Page 73 of Right Number

Make It Work

“ARE YOU HERE ABOUT the room?” Bree asked casually from her seat on the sofa as Mason and I walked through the front door of my apartment.

I waited until Mason and I both had our jackets off and hanging on the hooks by the door before I responded. “What do you mean?”

Bree looked up from her phone. “We used to have a third roommate, but she disappeared, so we’re renting out her room.” She was trying her hardest to keep a straight face, but failing miserably.

“Very funny,” I said with a laugh. “It hasn’t been that long.” Bree raised her eyebrow. OK…it’d been a few days. Once Mason and I made it out of the rain and back to the hotel together, we just couldn’t make ourselves leave. I’d skipped all my classes that week, and Mason called in to work to extend his stay. I’d come home briefly at one point to grab some clean clothes and a few assorted items, but other than that, we’d spent the previous several days lounging in bed, talking, ordering room service, and watching TV. Oh, and lots of sexy time. Lots and lots of insanely fabulous sexy time.

Mason put his hand gently on my lower back and, even through my shirt, I could feel the heat of his touch. It made my heart rate pick up and my nipples harden as I thought of all the things those hands had done to me in the hotel room. Really, really wonderful things. Mason cleared his throat. “I’m afraid your roommate’s disappearance was my fault.” He started to rub small circles on my lower back where his hand had rested. If he kept that up, I was going to have a hard time not jumping him right there in the entryway.

Mason looked down at me with a smirk, which led me to believe he was having the exact same thoughts as me. “I was holding her hostage in my hotel room.” His hand on my back found the hem of my shirt and suddenly, his fingers were dancing along my bare skin, right above the waistband of my jeans. I couldn’t help but suck in a deep breath at the sensation. It felt so incredibly good and charged me up even more. Damn Mason and his wonderfully sneaky fingers.

Bree started laughing as she stood up from the sofa. “I don’t know if you can technically call someone a ‘hostage’ when they’re an entirely willing participant. Did the hotel finally kick you out?”

“No. Mason’s flight leaves later this evening,” I said with a sigh as I leaned into him. He took his hand out from under my shirt and wrapped it around my shoulders, pulling me closer. Even though he was leaving in a few hours, I couldn’t help the happy smile that overtook my face as I snuggled into his side. Despite the crazy route we took to finally come together, being with him made me insanely happy.

“Give me fifteen minutes to get ready and get out of here before you two start doing whatever it is you’re going to be doing with your last hours together. I don’t want to hear anything through our ridiculously thin walls that would traumatize me.” Bree raised her eyebrows at us with a knowing smirk. I felt my cheeks flush. “Sarah’s in class until later this afternoon, but I’ll text her and tell her to stay clear until this evening so the apartment is yours.”

“Thank you,” Mason said quickly as he cleared his throat. He hadn’t spent much time around Bree and Sarah, other than the initial morning when he arrived, so I was certain everything Bree was saying felt incredibly awkward for him. I knew I’d feel awkward if it was his roommate talking about clearing out the apartment for some farewell sex before heading to the airport.

Bree walked over to us and patted Mason on the chest. “Take good care of my girl…and I don’t just mean in the bedroom.” Bree paused as she let out a chuckle before her face turned serious again. “Break her heart, and there won’t even be a body to look for.” Bree quickly turned and started laughing to herself as she walked towards the hallway.

“Why do I feel like she wasn’t joking?” Mason asked once Bree was out of earshot.

“Because she wasn’t.” I tried to answer with a straight face as I turned and wrapped my arms around Mason’s neck. The expression on his face made me laugh. It looked like he wasn’t quite sure what to believe. I decided to tease him a little further. “I mean, she only watches true crime shows most days…so how serious would that make her?”

Mason lowered his head and brushed his lips over mine. “Well, good thing I have no intentions of ever letting you go,” he whispered against my lips.

“Never?” I asked with a breathless smile.

“Never ever,” Mason said in a husky voice before his lips overtook mine. Every time Mason started kissing me, I felt like I was going to explode. I grabbed the front of his hoodie with both hands and pressed myself into him.

“Damn, Anna,” Mason muttered in between kisses. I let out a giggling sound as I swiveled my hips against him. I was rewarded with a soft moan from Mason. I swear on everything you could possibly swear on, there was nothing sexier than when Mason let out a moan. I felt like a sex goddess every time he did it.

I kept my lips on Mason’s as I slowly started walking backwards until my legs bumped into the sofa. I began to lie back on it and pulled Mason down with me by the front of his hoodie. Mason broke the kiss and flashed me the world’s biggest smile, which just turned me on even more. He was handsome all the time, but when he smiled, it was next level. I pulled him back towards me so I could run both hands through his hair. Something I’d discovered during our time together that often elicited one of his incredibly desirable “man moans.”

“You, Anna,” Mason whispered against my neck before planting a soft kiss on it, “are so damn beautiful.” He moved his lips down and kissed a little lower on my neck. “So damn sexy…funny…smart…so…”

“Oh my God! My eyes! You couldn’t even wait fifteen minutes?” Bree shrieked as Mason and I started laughing and scrambled to sit up on the sofa. I popped my head up and saw Bree with one hand over her eyes and the other waving wildly in front of her as she made her way towards the front door. “Are you decent?” Bree asked.

That made me laugh even harder. “We were never not decent.’” Bree slowly moved her hand away from her eyes. “See?” I motioned over both Mason and myself sitting upright on the sofa. “Fully clothed.”

“I’m still getting out of here,” Bree said as she put her coat on. “You kids have a good time. Have a safe flight, Mason. Be sure you leave in plenty of time for the airport!” Bree chuckled as she waltzed out the door.

Mason was sitting on the opposite side of the sofa from me. His hair was disheveled and he was shaking his head as he turned to face me with a smile. “Never going to live that one down, am I?”

“Not any time soon,” I said as I pulled my legs under me on the sofa. “Speaking of the airport, we should probably talk more about how we’re going to make it work between us after you leave today.” We’d talked about it every day we’d been together, but now, outside the bubble of the hotel room, everything suddenly felt very real. With that feeling, my nervousness about a relationship with so much distance between us began to rise again.

“Come here.” Mason held out his arms as an invitation, to which I gladly accepted. Once I was snuggled into his arms, he leaned down and kissed me softly on top of the head. “I know you’re nervous about this. Hell, I am too, but we’re going to make it work.”

“But how do you know?” I asked softly. My back was resting against Mason’s chest and even the steady, rhythmic feeling of his breathing was soothing. Being with Mason had shown me what it was like to have all the things—spark, passion, compatibility, and substance—with an intense physical and emotional connection. Would we still have that when he was three thousand miles away? What if, between my school and his work, months went by and we couldn’t see each other very often in person? Would what we had start to fizzle?

“Kiss me,” Mason said in his husky voice.

“What?” I asked, surprised by his sudden demand. I began to wonder if I’d been lost in my own head and missed part of what he’d said.

“You heard me. Kiss me.” I turned to face Mason and tried to figure out what he was up to. “How long are you going to make me wait?” He raised an eyebrow.

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