I heard rustling, and then I smelled a familiar aftershave. My body instantly relaxed, already trained to trust the butt-wipe who just scared the shit out of me.
I felt warm lips on my forehead and a strand of my hair being brushed out of my face. Before I could pull myself together enough to let him know I was awake, he was gone again, closing the door soundlessly behind him.
I sat up so fast I nearly pulled a muscle in my back. What. The. Hell. Did that just happen? Did he feel bad about last night? Was that the first time he had come in here? Somebody give me some answers, or my head is going to explode. I needed intel. Right now.
I fumbled for my phone on the nightstand and texted Willa. No idea what time it was where she was now, but questions had to be answered.
Me: Wake up.
Me: Wake up. Wake up. Wake up.
Me: Don’t tell me you put your phone on silent. You never put it on silent. It’s always on your nightstand. You better not have forgotten it somewhere in your sex daze last night.
I knew for a fact that she and Jameson were trying for the world record on the number of times they could have sex in a day. I would never have been able to stay in her apartment if they were home. I caught a glimpse of his bare ass once when I walked into the garage’s office after hours and still haven’t been able to think of anything else every time I see him. He was all muscle, just like his brother. And the image of his butt was definitely worth storing in my brain for later. Sorry Willa.
Willa: Different time zone, so lucky for you I wasn’t sleeping.
Willa: What’s up?
Me: What do you know about Mason?
Willa: Oh no, what happened this time?
I thought this conversation was best had on the phone, and instead of texting back I called her. She picked up before the first ring even finished.
“Estrella. Are you okay?”
“Hey, Wills, I’m fine, just need you to sort through the mess in my head.”
She chuckled. “Hit me.”
“Okay, so short version is that dear ole mom sent one of her goons to pick me up.”
“She did what?” Willa interrupted with a high-pitched shriek.
“I’m fine. She didn’t succeed. Or I wouldn’t be calling you. Mason and Landon showed up and kicked the guy’s ass. Well, Mason did, and Landon stopped Mason from going too far.” I took a deep breath and continued. “Anyway, that’s not why I am calling. So I’m staying with Mason again because he insisted, and then we kind of fooled around last night.”
Willa shrieked again. “You did what?”
“Oh my god, Willa, it was so good, I think I heard angels singing when I came.”
“That’s a good thing though, right?” Willa asked, sounding confused.
“Well, it would be, if he hadn’t left straight after.”
“Back up. So he made you come but didn’t get himself off?”
“Nope. Didn’t even try. And believe me when I say I was ready for whatever he wanted. But he just put my clothes back on me and walked away.”
“I’m confused.”
“So am I. And then this morning he came in and kissed me on the forehead. Kissed. Me. On. The. Forehead. So get unconfused and help me figure this out. Because the more I think about it, the more I think I might just be really bad in bed. Not that we were in bed. Or even got to any part where I could reciprocate. He put me in such a state, I don’t think I was doing much else but moaning and trying to get him to permanently fuse himself to my body.”
“You like him.”
“I’ll admit I’m in lust. Serious, all consuming, won’t-let-me-think-of-anything-else lust.”
Now she was laughing, making me narrow my eyes.
“This is not a laughing matter. Stop it,” I said, my voice clipped. Did she not see how serious this was? “Don’t you understand that the future of my vagina is on the line?”
She laughed even harder, and I heard the phone drop. I guess we were done with our conversation. Not that she was much help.
I hung up and got out of bed. At my bedroom door, I listened for noise but when the house stayed quiet, I ventured out of the room. I didn’t know how to take what happened last night and this morning. And until I could dissect every single thing, I wasn’t ready to face Mason.
It looked like he’d left right after he came into my room. The coffee machine was cold and the dishes sat on the counter next to the dishwasher.
He was a great cook but created a mess equal to none whenever he so much as made a cup of coffee. If we were actual roommates, I would have told him to clean up after himself on the first day. But since he was doing me a favor—no matter how much I didn’t want to admit it—I bit my tongue.
I let Loki back inside and made a cup of coffee. Then I proceeded to mummify myself with a blanket and sat on the couch on the porch outside. Loki was sitting in front of me, waiting to see if I would let him come up as well. And of course I would, because why would I say no to my own personal heater?
I patted the space next to me and before I had a chance to say okay, he was curled up on the cushion, head on my lap. I think I was going to steal Loki and take him with me when I left. And maybe I’d also take