How We Deal With Gravity(43)
I didn’t think it was possible for Mason’s muscles to get any tenser, but they do the second I say that sentence. I force myself to live this moment, to accept it, and I open my eyes slowly to find Mason’s reflecting everything I’m feeling back at me.
“Avery…” he says, his breath barely able to complete my name. His hands slide up my shoulders and neck slowly, until they cup my face, urging my chin higher until our noses are touching. We’re so close…when he licks his lips, I feel the tip of his tongue barely touch my top lip, and my entire body is on fire, tingling with desire, and begging for his touch.
Every instinct within me is telling me to run, but I push that urge down deep—this time, I let my heart have what it wants. When I feel his warm breath against my lips, I close my eyes tightly in anticipation, but his kiss doesn’t come—not yet. I feel his fingers slide back into my hair, his right hand moving to the base of my neck while his forehead is still against mine.
A tiny breath escapes me, and I know he hears it, because the second it does, he moves his other hand to my shoulder and slides his fingers slowly under the strap of my dress, lifting it and dragging the knotted strings down the crest of my shoulder. His nose traces the line from my jaw down my neck until his lips find my bare skin, where he leaves his first kiss—soft, and sweet.
He does the same to the other shoulder, until the only thing holding up my dress is the tightness of the fabric around my breasts. I feel his hands begin to move around my body while his lips work their way along my collarbone, and my pulse is racing with nerves, and want, and fear. He can feel me shake, and just as his fingertips find the edge of my zipper, his lips hit my ear.
“I’m going to kiss you, Avery, and it’s going to be the best f*cking kiss you’ve ever had,” he says, his teeth pulling on the edge of my ear while he breathes. “But I want to feel your body, too. And this dress…as adorable as it is…is just getting in my way.”
All I can do is nod yes. I know if I try to speak, the words will fail me. I feel a chill along my spine with every inch Mason lowers my zipper, until his hand glides over the bare skin of my back. Seconds later, the dress falls in a pool around my feet. I’m about to step from it and kick it aside, when Mason’s hands lift me to him, gripping my thighs, until my legs wrap around him on instinct.
I’m nothing in his strong arms while he turns me slowly, walking back to the mattress on the floor. Along the way, his hands slide around my hips, and up my ribs, my legs squeezing him tighter to hold myself up, and his thumbs rub softly over the thin fabric of my cotton bra until they find the peaks of my nipples. He rests them there for only a few seconds, and I feel his touch run right through the center of me.
Mason kneels down until my back rests on the mattress and his body is hovering over mine, his lips yet to fully take mine in. I know it’s coming, and for a second I have a flash of panic that he’s going to back away from me and leave me there alone, embarrassed and rejected. But he doesn’t. Instead, his forehead rests along mine again as he pulls my leg up high around him, his fingers teasing to go further, but always staying just along the line of my panties.
Just as I feel I may pass out from all of the near touches, Mason lowers his lips to mine, his kiss at first soft, but growing with need every second, until my top lip is trapped between his teeth. His tongue grazes along my bottom lip, and I reciprocate until Mason can no longer handle it, and he kisses me hard.
His tongue explores every bit of my mouth, tasting me and urging me to do the same. As his hands slide up my leg, his fingers wrap around the band of my panties, and in that moment, my mind is actually begging him to rip them away. Instead, he continues to trail his touch along my body, stopping to feel me just long enough and threaten to take our kiss a little further. He slides every finger up and over the hardness of my nipple until I let out a small cry of pleasure, and only then does he break away, lifting himself just enough to look down at me…breathless.
“I want you, Avery. I want every bit of you—you’re so goddamned sexy and beautiful and amazing,” he says, his tongue held between his teeth while his eyes follow the movement of his hands as they push my hair away from my face and behind my ear. “But I only wanted a kiss tonight. And I know you said you were ready…”
“Mason, I want this. I want you…” I start only to have him stop my lips now with his hand.
“God, I want you to want me. And I think a part of you does…and maybe a month ago…hell, a couple weeks ago? Yeah, that would have been fine. I would have taken that sign, and torn the rest of your clothes away to take you completely…not giving a damn about what it meant tomorrow. But here’s the thing. I kinda give a shit about what this means tomorrow, Avery. And I know…I know in here,” he says, gripping my hand, and holding it to his chest. “I know tonight isn’t the night for anything more than kissing. But holy f*ck, was that some kiss.”
My entire body is pulsing with need, but my mind is washed with relief, because I know Mason is right. And the more it sets in, the more his words sink in. Tomorrow. Mason is worried about tomorrow—with me. All I can do is smile, softly and genuinely, as I lift my head to kiss his lips one last time, this time gently.
I don’t even ask if I can stay, and instead, reach my arms around his body until he’s on his back, letting my head rest in the crook of his arm. Mason strokes my hair slowly, tucking it constantly behind my ear—I think in many ways, keeping his hands occupied until he can calm down himself. And I let him, his lips kissing the top of my head every few minutes, reminding me where I am, until I drift to sleep.