Page 35 of Between the Paragraphs

He pulls me back into his arms and I melt against him, my breasts aching as they rub against the solidness of his chest. He backs me up against the bed and we fall onto it, a tangle of limbs, lips, teeth, and tongue.

Mason kisses me until my head goes light. He moves down my jaw and continues his descent, peppering kisses over my neck and down my breasts. I gasp as he gently sucks a nipple into his mouth causing goosebumps to erupt over my body. I cry out and arch into his touch and he smirks before continuing down my body, licking and nipping a path down my navel, using his hands to caress my heated skin before finally lowering himself.

When he reaches my core I tremble as he lifts one of my legs onto his shoulder, spreading me open for his pleasure. I impatiently wriggle my hips. He smirks, but he doesn’t tease me. Mason immediately swipes his tongue along my heat before sucking my clit until I’m screaming in pleasure.

As an orgasm washes through me, I’m barely aware of him turning my body so that I’m lying facedown on the bed. I feel Mason crawling back up my body, spreading my legs open with his own. His hard length rubs against my slit a moment before he plunges deep inside of me as the last of my tremors are fading. This sends heat right back through me, and I hold him tight as he surges in and out of my hot body.

I gasp and moan, making sounds I didn’t even know were possible as the new angle makes him hit me in all of the right places. Sex with Mason has always been great, but this is otherworldly. I close my eyes and clench one fist into the sheets while the other one moves down and grasps his thigh, seeking some kind of purchase.

Mason wraps one arm around my chest, his hand gently resting on my neck. He brings his head next to mine and continues to lavish my neck. His other arm snakes around my front and his finger finds my clit, sending me over the edge again.

This right here, right now, is my favorite place to be. Lying skin to skin, hearts beating as one is what I need most in the world. I tremble as fire rocks through my body, shuddering with every new thrust. Mason collapses on top of me and I feel so right in this moment.

I grumble as he rolls off me, but smile when he immediately drags me into his arms in a position where he’s not crushing me. I’m hopelessly falling in love with this man. There’s no turning back now. This is normally where I’d panic, but I feel too good to do that. I have no doubt that we’ll figure it out. For now I’m more determined than ever to live off of food and sex alone. It’s a pretty dang great plan.

It takes a while as I don’t want to miss out on a single moment with this man, but eventually exhaustion pulls me under and I go to sleep with a smile on my lips where I’m sure to dream about this man. I’m okay with this. I’m more than okay with it. I could be very content to do this for the rest of my life.

Chapter Thirteen

Mason

I wake up with a start, reaching out for Maria only to find an empty space beside me. I feel the sheets, and they’re cold. I don’t like this. I open my eyes and blink against the early morning light, noticing a note on her pillow. What the heck? A note? Something’s wrong. I grab it, feeling a strange sense of unease. I don’t like finding a note in place of her warm body.

Mason,

It’s been another amazing night, and I’m sorry to sneak off, but I already have plans with Nikki this weekend, and she’ll kill me if I bail on her. I’ll talk to you soon. Have an amazing weekend.

Love Maria

I’m dumbfounded as I read the note multiple times. Irritation soon pops up. I’ve always been the person to run as fast as possible when with a woman, but Maria and I have spent many nights together, and I’ve never had the urge to sneak away. She should’ve woken me. I feel slightly bad about the many times I’ve found excuses to slip away in the middle of the night. I wonder if I’ve left previous women feeling just how I am in this moment. I don’t like it.

I pick up my phone and stare at it for several moments wondering what I want to say. We’re a couple. There’s no doubt about it, but I’ve always despised clingy people and have even made fun of some of the guys for having to check in with their girlfriends every hour on the hour. Now, here I am, wanting to know what Maria’s weekend plans are, and wondering why I can’t join. What’s wrong with me? I’ll just text something short and sweet or I’ll obsess about it for hours. That won’t do either of us any good.

Mason: Missing you already. I don’t like waking to find you gone. Next time, set the alarm an hour earlier so I can send you off satisfied.

I hit send . . . then wait. Nothing comes back to me. There are no little dots letting me know she’s read the message, no dots letting me know she’s replying. I stare at my phone for about three minutes before I realize I’m acting like a teenage girl and force myself to close out my text app. This is getting ridiculous.

I get up, take a shower, then dress. I come back to my phone. Nothing. It doesn’t even look like she’s read the message. It takes all I have not to send her a new one. This is absurd. I toss my phone down. About ten minutes later, I pick it back up and message the guys. I don’t want to sit here alone and stew all day. It’ll drive me crazy.

A few of my friends reply, and are more than willing to come over for a BBQ. I purposely leave my phone at home while I run to the store. It takes me about an hour. When I come back home, I can’t help but grab my phone again. Nothing. It’s been hours now. This is ridiculous. She could shoot me a quick message telling me she’s okay. I’d do that for her. What if she’s hurt? No one leaves their phones alone in this day and age. How hard is it for her to shoot me a quick message that tells me she’s fine . . . and maybe misses me too? Oh, holy hell, I’m a mess. This needs to stop right here and now. It doesn’t though.

Is this a game she’s playing? She hasn’t played games before. Maybe she’s hurt and needs me to find her. I shake my head. It’s most likely that she’s somewhere without reception. Or maybe the two of them are having a no-phone weekend. I’ve heard some people do that. I think it’s absurd as emergencies arise and we have the technology to keep in contact with those we care about.

I still have no messages from her when my buddies arrive. I’m in a damn foul mood, and trying to hide it. The men will endlessly rib me if they see me in this state and know why. I’d deserve it too with all of the crap I’ve flicked them over the years concerning women. What goes around comes around. I guess it’s my turn.

“Are you ready to grill some steaks?” Nathan calls out as he and the guys walk into my backyard. It’s barely noon and I already have a beer in my hand.

“Yep, sounds great,” I say, plastering on a fake smile. I need to shake this off.

We fire up the grill, crack open more beers, and everyone, except for me, is in a great mood. The smell of sizzling meat fills the air, but my mind’s not here with the guys, it’s continuously drifting back to Maria. No matter how many times I tell myself not to, I keep checking my phone . . . all without getting a message from her. I don’t send another one, even though I worry that maybe the first one didn’t go through. Even if it didn’t, that doesn’t stop her from reaching out to me. She’s the one who snuck out of my bed, after all.

“What’s going on with you?” Kevin finally asks, clearly seeing I’m not myself.

“Nothing at all,” I say, shrugging.

“Then why are you staring at your phone like you’re a middle school girl?” he pushes.

“I’m expecting to hear from someone,” I say, trying to sound like it’s no big deal.

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