Page 14 of Gin and Lava

I raise an eyebrow. “You can’t?”

“I’ve got no filter, Tate, so …” He shrugs and raises his hands like he might not be as trustworthy as I want. “It’s hard to make you any promises. But it’s not like this is the kind of secret that’s devastating. It’s not like you slept with your best friend’s boyfriend or something. This is the kind of secret that isn’treallya secret.”

“Itisa secret, Mason. Please don’t tell anyone.”

“Okay, okay. I promise I’ll try,” he admits. “Though you ought to entice me with something tangible like daily blowjobs to keep my mouth occupied.”

“I think you’ve got that flipped,” I correct. “My mouthis the one that would be occupied if I was giving you daily blowjobs. To keep you silent, you’d have to—”

“Naomi Tate,” Mason interrupts, his voice laced with amusement. “Are you offering to let me taste your pussy?”

“I think that’s the booze talking, Mason.”

“But is it really?” He cocks his head to the side, challenging me to deny that he wouldn’t say the exact same thing when he’s sober. I shake my head in agreement. He would.

I look at the ocean again. It’s late. All the festivities of the evening are done: cake cutting, dancing, bouquet tossing. I look back at Mason with his half-glazed eyes and frown.

“Are you staying at the resort?” I ask.

A playful eyebrow shoots up at that comment. “Why? You asking to come back to my room and let me cash in on those secret-keeping suggestions?”

“Not happening, Mason.”

He shrugs like he had to try.

“I’m just trying to figure out if you drove here,” I say, “and if you’re stupid enough to think you can drive yourself home.”

“I’m notthatdrunk.”

“Yes, you are.”

“And I don’t livethatfar away,” he insists.

“See, that’s the kind of talk that gets people killed.”

“Awww.” He tilts his head to the side and smiles at me. “You care.”

“I care enough to make sure you don’t become a pavement Bloody Mary,” I admit, “but Idon’tcare enough to suck you off.”

I look around quickly after I say that. I don’t normally say things like that out loud.

“It feels good to say what you’re thinking, doesn’t it?” Mason says, a smirk on his face like I just got a taste of what it’s like to live his life with his I-don’t-give-ten-fucks attitude.

It’s surprisingly freeing.

His smile widens. He can tell I liked it, even though I was embarrassed the moment after. Mason leans in and puts his mouth to my ear. “Just wait till you decide you want to be just as dirty in the bedroom, Naomi. It’ll change your life.”

My pussy clenches.

I’m not supposed to be turned on by Mason. Or dirty talk for that matter. And Idon’twant to be dirty in the bedroom.

Do I?

Maybe I do.

I just … I … that’s not how perfect women snag perfect doctor husbands. That’s how women fuck someone like Mason.

Mason’s clearly got my body confused.

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