Mason’s lip curls and I worry I’ll lose his eyes, but he doesn’t look away from me, his knuckles only grow tighter against the marble top, as if he is restraining himself from going after Hemmings. His head dips slightly, and the reassurance he gives me in that one look is the only thing keeping me on the stage.
“Uh.” Megan seems to have lost her voice, and I look to her, praying she doesn’t wrap things up yet.
She shrugs. “Going once… twice…”
My eyes fly to Mason’s.
“Sold!” Megan fans herself, shaking her head helplessly at me when I look at her in horror.
My gaze goes back to Mason, and I find him striding towards the stage. He looks lethal, his smirk promising and measured. I learn all too quickly that he wasn’t restraining himself from getting to Hemmings. He was restraining himself from coming to me.
“Oh.” Megan taps the microphone. “Do we have a last-minute bidder?” She grins.
“Mase,” I warn as he nears.
He doesn’t slow, not stopping until his shoulder is at my hip, and I’m being thrown over his shoulder.
“Oh my god! Mase!”
“Hey! You can’t steal the prizes, Mr Lowell!” Megan laughs.
I don’t dare look up, placing my hands on his lower back as he strolls through the cheering crowd. Mason carries me from the tent and through the grounds until we are at the back doors of the terrace that leads off of the kitchen. He slides me down his body putting us mere inches from one another.
“What was that?”
His eyes dart all over my face. “You belong to me, Pix.”
“You didn’t bid on me.” My lips twist up into a smile.
“I didn’t need to,” he says, proud. “You’ll love me anyway.”
I feel my dimple pop as I rise onto the tips of my toes, placing a soft kiss to his lips. Chills run down my spine the second our lips touch, and I push into his body farther, grasping his tux jacket in my hands.
He groans against my lips, tearing away from me as he tries to find an opening in my dress. With no luck, he tries to lift it, but the material is too tight and doesn’t budge past my thighs. “Fuck!” he hisses.
“You’ll have to unzip it, Bossman.”
His nose brushes mine as he meets my eyes again. “Yeah? You’d let me unzip it?”
I nod, biting my lip on a smile.
Swinging my legs up over his arms, he lifts me like a bride and breezes in through the house. We bypass Ellis’s room and then go deeper into the west wing.
“So much choice, Mr Lowell,” I tease as we pass multiple doors.
“Shut it.” He grins, lowering his mouth to mine again and taking my lips in a deep kiss.
He drops me to my feet as we get lost in the kiss, our tongues tangling together as I pull open his tux jacket.
I need him naked.
I need us both naked.
My back hits the door hard in our haste, and I grunt slightly as the wind is knocked from my lungs.
“Shit.” He pulls away.
Slipping my hand in his hair, I draw him back into me, biting down on his lip until I taste the faint copper tang of his blood. A growl vibrates from his chest.
