Page 17 of A Sinful Gift

She started to aim a glare at him but lost her mind when he hooked his fingers in the waistband of the boxers and pulled them off her legs. Before she could process her own nakedness, he lifted her legs and spread them around his hips, her wet core pressed against the roughness of the zipper of his jeans. Her nipples pebbled into hard points and her stomach tightened in anticipation as she waited for him to do what he would with her prone, primed body.

He leaned over her, his heat tingling her skin, and licked his lips. “Good girls get eaten out. But naughty girls...”

She squirmed as he dragged his eyes down her body, keenly aware of the hardness that pushed against his fly, nestled between her legs. She scooted forward slightly to better feel his cock, and he chuckled.

“Naughty girl, then. In that case...” He lifted her body a little and gently rolled her over so that she lay face down on the smoothly waxed hull of the boat.

Smack!His palm lightly connected with her buttocks as he spanked her. The smack hurt, but it sent a flood of desire following straight afterward. The heat of his palm, the way he jerked her body, moving it where he wanted so he could punish her better, only melted her inside that much quicker. Something dark and secretly wicked within her liked being spanked, liked being punished like this for teasing him and Blake. She loved pushing against their boundaries and still being safe, even if she got spanked for it.

“Ten ought to do it,” he said, then he gave her nine more spankings, each a little harder. By the end she was hot all over and dripping for him.

When he turned her back over to face him, he once more bent his head to her breasts, nuzzling them before nipping at a sensitive peak. She let out a cry through the gag as pleasure zinged straight to her core. The ropes pulled against her wrists as she struggled, but she didn’t mind. She could handle a little bruising, especially if she had done it herself in her own excitement. Her body quivered as she arched her back, offering more of herself to Mason. He groaned and buried his face in the valley of her breasts as he drew in a deep breath.

“You are the only woman I’ve ever met who makes me lose control. I’ve taken women to bed before and have never felt so mindless as I do now.” He lifted his head to look up at her. “Youdo this to me, Hazel.Only you.” He kissed his way down to her mound. Before, he had handled her roughly, but this time his lips and mouth were sensitive and gentle. He licked and kissed slowly, taking his time tasting her. Each flick of his tongue on her tender, sensitive flesh was too much. She was grateful for the gag because knowing her cries were muffled allowed her to be as loud as she desired. Mason’s tongue circled the bud of her clit before he drew it between his lips. She jerked tighter against the soft cotton ropes that held her prisoner.

“Beg for me, sweetheart,” Mason growled as he reached up to tease the gag out of her mouth.

She sucked in a deep breath, about to say she would never beg a man for anything, but when he looked at her with those burning brown eyes, darkened with sensual secrets, she found herself surrendering.

“Please, Mason,” she begged.

“Please,sir,” he corrected. “If you want gentle lovemaking, you call meMason, and I’ll give you what you want. But if you want me to wreck you, you’ll call mesir, understand?” He slid one finger inside her, pumping lightly to remind her of what shereallywanted.

“Please... sir.” She lifted her hips, and Mason’s face lit with a wicked smile.

“As you wish, sweetheart.” He unfastened his jeans, freed his cock, and within seconds he was thrusting deep, so hard that she cried out at the sudden pressure. He leaned over her, bracing his hands on the boat before he suddenly caught her hands and held them. Even though she was still tied up, his fingers curled around her wrists. Trapping her only heightened the feeling of helplessness in this situation, and she loved it. He moved his other hand to grasp her hip, holding her steady as he withdrew and drove deep again. They both gasped at the same time as he filled her and stretched her.

“So goddamn tight,” he murmured against her parted lips, kissing her. It was one of the best kisses of her life. She let go of all thoughts, all fears, all worries. There was nothing beyond this kiss and the motion of their bodies joining. She felt an ancient rhythm of two hearts and two bodies coming together as one. This was a man she could love—was lovingin this moment—and that realization made her tremble and quake. She was losing the battle to guard her heart. Mason had just crumbled the walls of her fortress with one well-placed cannon shot.

Mason deepened the kiss, his mouth urgent on hers. He kissed her as if this might be the last time he would ever kiss her, and she returned it, tears stinging her eyes as her body began to fly. Sharp, almost painful pleasure ripped through her with the force of a tidal wave, drawing water back across the sands of her existence and pulling her out into the deep dark sea where she had no control anymore. She rocked on that ocean, Mason with her, his heat and his strength surrounding her like the rays of the late-summer sun. He kissed away her tears, murmured soft, sweet things to her, things she needed to believe, because if she didn’t, she would lose herself to the fears and anxiety outside him and this moment.

Mason brushed his lips over her cheek and drew a shaky breath against her skin.

“Blake may let you go, but not me, Hazel. I keep what’smine. I love it and cherish it, and once it’s mine, it’s mineforever.” He lifted his face a little so their eyes could meet. He was still buried deep in her body, and yet despite his claim that she was his, she knew she was the one who could own him. All she had to do was take one step across the line and let her heart be open again. And that was terrifying.

Mason’s nose nuzzled hers before he gave her one more slow, tender kiss that was no less seductive than the ones that had come before. But this one held his heart in it. All she had to do was take it... if she was brave enough.

When he finally withdrew from her body and fixed his clothes, she missed the feel of being joined with him. He pulled on one end of the knotted ropes that bound her, and the bindings came loose. Then he removed the rope and lightly rubbed her wrists, examining them. There were faint red marks from her pulling, but she didn’t mind. His brows lowered and he frowned.

“It doesn’t hurt,” she said. “I like it a little rough with marks.” She thought of the marks left from Blake’s ring on her hip, when he’d gripped her hips tight while making love to her. She wasn’t exactly a masochist, but she did like the occasional proof of mind-blowing sex.

Mason pressed his lips to her skin in a reverent kiss before he helped her off the boat and lifted her up in his arms. He carried her back to his home and brought her straight to his bedroom. In some ways it was a lot like Blake’s, spacious and well decorated, but the style was vastly different. Where Blake’s room was subtle in tone and modern, Mason’s room fit with his love of the outdoors. A green-and-blue plaid coverlet lay across the sleigh bed, and moss-green walls created an earthy feel. Photographs of mountains and birch tree forests in large frames decorated the space.

Mason opened the closet door and pulled out a red-and-gray plaid flannel shirt. “Put this on.”

Then he gave her a fresh pair of boxers and showed her to the bathroom.

He left her alone for a few minutes to see to her needs, and when she emerged from the bathroom, he was waiting for her. Unlike Blake, who’d given her space, Mason simply leaned back against the bed and opened his arms. She went willingly to him. He held her tight, his arms banded around her and his lips buried in the crown of her hair.

“Don’t be afraid ofthis... of me,” he murmured.

She wasn’t afraid ofhim, but rather of love. People who loved you could leave you, they could die, and what if something happened to him or Blake? How could she ever bear to lose one or both of them?

What if...

Those two words held a universe of possible heartbreak. It was so much safer to be alone, but what he and Blake promised her was too wonderful to resist for long. What would she choose when her seven days were up?

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