“It’s only been an hour,” Mason teases.
I stretch a little, noting that my ribs are less painful, and more just achy. Tilting my head toward him, I’m rewarded with a little scratch of my scalp.
“Must’ve been all I needed.” I squint an eye to look at his hip, finding his phone in his hand. “What’re you doing?”
Mason flushes a beautiful shade of crimson. “I was listening to thatDungeons and Dragonspodcast I love. They just released a new episode, and you were zonked out, so I figured it was a good time.”
I roll over onto my back so that Mason’s front is tucked perfectly against my side. Letting my hand gently rest on his thigh, I brush my thumb over the soft material of his tattered and worn sweatpants. To touch him like this, without worry about triggering him from being outside, is a dream come true. So is just sharing a bed with him. But what we’d shared in the shower had been beyond comparison to any sexualencounter I’ve ever had. I don’t know what my label is, and it doesn’t really matter to me. All that matters is that my body feelsrightwhen I’m with Mason.
“Can you explainD&Dto me?”
Mason looks pensive. “If you’ll do something in return.”
My heart starts to race. “Oh?”
“Yeah…” Mason leans forward, lips an inch from mine. My breath catches in my lungs and my cock takes notice, starting to harden in my pants. “If you’ll”—Mason dances his fingers down my face, over my chin, then lets them land on my bottom lip—“tell me”—when I part my lips to lick the pads of his fingers, he gasps, then grins in mischief—“what your favorite book is?”
“What?”
Mason kisses me softly. “What’s your favorite book?”
“The Three Musketeers.”
Mason snorts. “Bullshit. Tell me the real book.”
“Okay, well, it’s kind of stupid, but when I was a kid, I read this series about boys who get sucked into this fairy world. It wasn’t what you’d expect, there was a lot of danger, and the fairies were not always nice. Anyway… I really loved that series.”
“Really?” Mason asks in wonder.
I squint up at him. “Yes.”
“That’s so fucking cute.”
And then Mason’s kissing me softly, the still damp strands of his hair brushing over my forehead. I reach up to caress his jaw, hesitant at first, but then I firm my touch when Mason lets out a soft, pleased sigh. I love the feel of his slight stubble beneath my fingers.
“Explain theD&Dstuff to me,” I whisper against Mason’s slack mouth.
“All right.” But Mason sounds like he’d rather spend all day kissing me. “Just imagine the most fantastical video game ever, but it’s real life. All these people get together with these games they plan, elaborate stories and scenarios, then they act them out with monsters and magicians. It’s justfun.”
“Kinda sexy listening to you nerd out.”
Mason rolls his eyes. “Sure.”
I grip his chin and turn him toward me. “It is sexy. Everything about you is sexy.”
“Why do you wear contacts on missions?” Mason asks, deftly swerving to change the topic.
“I’malmostlegally blind. Robin wanted me to get corrective eye surgery, but Jacob printed out all these horror stories about people having serious side effects that terrified me, so now I just use contacts. I sleep with them in far too often.” I blink sleepily up at Mason, just enjoying touching him for as long as he’ll let me. “Do you like the glasses?”
Mason flushes again. Interesting. “Yeah, I like the glasses.”
Noted.
We lie in bed for a while, until Mason finishes his podcast. For dinner we wander downstairs to heat up more pastina while chatting about random things like how Mason takes his eggs, the fact I taught myself to play guitar, and whyAlice in Wonderlandis so scary. By the time nightfall arrives, I’m tired all over again. And when we curl up in bed, this time Mason is a firm line along my side, and everything feels just a little easier than it did only a few weeks ago now that he’s in my grips.
Finally, after the prescribed amount of days of bed rest—of letting Mason dote over me—I’m cleared to return to active duty. Mason joins me at the house on the fifth day and Dante slow claps when I walk in. I tip an invisible hat at him with a triumphant grin.
“The prodigal son returns,” Hayden says with a teasing drawl.
