Page 21 of A Sinful Gift

“Hazel.”

She was reaching for the doorknob, but her hand froze when he spoke her name. She closed her eyes.

“He needs you to stay for the same reason you need to leave. You know that, don’t you? You both fear the same thing... losing each other. The question is, would you rather live without him and hurt... or do you want to heal by staying with him?”

Tears blurred her eyes, and she refused to answer him. She pulled the door open and rushed outside to wait for her cab. When the door closed behind her, her shoulders drooped and her breath escaped in a slow, pained rhythm. Mason’s words still echoed in her head.

Would you rather live without him and hurt... or do you want to heal by staying with him?

* * *

Blake stared at the kitchen table, his heart in his throat as his world crumbled around him.

“Blake, man.” Mason roughly shook his shoulder. Blake blinked and lifted his dazed eyes up to his friend. “You have to go after her. Let her stay with us onherterms. But you have to tell her how you feel. She needs to know.” Mason jerked his head toward the doorway behind him. “Go now, before we lose her.”

Blake couldn’t move, not at first, then he finally did. He ran for the door and flung it open. A car was driving away in the distance, and he watched the red brake lights flash briefly before the car turned onto the street and vanished around a corner. She was gone. He was too late because losing her had frozen him inside. His legs gave out beneath him, and he collapsed onto his backside on the steps leading up to his front door. He buried his face in his hands, trying to remember how to breathe when it felt like an avalanche had just collapsed on his chest.

Why hadn’t he let her stay on her own terms? His stubbornness, his fear of losing her, had caused him to lose her forever.

“Blake?” A soft, pained voice came from behind him. He opened his eyes and turned to stare at the figure leaning against the wall just by his front door.

“Hazel.” He breathed her name and realized he had barreled past her where she stood somewhat hidden against the side of the house. Her bag sat at her feet, and she had her arms wrapped around herself.

Blake surged to his feet and went to her, pulling her into his embrace before she could protest. He needed to hold her, to feel her safely in his arms so that he didn’t slip farther over the brink of madness. He cupped the back of her head and tucked her face into his chest.

“I’m sorry... I’m so damned sorry,” he murmured over and over as he clutched her to him. “Stay with us on your terms. I can’t lose you, Hazel. Please forgive me. I’m a stubborn asshole, but one who loves you with everything I have.”

She said something, but it was muffled because of the way he was holding her. She finally lifted her head.

“Before you came out here, I’d already decided I wanted to stay with you... forever. I was just working up the courage to go back inside.” She stared up at him with those lovely hazel eyes full of tears.

“You know I’d do anything for you,” Blake said. “Anything.”

She smiled up at him, and that single expression stole his very soul.

“I know. And I would do anything for you too.” She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed him. From the first moment he’d met Hazel, she’d been hiseverything, and in the six years they’d known each other, that had never changed.

“Dinner is still warm, if anyone’s hungry,” Mason announced calmly from the doorway. They both turned to look at him, and he grinned softly. “Everything all right, sweetheart?” he asked her.

Hazel nodded shyly at him. “Yes... and I think I’m hungry... again,” she admitted with a laugh.

Blake put an arm around her waist as they walked through the door. No one wanted Mason’s hard work preparing such a fabulous dinner to go to waste and get cold.

After the three of them finished dinner, Blake led Hazel upstairs to his room and Mason followed. Tonight they had made their choice, all three of them, and it was time to cement their bond in the best way possible.

Mason moved first, pulling Hazel into his arms and kissing her as though they had a thousand years to enjoy each other. Blake knew what it was like to kiss her like that, and what a gift it was. He knew just how she would melt into Mason’s arms. Blake enjoyed the sight of his friend and the woman he loved kissing, more than he could say. It felt right. He and Mason were held together by their love for this incredible woman.

When Mason finally broke the kiss, he turned her to face Blake in a clear invitation to take his own kiss.

“Show him how much you love him, sweetheart,” Mason encouraged her with a gentle push toward Blake, and then he began removing his shirt.

Blake pulled Hazel once more into his arms, their lips coming together as if carved by some ancient sculptor who had cut them from marble long ago.

We are the same, she and I,he thought.Cut from the same stone.

* * *

Mason dropped his shirt to the floor and unfastened his jeans but didn’t remove them. He toed off his boots and socks, relishing the feel of the soft carpet beneath his bare feet. Then he crept up behind Hazel and slid his hands up under her sweater to stroke her belly and cup her breasts through the lacy bra she wore. She made a soft sound of delighted surprise against Blake’s mouth, and Mason grinned.

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