5. Mason
5
MASON
T he next week sucked. There was no good way to explain it, and there was no good way to deal with it. We plowed through. That’s all we could do.
Heather and Channing came over and they barely left. The house was big enough so their kids slept over.
Nate and Quincey arrived the next morning, so they were there when we told the kids. I watched my children, all three of them. Not one of them looked surprised when we broke the news. It was as if we were just confirming what they already knew, and once we had, the dam broke. The tears began falling. When Maddy saw my unspoken question, she motioned to Nolan.
Ah, I forgot. She was convinced Nolan was psychic. Maybe she was.
Logan mostly focused on Taylor, and we all understood his concern.
Taylor, on the other hand, was rock steady. This wasn’t a surprise either, considering her personal history and how she loved working in the emergency room. She tended to lock down when there was a threat in the air, and that quality came in handy during times like this.
Not that she was the only one. All the women banded together, taking care of everyone and everything. They managed the kids, and with help from Malinda, they planned the funeral and everything that came along with that.
Which was a fucking blessing for the rest of us.
Channing called it with the press. They got wind of James’s death almost right away. It might’ve been a leak from the police, but however it got out there, it spread fast. Kade Enterprises had grown in the last decade. It was ranked in the top fifty businesses in the state and considering some of the biggest companies in the world had headquarters in our state, our standing was saying a lot. When Dad fixed things, he really succeeded.
I was proud of my dad. Proud of the man he became at the end.
When I went into the office and got a look at all the files, I choked up, my pride just reaffirmed. And then I almost broke again because no matter what, he hadn’t needed to do what he did. There would’ve been a way.
Bitter regret blasted me because why hadn’t he called us in earlier? We were here. I was here. We were coming back more and more. I would’ve helped.
I would’ve done everything—
I had to stop those thoughts.
I laid a foundation down inside of me. It was shaky, but I was standing on it. It was the way I was getting through this, being there for my kids. Nolan cried herself to sleep in our bed last night. When I got up in the morning, I found Nash on the floor outside of our door, a blanket and pillow with him.
I scooped him up and crawled right back in bed; him with us.
My foundation trembled when I heard Nolan crying all night. It shook even more when I found my boy in the morning.
Business. I had to get back to business.
Shoving aside the grief, I made calls next. To my business manager. My agent. My publicist. Along with the PR and marketing team from Kade Enterprises, a statement was drafted and given to the press. It was nice and polite and said nothing at all. A basic bullshit statement to appease assholes who demanded to know what was going on. But it was necessary and would buy us some time before more pressing questions would be asked. At this time, they were given a story about how he’d had a heart attack.
That’d been earlier in the week.
“When are you going to need me?” Sam trailed me into the bedroom. Shutting the door, she crossed the room barefoot, wearing a black lace dress she’d picked out for the day.
The house was bursting with people—our family, Channing’s sister, and their entire network of friends, people they considered family. Nate’s sister had flown over, but his brother-in-law hadn’t been able to get away from his soccer schedule in Europe. Matteo would arrive in the morning. Samantha made room for him in the pool house. He was newly single again, and Sam was likely hoping if he wanted to meet someone, he’d feel comfortable bringing her over for the night. Unfortunately, she was a little blind. We had teenagers in this house. The pool house would be the first place they’d hang out.
There’d be no privacy for Matteo unless he got a hotel room.
But back to my wife’s question.
Sam knew there was a threat, but we couldn’t move forward until we got further clarification there actually was a war coming. We were in the waiting phase, though Sam wasn’t really asking me about that.
I couldn’t let myself get lost in her, not fully, not until I knew what else was coming our way.
That hadn’t stopped me from trying to lose myself in her the couple nights when it was only her and me. I could’ve fucked her from sunset to sunrise. It was only the fact that we both needed some sleep I forced myself not to reach for her for a fourth or fifth round.
When that time came, when I would “need” her, I didn’t know how our interaction would go. Would I be fine breaking down, or would I do what Channing worried I’d do, and travel cross country to burn down a certain fucking nightclub.
I was tempted. I was really fucking tempted.
I wanted to ask for forgiveness later, but I couldn’t. Two innocent people would be hurt because of my actions.
I needed to wait for more information. I needed to understand who I was fighting before I made any moves, but someone would pay. That vow and my family kept my rocky foundation from shattering to pieces inside of me.
“Mason,” Sam murmured softly, moving so she was behind me. She pressed herself against me, resting her forehead to my back. I felt her draw in some air. “You have to break.”
I couldn’t.
I covered her hand with mine and raised it to my lips. Resting it at the corner of my mouth, I breathed her in deep. One whiff wasn’t enough. I needed more of her scent. Of her warmth. “Once I can, I will.”
She tipped her head up, meeting my gaze in the mirror. Concern and love flared in her. It was so fucking strong, and my God, I was swept away again because what would my life be like if I’d never found her? My chest ached at the thought. It would’ve been an empty nightmare of a life if that’d been the case. My hand curled around hers. My chest rose and fell. “Thank fuck I got you.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. She blinked away tears and pressed against me. “Goes both ways, buddy.”
I raised an eyebrow at her word choice, but I heard the lust.
Tugging her in front of me, I slid my hands down her back, cupping her ass cheeks.
I groaned, tucking my head into her neck. “I really love your ass.”
She smothered a laugh. “Mason.”
I squeezed her, lifting her from the motion. “Nice. Round. Firm. Some jiggle too. I like seeing it when I’m fucking you from behind.”
“Okay.” She caught one of my hands and stepped back. A grin was at the corner of her mouth. “We have a house full of guests, and we need to start herding everyone into vehicles so we can get to the wake on time. It’s a literal circus down there with kids, dogs, and all the pets. Nova brought her tortoise, insisting it’s now Harold the Emotional Support Turtle.”
I frowned, moving my head back to see her better. “A turtle?”
“No.” She snorted. “It’s a tortoise. It’s bigger than some of the dogs.”
My eyes got big. “And it’s in our house? How is that legal?”
“Yes.” Her eyes went wide. “Apparently it’s a certain kind of tortoise and they had to get a permit to have it, and it’s only with them for a short time period before it goes to a rescue sanctuary. Quincey told me all about the legalities of it, but it’s still a tortoise.”
There was a giant tortoise walking around in my house. Nova was Nate’s kid, so he had signed off on it, but the fact that it was in my house meant Samantha had signed off on it too. “Is it in the house all the time?”
“No. They brought a whole trailer of things to build up some sort of encampment outside, but Nova brings it in. Him. She brought him in this morning.”
I shook my head. She was right. It was a literal circus downstairs.
I didn’t want to deal with a turtle right now. “Fuck it.” I lifted her up.
She squeaked, her legs winding around me, and I carried her over to the bed. “Mason!” She gasped. “We seriously can’t.”
“Is the door locked?” I nuzzled into her neck.
She shivered, running a hand down my back. “I don’t know.”
Well, fuck that too. I reached for the button on the wall. The lock clicked into place, and after that I was a man on a mission. I slid a hand up her leg, pushing up her dress as I went, and groaned. “We’ll be quick.”
She laid back, a laugh leaving her on a moan. “Since when are we ever quick?”
She was right. I was going to savor this.
Bending between Sam’s legs, I pushed open her knees and bent down, grazing my nose up the inside of her leg.
Her body began trembling. “Mason.”
I liked hearing that moan. I needed to hear it again. More.
Moving to her other leg, I feathered kisses all the way to her pussy. Which was mine. Mine to have. Mine to play with. Mine to love.
She was already holding her breath, trembling again because she knew what was coming next.
I pulled her panties aside. Settling more comfortable between her legs, I stretched out, then I licked.
Sam was goddamn delicious.
Her entire body lifted up. “Jesus. Mason.” Her legs tightened around my head. I only chuckled, getting off on this, on making her feel good. It was helping to push out the bad that was coming today.
I wanted to escape in my woman. I wanted to only hear these sounds from her. I’d keep them in my mind, remembering until I could slide back inside of her again, escaping into my haven.
Another taste.
She sucked in some air.
I licked again, this time using my thumb to rub at her clit. Jesus, I loved doing this shit for Sam.
“ Fuck .”
Her hands reached down, grabbing hold of the side of my head. She didn’t move me out of the way, just anchored me to her.
When I slid my tongue inside, her fingers latched onto my hair, fisting me.
I went as deep as I could taste.
She was bucking under me.
I kept going, making her fall apart underneath my touch. Knowing this was sweet torment. I reveled in that.
In and out. Around. It was all about her, drawing out more of those little gasps and how she writhed over me.
“Fuck! Mason!”
I kept going. I was inhaling her, and shit , my dick was so hard. I pressed down on the bed, needing some of my own release. That felt good. God. Everything about Sam made me feel good. I kept moving inside of her, around until I felt her tensing. Her hands clenched, yanking me against her. I kept flicking my tongue up and down, across her nub before dipping back in for another taste.
I needed to do this. It was for her, but it was for me. We could both feel good. Help us forget for a moment in time.
“ Fuuuuck .”
She was yanking at my hair, grinding down on me at the same time.
She jerked against me, coming in my mouth. I swept it up, lapping at her, and continued tasting until her body stopped trembling. Her hands slid from my hair. I gazed up, feeling half drunk. She gave me a half-grin. She was damn near purring. Satisfied.
She whispered, “You’re really good at that.”
“Hmmm. Am I?” I crawled up over her, dipping down to meet her mouth with mine.
She would taste herself.
With her eyes closed, she tipped her head up to meet mine, her hands softly holding onto the side of my jaw. Yes. I loved the soft kiss of her lips, which was what she was giving me now. A tender little bite. A tease. She moved her mouth over mine.
I pressed against her, needing more pressure against my dick.
She moaned, rocking her hips to meet mine.
I smiled back, my lips grazing hers. A deep groan rumbled from me.
So good. So fucking good.
The pleasure built, like it always did.
I needed to fuck her. I needed to be inside of her, right fucking now.
“Babe.” I swept my tongue inside of her mouth before pulling away to move down her throat, sucking on her neck. Her carotid artery. That was my spot. I tasted it, needing to mark her. I didn’t care how old we were, if we were married, how many kids we had. That mark on her, that was mine, and I hungered for people to see it.
Sam was mine. She belonged to me. I wanted everyone to be reminded.
“Hmmm?” She was replete after her release, but the longer I rubbed against her, the more I tasted her, she began to move underneath me. Her hips were moving, seeking out the beginning of another release.
“I need to fuck you.” Now. Right fucking now.
I pressed hard against her.
My hands began to shake. The need to get inside of her was too much.
I hoped this desire, this lust, never went away for us.
Shoving down my pants, I lined up with her.
I looked up, her eyes collided and held onto mine, and right there. That’s the connection I needed. I hungered to see inside of her at the same time as I was in her. Feeling that link fill me up, I thrust inside of her.