Chapter Twenty-One #2
“Oh, yeah, better than a dream,” he declared with a top-to-toe perusal.
I tried not to squirm under his scrutiny, but I failed. Especially when his fingers grazed up the inside of my thigh, gathering the wetness that was leaking.
“Fuck,” he growled, and tipped his eyes up. “I know it says something about me, how much I like my come dripping down your thigh, but I can’t begin to give a fuck what it says.”
My breath was stuck in my throat. So it was a good thing he didn’t seem to want a response when his lips gently pressed against mine and he gave me a gentle shove.
“In, baby.”
Damn. Overtime was over.
I would not show disappointment.
I stepped into the tub, inhaled, and turned to say something that was likely going to be stupid because there were no words to express how much he meant to me. He’d broken his vow to himself and given me something I’d cherish.
Some girls dreamed of roses on the bed and declarations of love upon losing their virginity.
Not me.
If I’d ever given it any thought, what Mason had given me was exactly what I would’ve wanted.
Respect.
Control over my choice.
And care and gentleness.
On top of that, he made it good for me—phenomenal, actually. He’d given me everything and didn’t make me feel silly for holding on to something most people lost by the time they were in their twenties.
But when I’d turned, his sweats were off and his very large penis was on display.
“Holy shit.”
“Calli.” I heard the humor in his voice but ignored it.
“Holy shit.”
His humor turned into a chuckle. “Sweetness.”
I knew it was rude to stare, but for the love of all things holy in the universe, I’d never seen a dick in real life. He was thick, and even flaccid there was a good deal of length, then there was the bell head . . . all of that making a very pretty picture.
“That’s um . . .” I cleared my throat. “That’s . . .” I ran out of words, even though I’d technically only said one and made a nonsensical sound.
“You gonna let me in or stand there and stare at my cock?”
“I think I want to stare at it a bit longer. I’m trying to figure out how it fit.”
“It fit,” he reminded me.
I don’t know if it fit as much as I’d muscled it inside of me, and my vagina had no choice but to accept the intrusion.
“I think I need another demonstration.”
“Goof,” he muttered, and moved to turn off the water.
Since I lost sight of his dick, I took in the rest of him. My first look of him completely naked only cemented my earlier assessment—he was hard everywhere, like he was carved out of stone.
Mason stepped into the tub behind me, and for the first time since I’d stepped foot into the penthouse, I appreciated the extravagance. Or maybe I just appreciated the gigantic bathtub that could hold five adults comfortably.
His hands went to my hips. With a gentle squeeze, he ordered, “Sit, sweetness.”
Mase helped me down. His back against the tub, my back against his chest, his legs bracketing mine, I was in a perfect cocoon of Mason Hughes safety. This was better than our cone of silence on the balcony.
“Okay, Calli, we need to talk about what happened.”
I felt every muscle from my toes to my scalp tense.
“Relax.”
Such a man, telling a woman to relax, like him ordering it will make it so.
Spoiler alert: I didn’t relax.
“Mason—”
As if I didn’t speak, he went on. “First, I want you to know I’ll never forget all that you gave me, how precious it was, how gorgeous.
Straight up, Calista, no lie—I will cherish that gift forever.
” I started to melt against him. Unfortunately, that was short lived.
“But, sweetness, you held on to that for a long time.”
There was an unasked question in his statement, even though I’d told him why. Probably more than one. And truth was, I owed him more of an explanation.
I had nothing to be embarrassed about, and I wasn’t, but it was awkward and uncomfortable, which was stupid because I’d had this man inside my body.
“I blamed sex for killing my sister. Then I started working with Tom, and I learned what was really happening. Porn. Prostitution. Slavery. All of it evil. All of it solely based on sex.
“Logically, I knew it wasn’t the act of sex. I just had no interest in sharing that part of myself with someone. At some point, me being a virgin was just weird, and the thought of telling someone why or talking about my sister wasn’t something I wanted to do.”
“Just to point out, Calli, I’m someone, and you just explained it to me. And there’s nothing weird about you not giving someone something you don’t want to share. Especially your body.”
“But you’re not someone . . . you’re Mason,” I lamely retorted.
His body went rigid behind me, and his thighs pushed tighter against mine.
“I am that,” he said, his voice thick with an emotion I didn’t understand.
“You get it,” I softly told him. “All of it. I’m safe with you.”
His hands came out of the water, his arms went around me, and he held me tightly to his chest.
“Yeah, Calli, you’re always safe with me.”
Always.
I wished that were true.
I wished I could live for always in the cocoon of Mason Hughes.