Page 5 of One Last Memory

“Not particularly, no. But I could be persuaded.” His eyebrows wiggled as his eyes fell to the bottle in my hand. I thrust it out to him. He slipped it from my fingers, lightly brushing my palm, which sent shivers down my spine. He took a swig straight from the bottle, and I couldn’t hide the heat that shot straight down to my core at the fact that my lips had just been on that same rim seconds before. “That’s some nice shit.”

I hopped onto the counter. “So, spill.” Ah fuck, I was feeling really brave right now. I was going to regret it in a few minutes, as either my family would come waltzing back in, I threw up in the sink, or I just did something incredibly stupid that I couldn’t possibly defend tomorrow.Or all three.

The guy sighed, the corners of his eyes scrunching up a little as he began to spill. I hadn’t thought he actually would. “A crazy ex. A death in the family. And now I work for rich assholes like your parents.” I raised an eyebrow. “Now your turn.”

“Wait – what?” I couldn’t believe that he had just called my parents assholes. They were, but people were either too scared to say it or were too busy cozying up to them that they refused to say it. Seconds later, I realized that he had just turned the ball onto me.

He chuckled, shifting the bag again, but this time to the floor, and folded his arms across his chest, the veins in his arms popping out just enough to draw an embarrassing groan from my lips. “Baby girl, I’ve already talked out my problems. Many times over the years, in fact. It’s your turn. You keep hiding all those issues and bottling up those emotions, you’re going to implode.”

“Fuck.”

“Take your time, sweetheart.” I could see in his eyes that he actually seemed to care, but I wasn’t about to spill my secrets to this guy. I couldn’t.Right?

“Why do you even care?” My voice wavered as I spoke, tears threatening to unearth themselves. I couldn’t break. I wouldn’t. Not in front of him. Not here. Not at all. That was what the journal was for, a way to unleash my feelings and then bury them in some forgotten corner of the earth.

“That death in the family? You remind me of her. She kept it all in. And then one day she couldn’t handle it anymore.”

I gasped, trembling as I gripped the edge of the counter and began swinging my legs. “It’s Lee.” If he was going to get any part of me, the least I owed him was a name.Myname.

“Hmm?” He raised an eyebrow until he caught on and offered his own. “Mason Pearce.”

Even his name was fucking sexy.

MASON

Ihadn’tnoticedhowmuch the woman in front of me resembled my sister’s broken spirit when I first saw her, but the pain in her eyes was hard to dismiss. I hadn’t missed the way Bailee had referred to herself as 'nobody’ and the way her family had seemingly ignored her during our first meeting.

I settled beside her, leaning against the counter as I placed a comforting hand on her thigh, waiting for her to speak her truths. I didn’t even know why I was pushing her to unravel. It probably had something to do with my savior complex, my need to heal, to help… it wasn’t something I was proud of. But I needed to know that when I walked out of here, I had donesomethingto help this broken woman.

“It’s everything,” Bailee whispered. She quickly ran through a host of scenes that had happened in the past few weeks, tears spewing down her cheeks as she stared at the bottle of whiskey beside us. She was already beginning to wobble a bit, and I knew that a few more swigs would only drown out her feelings for the evening. “I’ve screwed up. A lot. I break down. I’m broken. And they just… don’t know what to do with me anymore.”

“Baby girl,” I shifted off to the counter, pressing a gentle hand to the inside of one of her thighs. Bailee opened almost immediately as I settled between her legs and cradled her face in my hands so that our eyes met. Her eyes were glassy with unsung tears and my brain short circuited for a moment as I tried to remember why I had started this fucking conversation, to begin with. “You’re not broken. You just need a little help.”

“Are you offering?” Bailee asked softly, the pout settling on her lips almost too much to resist.

“I wish I could but a week isn’t a lot of time to do much at all.”Wish I could what exactly?I wasn’t a therapist. I was a goddamn realtor with a job working for rich assholes. There was little I could provide this beautiful woman other than broken promises.

A cute sigh left her mouth as her gaze dropped to my lips. “How about a kiss then?”

I chuckled, unashamed that the pressure in my pants became just a little too much to bear. “Will that help fix things?” One of my hands slipped to the back of her neck, the other to her waist as I pulled her flush against my chest, relishing the way her breasts pressed into me and her thighs squeezed my hips.

“Won’t know until after.”

All of this was a fucking bad idea, but I let my dick override my brain.Just this once.Our lips crashed together in a hungry embrace as I sank into her sweet taste. What was supposed to be a short kiss turned into me cradling her against me, her thighs wrapped around my hips, and her hands fisted into my shirt as she demanded more.

I had never done something so unprofessional in my life. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that broken up about it.

BAILEE

Hisfuckinghandsweremagic as they gripped my thighs, spreading them apart as he wedged himself farther in between them. His lips devoured mine, his tongue running along the seam of my lips as he demanded submission. I gladly melted into him, an embarrassing moan slipping from my throat as I grasped at his shirt.

There were entirely too many clothes between us, which I knew was the whiskey talking. If I had had my head on straight, I would have already been back in my room in my drunken haze. But I wasn’t. I washerebeing devoured by this sexy as fuck man as he claimed me. One of his hands slid around my back and pulled me closer, allowing me to feel his dick neatly settled against my core.

I fought the urge to rock against him as his lips trailed down my jaw and to my neck, his mouth sucking at the tender skin. And when his other hand brushed against the inner part of my thigh, inches from my pussy, I arched against him with a startled gasp.

He pulled away slightly, searching my face with his amused grin. “No panties? Brave girl.” To my horror, I let out a small giggle that quickly died in my throat as his thumb brushed against my soaked folds.Were we really going to do this? Here?My family could come back at any moment and then…

Another stroke had me crying out as pleasure rocked through me and I shamelessly bucked against his fingers.

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