She shakes her head. “They’ll never see me that way.”
I shrug. “Yeah, maybe, but I thought I had a chance to change that with the movie. Turns out I don’t have the stomach to deal with someone who treated you like shit.”
Her brows pinch. “What did you do?”
“I kicked Sophia out of our house.”
“Mason, no.” Her face falls. “You can’t quit because of me. You wanted this.”
“I wanted something that would make you happy. That’s it. End of story.” I trail my fingers through her hair. “What she brought into our home was the opposite.”
She sinks back into me, her body warm against mine. “I agree.” She lightly presses her lips to the sensitive skin below my ear. “But it’s still a huge opportunity that we need to discuss further. Not now, though. I’m too tipsy to think rationally.”
I grin into her hair. “In that case, maybe I should get you home and take advantage of your lowered guard.”
She snickers, whisper soft. “Nice try. But we both know I have to get back to Linden.”
CHAPTER 7
Mason
Fucking Linden.
That walking toothpaste commercial has become a hemorrhoid.
“I’ve had a lot of fun today.” Sid pulls back to meet my gaze. “Working with him has sparked a creative fire inside me.”
That better be all he’s sparked inside her.
“I know what you’re thinking, and you need to stop.” She cups my cheek. “He also made me realize hiding is only hurting us. I don’t want to keep living half a life.”
I stare at her. I stare so hard my stomach aches. “I know I’m a prick, kitten, but I can’t help feeling jealous that I wasn’t the one to inspire that revelation.”
“Don’t be. It was merely a right time, right place situation. The song he’s striving for helped, too. It’s incredibly provocative and has made me see how being tucked away isn’t only stunting my career but my sexuality. There’s things I want to experience that I’ve forced to the back of my mind because I’m petrified of being humiliated again.”
“What type of things?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugs. “There are big things… Little things… When we were first together the night of the Grammy’s, I felt safe to explore with you. But ever since the viral video, it’s as if I’ve shut down that part of myself. I want to be able to experiment with you again.”
“We experiment. It was only last month that you were shoving ginger into—”
“It’s more than that.” She chuckles. “For starters, I mean having the freedom to have sex in places other than properties you own.”
“We own,” I correct. “Everything I have is yours.”
“I know.” Her smile is subdued. “I just think it might be time to start testing boundaries again.”
“Say more. Tell me everything.”
Her cheeks darken. “We’ve been together while another man has touched me… But I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have your hands all over me while I kissed another woman.”
“Okay. I’m liking where this is headed.”
She leans closer, her expression wicked as she says, “Or your cock in my mouth while her fingers are inside me.”
Holy Jesus. “How much have you had to drink?”
She grins. “Enough to dislodge some of my fears.” Her hands wrap around my neck. “I want to figure out how to be me again. How I can do all the things I’ve buried inside me without worrying it will be broadcasted to the world. I want to push boundaries like I did when we first got together. Don’t you remember how insane it was with Sean? Not that I want to be with another man. That’s not what this is about. What I want is the new experience.”
Goddamn. “We might have to put this conversation on ice. Otherwise the only thing being broadcast to the world will be me blowing in my fucking pants.”
“I guess we should save this for another time and place.” She chuckles again and pulls away, her gaze coy as she starts down the hall. “I really should rejoin Linden.”
“On second thought.” I snatch at her waistband and drag her back to me, not stopping until her ass meets the bulge in my crotch. “Why don’t we put these lowered inhibitions of yours to the test?”
Her laughter increases. Flirty and sweet. “And how do you plan on doing that?”
I weave an arm around her waist to undo the button on her jeans. “We can start by initiating a correction in our wildly unbalanced orgasm tally.”
She keeps laughing.
I’m not joking.
“Put your hands up, kitten.”
“Why?”
I grab her hips and swing her around to the corner. She gasps, raising her palms to the plaster as I press her into the wall. I cage her between my arms, my dick hard against her ass, my chest tight against her back.
“Mason, this is…”
“Scandalous? Risky?” I fumble blindly to lower her zipper. “The guys won’t let anyone down here. Not without giving us notice.” I start a path of kisses along her neck, my cock pulsing each time she delicately shivers. “Tell me to keep going because I’m dying to touch you.”
“Mason…”
“Yes or no?” I scrape my teeth along her skin, gently nipping. “Yes? Or no?”
Her breath shudders. “Yes.”
I slide my hand into her panties. “All I ever want to do is make you happy.”
“You do make me happy.” She grabs my wrist and turns to face me, her eyes wide and frenzied. She’s so breathtakingly beautiful in the dim light as her leg hooks around my thigh, her pelvis grinding into mine. “But you could make me even happier if you kissed me.”
I smash my mouth to hers. Hard. Fast.
Our tongues dance while she guides my hand back toward her crotch. It’s timid. Cautious. A delicate mix of hesitation and trepidation after what she’s been through. But a green light, nonetheless.
“You can tell me to stop whenever you want.” I speak against her lips.
She nods, her touch skating up my arms and over my shoulders. She claws my shirt. My neck. My hair. Those perfectly manicured fingernails scratch into me, every bite of pleasured pain making my dick agonizingly throb as our mouths spar.
“There’s my little wildcat.” I want to fuck her. Here. Against the wall. On the floor. In the storeroom.
“It’s been a while since you called me that,” she whispers. “I’ve missed hearing it.”
I’ve missed saying it, too. I’ve missed inspiring her adrenaline. Her thrill. “I’m sorry.”
I pull back to meet her gaze as my palm slides beneath her panties, my fingertips gliding over her mons to the treasure beneath.
She’s wet.
Fuck, it feels good to find her ready. Not that I’ve ever found her any other way. But I’ve been waiting for it. With the fake orgasms and the out-of-sync affection, I’ve wondered if it was only a matter of time.
But she’s soaked. Slick and greedy.
“I want to taste you,” I growl. “I want this sweet pussy drenching my face.”