thing I was flexible perhaps, but the truth was I didn’t want to top Mason anyway. I wanted him to take me, to possess my mind and body in every way.

He stretched out on the mattress beside me and ran his hand up my side, making me shiver.

“Cold?” Mason asked, his brow furrowing in concern.

“No.” I felt my face heat again. Shit, did I really have to blush like a teenage virgin every time the man spoke to me? That, in itself, was an embarrassment. “It’s just…you know…you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you. And this…” I gestured down toward our naked bodies.

“Eric, I told you.” Mason pulled away slightly. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“That’s the thing…I do want to. I mean, maybe not…” I cleared my throat awkwardly. “…penetrative sex, but…look at me. I would have thought it was perfectly obvious I want to…fool around.”

“Oh my God, are you for real?” Mason fell apart laughing. “Penetrative sex? Fool around? Who talks like that?”

“I do!” I grumbled, slapping his arm. “If you don’t like it, I can always leave.”

I made to roll away from him and Mason grabbed me around the waist and hauled me back so that we were lying chest to chest. He wrapped his massive arms around me, ruling out any further attempts at escape.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. But you started it by teasing me for saying I was courting you. Tell you what, how about I promise to use the words penetrative sex in the next song I write and you promise to stay?”

“Deal,” I said, sliding my arms around his neck and pulling him in for a kiss. Like I was going anywhere when I had this big, beautiful man naked in a four-poster bed.

Obviously Mason was done with talking. He rolled me onto my back, dwarfing my small body with his huge frame. He rested his weight on his arms so as not to crush me.

“Is this okay?” he asked, running his hand down my side. I squirmed and Mason paused. He smirked as his hand continued downward, but I saw the moment in his eyes when he registered I was ticklish and he mentally filed it away for future use. “How about this?”

His hand slipped beneath the waistband of my boxers to cup my buttock in his large palm. He tugged me toward him, our dicks rubbing together through the thin material of my underwear. I could only nod, the power of coherent speech suddenly beyond my reach. Mason chuckled and rolled his hips again, his eyes gleaming as he saw the effect he was having on me. 

His mouth latched onto my neck, sucking and bruising, before slowly making their way down my body. He paused his descent to tease my nipples with his tongue, leaving me breathless and squirming, before continuing his journey south. Mason pushed my boxers down my legs and wrapped his lips around my dick without hesitation. My hips bucked from the mattress as he sucked me to the back of his throat. I threaded my fingers through his thick hair, unable to stop myself thrusting into his mouth as he worked me like a pro.

It was too good to last long. In an embarrassingly short space of time, my release exploded into Mason’s mouth. I tried to warn him, but in response, he sealed his lips around my shaft and eagerly swallowed every drop. Using both hands, I covered my face in shame as Mason kissed his way back up my post-orgasm sensitive body.

“Thank you,” he murmured, lightly pressing his lips to the back of each hand.

I peeked at him through my fingers, painfully aware that he was still hard against my thigh.

“What about you? Do you want me to –”

“What I want…” Mason interrupted, “… is for you to let me take care of you.”

“But don’t you want to…you know…come?”

“Oh, don’t you worry your pretty little head about that. I’ll get my turn.” Mason rolled onto his back, carrying me with him so that I was the one now lying on top. “We’ve got all night.”