Mase’s couch was huge, and he assumed his usual television-watching position: on his stomach, arms wrapped around a cushion in front of him, one leg on, and one leg off the couch.
I was curled up by his leg, and I slid up so I was on my side, my back to the back of the couch, my front plastered against Mase’s side. After about twenty minutes, I ended up half on him, my knee bent and resting on his fine butt. And every time he laughed, I felt it. I loved it. I hadn’t expected evenings like this that didn’t include getting naked, but we’d been hanging out every night, talking, laughing, goofing around, and they’d become the highlight of my day.
Before long the episode ended and he turned to me. “You want to watch another one?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but a yawn snuck up on me.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
“Sorry, I’m not sure where that came from.”
He kissed me, gave me another butt squeeze, and slid off the couch. “Wait here.” He jogged upstairs and a few minutes later he came back down and all but lifted me off the couch. “Come on.”
But instead of the bedroom, he led me to the bathroom. The tub was filling. “Am I taking a bath?” I said stupidly.
“No, we are.” Then he began stripping me. When I was naked, he held my hand while I climbed in and then he stripped as well. “Scoot up.”
He slid in behind me and pulled me back against his chest, then proceeded to gather up my hair. I sat there stunned as he used one of my hair ties, the one I’d left by the sink the night before when I washed my face, to tie it up out of the way.
“You’re good at that,” I said, resting my hands on his thighs on either side of me.
“I did Quinn’s hair a few times over the years, after Mom died.”
“Quinn was lucky to have you.”
He chuckled. “Not sure Quinn thought so. She had lopsided pigtails for weeks.”
Warmth filled me, talking about teenage Mase trying to take care of his little sister after the pain of losing their mom. “I’m sure she appreciated the effort. Quinn told me how you lost your mom. It must have been so incredibly hard.” Her car had been hit by a drunk driver. “Is that why you became a police officer?”
“Part of the reason,” he said roughly, then no more. He did that. If we veered into territory he didn’t want to discuss, Mase clammed up. Grabbing the soap and washcloth sitting on the edge of the tub, he lathered up and ran it along my shoulders.
I sat there, kind of stunned, while he washed me. I’d never done anything like this with anyone else. No one had ever taken care of me the way he did. He kissed the side of my neck as he moved the cloth over my thigh, and I shivered.
“Love that,” he said.
Something I knew. He’d told me before how much he loved my physical reactions to him, loved that I didn’t try to suppress them. I couldn’t suppress what Mase did to me, even if I wanted to.
“I’ve never bathed with anyone else before,” I said.
A pause. “Not even an ex-boyfriend?” His voice sounded rougher.
“My ex-boyfriend was a selfish asshole, so no. He didn’t take the time to do anything even remotely like this for me.”
Mase slid his hand down my spine. “Bad breakup?”
“You could say that.” I closed my eyes as Mase dragged the washcloth around my side and over my belly. “He’d kept me around until it was time to ‘get serious about his future.’ He wanted someone who ‘actually understood his career ambitions’ and was happy not to have any of her own, and who would always look flawless on his arm. A tattoo artist covered in ink didn’t work with the image he was going for.”
“He sounds like a fucking dick.”
“Yep, but worse, it turned out I was the other woman, and I’d had no clue until I saw pictures of him proposing to her on Instagram.”
Mase hissed. “What the fuck?”
“Yeah.” I couldn’t believe I’d shared all that with him, my ultimate humiliation, and that I was about to share my biggest regret, but then talking to Mase came easy. It always had been, for some reason. “I’d left Gran to be with him. I wasted so much time that I could have spent with her…” I had to stop, my throat getting tight. I hated Adam for that most of all. That because of him, I hadn’t been there when she needed me the most.
He kissed my neck again as he dragged the washcloth higher, grazing lightly over my breasts. “I’m sorry, kitten. That fucker never deserved you.” More kisses. “You deserve to be taken care of.”
“Thanks,” I said huskily.
“No problem. Love that I get to do it for you.”
I didn’t speak after that. I couldn’t. I was too busy wrestling with the emotions battling inside me, trying to surface. And it only got more difficult when he helped me out of the bath, dried me, and led me to bed.
Where he took care of me again, in a very different but equally awesome way.
Mase hooked me around the waist before I could walk out the door, tugged me back to him, and kissed the daylights out of me. “See you later?” he said against my lips.
We’d actually managed another whole week without any drama. And I had to say, I’d loved every moment.
“Yup.” I grinned up at him and his sexy smile made my knees weak. I brushed my fingers over his strong jaw. “God, you’re a handsome devil…but I think you know that already.”
“Are you staying I’m conceited?”
“No, I’m saying you are sex on a stick and you know how to use it to your advantage.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “You really
