His chuckle rumbles, and I feel the warm air brushing over the top of my spine as he dips closer.
“You say that now, but wait till you try to walk tomorrow.”
I snort, shifting slightly—only to immediately pause again as the plug still nestled inside me makes itself known.
“Oh,” I groan into the pillow. “I forgot for a second that was still in.”
His hand stills on my back, then moves lower, cupping gently over my ass cheek. “Want me to take it out?”
I hesitate, not because I don’t trust him. More because something about the way he says it makes me feel like Icould.
That maybe I don’t have to pretend I’m still angry to protect myself.
“That’d be nice,” I whisper.
His touch is reverent now. He helps me roll onto my side, one hand soothing along my hip, the other carefully guiding the plug out with soft encouragement and low praise.
“You did so fucking good for me,” he murmurs, pressing a kiss to my shoulder. “So perfect.”
I don’t know what to say to that. Compliments are one thing, but this is intimacy.
The last time I let someone close enough to care, he ghosted me without a word, and he just so happens to be the same guy caressing my skin right now.
I hug the sheet to my chest, moving more onto my side.
Mason moves with me, brushing my hair back, then sliding off the bed and heading to the bathroom. I hear the tap run, hisfeet padding across the hardwood, then the feel of a warm cloth gliding between my thighs.
It’s gentle. Thoughtful. And it cracks something in me.
“Why’d you come tonight?” I ask, voice quieter than I meant.
He stills, the cloth paused mid-stroke. “You didn’t check in.”
I turn my head. “I know… But that’s not all.”
He doesn’t answer at first, just finishes cleaning me up, then discards the cloth and climbs back into bed beside me.
“Because I’m a fucking idiot.”
I blink up at him.
“I thought RedRiot was safer than real,” he says. “That I could want her and still keep a wall between us. Tell myself it wasn’t anything serious, just late-night voicing and flirting. Just a month of you in my ear, making me laugh and come, making me feel things I haven’t felt in years.”
My stomach twists, affection and ache tangling together.
“I thought if I kept it behind the screen, I couldn’t hurt again,” he goes on. “That I could listen to your voice every night, jerk off like a teenager, and pretend I wasn’t falling for someone I’d never met.”
I swallow. “Mason…”
“And I ghosted you, because I panicked. Because you held the prospect of something real, and that scared the shit out of me.” His voice roughens. “But then I met you.Not Red,you.And you’re smarter, funnier, fuckingfiercerthan anything my dumbass imagination could’ve come up with. ”
He exhales like it hurts. “I’ve been regretting it every minute since.”
My throat tightens, lips parting, unsure what to say. Unsure what to do with all that truth.
He shifts closer, pressing his forehead into the side of mine. “You’re not some fantasy, Frankie. You’re the reality I want. I was a coward, but I want you… If you still want me.”
The smart thing would be to make him grovel a little longer. Toss him a pillow and make him work for it—keep my walls up until I’m sure.
