His eyes bore into mine. Sharp. Protective. “Yes.”
I nod my head, chewing the inside of my cheek.
He doesn’t want to tell me. I get it. He hardly knows me. But what he refuses to say with his words screams at me in the depths of his eyes. Pain. It lurks in the shallows of his stare, craving the unknown.
We may not know much about each other, but I’m quickly learning. Elliot knows him well—Charlie too. And they wanted me to be here for him tonight. I may not know why, but I genuinely believe that I should be here. That maybe this man needs somebody. Maybe for the first time in my life, I want to be more than Nina Anderson, the dancer, best friend to Lucy and Megan, and daughter of an alcoholic mother.
Maybe I could let just one more in.
“You need to sleep,” I tell him, smoothing out the deep lines in his forehead with my thumb. He lifts his head, nuzzling my palm before gently kissing it.
His head lies heavily in my hand, our bodies intertwined as he smiles warmly at me, swiftly drifting into the darkness.
I envy his ability to sleep so soundly as I lie awake watching him, waiting for sleep to carry me away from my own demons.
The bed is empty when I wake only a few hours later, and I allow myself to lie in the quiet confinement of the bedroom before I go in search of him.
I feel surprisingly good considering the amount of alcohol I drank last night. My head feels clear, and what I feared might happen after spending the night with Mason hasn’t happened. I don’t feel dirty, or shameful, or like I want to run for the hills. Mason is consuming. He enters the room, and I can barely focus on anything else, which should scare me, but it doesn’t. Because once he leaves and I’m all alone again, I don’t feel any less of a person. I feel valued. Seen.
Lifting my arms above my head, I stretch out my deliciously sore limbs, my body humming with arousal as I’m reminded of him sliding in behind me in the early hours of the morning.
Where are you, Mase?
Pulling back the covers, I creep to the door then poke my head out into the hallway. Silence. Satisfied I won’t get caught, I take off down the stairs in only Mason’s shirt, heading for the kitchen for a glass of water. My mouth waters the closer I get, the smell of bacon assaulting me. I feel famished.
“Good morning,” Lance sings, bright-eyed as he stands at the hob tending to what I presume is the bacon.
“Umm, morning,” I say on autopilot, immediately wishing I’d stayed up in the room.
His eyes drop down my body, and I pull at the hem of my shirt, wishing it were longer. “Breakfast?” he asks.
“Where’s Mason?”
He smiles wide. All teeth. Fake. “Probably out, making a million.” He winks.
“It’s a Saturday?”
“Yep.” He continues to turn the bacon. “Did you make sure to shag his brains out?” He eyes me, sarcasm dripping from his every word.
“Excuse me?” I ask at the same time that keys clatter in the foyer.
I stand waiting for Lance to explain, but he doesn’t. His eyes skirt over my shoulder just before warm hands encase my waist.
I close my eyes as his minty breath tickles at the skin just below my ear.
“Clothes. Now, Nina.” Mason says, voice scratchy and rough as he squeezes my hips.
I turn my head into him, his lips finding my temple. He stands topless at my back, his long torso ripped with muscle and wet with sweat. I drop my eyes lower, finding his shorts sitting low on his hips.Boy oh boy.“Come with me?” I ask.
He licks his lower lip before pulling it between his teeth. “Later, I have a houseful to kick out first.”
He steps away from me, and I quickly exit the kitchen when he moves to open the fridge.
I take the stairs two at a time, heading straight for the safety of the girls’ room. I push inside, finding them awake and sitting up in the large bed. Stepping up onto the ottoman, I make my way up the middle, sinking down between my two pillars of strength.
“You seem troubled, girl,” Lucy says. “Hungover?”
I shake my head, my mind in overdrive. “What do you guys make of Lance?” I ask, still stuck on his comment from before.
