Hearing my feelings at all is what startles him.

I drop my gaze to his dark cotton tee. “And I thought I was yours. I want to be.” I squeeze his hip, pushing off the wall. It’s my turn to press closer. Selfishly, my hands travel up his sides and around his back, dipping under his shirt.

Mine.

God, I missed his body. Two days feels like two years.

I stroke the hard curves of his muscles and the trail of his spine. I flatten my cheek to his chest. “Am I?” I quietly ask. “Am I yours?”

“Fuck,” he moans, crushing me against him, his long arms snaking around my body. Muscles tensing in relief and longing. With a sharp exhale, he nuzzles my hair. “You’re mine, sweet girl. So fucking mine. I just wanted to hear you say it.”

I close my eyes. Relief weighs down my frame, forming me to him. I’m so close but I want closer.

“You didn’t even call me.”

“I know. It’s not because I didn’t want to. Trust me. After that text the other day, I turned my phone off so I wouldn’t. I needed you to come to me, Brooke. I wanted you to admit what this was.”

“You were just going to wait?”

“Yeah. But only until Friday.” He leans back and cups my cheek. “I gave your stubbornness a deadline. I wouldn’t be able to wait any longer than that.”

Friday? Jesus, what would I have looked like by then?

I fist his shirt, going up on my toes, not giving him an option one way or the other as I whisper across his lips, “kiss me.”

I’m taking this.

With a growl, Mason seals our mouths together, our bodies. His length hardening against my stomach. He sucks on my tongue and kneads my ass, fingers digging at my flesh.

I gasp and arch further into him.

“Say it again,” he begs, kissing my jaw. “God, Brooke. Say it.”

I moan when he bites my neck. “That you’re my best friend?”

He leans away, and I giggle at his expression.

Fuck, he’s so adorable. Moody Mason.

I lunge at him again and wrap my arms around his neck, my feet dangling in the air.

He grumbles against my mouth.

“Oh. That you’re mine? And I’m yours? Is that what you want me to say?”

He nods. “Baby, please.”

“I am yours,” I whisper between soft kisses. “I have been. It just took me a minute.”

Laughing, he leans back and drops his forehead against mine. “Longest fucking minute of my life. You had me worried.”

“I had you worried?” I twitch in his arms until he lowers me. “Who the fuck is that redhead?” I ask, poking him in the chest.

His mouth falls open. “Ah, fuck. I forgot. Come on.” He grabs my hand and pulls me out of the alley.

“Erection,” I grate out behind him.

He turns his head. “What’s that?”

“You have an erection.” I tug on his hand.

“Shit.” He spins around just before we reach the fence and the herd of people. He winks at me as he discreetly adjusts himself. “Thanks, gorgeous. That could’ve been embarrassing, yeah?”

My heart melts at that one stupid word. I grab his face and kiss him hard.

“Mm,” he moans and squeezes my shoulders, gently easing me off. “Now you’re just making things worse.”

Smiling through a shrug, I take his hand again and allow him to willingly pull me this time through the crowded seating area outside the café. We stop at the table he was occupying before my outburst.

I look at the redhead, and the man now sitting next to her. His arm thrown behind her back. Her hand resting on his thigh.

Oh.

Nice, Brooke. Very nice.

Mason gestures at the couple. “These are some mates of mine from Alabama. Tessa, and her boyfriend, Luke. They came up to see my studio and do some sightseeing.” He looks down at me, smirking. “You remember me mentioning Tessa, right, sweetheart?”

“Mm.” I nod through tightly pinched lips.

Chuckling, Mason wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me against his side. He looks at his friends. “And this is my Brooke.”

My heart thumps loudly in my chest, echoing in my bones.

His Brooke.

I release the slowest, calmest breath of my life as Tessa and Luke regard me familiarly.

For the first time since I’ve met Mason, I don’t feel unsure. The expectant worry that usually accompanies being this public with him is gone. Vanished. There’s no trace of it.

This is easy. God, it’s so easy standing here with him, being his, and it’s undeniably everything I want. I realize this is what it feels like to be someone’s only. To want to be that. And to hear someone declare their love for you just in the way they acquaint you with others.

A dizzying sensation moves through me like a coiling stream. I feel fuller and weightless all at once.

He loves me. Wow. That’s what this feels like.

Raising a limp hand, I smile apologetically at the two of them, more so at Tessa. “It’s nice to meet you. Sorry about earlier. I’m not usually like that.”

She tilts her head. “No? I’ve heard you’re a bit ballsy. It’s all good. I would’ve done the same thing.”

“Babe, you have,” Luke adds, laughing. “Who are you kidding?” He holds out his hand and shakes mine. “Sorry I missed the show. I was grabbing drinks.”

“Yeah, me too. Way to be absent. I’m probably banned from eating here now.”