I stretched my arms above my head and turned onto my side. My eyes flew open, suddenly remembering where I was and what had happened last night. Mason was asleep next to me, his face level with mine. I took the opportunity to look at him, he really was beautiful, his dark hair messy and falling over his forehead, his long dark eyelashes resting on his cheeks. I reached forward and brushed his hair out of his eyes. My eyes fell to his bare chest; he must have removed his t-shirt at some point during the night as I’d fallen asleep with him still wearing it. I could see his tattoo in full from the way he was lying. It was a black and white tribal design, wrapping around his arm, over his shoulder, and onto his chest. It looked incredible. I watched his chest rise and fall and noticed his breathing quicken, I looked up to his face, his eyes still closed but his mouth lifting into a small smile.
“Enjoying the view?” He teased, opening his arms to me. I buried my head in his chest laughing.
“I thought you were asleep,” I told him, my voice muffled against his chest. He lifted me up and looked me in the eye.
“Morning darlin’.” He reached up and kissed my lips, I pulled away quickly conscious that I hadn’t brushed my teeth. “What’s wrong? You’re not regretting your decision are you Lib?” He asked me looking worried.
“Of course not! I… I just haven’t brushed my teeth yet.” I told him sitting up. “Can I use your bathroom?” I asked him blushing.
“Yes.” He said, pulling me down on top of him. “But I want you to say good morning properly first. Kiss me, Libby.” He demanded.
“Bossy!” I told him, laughing as I pressed my lips to his. The kiss quickly turned heated, and I straddled his lap. He ran his hands up my thighs and rested them on my waist. He sat up still kissing me, and I wrapped my arms around him, running my fingers through the hair at the base of his neck. I pulled my mouth away from his, breaking the kiss before I lost control. “Bathroom,” I said my heart pounding in my chest.
“Bathroom.” He said laughing. I climbed off the bed turning to look at him, he was watching me, his arms behind his head and a huge grin on his face. I smiled back shyly at him.
“Be right back.” I murmured, padding across the bedroom and down the wooden staircase.
Once in the tiny bathroom, I used the toilet and washed my hands, splashing cold water on my face. I looked up into the small round mirror above the sink, my hair was all over the place, and my eyes were red and puffy from crying. I was a mess! My lips were swollen from Mason’s kisses, and I reached my fingers up to trace where he’d last kissed me. Still not believing that he had actually kissed me. I squirted some toothpaste onto my finger and began cleaning my teeth the best I could. There was a knock on the door, and I heard Mason ask if I was okay. I mumbled yes, with a mouthful of toothpaste before rinsing my mouth and opening the door.
“I’ve put the coffee on, help yourself, sweetheart.” He said brushing my lips with his as he passed me and entered the bathroom.
I suddenly realised that no one at the house would know where I was. I looked around for a clock to see what time it was, but I couldn’t find one. “Mason,” I shouted. “Do you know what time it is?”
“Not sure, my cell is on the bedside table if you want to grab it.” Came the reply from the bathroom.
I ran upstairs into his bedroom, spying his phone I picked it up and pushed the button to illuminate the screen. It was 8.20 am, I’d just have to hope that Aunt Claire was either having a lie in or had already left for the day. I couldn’t help but see that Mason had an unread message on his phone.
Amber: Hey baby. You fancy a repeat of…
A repeat of what I wasn’t sure, his phone only displayed the first line and there was no way I was going to read his message. My stomach bubbled with jealousy. He’d already told me he’d been with a lot of women; this was obviously one of them. I didn’t really know where we stood after last night, he’d said that he wanted to see what this connection between us was, but did that mean he would still see other people. I had no idea. I put the phone back, grabbed my flip flops and headed back downstairs.
Mason stood in the kitchen drinking coffee. He looked over to me his eyes dropping to the flip flops in my hand. “Are you leaving?” He asked me frowning.
“Yeah, I’d better go, everyone will wonder where I am. I didn’t bring my phone, so I can’t text Savannah.”
“Use my cell, I’ve got Savannah’s number. Didn’t you bring it down?” He asked looking at my hands. “I’ll go and fetch it.” He walked passed me towards the stairs.
“No Mason it’s fine. I need to get back anyway…” I started to say, but Mason was halfway to his room before I could finish. I made my way to the door, not wanting to be here when he read that message, he would know that I’d seen it. I opened the door and went out onto the porch. “Libby wait.” I heard Mason shout from inside. I stopped not turning around. He came outside and stood in front of me. My eyes were on my bare feet.
“I’m guessing you saw this message on my phone, and that’s why you’re desperate to leave.” He sighed. “Look at me, Libby.”
I raised my eyes to his. “I didn’t read it Mason; I just saw it when I checked the time. It’s nothing to do with me anyway. It’s not like we’re exclusive.” I told him shrugging my shoulders.
He took my hand and led me to the bench next to the door, pushing gently on my shoulder until I sat down. I watched him as he knelt in front of me still holding my hand. “Libby, sweetheart, we are most definitely exclusive. I won’t share you with anyone.”
“Neither will I Mason.”
“You won’t have to. I’m not interested in anyone else Libby.” He stood up and sat next to me on the bench. “That text you saw, Amber is someone that I used to see from time to time. I won’t be seeing her again; it was just sex. She didn’t mean anything to me.”
I swallowed nervously unable to look at him. What was I even doing here? I couldn’t compete with the likes of Amber; I’d only kissed one or two guys never mind done anything else. He was obviously used to dating girls who knew their way around in the bedroom. I chewed on my bottom lip, not sure what to say to him.
Mason must have noticed my nervousness. “Libby, I don’t want to come on too strong, I know you want to take things slowly, and we’ll go as slowly as you want, but you need to know that kissing you last night, I’ve never felt like that with anyone before. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the first time we met.” His eyes dropped to my mouth, and he reached up and gently pulled on my chin, freeing my bottom lip from my teeth. He rubbed his thumb across my lip trying to sooth the part I’d been chewing on. “I’ve got a past, and I’ve done things I’m not proud of, there are things I need to tell you, and we can talk about them. I’ll tell you everything. But talk to me if something is worrying you, okay sweetheart?”
I let out a shaky breath. “I can’t stop thinking about you either Mason, but I can’t compete with girls like Amber. I’m not like them. I’ve never even…” I trailed off feeling my face flush. I’d almost blurted out that I was a virgin, he was used to sleeping with handfuls of women and here I was having only kissed two people!
“Libby… are you a virgin?” He asked me, shock evident in his voice.
“Yes,” I said quietly dropping my eyes to my lap.
“But you’re absolutely gorgeous, surely you’ve dated?” My face flushed again at his compliment, and he chuckled at my reaction.
“I suppose I’ve just never met the right person. I didn’t see the point in dating someone if that spark wasn’t there and I guess I’ve never felt it... until now.” I lifted my eyes to Mason and saw his face break out into a breath-taking smile.
“Sweetheart there is enough of a spark between us to burn the stables down.” He winked at me, and I laughed.
“So, it’s not a... a problem for you then?” I asked nervously.
“No baby, no problem. We’ll take things as slow as you want, as long as I get to kiss you whenever I want, then I’m happy. Oh, and just so you know, what you said a minute ago, about not being able to compete. You were right, you can’t compete, you’re already the winner, hands-down.”
My stomach erupted with butterflies, and my heart pounded. I thought I liked it when he called me sweetheart, but when he called me baby, I melted. This man definitely knew all the right things to say. I just prayed my heart was safe with him, he was already holding it in the palm of his hand, and I hoped he knew that he had the power to crush it.
He pulled me to my feet, wrapping me up in his arms. “We okay?” He asked me, kissing my hair.
“Yes, we’re okay. Maybe we could have that talk you mentioned tomorrow night? If you’re not busy of course?” I asked him.
“I’m not busy sweetheart. I think that’s a great idea. We could go down to the lake again and watch the sunset?”
“I’d like that.” I reached up and looped my arms around his neck. Standing on my tiptoes, I pressed my mouth to his and kissed him. He quickly responded and kissed me back, pulling me closer to him.
“Mason, sorry to interrupt you and your latest conquest but I can’t find Libby. I’m worried about her.” I heard Savannah say. I pulled my lips from Mason’s and rested my forehead on his chest. Savannah couldn’t see me as I was totally hidden from her view by Mason’s body. I took a deep breath and moved out of Mason’s hold, he immediately reached for my hand squeezing it in support. Her mouth dropped open when she saw me, her eyes dropping to our joined hands. “Oh my god!! Libby!!” She squealed, jumping up and down. “You spent the night here, with Mason. I knew you liked him!” She turned to Mason before I could answer her, hitting him on the shoulder. “I was going to kick your ass when I saw you kissing someone. I knew you liked Libby, I thought you were kissing some skank!” Mason chuckled putting his arm around me and pulling me to his side.
“Savannah, I didn’t spend the night with Mason, well I did spend the night, but nothing happened.” I rushed out.
She laughed. “Libby I don’t care what happened, I’m just glad you finally admitted you like him.” She said winking at Mason. “You make such a cute couple! You are a couple now, aren’t you?” She asked, looking between us.
I rolled my eyes, smiling at her, we’d barely decided ourselves what was going on, she was like an excited child. Before I could respond to her, I heard Mason say. “Yes, we’re a couple, as of last night.” My eyes flew to his and before I could say anything he was kissing me again. I lost myself in his kiss only being pulled back to reality by Savannah coughing loudly.
“As adorable as you two are, I don’t really want to watch my cousin and my friend making out, so Mason, put her down.” She joked. Mason took no notice and continued kissing me. I hungrily kissed him back, his kisses were addictive, and I could have stayed here like this all day. “Eww, come on guys.” She moaned at us.
Mason reluctantly pulled away from me, turning to Savannah. “No one’s asking you to watch Sav.” He told her, laughing.
Savannah stuck her tongue out at Mason. “We should really be heading back Lib, Mom’s out, so she doesn’t know you’ve been here, but Jack will be wondering where you are.”
“Okay,” I told Savannah, glad that Aunt Claire was out and I wouldn’t have to tell her about Mason and me. From her comments the other day I knew she thought that Mason was too old for me. I wasn’t worried about telling Jack, he was the one encouraging me to let someone in. I reluctantly peeled myself out of Mason’s embrace. “I’ll see you later?” I asked him.
“Yep, I’ll pick you up just before 1.30. I’ve arranged for everyone to meet at the house. Savannah’s got my number, get her to give it to you and then text me, so I’ve got yours.”
I nodded. “I’d better go then.” I reached up and kissed him, now that I’d tasted his kisses I couldn’t get enough. He kissed me back, pulling away before it got too heated again. I turned towards Savannah, and as I walked away, I felt him swat me on my bottom.
“Bye baby. See you later.” He called after me. I turned back and flashed him a wide smile before linking my arm with Savannah’s and heading back to the house.
As soon as we were out of earshot of Mason’s cabin the questions from Savannah started.
“How did you end up at his cabin? You have to tell me everything. Is he a good kisser? What made you change your mind about him? Do you think Jack will be okay with it?”
“Whoa, Savannah! Let me get showered and some food inside me and I’ll fill you in on everything. One thing I will tell you, oh my god can that man kiss!” I told her laughing, fanning my face with my hand.
I headed into the house with Savannah squealing behind me. I just prayed that I’d made the right decision and that he wouldn’t hurt me.