Part 18 (2/2)
”I was too late to stop him from knocking you unconscious, but I stopped him before he could do anything else.”
”You were there?” Vienna's mouth trembled. ”You saw him?”
”I dragged him off you and we slugged it out.”
Why didn't you say so?” Vienna halted, a hand at her throat. ”Oh, no...no. You were protecting your father.”
”No,” Mason said starkly, breaking the promise she'd made to hold up the Cavender end of the bargain. ”Your family was protecting Andy Rossiter.” She paused, trying to fight off her self-disgust. ”I should have turned that disgusting creep over to the cops the night it happened.”
”Andy?” Vienna whispered, her eyes wide and dark with disbelief.
Mason tightened her embrace. ”I beat him up pretty badly. Your family could have had me charged with attempted murder.”
From the dawning realization on Vienna's face, it was clear that she could see where this was going. ”The meeting...”
”Yes, your father and mine came up with a deal. My silence in exchange for theirs.”
Tears rolled down Vienna's cheeks. ”My parents let him get away with attacking me...they blackmailed you to be silent. They blamed your father...”
”There was something else, too.” Mason took a small pouch from her pocket and emptied the contents into Vienna's hand.
”Le Fantome?” Vienna asked in bewilderment.
”It must have come off your necklace during the struggle. Your father gave it to mine. His payment for allowing himself to be blamed. I found it in Dad's desk with the agreement they signed.”
”And my father made up that story about the replica stone having to be replaced. G.o.d, I've been so...gullible.”
Mason lowered her head. ”Vienna, please forgive me. Letting your aunt drive off with Andy was the worst mistake of my life.”
”No.” Vienna shrugged helplessly. ”You're not the criminal. He is. I can't believe they covered this up.”
The garden seemed to ebb, leaving them stranded alone on an island. The air was so heavy they could almost swim in it. Mason eased her grip and they floated out, each still anch.o.r.ed by the other.
”I love you,” she said. ”I've always loved you, Vienna.”
She heard Vienna whisper her name, then say it again more slowly, as if its syllables dripped a mysterious favor on her tongue. Her fingers fluttered in Mason's hand. She moved closer until their faces met, then begged, ”Kiss me.”
Mason's body leapt. Blood rushed like b.u.t.terfly wings in her ears. Her nipples were so painful she held back a gasp as her s.h.i.+rt sc.r.a.ped across them. She let her cheek rest against Vienna's while she subdued the part of her that hungered and craved. She kissed Vienna carefully, her body burning for more. A hand caressed her neck. Vienna drew her deeper. Buried in the moist bliss of her mouth, Mason closed her eyes and let herself fall.
Vienna's voice summoned her back. ”I love you.”
Unsure if she'd really heard the words or just wished them into being, Mason gazed at the face upturned to hers. Was this really happening? Or had she conjured this moment, as she often did? She'd kept her heart intact for this day, for those three words, and she wanted to hear them again. As if Vienna knew, she lifted Mason's hand to her lips, tenderly kissing the fingers. Then she cradled it to her cheek. ”I love you, Mason. Please let me stay.”
Chapter nineteen.
The door slammed shut behind Vienna and they were in a s.p.a.cious bedroom with high windows and a Doberman standing guard at the end of a huge bed. He inspected them in bemus.e.m.e.nt.
”Don't worry about him,” Mason said, dropping her boots next to an old armoire. ”I've never brought anyone up here before.”
Antic.i.p.ation stirred in the pit of Vienna's stomach. She wasn't sure when her childhood crush became love, but she knew now that even if she hadn't read Sally Gibson's letter, she would still be here. Sometime during the past several days, she'd stopped fighting the feelings Mason aroused. And now, standing in front of her, she wanted to hold nothing back.
Blus.h.i.+ng, she looked down at herself. Her skin was pink and her nipples were tightly bunched against her flimsy lace bra. She touched herself between her legs. Her thighs were wet and her panties clung to her fingers. She wanted Mason so much she couldn't think.
”I have something to tell you,” she said shyly.
”It's okay.” Mason unbuckled her belt and unzipped her jeans. Her eyes glinted with intent. Her nipples showed beneath her tight khaki T-s.h.i.+rt. ”I know you didn't save yourself for me.”
”Actually, in a way I did.” Feeling light-headed, Vienna unfastened her dress and let it slide to the floor. ”I've never been in love with anyone else I've slept with. You're a first.”
Tenderness softened Mason's predatory smile, but only briefly. ”And I'll be the last.”
She discarded her jeans and briefs and advanced on Vienna, backing her toward the bed. She took complete control of her, cradling her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and sliding her tongue sensuously past Vienna's, wreaking havoc with her breathing. With exquisite pressure, she fattened both hands over the nipples, working them against her palms. At the same time, she kissed a downward path from Vienna's lips to her throat, and then sank her teeth into the muscle of her shoulder, sending a shock of antic.i.p.ation from her neck to the small of her back. Her limbs felt heavy with arousal. Her hands shook as she explored the hard, unfamiliar contours of Mason's body. The flesh beneath her fingertips flinched and goose-b.u.mped with each relentless caress.
Mason yelped softly when Vienna found her nipples and slowly squeezed them. Urgently, she murmured, ”Touch me.”
Wanting to see the body she was pleasuring, Vienna drew Mason's T-s.h.i.+rt up over her head and dropped it on the floor. There was no bra. Smiling, she dragged a single fingertip from Mason's bottom lip to the bony channel between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She could sense a boiling urgency in Mason, something deep down and dangerous. A knee pushed roughly between her thighs and applied pressure until Vienna responded in kind, bearing down hard. Wetness spread where Mason's thigh crushed the swollen flesh. Vienna could hardly stay upright. She could feel herself opening, her c.l.i.t throbbing in appeal.
Their eyes met. Mason's were black with desire, the pupils huge within a ring of slate gray. There was a subtle alteration in her expression, a darkening. With a groan, she hooked her thumb into the thin silk of Vienna's panties and pulled them down, then pushed her back onto the bed. Caressing the inside of her thighs, she nudged them apart, exposing the pale copper swirl of hair.
She stared down, resting on her heels. ”Oh. G.o.d. You're perfect.”
Instinctively, Vienna brought her knees together. A rush of awe stifled her breathing as Mason slid her hands between them and lifted the knees, then spread her wide again.
”I want to look at you.”
She lifted Vienna a little higher on the bed, so she was propped against the pillows, compelled to watch as Mason's fingers gently parted her. She dragged them back and forth with avid concentration, gathering then tasting Vienna's fluids. Needing more, Vienna lifted her hips toward the hand that kept skimming past her wet, craving flesh. A thumb worked her c.l.i.t. Mason circled and teased.
”Please,” Vienna whispered. The impression Mason left in her flesh had faded after their first lovemaking and she'd felt unbearably hollow ever since.
Just when she thought she couldn't stand another tantalizing caress, Mason moved over her, gazing down at her with fierce hunger. Then she was inside, so fast and so hard, Vienna cried out in shock and pleasure. A hand pushed one of her knees up and back, and Mason drove deeper, awaiting no cue and barely pausing with each delving thrust.
”You're mine,” she choked out and Vienna hardly recognized the face inches from hers. The expression was glazed, the jaw taut. ”Say it.”
”I'm yours.” Vienna gripped Mason's shoulders, needing something to hold on to. Her skin was hot and damp. The muscles surged beneath her fingers.
A spiraling tension compressed Vienna's core and she clamped down, almost expelling the fingers buried inside. Mason's response was visceral and immediate. She s.h.i.+fted her weight, pus.h.i.+ng Vienna's legs wider, filling her, kissing her, pounding into her.
”Is that good?” Her voice was low and rough in Vienna's ear. ”Is that what you need?”
”Yes.” Holding her gaze, Vienna met each stroke with a whimper of pleasure. ”I love you,” she gasped, only seconds from letting go.
”Then give yourself to me,” Mason said.
And Vienna had the strangest sensation of her flesh caving in. She was flooding, suddenly empty, aware only of an unraveling within as her body clamored to be filled again.
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