It was just us, Mason and I, and when he stared down at my body and took a deep breath, I finally let go of the one I had been holding.
Mason bent at the waist before he gathered me in his arms and carried me to the bed. I was lying on my back with my hair soaking through the white sheets, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
He took his time as he unbuttoned his shirt one excruciating button after another, and I was practically squirming on the bed when he finally pulled his black belt from his pants. When he was completely naked in front of me, he dropped a knee to the mattress and moved over my body without touching me. I could feel the warmth of him above me. My body was begging for me to get closer to him.
He pushed my hair out of my face as he settled on his elbows near my head, and I almost looked away when I saw the look in his eyes. A look that I had been scared of for so long.
He pressed his lips to my forehead before he moved down my body at an achingly slow pace. This wasn’t about our bodies. It wasn’t about chasing that high of an orgasm. This was more. It was always more, but this was different than anything I had ever felt before.
Mason’s body pressed against mine, and it was only moments before he was pushing himself into me. I moaned as he buried his face in my neck, and I reached out for him, for something to hold on to.
His body wasn’t rushed as he moved against me, and I could feel my orgasm building. A steady and lethal storm that was brewing inside of me.
Mason’s hand roamed over my face as he stared down at me, and I couldn’t take my eyes off his. It was more intimate than I had ever been with anyone else, even Ben, but I refused to let myself look away from him. I refused to run from him just because I was scared.
His hips rolled against mine, and I cried out as pleasure shot through my body. It was the kind of pleasure that was all-consuming, the kind that made you lose every ounce of worry or inhibition that you had left.
And when the words slipped past my lips, I blamed it on that pleasure. I blamed it on Mason and everything he was forcing me to feel, but I didn’t regret them.
I would never regret them because they were true.
When Mason whispered the same words in my ear, my fingers dug into his back and I let go of every bit of control I was clinging to.
“I love you.”
Mason
I had no interest in going to the damn convention. Especially not after I finally got Staci in my arms. Not after she had finally opened up to me.
I needed to get a handle on the fury that was running through me. As soon as I saw her face when I asked her if he had hurt her, a rage that I had never experienced before ran through my blood. But I had to keep it under control. I wouldn’t let her see how angry I was. I didn’t want to scare her.
Because I was mad enough to kill.
If I ever did see that motherfucker, I would kill him. Her husband. God, she had a husband. Just that thought alone made me want to murder him. He was supposed to be her everything, but he wasn’t. Thank fuck he wasn’t, but it didn’t make me hate him any less.
Staci had gone to her room to get ready for the convention, and I had gone to the gym and tried my hardest to work out my anger. I was dripping with sweat by the time I made it back to my room, and I was glad that Staci was already downstairs.
She had been working at the convention for an hour by the time I finally calmed myself down enough to meet them down there.
I had to fight my way through the crowd to get to their booth. There were people surrounding it in every direction you looked, and I didn’t blame them. Staci was up on a platform tattooing on a young woman’s back when I finally saw her, and it seemed like every other male in the room had his eyes on her as well.
Her jeans were tight and low on her hips, and she had a black tank top on that was knotted in the back showing off her midriff. Everything inside of me screamed to cover her up. I wanted to cover her up and get every other man’s eyes off her.
But I wouldn’t be that guy.
Because that guy, he wasn’t what Staci needed. Staci was by far one of the most independent women I had ever met, and I now knew that she clung to that independence because of her past.
I would never make her feel like I was taking that away from her.
Would I get jealous? Fuck yes. I was jealous right now, but there was a difference between jealousy and possessiveness. I didn’t want to possess Staci. I just wanted to love her.
She pulled her eyes off the woman she was tattooing for only a moment to look up at me before she focused back on her work. A small smile formed on her lips, and I had to fight the urge to grab her in my arms in front of all of these people and kiss the hell out of her.
My sister was working at a table behind the booth selling merchandise and talking to people as they came up. Brandon was near Staci on the platform, and he was tattooing a guy’s upper arm while people watching in awe.
“Hey, Mrs. James.” I bumped my sister’s shoulder. “Where is that husband of yours?”
She grinned, a huge ass grin before she pointed toward the edge of their booth where Parker was talking with a few guys who were as tattooed as he was.
“Mrs. James,” Livy murmured her new name as she looked down at the simple diamond on her finger. “That’s so weird. Right?”
“I think it’s pretty perfect.” I found a t-shirt out of the stack in front of me and handed it to her. She handed it to the guy in front of her before taking his money then she turned to look at me.
“It is. Isn’t it?”
She looked so happy, so insanely happy, and I was beyond relieved that she had found that. That she and Parker had found that in each other after everything they had been through.
“What’s the plan for the honeymoon?” My eyes darted back to where Staci was still working.
“When you all head back home tomorrow, we’re heading to Hawaii.” She did a little luau dance and I chuckled. “I’m going to come home tan and completely relaxed, and you all are going to be insanely jealous.”
“You better wear sunscreen. You know how you burn in Tennessee and the sun is different in Hawaii.”
“Thank you, Dad.” She rolled her eyes, but I pulled her toward me and wrapped my arms around her.
“I’m happy for you, Liv.” I looked down at my baby sister, the girl I had been looking out for my entire life, and I thanked God for her.
“I’m happy for you too.” She squeezed my shoulder and her eyes traveled to Staci. “She seemed like she was in a much happier mood today.”
“I want to make her happy.” I watched as Staci laughed at something the woman she was tattooing said then she started bouncing her head to the music that blared through the convention space.
“I know you do.” Livy squeezed my arm. “Both of you deserve to be happy.”
She was right. We did deserve to be happy, but I only wanted it with Staci. I could only see it with her.
Staci looked up from her work again, her eyes going to where I had stood moments earlier, then she quickly moved her gaze through the crowd until she finally reached Livy and I. She smiled, at me or Livy I wasn’t sure, but it was breathtaking nonetheless.
“I didn’t really have faith that you could pull this off.”
My sister’s words pulled my attention away from Staci and back to her. She was still looking toward her best friend.