Page 7 of Mason

She grinned at me. “You always know the right things to say. I want to know everything about you too.”

Laughing, I kissed her forehead again. “You’re so good for my ego. How about we start with easy stuff like what we’ve started with this evening. Food. You haven’t binged on anything in particular. Mum even made sure we’ve been stocked with a bunch of different chocolate and candy.”

“I’m more of a cookies and cakes kind of girl, or I used to be.” A distant look come into her eyes like she was remembering something. “Grandma and my mum and I use to spend weekends baking. My Grandma was so good at baking she won competitions.” A tear slid down her cheek and I reached up and gently brushed it away.

“I’m sorry, my cuddly bear.” Mmm, I liked that name for her. She was so cuddly. “How about tomorrow while we’re shopping, we pick up some things for you to bake? Would you like that? I’d love for you teach me how to bake.”

Her brow raised and her lips quirked. “Really? You want me to teach you to cook?”

“Sure, I like cakes and shit.”

“Cakes and shit?” She giggled and I crossed my arms over my chest.

“You laughing at me?”

She nodded and I reached over and tickled her. She squealed and squirmed against me. “Stop! Mercy!” she yelled between peals of laughter. I stopped as she straddled my lap and my cock jumped in my shorts, eager for her.

Staring up at her, I resisted the urge to kiss her, reminding myself she was only seventeen and I needed to take things slow. She surprised me though when slowly she leaned down and her lips gently brushed over mine. I dared not move. I didn’t want to scare her away. Her tongue came out on the third brush and I opened, meeting hers. She sank against me and her hands moved around my shoulders, hesitantly at first. When she started grinding against me I tore my mouth from hers and held her waist still.

“Bear. Alexa. We need to stop.”

Her brows furrowed and her lips turned down. “Why? I liked that. You feel good.”

I groaned at her innocence. “You can’t say that, not now. I’m really trying to be a gentleman. I want you to be comfortable, and feel safe with me before I show my intentions.”

“Yeah? You have intentions?” Her eyebrows rose and she nibbled on her bottom lip.

I nodded, and barely resisted the urge to yank her back to me and nibble on her lip myself. “I’ve wanted you to be mine from the moment I laid eyes on you.”

“What do you mean by yours?” Her gaze captured mine and the green was so bright it looked like fresh cut grass after a week of rain. Lost in her gaze, I knew I was damn lucky to have found her. Alexa was stunning and all mine.

“I want everything with you.” I held my breath for a moment and watched her reaction When she didn’t try to get away or look scared I released it. I should tell her something about the curse. I ran my fingers through my hair. “I knew from the moment I saw you, you were mine. You see, us Silvermans have this curse, um, gift, that we can tell who our soulmate is. A long, long time ago we were gifted by gypsies because we helped them. You’re my soulmate.”

Her gaze grew bright and then darkened, as she bounced on my lap. I moaned, trying to contain my excitement, and wiggled back so my hard cock didn’t touch her. “Really? That’s so cool. It explains why I feel so safe with you.” She nodded. “It’s crazy if it’s all true, but I feel something. I can’t deny that. I’ve never felt anything for a boy before.”

I winced as she called me a boy. “Bear, I’m not a boy. I’m all man.”

She nodded. “Oh, I know.” She closed her eyes for a moment like she was processing what I’d said. When she opened her eyelids, she beamed at me. “This makes me happy to know that I’m yours.” She leaned down and her lips met mine. She kissed me until I opened and our tongues tangled. I circled her waist and my fingers trailed up and down her back. When she started grinding against me again, I knew I had to stop because if she got her hands under my shirt or her any of her clothes went, I knew I was a goner and taking it slow wouldn’t happen.

Her mewl of protest as I eased back almost had me caving, but when I looked into her gaze and saw the dazed, lust-filled look, I knew she needed more time.

“I understand,” she moaned. “I don’t want to stop, but I . . . I thank you.” She snuggled against me and I clenched my fist. I took a deep calming breath in and slowly let it out because I knew the next couple of months until she was eighteen were going to kill me. I’d better get used to cold showers.

I WAS EXCITED TO BE meeting Mason’s cousins and close family for the second time. Not because of all the adults, but the babies. I loved children and couldn’t wait to have a whole bunch of my own. I wanted a large family. I always wished I’d had a sister or even a brother or two.

When my parents had been alive I’d always wanted to have a job where I got to be around a bunch of little ones. I loved that children were so easy to love and gave love back so freely. My favorite thing was to play with them and watch the wonder on their faces and see them learn new things.

Even when I lived on the streets the only ones I ever trusted were the ones under twelve. Those were the ones I helped, or at least tried to. They were the ones I gave my last bits of food to, and clothes and water, too. The little ones didn’t stay on the streets long as the foster system and police noticed them more. Police. I shivered in fear at the thought of them.

“You okay, bear?” Mason squeezed my shoulder and I looked over at him. My heart sputtered and then sped up at his pet name for me. I’d asked him why he called me that and he said I was his cuddly koala bear, but that was a mouthful so he shortened it to bear. I loved it.

Spinning, I looked up at him. He’d trimmed his beard, but his fringe covered his big dark brown eyes and, unable to resist, I gently brushed it to the side, my fingers lingering on his cheek. “Mmm, I’m good. Excited to see the little ones again. Is your uncle coming with the twins?”

“Yes, and so is Bailey with Sebastian. Divinity is due in a couple of weeks so you’ll get to meet and have a cuddle of their son when he’s born.”

I waved my hand. “Yay! The more babies there are, the less I have to fight to hold one. I know I won’t get to hold Angelica because everyone hogs the little doll, but I’ll get cuddle time with Jake and Sebastian. Your uncle let me cuddle Jake for hours last time.” Mason had said a son he when speaking about Divinity’s baby. I cocked my head to the side. “Divinity and Ryder are having a little boy?”

“Yeah, Silvermans don’t usually have girls. We think uncle Carl got one because he found his mate so late in life. We hope. Because,” he shivered. “Teenage girls. Boyfriends. Hell no.” Mason’s skin turned chalk white. “God, I couldn’t think of anything worse. Poor uncle Carl. I know Angelica will have a crazy number of bodyguards and will be able to kick arse just like Divinity, but I wouldn’t want to be Angelica’s soulmate. Can you imagine all of us meeting him?”

---