“God, Kay,” is all he says before his lips are on mine.
This kiss.
Oh my god.
It’s all-consuming.
He doesn’t just press his mouth to mine—he devours me.
His hands cup my face between them, his long fingers threading through the curls at the base of my skull, tugging on them and tilting my head for a better angle.
My arms find themselves looped around his neck.
I feel everything in this kiss, all the apology, the pain, the longing, the passion, the love Mason has to give—and, most of all, hope.
#Chapter33
There’s so much I want to say, so much I need to say, but I can’t concentrate this close to Kay. It’s been too damn long since I’ve had her body wrapped around me like this, and it dissolves my self-control. I crave her like an addict. She’s my drug of choice, and all I want to do is overdose.
I take her face in my hands, tilting it to mine, and seal my mouth over hers. Her slender arms wrap around my neck, and after a few seconds, she starts to kiss me back.
I know we need to talk. Technically speaking, we are currently broken up, but I couldn’t not kiss her right now. It’s a compulsion, an inherent need to communicate my feelings on a baser level.
God I missed this.
We lose ourselves in our kiss, as so often happens with us. I explore her mouth with my tongue, and not even the bitterness of the beer she was drinking can take away from her intrinsic sweet taste.
I swallow down her moan, only managing to drag myself away enough to separate our mouths and rest my forehead against hers.
This close I can appreciate the finer details of her face. Her makeup covers the freckles I like to count on her nose and cheeks, but it makes her eyes appear larger, the flecks of blue slightly more prominent inside the swirls of gray.
Every inhalation brings with it hints of both the peppermint of her conditioner and the vanilla on her skin.
“God, Kay. I’m sorry. So damn sorry.”
Yes, she’s told me she forgives me, but all this started because I false-started.
“For kissing me?” Her voice cracks.
“No.” I shake my head. “Never for that.”
My fingers flex around her nape, her dark gray orbs broadcasting a tormented pain I yearn to take away.
“I’m such a fucking idiot.” A self-deprecating laugh breaks free before I can stop it.
“Mason—” She tries to cut in, but I don’t let her.
“No, please. Please let me say everything I need to say to you.”
I pull back, maintaining eye contact, and stroke her cheeks with my thumbs. I think the action soothes me more than it does her.
“I know I let other people influence me, but I’m never making that mistake again.” I place a finger over her lips to stop what I know will be her next rebuttal. “You”—my finger drags across her bottom lip—“are the best thing that has ever happened to me. Nothing”—I push enough to drag her lip down—“can make me think differently.”
The thin black choker necklace she wears bobs with the movement of her swallow as she digests both what I’m saying and what I’m not.
“I love you, Skittles. So fucking much.”
“Oh, Mase.”
Fucking finally! I resist the urge to do a touchdown dance at her calling me Mase.
One of her hands glides up my chest, curling around my neck and toying with the hairs exposed under the brim of my hat. My heart stutters, the fear that our relationship is irreparable pulsing through my limbs.
“Mase.” She cups my jaw, and I nuzzle into the touch. “I love you too.”
My body goes boneless at her words and I almost drop her before I readjust to keep us both upright.
“But…” My spine stiffens at her but. I hate that word right now. “I’m scared.”
“It’s okay to be scared, babe.” I blow out a breath, her bangs fluttering from the force. “I just need you to believe I’ll always be here to hold you through it.”
Even with her skin riddled with goose flesh, it’s still soft as silk as I skim my fingertips along her forearm. I circle the wrist of her left hand and pull it between us. The grooves of her birthstone bands scratch across the pad of my thumb, making the nakedness of the ring finger all the more noticeable.
If the distance from the last few weeks has taught me anything, it’s that I am 100%, totally, completely, head over heels in love with Kay.
“You’re it for me.” I pinch the bare digit.
“You can’t know that.” Curls brush my jaw as she shakes her head. “It’s only been two months.”
“I don’t care if it’s been two months or two hundred months. From the moment I saw you…something told me you were made for me.” I bring her hand to my mouth and kiss her ring finger. “Every day since then has only driven the point home more.”
“Mase.” A tear leaks from her eye, and I wipe it away. “I’m a mess. I don’t know how to cope with all the things that come with your future career.”
“We’ll learn together.”
I already plan on spending part of my time down here with JT—he’s the expert when it comes to helping Kay through the worst of things. If there’s anyone who will be able to coach me into being able to do the same for my girl, it will be him.
“I will do anything you need me to do to feel secure in us. All I ask is that you be mine.”
“You don’t—” She drops her gaze to focus on our linked hands. “There are—” She sucks in a deep breath, her voice turning small. “There are things…important things you don’t know about me. What if…what if you change your mind because of them?”
My gut clenches. I have suspected she’s been withholding from me. I’m so far gone over her, though, I honestly can’t think of what
