Soft gasps escaped Gabriela. She caught her bottom lip to silence herself, but her silence didn’t last long.
“Mason,” she rasped, reaching up to cup his jaw.
Their eyes met for a fiery instant before she lifted her face and pressed her mouth to his.
Broxen stilled utterly. His breath caught in his throat, his heart ceased beating, and his mind was suddenly empty. Given everything else—her scent, her warmth, the friction of her body against his—that simple press of lips should barely have been noticeable. He’d seen people kiss back on Turata, had seen humans do it in person and countless times in their entertainment, but he’d never experienced it, and had never imagined it would feel like this.
Gabriela’s plump lips were soft, smooth, pliable, and yet so confident. And she tasted even sweeter than she smelled.
He cupped the back of her head with one hand, closed his eyes, and leaned into that kiss, deepening the contact between them and his taste of her.
Her mouth opened, and she caressed his upper lip, flicking it with her tongue. Broxen groaned low and swept his tongue out along hers, and she coaxed it into a dance that he swiftly took control of. Needing more, he slammed his mouth upon hers, devouring her.
Wrapping her legs around his waist, Gabriela ground her sex hard against his cock. He swallowed her moan of pleasure and hissed his own.
“Don’t stop. Please don’t,” she pleaded against his lips. “It’s been so long. I need—”
The bedroom door swung open, bumping into the doorstopper.
Broxen snapped his head up and turned his face toward the doorway just as Ana stepped into the room.
“Mom, I’m—” She came to an abrupt stop. Her eyes rounded, and her jaw dropped.
Gabriela shrieked. Planting both her palms against Broxen’s chest, she heaved him off her. Taken completely by surprise for the second time in a minute, he offered no resistance, and he didn’t realize until it was too late that she’d shoved him away from the side of the bed where he’d slept.
His side came down on the very edge of the bed, and he bounced before tumbling onto the floor, landing heavily on his back with a thud that must’ve shaken the whole house. And of course, the way his tail was tucked away meant it absorbed a significant portion of the impact.
He barely held in a growl of pain, baring his teeth and sucking in a sharp breath instead.
Least it wasn’t my cock.
“I’m sorry,” Ana said. The door slammed shut a moment. Her muffled voice came from the other side when she said, “Just wanted to tell you I’m hungry!”
Gabriela scrambled up into a sitting position, entering Broxen’s field of view. Her hair was mussed, her cheeks were flushed, and there was a panicked look in her eyes.
“Oh, my God. She… We were… She saw—” She pressed her hands to her face and groaned. “I’ve scarred her for life.” Dropping her hands, she peered at Broxen over the edge of the bed and winced. “I’m sorry.”
Broxen chuckled despite the twinge in his tail—and in his still-throbbing cock. “Guess she knows to knock next time.”
Though she pressed her lips together tight, a laugh burst from her mouth. “Not funny!”
Grabbing a pillow, she threw it at him, hitting him in the chest. He only laughed harder as he caught it.
My lusty, feisty female.
Fourteen
“Where are we going?” Ana asked from the back seat of Mason’s truck.
“Can’t tell you,” Mason replied, glancing at her in the rearview mirror.
“Why?”
“It’s a surprise.”
Gabriela, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned her head to look at her daughter. Ana was staring at the back of Mason’s head with a skeptical frown that was completely at odds with the excitement sparkling in her eyes.
“Can you give me a hint?” the little girl asked.
The corner of Mason’s mouth quirked up ever so slightly. “No.”
Ana groaned and crumpled with a theatrical flair, falling into a slouch with her arms limp beside her and her head lolling back. “Why not?”
“You’re too good at guessing.”
“Well, how would you know that?”
Mason shrugged; it was amazing how nonchalant the gesture looked despite the breadth of his powerful shoulders. “Just a guess.”
Gabriela shook her head and laughed at Ana’s exaggerated ugh. She knew Ana wasn’t truly upset about this, she was just overly excited and antsy—like most kids were in the days leading up to Christmas.
Only four more days to go. It hurt that Gabby didn’t have anything to give her daughter for Christmas, that there were no presents for the girl to open, but Ana had already demonstrated maturity beyond her years when it came to this situation.
It hurt Gabriela’s heart even more to know Ana would swallow her own disappointment and sadness and soldier on for her mother’s sake.
Next year, Ana. Next year, you’re going to have so many presents on Christmas morning that you won’t know where to start.
But Gabriela did have some money in her account. Perhaps Mason would let her borrow his truck for a bit so she could at least get stocking stuffers and a gift or two for her daughter. He’d insisted on buying everything else for them, but Gabby had to do at least that much.
“Mom, will you tell me?”
“Sorry, Ana. I don’t know either.”
“Come on, I know he told you.”
Gabby glanced at Mason just as his eyes flicked toward her. For a moment, they held each other’s gazes, sharing a smile.
“He didn’t tell me anything,” Gabriela said as she turned her attention to the window. “That’s why it’s such a surprise.”
They were currently driving through downtown McCall on their way to wherever it was Mason was taking them. The streets were lined with piled snow, and the light posts along the sidewalk were adorned with garland and lights and big snowflakes that would shine after dark. Even if this town got a little crazy when it was full of tourists, especially during the Winter Carnival every January, and even if this part of it was designed to cater to those tourists, there’d always been a charm to it.
“Can you at least turn down the heat?” Ana asked. “It’s hot.”
“You can take off your coat,” Mason said. “Going to be driving for a bit.”
Ana didn’t waste any time in tearing off her heavy winter coat, filling the cab with those swishy sounds for several seconds as the material rubbed against itself.
It wasn’t long before they turned off Third Street and left downtown behind them. Gabriela tried to take in the scenery as they drove—though she’d lived in the area for her entire life, it seemed there was new construction she hadn’t known about everywhere she looked—but her eyes kept creeping back to Mason. He was just as sexy in profile as he was head-on, especially with that gleam in his eye.
She really didn’t know where he was taking them. He’d told them to bring their big coats, snow boots, gloves, hats, and scarves, so she knew they’d be outdoors, but that was it. And though she wasn’t necessarily the biggest fan of the cold, she was glad to get out of the house after that awkward breakfast—during which Gabriela had been unable to look at Ana without nearly dying of embarrassment, whereas every time she’d so much as glanced at Mason, memories of what they’d done in his bed had sparked that flame in her core anew.