I woke up the next morning pressed tightly into Mason’s side, my head on his chest and his arms wrapped around me. Once I’d managed to turn my mind off from everything that had happened yesterday, I’d slept really well. After returning from the rodeo, I’d gone back to my bedroom to wait until everyone was asleep before heading over to Mason’s cabin. Savannah had come into my room to check that I was okay, I’d told her what had happened at the rodeo, and she was livid at what Amber had said to me. She wanted to tell Jack and Brody but I begged her not to, and she’d reluctantly agreed.
Once the house had fallen silent, I’d crept downstairs and out to the stables where Mason was waiting for me. He’d spun me around whispering that he’d missed me. I’d missed him too, even though we’d only been apart for an hour or so, these feelings I had for him were crazy and intense.
We’d gone back to his cabin, and thankfully Mason hadn’t mentioned Amber, I think he knew I was done talking about her for the night. After a pretty heated make out session he’d pulled me into his arms and he fell asleep. He’d never pushed me to go any further, letting me take the lead on how far we went, which I was grateful for. I knew the other girls he’d been with were more experienced than me, and that he wasn’t used to waiting. I knew he wouldn’t wait forever, but for now, he seemed happy to. I’d watched him while he slept, snaking my fingers up and down his chest, circling around his tattoo. I’d eventually fallen asleep, waking up encased in his arms.
Mason was still sleeping when I woke up, and slowly I wriggled out of his grasp, somehow managing not to wake him. I lay my head on my pillow so that my face was level with his, I just lay there for a few minutes watching him, I could stare at his gorgeous face for hours. I’d no idea what he saw in me, he was way out of my league.
“You’re staring again Lib; this is becoming a bit of a habit.” He chuckled, his eyes still closed. I was grateful he couldn’t see me, as I felt my face get warm with embarrassment. “And I’m betting that beautiful face of yours is all pink, I’m right aren’t I?” He asked me, finally opening his eyes. I met his eyes for a split second before turning my head and burying my face into his pillow, I heard him laughing. “Show me, baby.” He demanded. I slowly lifted my head and looked over to him, his hand reached out and stroked my face. “Just as I thought.” He whispered. “Stunning.” His compliment making me blush even more.
He pulled me into his chest, and I looped my arms around his neck, he lowered his head and kissed me hungrily, rolling me so that I was underneath him, pinned to the bed. His tongue stroked my bottom lip, and I opened my mouth to him, his tongue duelling with mine, pulling away he peppered light kisses around my jaw and down my neck. My breathing accelerated as I felt his hand slip under the t-shirt that I was wearing, his fingers stroking lightly on my skin. I let out a gasp when his hand travelled up my side, and his fingers brushed the underside of my breast. He lifted his head and rested his forehead on mine.
“Is this okay Lib? He asked me, his voice breathless.
I nodded. “Please don’t stop,” I whispered.
He smiled at me. “I won’t.” He promised, kissing me again and stealing my breath. I felt his erection pressing against me as he pulled me even closer to his body, as he broke the kiss he reached for the bottom of my t-shirt and pulled it up over my head, leaving me in just my knickers. I felt my face flush, and instinctively I moved my hands to cover my breasts, never having been this exposed in front of someone before. Mason saw what I was doing and reached for my hands.
“Don’t baby. Don’t ever feel self-conscious in front of me.” He said, dropping his eyes from mine and looking at my exposed body. “You are so beautiful, Libby.” He murmured, his hands cupping my breasts as he kissed me, his tongue swirling with mine. My back arched, pushing my breasts further into his hands, I let out a moan as his thumbs brushed my nipples. His fingers continued to play, his kisses spilling down my neck, I began fidgeting underneath him, needing something more. Mason ground his hips against mine, his erection hitting me exactly where I needed it, the thin fabric of our underwear the only thing separating us. I felt a sensation building low in my stomach, my heart was pounding, and my breathing was ragged. As if knowing what I needed Mason brought his mouth to my nipple and as he did the sensation in my stomach intensified. I threaded my fingers through his hair holding his head to my chest, I lifted my hips to meet his, needing to be even closer to him. Suddenly my body erupted, and I pulled sharply on his hair, a small moan escaping my lips. His mouth released my nipple, and he kissed up my neck his mouth finding mine in a tender kiss.
“Oh my god Mason.” I gasped as he pulled his lips away.
“Was that your first orgasm sweetheart.” He asked quietly. I nodded, squirming underneath him. “Don’t be embarrassed, I’m glad it was me, that no other man has ever touched you like that. I loved watching you fall apart from my touch, knowing that no one else has ever seen that.” I smiled shyly at him. As I squirmed, I could still feel his erection pressing against me.
“Mason, you haven’t…erm…” I trailed off not sure of how to put it, instead gesturing with my eyes towards his boxers.
“It’s fine sweetheart, I wanted this to be about you. I can wait. I’ll take a cold shower.” He said laughing. He reached over the side of the bed and grabbed the t-shirt he’d taken off before falling asleep last night, he pulled it over my head, his smell invading my senses. He kissed my forehead and headed downstairs to the bathroom. I flopped back on the bed smiling widely, I closed my eyes and pulled his t-shirt up over my nose, inhaling deeply. I was falling hard and fast for Mason, and I could easily see myself falling in love with him. I was sure that I was already half way there.
I headed downstairs deciding to make us some breakfast while he showered. I made myself at home in his kitchen, pulling eggs, ham, and cheese out of the fridge and putting the coffee on to brew, it didn’t take me long to find everything I needed in the tiny kitchen. I cracked the eggs into a bowl and whisked them up, adding a dash of milk and some black pepper, I chopped up the ham and cheese and added these to the egg mixture. There was a small two burner hob on the worktop, and I turned it on to heat up. I found a frying pan in one of the cupboards and poured the mixture in. I heard a low whistle come from behind me, and I looked over my shoulder to see Mason standing there with just a small white towel wrapped around his waist. My mouth went dry at the sight of him my eyes focusing on his bare chest and the perfect v that disappeared beneath his towel.
“God, my clothes look good on you baby.” He said pulling me from my drooling session. I looked up to his face to see his eyes tracking up and down my body.
“You’re staring Mason.” I teased him, throwing his earlier words back at him.
“Yes, I am. I’m looking at what’s mine” He said, a cocky smile on his face.
I turned back to the omelette, smiling at the realisation that I really was his. I think I had been from the moment I saw him, regardless of how much I’d tried to fight it. I felt him come up behind me, circling his arms around my waist and pulling me back slightly so that I was resting against his bare chest.
“That looks good sweetheart.” He said, eyeing the frying pan in my hand. He moved my hair off my shoulder, placing small kisses on the side of my neck, I sagged against him and closed my eyes, loving the feel of his lips on me. “I’ll just throw some clothes on, I’ll be back.” He breathed against my neck.
Mason returned a few minutes later, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. “I feel a little underdressed.” I laughed, reaching to tug his t-shirt further down my thighs.
“You look absolutely perfect baby.”
“You’re looking pretty perfect yourself cowboy.” I told him, raking my eyes up and down his body.”
“You need to stop looking at me like that sweetheart, otherwise that t-shirt of mine, it’ll end up back on my bedroom floor.” He muttered, looking at me through hooded eyes, his words creating a stirring in the pit of my stomach.
I tore my eyes away from him and plated up breakfast. Walking to the sofa, I sat down. “So,” I began, in an attempt to change the subject before I jumped on him, I had no idea where this side of me came from when I was around him, but I was starting to like it! “Are we still on for tonight?” I asked him, devouring my omelette.
He smiled at me obviously aware of what I was doing. “Definitely darlin’. I’ve got to work for a few hours today, but I can pick you up later.” He hesitated, the smile fading slightly from his face. “Lib, I want you to know that I called Amber after we got back last night. I’m sorry if that upsets you, but I needed to make it clear that she needs to stay away from you. I won’t have her speaking to you like she did.”
“What did you say to her?” I asked quietly.
He took my plate along with his and placed it on the coffee table in front of us, turning on the sofa to face me, he took my hands in his. “That you were my girlfriend and that it was serious between us, that you weren’t just someone I was messing around with. I told her to stay away from us and to move on, that I could never be with her the way she wanted me to be.”
My eyes widened in shock at what he’d said to her. “It’s serious between us?” I whispered.
“Yes, sweetheart, about as serious as it gets. I know you feel it too.” I stared at him, not able to respond. I knew I was falling in love with him, which made no sense to me at all. I hardly knew him, but being with him felt right. I couldn’t tell him how I felt, though, he said it was serious between us, that didn’t mean he was in love with me.
“I feel it too,” I told him. “It’s crazy though Mason, I hardly know anything about you.”
He sighed. “I know Lib, I was going to wait until tonight to talk to you, but as we’re here now…,” He trailed off, a worried look crossing his face. My stomach erupted with nervous butterflies at his words. “About eighteen months ago, I was engaged to a girl called Emmerson, we’d been together since high school, and we were due to get married. In the weeks running up to the wedding, Emmie started acting strangely, disappearing for hours and being quiet around me. I questioned her about it, but she assured me that it was just pre-wedding jitters, turns out I was right to be worried.” He paused, taking in a deep breath. “The week before the wedding I found her in bed with my older brother Dylan, I went mad and started hitting him. Emmerson was screaming for me to stop and yelling that she’d fallen in love with him and wanted to be with him, that she didn’t love me anymore. Turns out they’d been messing around behind my back for nearly a year.”
“I’m so sorry Mason, I can’t believe your brother would do that to you,” I told him squeezing on his hands.
“I was so angry Lib, I couldn’t stop hitting him, I hit him over and over again.” He dropped one of my hands and ran it through his hair, his face a picture of pain. “It was only when my Dad came into the room and pulled me off him that I stopped. He was unconscious, and I still didn’t stop.” He shook his head. “He was in the hospital for three days recovering. I was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and served nine months in jail. I got off lightly in my opinion.” He paused, dropping his eyes from mine but still holding on tightly to my one hand, as if it was his lifeline. “I need you to know Lib, that while I haven’t always been perfectly behaved, I got into a fair bit of trouble when I was younger, I’d never hit anyone before that night, and I’ve never hit anyone since. I had a lot of time to think in jail, and while I loved Emmie, I know now that I wasn’t in love with her. Things hadn’t been right for a while, but I just couldn’t see it at the time, we were high school sweethearts and marriage seemed the next logical step. In reality, we’d fallen out of love a long time before I caught her in bed with my brother. I will always regret how I handled things, I just hope what I’ve told you won’t change how you look at me.”
He looked up at me, and I saw a vulnerability in his eyes that I’d never seen before. I squeezed his hands again to reassure him. “What happened to Emmerson and your brother?” I asked him.
“They got married while I was in jail. Turns out they really did love each other, they are still together as far as I know.”
“You don’t speak to your family anymore?” I asked, frowning.
“No. As I said I wasn’t exactly the model son growing up, but Dylan was, he could do no wrong. Although my parents didn’t agree with Dylan and Emmerson sneaking around behind my back, they couldn’t forgive me for hurting him. We haven’t spoken since my first week in jail. Claire and Ryan were kind enough to offer me a job and a place to stay when I was released, and I grabbed the opportunity with both hands.”
“I’m so sorry that you had to go through all that Mason, I can’t believe that your parents turned their back on you. I’m not saying that I agree with you beating up Dylan, but I can see why it happened and for them to just take his side… I’d like to think that when I eventually have children, I’d be there for them no matter what, even if I didn’t agree with the things they did.”
He looked up at me in surprise. “So, my past doesn’t scare you?”
“No Mason.” I leaned over, kissing him softly. “My instinct is telling me you’re a good man and I trust my instinct. Have you ever tried contacting your family?” I asked him.
His relieved eyes met mine, and he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “After about three months in jail, after I’d had plenty of time to think things through, I wrote to Emmerson, Dylan and my parents. Emmerson replied, telling me how sorry she was that things had turned out the way they had, and that she had never meant to hurt me. I didn’t know if Dylan was aware that she had written to me, but I guessed he didn’t as neither he nor my parents ever wrote back.”
My heart broke for him; yes, he was in the wrong for what happened with Dylan, but he’d gone from having everything to nothing in the blink of an eye, without any sort of support from his family. His parents seemed to have overlooked the fact that his brother had betrayed him in the worst possible way.
“Well, I’m still crazy about you cowboy,” I whispered to him, wrapping my arms around him in a hug. I felt him let out a shaky breath, his body sagging against mine.
“I was worried you’d look at me differently once you knew what I’d done, I was dreading telling you.” He murmured into my neck. I squeezed him even harder in an attempt to try and show him how much I cared about him, how much he meant to me. I couldn’t believe that anyone would cheat on him, he was incredible.
I leaned back and brushed my lips against his. He pulled me onto his lap, and I rested my head on his shoulder. After a few minutes, I realised that we hadn’t finished talking about what had happened earlier. “Mason, what did Amber say when you told her we were serious?” I asked him, anxious to find out what she’d said.
“She didn’t say much, she got angry and hung up on me, don’t worry though baby I don’t think she’ll be bothering us again.”
I breathed a sigh of relief hoping he was right.
“Sweetheart, as much as I’d love to stay here with you all day, I’ve got to get to work. Do you want to stay here for a bit or shall I walk you back to the house?” Mason asked me, his fingers running up and down my bare thighs.
I shivered under his touch, goose bumps erupting on my legs where he was touching me. “I’ll head back.” I sighed. “Spend some time with Jack. I might see if he wants to go to our lake for a swim.”
“Our lake?” Mason teased, tickling me. “I’m pretty sure it’s Claire and Ryan’s lake.” He laughed, moving my body so that I was lying down underneath him on the sofa.
I squirmed beneath him, laughing out loud as he continued to tickle me. “Mason stop!” I squealed. “Stop.”
He stopped suddenly and lowered his face to mine, kissing me gently on my nose. “I shouldn’t tease you, I love that you call it our lake.” He whispered against my lips before capturing them with his own.
“Well, it was where we had our first date,” I said breathlessly when he pulled out of the kiss.
“I thought you said it wasn’t a date?” He asked me, a smile forming on his lips.
“I changed my mind,” I said, winking at him. “No one, other than my parents, has ever gone to that much trouble for me.”
“You're worth it sweetheart.” He jumped up and pulled me up off the sofa. “Get some clothes on that cute butt of yours, and I’ll walk you home.” He gently pushed me towards the stairs, swatting my bum as I passed him.
I came down five minutes later, dressed and hair thrown up in a bobble. Mason was sat on the sofa waiting for me. “Ready to go Lib.” He asked me, standing up and reaching for my hand. I nodded, and we headed hand in hand towards the house. We walked in comfortable silence past the stables and up the garden path. As we climbed the stairs of the porch the front door opened and Aunt Claire walked out. I saw her eyes widen in shock as she looked down at our joined hands. I felt Mason tug on my hand pulling me into his side.
“Hi, Claire, nice to see you,” Mason said to her, wrapping his arm around my waist.
“Libby, what’s going on? Have you spent the night at Mason’s?” She asked me with a frown.
“Erm… yes, I spent the night there,” I said dropping my eyes from hers.
“Is there a problem?” Mason asked, looking confused. He looked between Claire and me waiting for one of us to say something.
“Mason, you do know that Libby is only nineteen and that she’s here with us because she’s been through something horrific at home?”
“Aunt Claire!” I exclaimed.
“I know how old she is Claire, I also know about Mia and the reason she’s here at the ranch, she’s told me everything.” Mason pulled me closer into his side and kissed me on the side of my head.
Aunt Claire looked at me in surprise, her eyebrows raised in question. I nodded my head at her, letting her know that what Mason said was true.
“I think your niece is amazing Claire, I really care for her, and I think she cares for me. I won’t hurt her; you have my word.”
Aunt Claire sighed. “And you feel the same, Libby?” She asked me.
I nodded. “I do. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I know you think Mason’s too old for me, but I really like him. He’s really helping me.” She looked between the two of us obviously trying to decide what to say.
“Okay, but no more sneaking out of the house at night, you might be an adult, but your parents are trusting me to look after you, to do that I need to know where you are.”
“Thank you, Aunt Claire.” I stepped away from Mason to pull her into a hug. She hugged me back tightly.
“Look after her Mason, she’s special.” Aunt Claire told him over my shoulder.
“She certainly is.” I heard him tell her.
“I’d better get going, I’ll see you both later.” She said, waving as she made her way to the stables.
“That went better than I thought,” I said, relieved.
“You never told me she thought I was too old for you? When did you talk about me, baby?” His cocky grin returning.
I smirked back at him. “After you went all psycho in the bar last week, not letting me dance with that guy.”
“I did not go psycho!” He exclaimed. “There was no way I was watching some random guy put his hands all over you. I’d never felt so jealous as I did that night, we’d only just met, but I knew I wanted you for myself.” He laughed. “You were so mad when I pulled you out of his arms, you look absolutely beautiful when you’re angry baby.”
“I was angry, but you impressed me too. I kind of liked how possessive you were, even if I didn’t show it at the time,” I reached up and kissed him. “You’d better go, don’t want you in trouble with the boss!” I joked.
He laughed. “Come to my place about six tonight.” He kissed me again, stealing my breath, before making his way down the porch steps.
“Oh, and Mason…” I watched him turn around as he walked backward towards the gate. “I might wear my new bikini to the lake this afternoon, if you find yourself anywhere near there, come and say hi.”
I heard him groan. “Sweetheart I’ll make sure I’m nearby!”
“Looking forward to it,” I shouted to him, smiling to myself as I made my way inside.