“You awake?” he asked groggily then slowly opened his eyes and met my gaze.
“Yes,” I replied, feeling entirely too high on life for a girl without a job or money.
“Hmm . . . you want to tell me all about your week now or over coffee and waffles?”
Grinning, I pressed a kiss to his arm. “Is that your way of asking me to make you waffles?”
He shrugged, grinning like he knew he could get me to do anything. “Maybe.”
I kissed his arm again. “You have to let me up in order for me to do that.”
His head lowered, and he ran his lips gently over my forehead. “But you feel so good all snuggled up soft in my arms.”
I would agree that this was my favorite spot ever. On earth.
“Why don’t you tell me about your week now?” he said in a more serious tone.
He was asking me about my week like he already knew. “I talked to you last night on the phone. You know about my week,” I said, testing him.
“No . . . I only know what you’ve told me. I want the whole story. Nothing left out.” The teasing in his voice was gone now. He knew. That was why he was here.
“Who told you?” I asked, moving back, or at least trying to. His hold on me didn’t loosen.
“You should have,” was his reply.
“It wasn’t your problem.”
That got his attention. His eyes snapped open wide, and he moved fast. I thought for a second that he was getting up, but he flipped me on my back and put one hand on each side of my head and hovered over me. “Anything that affects you is my problem. You’re mine. Even if I didn’t know what happened that day. Even if Nan wasn’t my sister. This would be my problem, because it hurts you. It causes you pain.” His voice softened on that last sentence. He lowered his body, but he didn’t press against me. He nuzzled my neck for a moment, and my entire body came to life. A sensation of warmth spread through me. “When you hurt, it rips me apart. When you’re happy, I feel like I own the fucking world.”
This man was too much. “You have a ranch to run and a life in Texas. I didn’t want to bother you with this.”
Mase sighed and kissed my jaw before moving back to look down at me. “I have a ranch to run, and it’s in Texas. But you trump all that. If you need me, you come first.”
I love you was right there on the tip of my tongue. I wanted him to know. But he wasn’t saying those words to me. I was afraid he would think I was naive and confused about what we were doing. So I kept them to myself. But I screamed them in my head and my soul. I loved this man.
“Your check is in the pocket of my jeans. Nan gave that back to me last night. You don’t owe her anything. She didn’t buy that mirror. Kiro bought the house furnished. It’s all his, and he doesn’t give a shit about that mirror.”
I just stared up at him. I didn’t know what to say to that. I had seen the fury on Nan’s face. I wasn’t so sure she would agree to this. When Mase left, the cops were likely to show up and arrest me. That money I gave her was my proof that I intended to pay her back.
“I need her to have that money, Mase.”
He shook his head. “It’s handled. She won’t bother you again.”
When he was gone, she would. “You can’t protect me from everything.”
“I can protect you from my sister. And fuck yes, I can protect you from everything. Send that shit my way. I’ll take it out.” He was smiling, but I could see the seriousness in his eyes.
“Mase,” I started, but he put his finger over my lips.
“I got this. I handled it. She’s afraid of a lawsuit from you. You were hurt at her house on the job, then fired over it. She will not contact you again. Hell, she probably won’t breathe the same air you do for a while. I was very thorough in my descriptions of what I would do if she fucked with you any more.”
“I wouldn’t sue her because I fell and broke a mirror.”
“She doesn’t know that, baby. And that’s all that matters.” He rolled off me and got up. I was blessed with a view of his butt in those white briefs. God bless America and Mase Manning’s ass.
“You gonna get that sweet tail up and make me some waffles? Because, baby, if you keep looking at me like I’m the meal, I may be tempted to crawl back into that bed and see exactly what you had in mind.”
I would love for him to crawl back into bed and do things with me. To me. But I didn’t want to have to ask him to do stuff. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that. I knew why he wanted me to, but still . . . the idea was so embarrassing.
How did one ask a man to touch her vagina?
Cringing at that thought, I stood up and flashed a smile at him. “I’m going to make you some waffles. Put on your jeans so I’m not distracted.”
Mase laughed as I hurried to the bathroom to brush my hair and teeth.
Then I went and made my guy some breakfast, while he stood on the other side of the bar and watched me.
Mase
If she bent over one more time and flashed that freckle at me, I was going to lose my mind. I had eaten my waffles and made it through her stirring the batter with no bra on under that tank top. That had been one hell of a pretty sight. But now she was cleaning up the kitchen, and she kept bending over.
I had offered to clean up, but she had pushed me out of the tiny corner and said she’d do it faster since she knew where everything was. So now I was being given a view of her ass and that freckle. My freckle.
I loved that freckle.
Shit, I was horny. She had me so wound up, and I was trying so hard to be good. But I knew how that ass felt in my hands and those sweet nipples tightened under my tongue.
Groaning, I turned away from the prettiest sight I’d ever seen and walked over to sit on the sofa.
I sank down and had to adjust my damn dick. My jeans were suddenly too tight, and the zipper was going to leave a mark on it if I didn’t get myself under control. I needed to think about something other than Reese’s body.
First boner killer I could think of: my mother. She would want to know where I’d gone. I needed to call her and explain. I had only called my stepdad. I hadn’t explained myself to her. Which meant she was going to ask me a lot of questions. I was ready to tell her about Reese. I wanted to talk about her. My mom was probably the one person who would want to listen to me talk about her.
“You OK?” Reese’s voice broke into my thoughts, and I turned to see her walking my way. Those long legs and . . . fuck, those tits were jiggling. She needed a bra. I needed her to wear a bra. The boner I’d deflated was back with a vengeance. Fuck me.