Page 52 of Beneath the Surface

My stomach twists.

Both of his palms come up to grip my face, his thumbs brushing along my cheekbones. “But I know that I want to be wherever you are.”

My chest warms. “Well, I’m here.”

His hands tighten even further, our noses skimming with every inhale. “And I’m here, too, Lily.”

“But for how long?” The words catch in my throat.

“For as long as you want me.”

And then he leans in and steals my words with his mouth. I surrender to the feeling, swept away by everything he makes me feel. A moan slips out of me as his tongue tangles with mine, and I sink deeper into his hold, feeling him grow hard underneath me.

I move my hips forward, pressing my body weight down, and he groans, his fingers bruising against my jaw. I love the way he molds my body, the way it feels like as long as I’m in his arms, he’ll protect me from the world. The thought lifts me up like a rollercoaster climbing up a hill, the view more beautiful with every rising inch.

And then, for the first time in my life, I truly surrender.

Iletmyself fall.

I just hope he’s there to catch me when I land.

25

Mason

The second her taste hits my mouth, I’m lost.

Maybe I should pull back, maybe therightthing to do is stop whatever this is and try and get to the bottom of why she saw my gun and freaked the fuck out. But, the truth is, I don’t want to bring it back up. Don’t want to talk about me again, or how she was so panicked I knew that nothing less than the truth would pacify her.

Guilt threatens to sink its way into the moment, but I push it back.

Call me selfish.

Call me a prick.

Both of these things are true. Neither of them change the fact that when it comes to Lily, I’m weak. A slave to my vices, just like I always have been.

My hips push against her as she grinds down on my lap, all the blood leaving my brain and rushing to my cock. The steady friction has me physically throbbing, my dick straining underneath the fabric, desperate to know what it’s like to slide inside of her.

With one hand around her waist, my other slips her jacket off her shoulders, the sound of the light thump when it hits the floor muffled from the way my heart pounds in my ears. My fingers tease the hem of her tank top, exposing her silky skin, making me dizzy with the need to see her bare. To soak her in like sunshine, and store up her rays, hoping they’ll get me through the inevitable dark days to come.

She raises her arms, and I push the fabric up and over, letting it fall somewhere on the floor, leaving her braless and beautiful before me.

I’ve seen her bare breasts before—had the taste of them on my tongue—but it still doesn’t prepare me. It’s a visceral experience, her half naked and panting on top of me. I take her in, my chest squeezing as I wonder how the hell I got so lucky, and how thefuckI’m going to keep her.

I cup her breast, the weight of her in my hand making my mouth water. My arm wraps back around her waist, and I bend down, sucking her areola into my mouth. She moans, her fingers tangling in the short strands of my hair, her hips moving in a torturous rhythm on my lap.

Heat collects at the base of my spine, and I stifle a groan.

My lips move across her chest, dipping in the valley between her breasts, and I lave kisses along the ridges of her chest bone until I reach her other nipple, twirling my tongue around the hardened peak, her fingers tightening in my hair.

“Alex,” she moans.

That name from her lips flips a switch, desperation oozing from my movements, wanting to be closer.Needingto inhale her until she coats my lungs, infusing my heart with her essence. My mouth releases her nipple with a pop, and I surge up, my hand gripping the back of her neck, jerking her into me until our mouths collide.

The kiss is harsh and greedy, my tongue prying her lips open, desperate to show her with my actions what I feel for her with my soul.

She moves, her palms sliding down my chest until they reach the hem of my shirt, lifting the fabric. My lips break away to help her, and she rips the material over my head. She sits back, stilling her movements, her eyes widening as she gazes at the colorful patterns swirling from my shoulder to my chest, covering almost every inch of free skin.

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