Page 35 of A Second Chance

“You didn’t take the master bedroom?”

“Gave it to my mom.” She carried the basket to the bed and sat it between them. Kicking off her shoes, she climbed up and worked on untying the bow. “I don’t need it, and mom won’t be young forever.”

He remembered how his parents had changed in a mere three years and understood. Gwen was an incredible woman, caring and responsible for her family even when she shouldn’t have to worry about it. No wonder he told her he’d come back to her. His family had been there when he’d returned, but if she’d run into his arms? Nowthatwould have been coming home. But he would have screwed it up.Remember what happened with Autumn?a little voice said. He shook it from his memory.

“It’s like a little relaxation kit,” Gwen said, bringing him out of his thoughts. “Lavender candle, bath salts, lotion, a soap.” She held up the candle and took it to the bedside table where she retrieved a lighter from the drawer.

In the basket were a few coupons and ads for a shop on the square called BathTime. It made sense that local stores donated the bingo prizes. Something else caught his attention and he picked up a clear plastic mask with blue liquid inside; it was squishy. The mask had eyeholes and looked like a pair of plastic eyeglasses without lenses.

“What’s this?”

“That’s a cool gel mask.” Gwen sat back across from him. “You chill it in the fridge, then when cold, you put the mask on your eyes to reduce puffiness.”

Jason studied the eye mask and didn’t think strapping something that cold across his face sounded very appealing. He put the mask to his face and peered out. “I’m Batman,” he whispered in a gravelly voice.

***

Gwen laughed and shook her head. In another strange twist of life, Jason McMillan was in her bedroom, with the door locked, and they were alone. And to her amazement, she didn’t want to kill him. She wanted to do far more dangerous things with his body. Fun things. Let’s face it, her girl parts hadn’t felt this alive in years. This surreal moment had him sitting across from her, wearing an eye mask and pretending to be a masked superhero was turning the tide between them. Well, this and everything else that evening.

She picked up the basket between them and moved it across the room to the dresser top. Jason threw the mask into the basket from across the room like he was playing basketball. He held up two fingers. “Two points.”

“From that distance, wouldn’t it be three?” she asked.

He laughed. “I didn’t want to brag.”

“Right.” She drew the word out and sauntered toward him, their eyes locked. His rich brown eyes had darkened and looked black in the dim lamp light. He sat on the edge of the bed, one foot on the floor, the other knee up. The five o’clock shadow filling in to almost a full-on beard.

Gwen reached him and slid her arms around his neck, one hand threading into the hair at the nape, and their mouths meeting again. His arms came around her and lifted her onto the bed, shifting them both gently down onto the soft mattress. Next to each other, she snaked a leg around his hip and sank further into the kiss. It’d been too long since she’d been up against any man, but now in a strange twist of fate her body wrapped around Jason like he’d never left. Whenever she thought about him, a wide range of feelings surfaced, but right now there was only one.

He pulled away, studying her, his fingers ran through the hair at her temple. In his gaze, she saw a man who was horny…and something else in his expression that she couldn’t quite place.

“What?” she whispered.

He shook his head. “You’re so amazing,” he shifted and planted a kiss on her cheek, “and beautiful,” he kissed her earlobe, “smart… talented.” Jason worked his way down her neck and kissed her breast over her shirt. “And so damn hot.”

Gwen’s temperature rose and a smile escaped her, she tried to hold back the giggle but it too escaped her lips without permission. Her instinct was to say something snarky to him, but nothing came to mind before his lips took control of her mouth, again. Her hands operated independent of conscious thought, ran under his shirt, fingers tracing the ridges of his abdominals. Then, meandering up to his chest, a soft moan escaped from the depths of her soul. Oh good god, she was in so much trouble.

She needed him out of that shirt and reached for the hem that’d risen. Against his mouth she whispered, “Off.” Jason smiled and kissed her forehead before sitting and doing the man thing where he reached behind him and pulled it off with one hand. The shirt went sailing off the bed. Taking in the man that sank next to her in the bed, Gwen sighed. His chest defined, the outline of the abs visible, and a smattering of chest chair that was the perfect sweet spot between smooth and Wookie. She liked it all… and him.

This time she worked her lips down his neck and back to the earlobe with a nibble. A low masculine rumble came from his chest. Shivers ran over her body as his fingers stroked her bare skin under the shirt. His kiss swallowed another moan. His hand ran along the band of her bra.

“Your turn,” he said, glancing at his chest. “I showed you mine, now you show me yours.”

Gwen giggled and playfully pushed his shoulder, and he rolled to his back without protest. He let out a gasp when she sat on top of him, straddling his lap, and felt the lump straining against the inside of his jeans. There was a bit of satisfaction in knowing that he wanted her. She wiggled a bit while teasing with the hem of the shirt acting like she would pull it off, then dropping it.

“Babe,” Jason gasped, smiling. He reached for the shirt and she smacked his hand.

“Nu, uh,” she teased. In response, he grabbed her hips and pressed his bulge between her legs and they both breathed a gasp. The need welling up inside her. It’d been far too long.

“Do you want me to beg? I will.”

Jeez, if he kept this up, she’d be the one begging. Grabbing her shirt over her head, she tossed it behind her somewhere. He’d unhooked her bra and tossed it aside before the shirt ever hit the ground. There she sat, topless. Their hands threated together and his eyes taking her in, and she couldn’t help but stare at the body underneath her.

Jason pulled her down to him, lips locking, tongues tangling. Then a nibble on her lip before he raised his arms over his head, pulling her upward until he had a face full of her breasts. He traveled kisses along the valley between her breasts and back again. He sucked in one nipple and she lost her mind, and then he gave equal time to the other. From underneath her, in one quick move, he flipped her to her back with him towering over her. “Can I take your pants off?” he asked. She recognized the look of desire on his face and understood they were together on this.

Gwen’s brain had gone on the fritz, her breathing ragged; she couldn’t think to respond.

“Gwen, do we keep going?” he asked.

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