Chapter 31
Mason watched as Kayla peered over her plate of waffles at him and Sophia. “If Mandy’s mom picks me up for the game this morning, you absolutely, for sure, promise, not to be late?”
“Scout’s honor,” Mason said, holding up three fingers.
“Don’t believe them,” Lisa said after she finished chewing. “They always go back to bed on Saturdays after we leave the house.”
Mason didn’t look at Sophia because he always got hard when she blushed and that’s the last thing he needed in front of his two girls.
“You can’t be late. This game is important!” Kayla wailed.
“You’re playing four games,” Mason said. “Two this morning and two this afternoon. It’s a tournament.”
“And they’re all important.”
Mason reached over and placed his hand over his daughter’s. “I know, honey. I promise, we’ll be there.”
Kayla looked up at him with that loving gaze she’d been giving him ever since that awful night in the winery. The look that told him she thought he was her hero.
He’d been really worried about what she would think of him after everything Ibrahim had said about him, and after the knife fight. They had long talks about it, but in the end, Kayla was very clear in her belief that Mason fought on the side of the angels.
Since that was how she felt, he was going to make sure that he and Sophia arrived at her first tournament game on time. Not early, just on time. Because he had plans for his wife this morning. Naked plans.
He heard a horn honk.
“That’s them!” Kayla said quietly. He released her hand. “Good, we’ll be early for Coach’s meeting and warm-up practice.”
She scrambled out of her seat, her cleats clicking on the hardwood floor. Lisa got up and followed her.
Now Mason turned to look at his wife, who was no longer blushing. “What did you have to bribe Lisa with to get her to leave the house so early?”
“She gets to have a slumber party here next week,” Sophia said as she began gathering the dishes off the table.
“Jesus, God. Really?”
“Get used to it, Big Guy. We’re going to be hosting Jack and Beth’s kids until next year to make up for all the babysitting they did for us. At least Conner didn’t have the gumption to ask Kayla to the dance this year. Count your blessings.”
“I’m counting. I’m counting.” Mason muttered as he picked up the remaining dishes and followed her into the kitchen. “You know Beth was happy to do it,”
“I know, and that’s what I love about her. I was so glad to hear that she and Jack weren’t moving to Texas after he retired.”
“I think Lydia would have cut off his balls and had them buried under Lake Shasta.”
Sophia laughed. “Yeah, she wouldn’t have been happy.”
Mason grabbed her around her waist. “What about you, are you happy? A lot of the guys are retiring, but I’m not.”
“You know I’ll support you whatever you decide,” she said.
Mason looked into her blue eyes and saw only truth. “I know, baby. But aren’t you happier that I have a desk job?”
She nodded.
“What about you?”
He took a moment to answer. “Yes. It was past time. I enjoy mentoring. I’m not enjoying all the politics, though.”
“Drake says you’re good at politics.”
“That’s from his perspective. He’s just incredibly bad.”
Sophia threw back her head and laughed. “There is that.”
“Bye Mom! Bye Dad!” Lisa shouted from the front door.
“Did you feed the cat?” Sophia yelled back at her.
“Yes! And I only gave him a snack because he used the litter box, not the houseplant.”
“Jesus,” Mason muttered.
“It’s your fault,” Sophia laughed as she elbowed him in the ribs.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Love you, Mom. Love you, Dad. Don’t be late,” Kayla shouted.
“We won’t,” Sophia yelled back. “Love you both. Make smart choices.”
They heard the door slam.
Mason pressed his face into her neck and laughed. “Make smart choices, huh?”
“After a few years, when I’m convinced they’ve learned to make smart choices, I can tell them to be smart.”
“So that’s how it works, huh?”
“Yep.”
Twenty-two years. Two children, and Sophia Anderson Gault still had the hottest body he’d ever seen.
“You had a corset on underneath your Saturday morning hoodie?” he asked incredulously.
“Took you by surprise, didn’t it?”
Mason continued to stare.
“Mason?”
“I’m still trying to get my breath back so I can answer your question.”
Sophia giggled.
“Come here.” He curled his finger.
Sophia sashayed across their bedroom to him, and he caught her up into his arms, and then pressed her down onto their yellow comforter. He threaded his fingers through her hair so it fanned out across the pillows, then sat back on his knees and looked down at her. Then he stared.
“What?”
He didn’t say anything.
The sun was shining, and it was slanting through the window at a perfect angle to kiss Sophia’s fair skin, almost making her glow.
Like an angel.
“Mason, you’re staring.”
“Yeah, I guess I am. Now be quiet for another minute.”
She pushed out her lower lip in a pout. Normally that would make him laugh, but not today. Today he was looking at the miracle in his bed. The woman he had rescued in an alley twenty-two years ago. The woman who had been filling up his life with laughter, love, and joy.
And meaning. There is no way he could have been doing the job he had, without having her guiding light to come home to after each mission.
He would have faltered. He would have tried to stay on a good path, but his job would have eaten him alive.
He wouldn’t be someone a fourteen-year-old girl could consider a hero.
Not without this woman holding his spirit deep in her heart.
Sophia reached up, both palms cupping his cheeks. “Those are pretty deep thoughts, Lieutenant Commander. Want to share?”
He shook his head. “Just focusing on what’s important.”
“And?”
“What’s important is how many laces are on this corset, and how long will it take me to get you out of it.” He smiled.
“If you’re a really good Navy SEAL, I’ll tell you about the zipper on the side,” she whispered.
Mason’s hand slid down the side of the satin confection, and unzipped the corset. He watched as Sophia’s smooth skin was exposed, and felt all the blood from his head rush to his cock.
Sophia’s hands started to wander as he began peeling her out of the corset. First she was caressing his chest, then she was stroking down his sides, then her nails scratched his back, before circling back to his front and grasping his cock.
“God,” he moaned. “That feels good.”
“You always say that,” she purred.
“That’s because it’s always true.”
He saw the ways her nipples puckered as she caressed his penis and grinned to himself. He loved the fact that she got off on pleasuring him. How in the hell had he gotten so lucky?
He bent down and took a red-tipped nipple into his mouth and suckled with just the right amount of pressure to make Sophia moan.
But not too much that would have her stop caressing him.
He circled her nub with his tongue, as his hands roamed around her body, until they finally drifted to the damp curls between her thighs.
Drenched.
His wife was soaking wet, just for him.
He plunged two fingers deep, and she cried out. He grinned.
“That feels so fucking good. Do it again, Mason.”
Damn, it just made him harder when he got her so hot she started swearing.
He pressed his fingers deeper inside her, then twisted them. Her heels dug into their mattress, and her hips arched upwards. She was shaking. She was so damned close.
He brushed her hands away from his penis, and moved so he could push his cock inside her.
So good.
Every.
Fucking.
Time.
It felt so damned good.
Sophia was panting. He pushed deeper and she arched up, her legs wrapping around his waist. Her nails bit into his ass.
He kept driving into her, and he heard the sounds their bodies made against one another as they thrust and clutched, gasped, and groaned. It was like music.
Then he felt it. The tingle that started at his scalp, that rushed down and gathered at the base of his spine. He had seconds. He looked down at Sophia. Her eyes were the color of sapphires.
“Now, Baby,” he coaxed.
She thrust up against him, and clenched. Then he felt her shuddering wave of release, and he let go. And once again, like a thousand times before, they went flying into a world that belonged just to them.