Chapter Eleven
Mason
I wake up Sunday morning, the sunlight peeking through the hotel room curtains, casting a warm glow over Maria’s sleeping face. We haven’t parted since the party Friday night. Most of the weekend has been a blur of laughter, passion, and more than a few room service orders. It’s been great.
I gaze down at the woman who’s utterly altered my life, marveling at how peaceful she looks. There’s something incredibly wonderful in waking up beside her. I’m not used to feeling this way, not used to craving more and more, and needing someone so much. But when it comes to Maria, I don’t want to part company with her.
As she begins to stir, I find myself smiling, something I’ve been doing a whole lot of since meeting her less than a month earlier. Her eyes flutter open, and as soon as she sees me looking her way, she smiles back.
“Good morning,” she murmurs as she lazily stretches her arms above her head, giving me a glimpse of her breasts playing peek-a-boo with the blanket covering her. Just another inch and it will be a very good morning indeed.
“Morning,” I easily reply, my voice soft and content. I lean down and kiss her, savoring the sweetness of her plump lips. I love all sides of Maria, her happy self, her sleepy self, her confident self, and her comfortable self. I want to learn every mood and side of her. I want to know her inside and out.
“No, I need to brush my teeth,” she warns as she keeps her lips pressed closed.
“You’re perfect,” I protest.
This makes her cover her mouth as she chuckles. “You won’t think so when the newness wears off. Morning breath is real.”
This makes me laugh. She’s always able to make me laugh. I never know what this woman might say to me. I want to pounce on her, that’s for sure. I run my hand over the top of the blanket and watch as her eyes dilate. She’s so damn responsive to me. It makes me feel like there’s nothing I can’t do when it comes to this woman.
We eventually drag ourselves from the bed, and step into the shower together. The warm water cascades over us as our hands explore each other’s bodies with a familiarity that feels both new, and yet, utterly timeless. It’s as if we’ve been together for years instead of weeks. I’ve never been this comfortable with another person.
Sure, I’m close to my friends, and my brother, but there’s something between Maria and I that can’t be ignored. We have so much more to learn, and I’m looking forward to every single moment of it.
It takes a long while for us to drag ourselves from the shower, but all good times must eventually come to an end, and we’re burning a lot of calories this weekend. We need fuel. I had clothes delivered to us the day before so we haven’t been stuck in our formal wear or naked the entire time together.
I don’t mind naked one little bit. Maria insists on clothes though. I can eventually change her mind on this. Maybe we’ll move to a nudist colony. No; I immediately change my mind. No other man can look at her but me. She’s mine now.
We sit together at the table amongst a bounty of breakfast food. Maria looks adorable in her workout clothes. We’ve agreed we both need to stretch our legs. We can’t live on sex and food alone, though I don’t see why not. It’s working out so far quite nicely.
“It must be very nice to snap your fingers and make clothes appear. You did good,” she tells me as she runs her hand over the fabric on her shorts.
“I’m not complaining about how good you look in the clothes,” I tell her with a chuckle. “I do have to admit having money makes life easier. Then again, I prefer you naked.”
She’s buttering a piece of toast and looks over with a grin. “I like you naked as well,” she tells me. I put my hands on the hem of my shirt, and she laughs. “Don’t you dare. I need to eat, and we have to get out of this room. I want sunshine on my cheeks and though sex is providing a lot of exercise, I miss running.”
“How about you lie on your back with your legs spread while I move in and out of you and you can try to run in place?” I suggest. Maria throws her head back laughs.
“We might have to try that at a later date, but I have a feeling if you’re in me I won’t be thinking of running anywhere.”
“That’s the plan,” I tell her. I don’t want her to ever run away from me. I want to be right at her side.
I sip on my coffee, happy this hotel has a good brew. “This weekend has been perfect. I want to do many more just like it,” I tell her. I need for her to know this isn’t a one off. We have many more good times ahead of us.
“You want to spend many more weekends together in bed?” she asks with a laugh. Hell yes, I want to spend every night in bed, and many entire days as well. I also want more.
“Yes, many days and nights in bed, naked,” I admit. “I also mean that I want to be together. No other people, just you and me. No rushing, no distractions, no other relationships.” I can’t be any clearer that she’s mine, and I’m hers. There’s no other dating. Her eyes widen a bit as she gets the gist of my words.
Maria takes a moment to let the words sink in as she continues eating. I grab a bagel, spread cream cheese on it, and take a bite. I find myself nervous as I wait to hear what she has to say about this.
“I like spending time with you. I have no desire to be with anyone else. It’s been a very long time since I’ve felt this relaxed, this happy, and this satisfied,” she tells me. I let out a breath of relief.
“I feel the exact same way,” I tell her. “You make me forget about anything else going on in my life. It’s like the rest of the world fades away and nothing’s left but you and me. I honestly don’t know if that’s ever happened to me before.”
She reaches over and takes my hand, something I love. I don’t like going too long without touching her, without being close to her. “I didn’t expect for something like this to happen. I’ve always been about work, family, and friends. Relationships have been an after-thought, but you’re consuming me,” she says.
I laugh. “I’ve always been the exact same way. But things have changed. I didn’t even know I was looking for you until I spotted you sitting at that bar. I’m so grateful we met, and even more grateful the chemistry is so damn hot.”
Her eyes twinkle as she squeezes my hand. “Let’s see where things will lead, and maybe even promise each other that we’ll be honest, and make time for each other as long as there’s an us.”
I inwardly wince at these words. I don’t want to talk about how long this will last. Right here and now, I can’t imagine it not lasting. This is again a major change for me. I wonder if this was what it was like for Miles when he met Emily. I’ll have to talk to him about it. As strange as this is, it feels like so much more than an affair.
“We can certainly do that,” I tell her.
We finish our meal. I try to convince Maria to head to the room with me once more, but she drags us out, and I reluctantly follow her from the hotel. It doesn’t take us long to reach the park where we stretch, then easily slide into a comfortable pace as we begin jogging. The fresh air and exercise feels invigorating after being locked in the hotel for a couple of days.
Running beside Maria, I realize how easy everything feels with her. We click well together. But whether we’re working, running, in the gym, in bed, or simply sharing a meal, it’s easy. This isn’t something that comes naturally with most people. I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of being with her. We just click well together. There’s no awkwardness, no need for pretense. We both get to be who we really are without having to put on false fronts. It’s wonderful. I love feeling fully in sync with this woman.
I steal glances as we move through the park trails together. Maria’s skin starts to flush a rosy red and a sheen of sweat appears over her skin. I’m reminded of my time with her and feel heat pulse through my body. I close my eyes and try to distract myself. This isn’t the time, but how can I help it when she looks so damn stunning doing literally everything?
I turn to her and ask the first question that comes to mind, looking for some kind of distraction. Football has gotten me into the habit of chatting while jogging, and Maria’s pace is perfect for that. “What made you want to be an editor?” I ask.
She glances at me, a strained smile playing on her lips. “What is with you and Nikki wanting to chat while running?” she teases. She doesn’t give me a chance to answer before continuing.” I grew up in a poor family with my two siblings. We didn’t have much, but there were always books in the house. I greatly looked forward to my weekly library trips, and I loved my mother reading to me at night. We’d spend hours as a family reading together, escaping into fantasy worlds. The older I got my love for books grew and grew. I knew I wanted to work in the world of books, to help create those same worlds for others that were created for me. That love has never dimmed, and when I went to college, I got an internship at a publishing house, and my career was set. It won’t ever change. I love what I do.”
“Even the paperwork part?” I ask.
She laughs. “No, I despise that part, but we all do things in our jobs that we don’t like. The majority of my work is all about creativity and collaboration, though, and I can do that seven days a week, which I often do. Weekends like this are a rare thing. It’s not hard to be a workaholic when you love what you do.”
“I have to agree with you on that,” I tell her.
“What about you?” she asks. “What led you to being a football star?”
Now it’s my turn to chuckle. I’ve been asked this before, and my answer never changes. “Miles and I always played sports growing up. It was simply a part of us. We both grew fast, and I have the natural talent, drive, and coordination, so it was almost a sure thing. Being tall and fast helps a lot, but more than that I had passion. It took a lot of work, but as you said, it never felt like work because I loved it so much. There’s nothing I don’t love about football, the games, the strategy, the physicality of it, the love of the fans. It always feels right, and I was lucky enough to be noticed by scouts. I’m glad that I’m able to stay connected to that world in different ways now that I can no longer play in the NFL.”
“There are so many amazingly talented athletes in the world, and very few get to follow their dreams,” she says.
“That’s why I’m so passionate about the programs I volunteer for. Sports can change lives. It can take at-risk youth and give them a new direction to focus on. Not only can it help them financially, but it can also keep them from drugs and crime. As much as I love sports, I support other programs that support passion just as much. Give students a great education, art, sports, love of community, and they’re so much more likely to succeed in life. Whatever their passion is, it needs to be supported and encouraged, not stomped on. I hope to have a big enough voice to pull youth from bad circumstances into their passions.”
“Reading and books has always been that passion for me. Growing up without really puts things into perspective. Passion provides so much direction. I wish that schools could do more to really help the kids reach their full potential. I hate that a lot of the electives seem to be the first to get cut because while reading, writing, and math are important and necessary, when I think of school, I remember art class and cooking class. There were so many things I liked that made me eager to go to school that I was learning without realizing it.” She pauses for a moment. “You’re pretty dang close to perfect,” she finishes.
I laugh at this. “I’m not even close. I’m vain, like expensive things, and have a temper at times. But when it comes to kids I’m passionate. I want them to have every opportunity they can for success. If we would focus on kids more, this world could be a truly great place. We’re the ones who bring them into this world. It’s our obligation to make sure we give them the proper tools for success. If they throw that away as adults, that’s on them, but it’s fully on us if we don’t provide the proper tools in the first place.”
“I agree with that,” she says.
We continue running, our conversation effortlessly flowing. I’m sure there will be things we disagree on, but it’s so dang easy to talk to her. We run for nearly an hour before we make it back to my vehicle. I don’t want to see our day end, but we both have a busy week ahead of us. I wish we could forget about the real world and stay right here in our little bubble that’s incredible.
As we climb into my vehicle our conversation continues. She gives me a mischievous smile. “I’ve heard all about your most embarrassing moments, but what’s your most memorable football moment?”
I laugh as a memory immediately pops into my head. “I have a decent college story. Our team was down by six with only a few seconds left on the clock. We decided to go for a Hail Mary pass. I was way down on the field and the quarterback threw the ball with everything he had for a sixty-eight-yard throw. I snagged it out of the air and made it into the end zone. We then did a field goal and won the game by one point. I was tackled so hard in the end zone before that though that I was seeing stars for a solid week.”
“Those moments are my favorite in sports. When one team is slaughtering the other side, I grow bored and start feeling sorry for the other team. It drives my siblings crazy, but all of the athletes are phenomenal so I feel bad for them when they get stomped.”
This makes me laugh hard enough I have to be careful not to swerve my vehicle. “I don’t think my team will appreciate that,” I tell her.
“They should try harder to be the winning team, and then if I have sympathy for another team they have nothing to complain about,” she insists.
“I guess I can’t argue with that,” I tell her. “What about you? Do you have any crazy work stories?”
Maria thinks about this for a moment. She then grins at me. “There was one time at a book launch that one of the authors, who I won’t name, got a bit too tipsy. She began doing karaoke in the middle of the bookstore. She was absolutely terrible at it, but the fans had a phenomenal time, and the books sold out. It was crazy for sure, but the most fun book signing I’ve ever attended.”
I laugh with her. “I’d definitely go to more signings if there was karaoke involved. I love a good night of terrible singing.”
“Me too!” she says. “It’s one of my favorite things to watch.”
“Do you get up and sing?”
She immediately shakes her head. “No singing for me. I like to sit back and watch.”
“Maybe I’ll change that,” I tell her.
We reach her place and I feel a pit of dread in my stomach. I’m not ready to say goodbye. I’m not ready to leave yet. This has been too great. We have so much more to talk about, so much more to do, and a whole lot more love to make.
“I don’t want to let you out,” I tell her.
She smiles at me. “We’ve already established that we can’t live off of sex and food alone,” she says.
“Has anyone ever tried?”
She shakes her head at me before she reaches for the door. She steps out before I can walk around and help. I walk her up to her door with great reluctance. I’m wondering how much trouble I’d get into for kidnapping. Hmmm, maybe not the best idea I’ve ever had, not the worst though.
We share a lingering kiss before she heads inside, leaving me standing for several moments. I’ve been with her nonstop, and it still hasn’t been enough. I eventually go back to my vehicle then drive away. I already miss her, a feeling that’s entirely new for me. This woman is doing something to me I never thought possible. I’m falling hard for her, and it scares me, but not as much as it excites me. For the first time in a very long while I’m more than eager to see where this is going to lead. I also have no fear that it won’t lead somewhere. We’re into each other, and it’s more than sex. I smile as I plan our next adventure together. It doesn’t matter what it is, it will be great. That I have no doubt about.