CHAPTER TWO

RIGHT NOW

Your Guardian Angel ~

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Your Winter ~ Sister Hazel

SCARLETT

The next morning I woke up to the smell of bacon and coffee and the sound of pans banging around in the kitchen. I could hear Mason singing along with whatever music he had playing. Either he was purposely trying to wake me up to join him or he really sucked at quietly preparing me breakfast in bed. I was going with option number one. Groaning, I rolled over and hopped down from the ginormous bed. I was still naked and not really sure where my clothes had been thrown. I didn’t see any of them around on the floor, but I noticed his black t-shirt that he had on the night before draped across the dresser, so I just threw that on and went to find him.

The sight of Mason working in the kitchen stopped me mid-route; it truly was a sight to behold. His back was facing me so it allowed me a few moments to gawk at this gorgeous male specimen that I was… well, I wasn’t sure what we were. Dating? Lovers? Boyfriend/Girlfriend? Whatever he was, this guy claimed to love me and I had spent the previous night in his arms, so I was happy with that. You could tell by his broad, muscular frame that he spent quite a bit of time in the gym, and the ink that covered at least half of his exposed skin indicated he spent the rest of it in a tattoo parlor. He was standing at the stovetop, flipping what appeared to be pancakes, wearing only a pair of thin cotton pajama pants. His back was Adonis-like and the pants sat just perfectly on the top of his ass, framing his entire flawless physique. Holy hell.

Mason was engrossed in his cooking and singing, never even noticing my presence. I was quite enjoying the show that I was receiving. What could be better than a sexy ass, half-naked man, cooking me breakfast, while singing a song about never letting his true love fall and standing up with her forever in the sultriest voice ever? Ummm… nothing, that’s what. My body liquefied and I needed to touch him immediately.

I quietly tiptoed up behind him just as the song picked up tempo. He was really getting into it and began moving his hips and dancing in place. Right after he finished begging for her to stay, I slid my arms around his waist and kissed his back, directly between his shoulder blades.

“I’ll stay with you, Mase.” I whispered in his ear. Dropping the spatula, he spun around with a huge smile on his face and pulled me against him.

“Good morning Angel.” He kissed the top of my head and grabbed my ass at the same time. I squealed and leaned further into him. He looked down at me and brushed the pad of his hand over my cheek. “I hope you’re hungry ‘cause I’ve cooked up all kinds of good stuff for you.” He leaned down and gave me a swift peck, but quickly turned back towards the food.

“Shit, I burnt that one! It’s all your fault for distracting me,” he teased, looking at me over his shoulder as he disposed of the black flapjack. I moved over to the side of the range and hopped up onto the countertop, so that my legs were dangling in front of me, and I could see his face while he was cooking. Mason looked over at my bare legs and raised his eyebrows as a devilish smirk crept on his face.

“What?” I asked looking down at my lap and noticed that his t-shirt was just barely covering my crotch. “I couldn’t find my clothes so I put this on. Is it okay that I’m wearing your shirt?” I half-whined.

“Of course it’s okay, I like you in my clothes.” He turned off the stovetop and removed the skillet from the heat before walking over in front of me. My breath caught as he placed both of his hands on my legs and pulled me towards him so I was just barely perched on the edge of the counter. His hands pushed opened my knees far enough that he could position himself in between my thighs. The cool air that tickled my naked folds reminded me that I didn’t have any panties on, and then the feel of Mason’s bare stomach pressed against my clit made me shudder and my eyelids to get heavy. He looked down and pulled the hem of the shirt up, confirming that he felt my naked sex rubbing against his abs.

“Oh shit, Scarlett. What are you trying to do to me?” He growled the words at me as his hands slowly began moving from the inside of my knees up to my core. All of the liquid in my body rushed to the apex between my legs when his fingers found their ultimate destination.

“Mason, oh God…” I threw my head back at his first caress and moaned loudly. He leaned into my neck and kissed me under my ear at the same time he slipped one finger into me.

“Mmm hmm… I like the sound of that,” he said, not moving his mouth from my skin. He quickly added another finger to the first and began moving them in and out of me. Abruptly he withdrew his hand from me and dropped to his knees. The t-shirt was now bunched around my waist so that my lower half was completely exposed, and his eyes were fixed on my wet, pulsating sex. Without wasting another second, he leaned in and made a teasing swipe at my swollen nub with his tongue. He tried to torment me by pulling away, but I was too quick. Somehow I managed to stay perched on the edge of the countertop and grab the back of his head with my hands, guiding his mouth back towards my ache. He chuckled at my shamelessness, but happily obliged my silent request. After quickly bringing me to an orgasm with his talented mouth and hands, he slid me off the granite surface and turned me around so that my back was to him.

“Hold on here,” he instructed me as he put my hands on the counter where my legs had just been. I was bent over, my back arched and ass sticking up in the air as if I was presenting myself to him. I didn’t hear him pull his pants down or grab a condom, but moments later I heard the ripping of the package followed by the tip of his erection nudging me. His strong hands grabbed my hip bones like they were handles and in one swift motion, he impaled himself inside of me.

“Oh God!” I cried out. I was extremely sore from the night before and my body still wasn’t used to Mason filling me up.

“Are you okay? Do you want me to stop?” he asked, leaning down and kissing my shoulder gently. I looked over my shoulder at him and his hungry, hooded eyes stared back at me. I loved how much he wanted me; it turned me on incredibly.

“No, don’t stop. Please don’t stop,” I answered and wiggled my ass against him. He said something under his breath that sounded like “Oh fuck me,” but I wasn’t sure. I didn’t have time to think about it again because he, still grasping tightly onto my hip bones, began his relentless pounding. It didn’t take me long to come again and I felt he hands grab me even tighter, if that was possible, as he followed me into ecstasy.

He wrapped his arms around my waist and laid himself down onto my back. I was still using the countertop as a brace, and his additional, unexpected weight caused me to lose my grip and we both fell to the floor. Sprawled out, half-dressed, on the kitchen floor, our gazes caught and we both began to laugh hysterically. Mason managed to discard the condom and pull his pants up from around his ankles. Sitting up with his back leaning against the cabinets, he pulled me unto his lap and snuggled into the side of my face.

“I was going to bring you breakfast in bed, but it appears you brought the bed to breakfast,” he joked while kissing my cheek. “Now come on, let’s eat before all of the food gets cold.”

Mason and I cleaned up in the bathroom, washing our hands and brushing our teeth, before grabbing our plates and settling down at the table. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t even been back in town for twenty four hours, and I had already had sex with him twice and spent my first night in his bed instead of mine. We enjoyed a pleasant breakfast talking about recent movies and music; both of us avoided “the conversation” at all costs. It was like we were just going to pretend that nothing had happened since the day he left to go to the music festival in Dallas last December. Evie didn’t die, Ash didn’t completely destroy and trample on my heart and soul, and I didn’t leave Mason in the middle of the night after giving him my virginity and telling him I loved him. I glanced down at the outside of my left calf and saw the butterfly that was permanently tattooed on my skin. It was my daily reminder that it all did in fact happen. My daily reminder of Ash Walker.

I quickly pulled my eyes away from my tattoo and back to my plate, hopeful that he didn’t catch me looking at it. I knew he must know that it was somehow related to Ash since Ash had the same design on his forearm and had apparently become a regular at the warehouse. I didn’t want Mason to worry about any lingering feelings I had for Ash, even though I couldn’t honestly say I was completely over Ash. I wasn’t sure if I ever would be- the magical connection I had felt with him was something that I had only believed existed in fictional stories, I couldn’t allow myself to ever be with him. He had nearly destroyed my already broken self once before and I’d be damned if I let him do it again.

“Are you going to the warehouse with me tonight, Angel? Jobu’s Rum is playing,” his voice pulled me from my depressing thoughts. “I’ve got to go up there early but I figured you could hang out and watch TV in the studio apartment there until it got busy.”

“Are you sure?” I asked meekly. “I mean I just showed up yesterday after… well, after everything and I don’t expect you to just forgive me and insert me back into your life.”

“Isn’t that what you want?” he asked with a confused look on his face.

“Well, yeah, but what I want and what happens in real life aren’t always the same thing.” I tucked my hair behind my ears and took a deep breath. I looked into his eyes and said, “Mason, we’re going to have to talk about it at some point. It doesn’t have to be right now, but the longer we go pretending that nothing happened, the more this fresh start is built on a lie.”

“I love you and that isn’t a lie,” he interjected. “And you said you love me, and I don’t think that’s a lie either.”

“You know as well as I do that isn’t enough to make a relationship work, Mase,” I replied softly. He pushed away from the table abruptly and took our plates to the sink.

“Why not, Scarlett?” He asked looking over the bar at me. I had tucked my knees up against my body, his shirt was stretched over my legs to my ankles. “Look, what happened is what happened. We were seeing each other, getting to know each other pretty well; I was starting to fall for you, I’m pretty sure you had feelings for me too. Something really shitty happened, you came here for me to comfort and console you, and I did. Sure, I didn’t know the pain you were in, but I did what I did because I cared about you. You freaked out with everything and ran away. Obviously, you’ve gotten your shit together, figured out whatever you needed to figure out, and you’ve come back to move on with your life. You said you were sorry last night, I’m sorry too. You said you loved me, I said I loved you. Who knows where this is going to lead, but right here, right now, this is what we both want. So why do we need to make the past any more than it is? Leave it there; focus on right now. End of story.”

“But aren’t you mad at me? Upset with me? Want to know why I did what I did?”