Chapter 35
35
MASON
Opening Pia’s door and calling “Hello” threw me back in time twenty years. I hadn’t been this nervous to see a girl since I started dating.
“Oh, hey,” she said, whipping around the corner from the kitchen. “Come on in.”
My plan for tonight was to play it cool. To take Pia’s lead, try not to think too hard and wait for the right moment to tell her that I finally, agonizingly, had made a decision. Was it the right one? Who the fuck knew? Only time would tell, I supposed.
So much for my plan.
When I reached for her, it was like someone had taken possession of my body. Being around her this week, not touching her, had been hell. The second Pia was in my arms, just the opposite.
Heaven.
Kissing her was even better. She fit so perfectly in my arms that my chest constricted with thoughts of the evening to come. One step at a time.
I released her.
“Wasn’t expecting that,” Pia said, looking thoroughly kissed.
I nearly said “Same.”
“I’ve wanted to do that all week.”
“Then why didn’t you?” she asked. “Oh shit, dinner.”
Taking off for the kitchen, Pia left me looking around the apartment. There was no good reason for her to have the extra expense. We’d have to talk about her moving to the inn, among other things.
Wandering into the kitchen, I asked if she needed any help. Pia assured me everything was under control, and by the time I poured myself a glass of wine from an open bottle, she was serving the meal.
“This is delicious,” I said earnestly. “Risotto can be tricky.”
“It’s my parents’ recipe. One of the things we’re known for.”
“Tell me more about the restaurant,” I said. It wasn’t something we talked about often.
Pia explained how her parents ended up in Oregon and the origins of their restaurant. As we talked, I remembered she’d told me once that she was an ocean girl. It was clear she missed it.
“You can paddleboard on the lake,” I said. “I know it’s not quite the same but?—”
“At least it’s water, and you’re right, I do miss it. Thanks for giving me the office. Having that view makes me miss the ocean a little bit less.”
Do it, Mason. This is the perfect opening to ask her to move into the inn and tell her.
“You’re welcome. Pia, there’s something?—”
“Hold that thought. I am determined to make sure you try dessert,” she said, clearing our plates. “This one,” she called from the kitchen, “isn’t a family recipe. One of the lodges I worked at was known for their tiramisu. I tried for months to wrestle the recipe from their pastry chef and finally managed it. I know you like coffee, so…”
She put the dessert in front of me.
“Even though you’re not a big sweets guy, you’ve got to try it.”
I did. It was delicious. So delicious I ate the whole thing in seconds, devouring every bite. “That was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted,” I said. The second the words were out of my mouth, our eyes locked.
Pia swallowed.
“One of the best?”
Fuck. I’d had such good intentions until she looked at me like that. Coupled with the thought of tasting her, hearing Pia call my name… screw it.
I was out of my seat, pulling Pia up before I could even answer. A week’s worth of need and longing had us tearing our clothes off like it was the first time. We didn’t even make it to the bed. Naked, throbbing, I wanted nothing more than to be inside her. Instead, I led her to the couch, positioned myself between her legs, and held her knees open with my hands. I stopped only long enough to say, “This is the best.”
With the first swipe of my tongue, Pia’s hips buckled. With the second and third, her legs began to quiver. I pushed everything from my mind except her pleasure. Every moan, every call of my name, made me even more intent. It was only when she finally let loose, grabbing my head with an intensity that made me only want her more, that I relented.
Before Pia was fully finished climaxing, I was inside her. Pulling her onto the carpet beneath me, I buried myself so deep that for a second I thought I might have hurt her. One look at her face told me otherwise. She was still coming, so I didn’t go gently.
“Yes, Mason. Don’t stop.”
I had no intention of stopping.
Kissing her, intent on making her come again, I used my thumb between our bodies. “Do that again,” I whispered. Commanded. Just as she liked it. “Come for me again, sweet Pia.”
“Oh God.”
I snuck a peek at her face. So fucking beautiful.
“You are…” The words caught in my throat. I could have finished that sentence in so many ways, but instead, I drove into her as if it was our last time. “Come on, baby. Let it all out again for me. Come on.”
“Mason.” She grabbed me by the shoulders, circled her hips and cried out. I buried myself full hilt and stopped, wanting to feel every single throb. Every single sensation. Pulling her into my arms, we reached the summit together. And didn’t come down for a long, long time.
Eventually, though, reality had to set in.
I rolled off her, completely spent and wanting only to head to Pia’s bedroom, pull her into my side and take a nap. Then wake up and do it all over again and again.
That wasn’t to be.
“We need to talk,” she said.
I agreed.
“That’s why I asked you to come over. Not for…”
Turning my head toward her, I couldn’t help but laugh at her hesitation. “Pia. You can scream for me like that, and be more than fine with the dirtiest talk I can manage, but you can’t say the word sex?”
“I absolutely can. Sex.”
“There you go, you little vixen.” Sighing, I rolled to my side, propped up on my elbow, and agreed. “We do need to talk. But we should probably get dressed first.”
“Why?” she asked, properly suspicious.
“Guys can be very protective of their dicks,” I said, only half-kidding.
“Why would you have to protect it unless…?” She sat up. Glared at me. “Mason?”
“I didn’t expect this,” I started. “Please don’t get the wrong idea. I had no idea this was where things would go.”
“Mason,” she repeated in the same tone. “Why would you need to protect your precious…” She couldn’t say the word.
“Dick,” I provided.
“Dick,” she said, as if she hadn’t stumbled on the word a second ago. “Unless you were going to tell me something I don’t want to hear.”
There was no good way to answer her question. “I can’t think of one.”
Her eyes flashed. And this was why I wanted to get dressed first.
Fuck. This wasn’t supposed to have happened. The talk should have come first. If my squad mates knew what a chicken shit I was tonight… but there was no other way to look at it. I’d been straight-up scared.
“I’m going back,” I said finally.
She didn’t need to ask what that meant. Instead, Pia calmly stood up, grabbed her clothes and walked away, into her bedroom.
I closed my eyes. Saw my dad on that dock.
But this time, the vision didn’t make my decision any easier to swallow.