Page 30 of I Need You Tonight
Mason paused his teasing of my nipple and released it from his mouth. It pouted at being abandoned, not quite finished with what he’d been doing to it. He grabbed the collar of his T-shirt, yanked the fabric over his head, and tossed the shirt aside. It landed somewhere on the floor near the love seat.
My gaze shifted to the tattoo on the right side of his ribs. I couldn’t be sure, but it looked like a foreign language, using an alphabet I didn’t recognize. I ran my fingers down the length of it. “What is it?”
“Sanskrit.”
“It’s pretty. What does it say?”
He cringed at my reference that his tattoo was pretty. “Without music life shall be a mistake.”
My mouth tugged up into a full smile. “I like that. It’s very poetic. What about this one?” I traced my fingertip along a similar design around his left biceps, except this one was a lot shorter.
“I am a fighter.”
My eyebrows rose. “You’re a fighter? You mean like in MMA or martial arts?” Which would explain why he was in such great shape.
“You watch MMA?” If there’d been a contest as to which of us was more surprised, he would’ve won the prize.
I shook my head. “No. It’s just I’ve read a few romance novels in which the heroes trained for it.”
He smirked. “Romances, huh? What other kinds of romances have you read?”
“NotFifty Shades of Grey,if that’s what you’re thinking.”
He feigned an innocent expression. “I wasn’t thinking that at all.”
I laughed. “Sure you weren’t. And in case you’re wondering, I’m not into BDSM.”
“Good to know.” The smirk was back on his face. “And you’re telling me this because…?”
“Because if we’re headed where I believe we’re headed”—and I hoped I wasn’t out to lunch on that—“then I want to make sure our expectations are the same.” God, I sounded like an idiot.
“Don’t worry. When it comes to BDSM, I’m pretty sure we’re on the same page.”
“Good. And just so you know, I realize this is more like a one-night stand. I won’t be expecting you to call me after tonight.” Tomorrow morning he would go back to his life in L.A., and I would go back to mine here…which hopefully didn’t include any more bad dates.
Or better yet, no more blind dates, period.
“And I won’t expect you to give me your number,” I added. “It’s just one night of fun between two consenting adults. I mean, if you want to call me as a friend, that would be cool too. But no expectations beyond tonight.”
“Sounds good.”
With that awkwardness out of the way, I asked, “So when you say you’re a fighter, you mean…?”
“It means I don’t give up, no matter how difficult something seems at the time.”
I gave him a soft smile. “I like that. So, what does this one mean?” I ran my finger over the three short patterns on the inside of his right arm.
“Live. Love. Laugh.” He pointed at each word in turn.
“Good advice. What about this one?” I caressed the Sanskrit words on his right pec. I had never been into tattoos before, which was part of the reason my future husband would be tattoo free, but there was something extremely sexy about Mason’s.
“Each breath is a gift.”
My mother had believed the same, especially while she had been battling her cancer. Unfortunately, her gift had come with an expiration date.
I gently pressed my lips against the tattoo, as though I was kissing her cheek once more.
“Do you have any tattoos I should know about?” he asked.
