5. Mason
MASON
It’s well after one in the morning when we near the block where my cousin lives. “You want a donut? The place around the corner has the best you’ll ever have in your life.”
“I don’t know,” Lizzy says, placing her hand on her stomach. “Do you know how much cake I ate today?” She keeps pace at my side, our hands brushing every few steps.
“Is there such a thing as too much cake?”
In my family, there’s no such thing as too much anything. We overindulge in all things, and I don’t hate it.
“If I’m not careful, I won’t be able to fit in my clothes anymore because of your family.”
I turn my head, wanting to make eye contact with her when I say, “Sweetheart, you’re already far too skinny.”
“You sound like your grandmother.”
“She’s smart.”
“She is, but not when it comes to the amount of food she puts on my plate.”
“You’d look good with a little more meat on your bones.”
“Now you sound like your mother.”
“Real men don’t want skin and bones,” I tell her.
She stops walking. “I’m not too big?”
I turn and stalk toward her. When I get close, I raise my hand, taking her chin between my thumb and index finger. When she tips her head up, her eyes meet mine. “You’re perfect.”
Her cheeks turn a deeper shade of pink, already rosy from the cold. “I…”
“Whoever told you that you were too big is an asshole. I want my woman soft. I want something to hold. Skin and bones doesn’t do it for me, and if a man is worth his weight in salt, that wouldn’t do it for him either.”
She squeezes her eyes shut and swallows. “I could lose a few pounds.”
I step closer, keeping my hand at her chin. “Look at me, Lizzy.”
Her shoulders slump before she opens her eyes.
There’s pain in those eyes. Something that’s buried deep. Probably some shit planted by an ex-boyfriend who had a tiny dick and had to compensate for it by tearing her down.
“You. Are. Perfect.”
She reaches out, pressing her hand to my abdomen. “You’re all hard muscle underneath here. You can eat a donut and not think a thing about it. You’re not judged based on what you look like, but I am.”
“Does their opinion matter—or mine?” I ask, pausing for a second, but not giving her a chance to answer. “Because everything I see is something I want.”
Her eyes widen as she swallows roughly.
“If you were mine, I’d touch, lick, and kiss every single inch of your body and be the happiest man on the planet while doing it. You only live once. Eat the donut. Be fucking happy. If a man doesn’t love you for what’s in your heart and worship your body while doing it, he ain’t shit, sweetheart.”
She sways a little, and I wrap an arm around her, pulling her close and giving her body support. Our mouths are nearly touching. The warmth of her rapid breath skids across my cold skin.
“I want to kiss you,” I tell her. We’ve never crossed this bridge.
We’ve come close more than once, but I’ve never let myself do it.
I didn’t want to mess up the good thing we have going, but time is slipping away.
Days have turned into weeks, which have turned into months.
It is time for me to shit or get off the pot.
“Where?” she asks and smirks.
“First, here,” I say, brushing my lips against her cheek, and she sucks in a breath, nearly melting in my arms. “And here.” I slide my lips to her ear, breathing heavy and moaning as I suck her earlobe.
But I don’t get stuck there, wanting to taste her mouth more than I want to breathe.
“And here.” My words come out soft as I meet her eyes, searching them for anything that tells me to stop.
But I don’t see that in her gaze. There’s hunger there.
The same burning she probably sees in my eyes too.
My mouth touches hers softly, testing the waters, but I know I have her when she curls her fingers around my shirt and fists the material. Her chest presses against mine as she tips her head back, tilting her head to the side.
I groan as I taste her lips, the wine from dinner lingering on her skin.
I trail my fingers from her chin to her cheek, cradling her face in my hand.
I move my other hand, holding the middle of her back, and press her harder against me.
The heat between us blocks out the bitter cold that’s plagued the city for months.
My body feels like it’s on fire, the need for her burning me up from the inside.
I’ve never felt this way before with anyone.
Maybe it’s because we didn’t get physical immediately.
Or maybe it’s the want that’s been growing in me for months without taking any steps to feed the need that is practically at a fever pitch.
“Mason,” she moans against my lips as I slip my tongue inside her mouth and lose myself in her.
I could do this forever and be happy. If I could freeze a moment in time and stay there until my dying breath, this would be it.
A siren blares through the narrow street, causing Lizzy to jump. The magical moment is instantly ruined. I stare at her and she stares at me, our breaths ragged and labored.
“Wow… That was…” she says, stopping to suck in a breath.
“Yeah,” I whisper to her, forcing the words out as I gather my thoughts. Our bodies are still connected everywhere else as we gaze into each other’s eyes.
She shivers as a gust of wind nearly forces her away from me, but she only tightens her grip on my shirt. “Everything’s so loud here.”
Fucking cops. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he did that shit on purpose to ruin our moment. He could’ve waited until he cleared the block to turn on his sirens. We hadn’t seen a car on the street for a block. The city’s always alive, but this part of town was quieter at this hour.
“I’d better get you home,” I tell her.
If she weren’t Hunter’s sister, I’d invite her over and finish what we started. But I promised myself I’d take things slow with her. I’d do everything in my power not to have us end in a way that would make the rest of our lives awkward.
“Oh. Okay,” she says, dropping her hands away from my sides.
I can see the disappointment in her eyes at my suggestion, and I hate myself for putting it there.
“It’s not that I don’t want to continue, but it’s late, and I want to do things right with you and by you.”
“Do things right?” She smiles, drawing my attention to her lips again.
I tip my head, dropping my forehead to hers. “I want you so bad, Lizzy. Worse than I’ve ever wanted anyone before, but I don’t want to screw anything up. We have a good thing going here, and I want to make sure you and I will both survive if we go any deeper.”
“I understand,” she whispers and sighs. “I think you could easily break my heart.”
I have nothing to say to that. While what she is saying is true, my bigger fear is that she could shatter mine and I’d never recover.
“Come on,” I say, pulling her to my side to finish the last stretch to the apartment building.
We walk in silence, the heaviness of what just happened hanging between us.
Have we already gone past the point of no return?
Are things already awkward with no chance of recovery?
Did I mess things up more by slowing things down and not finishing what we started on the street just a few minutes ago? God, I fucking hope not.
“Shit,” Lizzy snaps and then gasps.
I turn my head, seeing her wide eyes. I follow her line of sight and realize what has drained her face of color.
“Is that your car?” I ask her, shaking my head.
“It was,” she whispers, her voice wobbling like she’s ready to burst into tears.
You don’t grow up with a sister and not pick up on signs that the waterworks are about to start. And for damn good reason, too.
Her car is smashed in, the entire driver’s side demolished. She’s parked on the street near the building since indoor parking is limited and only for residents.
“Shit,” I snap, unable to believe my eyes. “Damn. That’s bad.”
“Fuck,” she says again, and there’s just something about her saying dirty words that does crazy things to me. “What am I going to do now? I’m supposed to drive home tomorrow.”
“I got you, sweetheart.”
She glances around, ignoring my words. “Who did this? Did they just leave?”
“Happens all the time.”
“That’s so rude and illegal,” she says, and it’s so damn cute. I can tell she lives her life in a certain way and is shocked anytime someone else doesn’t.
“People do far worse shit than that.”
“What do I do, Mason?” She looks at me, needing some guidance. She’s probably in shock, and it’s my time to shine.
“We’ll call Oliver. He’ll tow the car and get it off the street. We can figure the rest out later. I’ll take you home tomorrow. Zoey can cover my shifts.”
Lizzy turns to me, her eyes swimming with tears. “You’d do that?”
“What? Drive you home?”
“Yeah,” she whispers, clinging on to me like I’m her lifeline.
“Sweetheart, there’s no place I’d rather be. If you need a ride, I’ll give it to you. Whatever you need, I’ll be the one to make it happen.”
She drops her head to my chest, her fingers curled around the sides of my jacket. “I hate that you have to go out of your way. It’s not a quick trip.”
“Six hours stuck in a car with you doesn’t sound like a bad time.”
“You’ve clearly never driven through Indiana,” she mutters into the material of my jacket. “It’s a whole lot of nothing.”
“But you’ll be there, and that’s all that matters. And I’ll finally be able to see what makes your small town so special.”
“It’s not,” she says, peering up at me as a tear slides down her cheek.
I reach up, wiping it away. I wish I could take away her pain and stress in this moment, but all I can do is make the blow a little less painful. “If you’re there, it is.”
“You’re smooth, Mason. Real smooth.”
I rub my nose against hers, and it’s nearly frozen. “Come on. Let’s get you inside, and Oliver and I will handle the rest.
“Okay,” she whispers, and there’s a moment when I think about kissing her again, but I don’t.
Now isn’t the time.
Her emotions are too all over the place about what happened to her car.
There will be time for another.
Hopefully, we have an eternity.
Thirty minutes later, Oliver pulls up outside Hunter and Zoey’s place. As soon as he’s out of his truck, he shakes his head and whistles. “Someone did a number on this thing.”
“Think it’s fixable?” I ask him, trying to control my body from shaking due to the cold.
“Not a damn chance, but I’ll tow it to the shop so her insurance can look it over.”
“Sorry about this,” I tell him as I tuck my hands into my pockets to try to find warmth.
“No problem. I was on call tonight. No skin off my neck. Want a ride home?”
“Please,” I tell him, my voice shaking as I shiver.
“Get in the truck and warm up while I hook this thing up.”
“You think you can tow it?”
“I’ve towed worse.”
“What’s worse? There’s not much left of this one.”
He chuckles. “I’ve seen some shit.”
“I’m sure.”
“Get in,” he says, ticking his head toward the cab while he stalks toward the back of his tow.
“I’ll wait out here with you.”
I’m not getting in to warm up while he stands out here in the cold. No way. I’m not that man. I wasn’t raised that way. Maybe if Oliver were a stranger, I would, but he’s family and doing me a solid.
“She need a rental?” he asks, making a ton of noise moving some levers.
“No. I’m going to drive her home tomorrow.”
“Take my car.”
I know it probably seems weird to some people that I don’t have my own car, but I rarely leave the city.
Every place I need to go can be accessed via the El or a taxi if I can’t walk.
It’s one of the things I love about Chicago.
Plus, the cost of a parking spot in my building is ridiculous, and that doesn’t include insurance and a car payment on top of it.
I never felt the need for a car, just for it to sit in the underground garage and rot.
“You sure?” I ask him.
“One hundred percent. It’s a fun ride too.”
“I have a lead foot.”
“Then it’ll be extra fun,” he says with a chuckle.
He has a muscle SUV. He took me for a ride in it when he got it, and I practically had a heart attack when he floored it. The thing damn near flew across the road, and I swear the front end even got some air.
“Thanks, Oli.”
“What else is family for?” he says.
And that is the thing about being here. I have a big family, and I’ll never leave them. If Lizzy won’t move here, there is no future for us because I know I’ll never leave the life I have here.
But that only means it is officially time I put more pressure on her and make her realize everything she wants and needs is here in Chicago and with me.