Page 100 of Rival for Rent

“Do you think I got you confused with someone else?Yes,you.” I took a shaky breath. “Now can you put me out of my misery and tell me if you’re going to run for the hills?”

A slow smile spread across his face. “I would never.”

“I mean, youhavetried a few times.”

“When I was trying to run from who I was. And what I felt. But once I realized it—Kai, I think I’ve loved you since the first night I saw you again. Maybe even since high school. Idefinitelyhaven’t been able to stop thinking about you since then, no matter how hard I tried. I was hiding from you because I was hiding from myself. But I don’t want to do that anymore.”

“Iam going to elect to believe you,” I said loftily, “and not make you say you’re sure a thousand times.” Then I grinned. “But if youdotry to change your mind, I am one hundred percent coming to hunt you down.”

“Mmm. I like the sound of that,” Mason said. “You said the rest of our lives. I’d be mad if you didn’t hold me to it.”

“Then maybe I shouldn’t,” I teased. “Because Ilikemaking you mad. I like what tends to happen afterwards.”

For a second, we just stood there like a pair of idiots, grinning at each other in the entryway.

Then Mason pulled me close again and kissed me.

It was a deep kiss, like he was trying to meld his body with mine until there was no distance between us, not even an atom’s worth, because we were made out of the same stuff. I was just fine with that.

Tonight, I’d been anxious, turned on, then anxious again, then terrified, then weirdly turned on again by how Mason took charge and kept Myers down until the rest of the police arrived, and then, finally, exhausted, but damn if my body didn’t find a way to get turned on once more as Mason pressed me up against the mirror in the entryway.

But the mirror shifted behind my back, and I decided that turned on though I was, there were better places to do this. I pushed away from the wall and walked us slowly towards the stairs, still kissing, until we bumped up against the bottom of the banister.

“Upstairs?” Mason murmured against my jaw. “That’s so far away.”

But I refused to let myself be distracted. I began walking up the stairs backwards, while trying to kiss Mason and take off my shirt at the same time. The hard wood was slippery under my socks, and I fell on my ass twice. The third time, I brought him down with me.

“Fuck,” he growled as we landed in a heap, him mostly on top of me.

“Oh, shit. Your ribs. I wasn’t thinking.”

“My ribs will be fine,” he said. “But I still think this would be easier if we stayed downstairs.”

I nipped at his lower lip. “Thanks all the same, but I’d rather my assdidn’tpermanently smell like a Pizza Hut.”

He snorted. “I doubt they use real olive oil. At least not extra virgin.”

I used the fact that we were sitting down as an opportunity to tug my pajama pants off. “Not the point.”

“Still, it’s a shame.” Mason licked his lips as my hands went to the fly of his jeans. “I do love a stuffed crust.”

I stood up. “Get me up into bed and you can stuff away.” He looked plaintively at me, jeans half-off, eyes huge. “Or you can sit there like a sad puppy-dog all night.”

“You’re cruel,” he said, pulling his jeans off and standing. “Cruel and heartless.”

By the time we made it to the bedroom, we were naked, our clothes strewn behind us, marking our trail.

“Now,” I told him. “I believe I still owe you an orgasm. So if you’ll do me the favor of getting on the bed, it would be a great honor to take care of that.”

I grinned wickedly. Mason slid onto the bed, but when I crawled on top of him, he put his hand on my chest and said, “Turn around. I want to sixty-nine.”

“Really?” I felt my eyebrows rise.

“It’s no fair that you get to suck my cock but I can’t do anything at the same time.”

“You have a broken rib. If anyone is entitled to be a pillow princess, it’s you.”

“Entitled, sure. But that doesn’t mean I don’t still want to rim you.”

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