The Price of Mason (Forbidden Men 10)

I love you was the very last thing I expected to hear…but maybe the very first I wanted to hear.

Choking on air and trying not to focus on how good those words sounded in my ear, I lifted my face, already shaking my head adamantly. “You… No. You shouldn’t.”

I wasn’t good for her, not the way she was for me.

Hell, I had no idea what she saw in me enough to even want to continue being my friend.

She touched the side of my face, gazing at me with adoration. “But I do.”

I swallowed and closed my eyes.

Don’t do it, don’t do it, I silently commanded, right before I leaned in and pressed my mouth to hers.

An electric current of pure excitement zapped through me as soon as I felt the softness of her lips. Intimidated by the all-consuming experience, I pulled back to check on her and make sure she was okay. Her lashes fluttered open, exposing dazed eyes, clouded with desire, and I lost all my willpower to resist her.

“Sorry, I can’t stop,” I rasped before sealing our mouths together once more.

This was my fantasy, coming true, right here: being with Reese, kissing Reese, listening to Reese tell me she loved me. It had to be a dream.

I deepened the contact, needing more. She wrapped her arms around my waist, pressing her chest against mine, and I stroked my tongue against the roof of her mouth, making her moan.

I think her knees gave out then because she started to sink lower. But I wasn’t finished—not by a long shot. I hoisted her up, and her legs hooked around my hips. When I tried to hold her up against me by catching her tight ass, I lost my balance, and we both tilted sideways until I staggered into the kitchen cabinets and set her on the counter, where I remained slotted between her thighs and could nudge my aching cock more firmly against her warm core.

She gasped into my mouth, and I ran my hands down the back of her neck, over her scar, and along her spine.

Then I cupped her soft breasts as my tongue stroked hers, imagining what it’d be like if all our clothes were gone and I was thrusting deep inside her. I mimicked the action I wanted to perform, and she choked out a surprised sound of need before throwing her head back and cracking it on the cabinets behind us.

Which somehow jarred me back to reality.

I was kissing Reese and dry humping her on my mom’s kitchen counters. What the hell was I doing?

“Shit,” I gasped, breaking away and touching the back of her head where she’d just bumped it, even as I rasped, “We can’t do this.”

Then I rested my face against her shoulder and panted, trying to regain full control of myself.

She merely hugged me as if I hadn’t just totally rejected her. Rubbing my back with soothing circles, she said, “If this is going to be the only time I get to touch you, then can you wait at least a minute longer before coming to your senses?”

I released a shaky laugh. “Okay.”

For her: anything. I looked into her eyes, and they were so freaking blue and so freaking big. They were too tempting.

I attacked, surging in for another kiss. Her sweet mouth molded against mine as she cupped my face. Except she hadn’t told me she wanted this, wanted me: a gigolo.

So for her, I pulled out every ounce of restraint I had left and paused the kiss long enough to mumble, “Okay, we should stop now.” Except my lips brushed past hers again. I ran my fingers up the center of her spine, waiting for her to say yes or no, one way or another. When she didn’t and just let me keep touching her, I groaned. “Reese, we should stop. I need to stop before it’s too late.”

In answer, she placed kiss after kiss along the length of my throat and murmured, “Why?”

Fuck, was that her way of saying yes? I wanted it to be, more than anything. But then I remembered what would be best for her.

With a regretful moan, I cupped her waist one last time and started to tug her off the counter, except her warmth brushed against the front of my jeans, right over my straining zipper, and suddenly my mouth was on her neck, and I was trying to figure out how to get her out of her jeans without pulling away.

She sucked in a harsh breath, and it broke the spell.

“Dammit.” I tore myself away, backing off to put about ten feet of space between us.

Then I turned away to lean my forearms against a wall as I bowed my head.

“Do you realize what you’re doing to me, Reese?” I rasped, thunking my forehead forward against the wall. “Making me choose like this?” I knew it was better if I stayed away but I just couldn’t seem to manage it. She needed to be the one to decide.