“I’m glad you didn’t,” I said finally, my hand reaching out and wiping the tears from his face. I moved and stood in front of him, my hands cupping his face.
“You have enough demons in your own nightmares. You don’t need to add mine.”
Lee looked up at me, the tears he’d shed shiny on his face. He took a deep breath, as if preparing for a blow.
“So, where does that leave… us?” he asked, his body stiff as he asked the question we were both struggling with.
“I… I don’t know,” I said honestly. I saw the pain flit across his face, but he quickly shuttered it.
“Okay,” he said, reaching for his phone. “I understand. I’ll see if maybe you can stay with my friends, John and Anna until— .”
“No,” I said, my hand reaching out and covered his.“No.”
Lee looked up at me in confusion.
“I meant what I said the other night, Lee,” I said, stroking my fingers over the knuckles of his hands. “I want this,” I said, gesturing between us. “Whatever this is. Whatever this becomes. Friends. Lovers. Whatever we are, or are becoming. I. Want. This.” I said, punctuating my words with silence. “I want you.”
He looked at me, hope lighting in his beautiful eyes, his lips firming under my gaze.
“You… You mean that?” he asked, hesitantly.
I nodded, every second more sure of my decision.
Suddenly, his arms were around me, pulling me close to him.
“Oh my god, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for forgiving me. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, I’ve done just about everything I could to fuck this up…” he sighed, then one hand fisted in my hair, the other wrapping around my waist. “I was so afraid I’d never get to do this again…” he said, his lips coming down toward my own, but he froze, just a breath away from me.
“Mason. May I kiss you?” he asked. I just nodded. His tongue licked gently against my lips in silent question. I opened my mouth to him, our tongues tangling for a moment of heat and passion. I slid my own hands down, cupping his ass and pulling him closer to me, our cocks grinding together deliciously as I pressed.
“Lee…” I whispered into his ear, nibbling on his earlobe. “Lee, I want to fuck you.”
He froze, then pulled back to look me in the eyes. His own his face inscrutable for a moment, then turned until we faced each other.
“Are you sure?” he asked, his voice deep, a divot of concern appearing between his eyebrows.
I reached up and smoothed that crease away, laying kisses along his neck, face and forehead.
“Definitely,” I said.
23
Lee
The walktoward the bedroom was a blinding blur of hands and skin and mouths. By the time we made it to the door, we were both naked. Our bodies stroked against one another as we moaned and gasped. I’d even admit to the occasional whimper of need. Whimpering during sex was still manly, right?Don’t answer that, I told myself.Just go with it.
Fuck, now I was talking to myself. Masonwasrubbing off on me.
I couldn’t believe Mason was able to forgive me my portion of his hell. If positions were reversed, I didn’t know if I would have been able to do the same. If he’d had anything to do with Mack’s death... The thought of Mack made me pause and Mason noticed my hesitation.
“What?” he asked, sucking gently on the skin of my neck.
“I—” He nipped gently, and I lost the thought.
We moved together slowly, tentatively at first, as if we hadn’t already spent hours exploring each other’s bodies, but everything was suddenly new again.
Mason moved with unexpected skill as he stroked my body. I realized with a shock that there were many years of experience behind his actions. Even though I knew his history, logically, it would still takegetting used to. He came across so inexperienced in so many ways, I forgot that he had a lot of experience with sex.
Sex, though, not love. I’d have to teach him love.
