“You have a vibrator?” A silly grin spread across his face.

“Yes, how else am I supposed to get through those trashy novels? I’d get an early onset of carpal tunnel if I had to rely on my hand.”

He started laughing and shook his head. “You continue to surprise me, angel. Vibrators and trashy novels. I’m speechless.” He bent his head down and kissed my stomach, right below my belly button, and the electric charge that surged through my body triggered me to lift my hips and rub against him. He smiled, “Slow down angel, I want to take care of you. This is how I should have thanked you on Friday.” He kissed my stomach again, the second kiss a bit lower than the first. I had to physically force myself not to lift my hips again. “You just need to relax and enjoy. Let me show you how much I appreciate getting to be the first to do this.” Mason placed one last kiss on my lower abdomen before hooking his fingers onto each side of my panties and pulled them down.

I had always thought that I would feel extremely self-conscious and awkward the first time I was bared in front of a guy, but surprisingly with Mason, I didn’t feel that way. Even though this was only our second time to be around each other, I felt so comfortable with him that it just felt natural.

“Scarlett,” he breathed as he gazed down at my cleanly waxed lips. I had continued seeing Tina at the salon on a monthly basis at the insistence of Evie, and I was glad that I did. All the pain that I had endured suddenly seemed worth it as Mason admired my smooth body. He slid down to where his face was hovering directly over my sex, I could feel his warm breath against me and the sheer anticipation of his touch nearly caused me to come apart. He used both of his hands to keep my thighs open and then he bent his head down and softly kissed the top of my slit. I threw my head back into the pillows and whimpered. “Please.”

He didn’t make me ask again. He lowered his head back into my lap and I allowed him to worship my body. The combination of his fingers and lips and tongue touching me, teasing me, felt better than anything I had ever experienced. When he slipped his first finger inside of me, I froze, all of my muscles tightening around him. He continued to kiss my body as he waited for me to get used to the sensation before moving any further. Minutes later he added a second finger and this time I pushed against his hand welcoming it. He started to move his fingers in and out of me in a slow but steady pace and I could feel the pressure building between my legs. Mason continued to tease me with his mouth and I tried to guide his tongue to my clit with my hands in his hair, but he wouldn’t give in until he knew my frustration was nearing the tipping point. In that moment, he buried three fingers deep inside of me and sucked my clit into his mouth and my universe exploded. I don’t remember much – I clenched my eyes shut while I arched back into the pillows and euphoria engulfed my senses. It was bright colors and tingly feelings and rainbows and unicorns… all of it. When my body stopped shaking with my release, Mason lowered me onto the bed and then laid down next to me, drawing me into his arms. I kept my eyes closed and wished I could stop time. Everything felt perfect.

“As sweet as heaven,” he mumbled into my hair.

“Mmmm” was the only response I could come up with. I was still in my post-orgasmic bliss and was unable to create meaningful thoughts .

We lay there for a while longer, silent but relaxed. When I finally felt like I could move and be in control of my body, I rolled to face him. I scooted up so that I could kiss him. “Thank you. That, by far, exceeded my expectations.”

“Anytime, angel, anytime.” Mason smiled.

“Are you sure you don’t need me to ummm… help you out?” I asked and looked down at the predicament that still loomed in his boxers.

He chuckled, “No, tonight is just about you.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “But I am going to take a quick shower before we go. You can make yourself at home, grab a drink, whatever you like.”

I nodded and he rolled off the bed. Once I heard him in the shower, I got dressed and wandered into the kitchen to get some water. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel now, if different at all, but I didn’t really - just happier. I didn’t allow myself to listen to those voices screaming questions and warnings somewhere from the depths of my morality, instead I focused on the peaceful butterflies in my stomach that now lay sleeping, sated from all of their earlier acrobatics. Butterflies… just thinking the word made my mind drift to Ash and wonder what he was doing and who he was with. And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the problem in its simplest form… all my thoughts ultimately ended with Ash.

Chapter 25

Evie still wasn’t at our dorm when Mason dropped me off a little after ten o’clock. I was a bit disappointed because I wanted to tell her about everything that had happened; I knew she was going to be so excited for me. After showering, I grabbed my e-reader and climbed into bed with the plan of reading until I heard her get home, but I woke up sometime in the early morning hours on top of my e-reader, open to the same page I had begun reading. I guessed my make out session with Mason had taken more out of me than I had originally thought. I realized that I still didn’t know if Evie had made it home okay, so I went to check on her and found her and Max in a mess of limbs, blankets, and pillows in the middle of her bed. I smiled, happy that she had met Max, even if I did feel a twinge of jealousy. They had clicked instantly and had spent every night together since they met except for Sunday, but I knew that I hadn’t been around much either over the past several days.

Wednesday came and went uneventfully; my classes and coursework consumed most of my time. I filled Evie in on my dinner and trip to Mason’s house first thing Wednesday morning at the table over breakfast. She laughed heartily at his “sex coach without the sex” comment and then she told me that I should get rid of the “without sex” part. I rolled my eyes at her, “I’ve known him less than a week, Eves. Plus he’s like not exactly boyfriend material.”

“I didn’t say anything about a boyfriend, Sam. It’s sex, just sex. Don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be,” she reprimanded me.

“I’m not sure I can do that. I just don’t know how I’ll feel or act afterwards.” I drank the rest of my sweet cereal milk from the bowl.

“Look, all I’m saying is that I bet while you and sexy rocker boy are getting hot and heavy, you really want to have sex with him, but you keep telling yourself that you shouldn’t because it doesn’t fit into some preconceived notion you have about how your first time should be and who it should be with.” Evie downed her cereal milk too. “I just think you should do what your body is telling you to do, whatever feels right in the moment.”

I got up and put both our spoons in the sink while she tossed out paper bowls in the trash. “If I do that, I’ll be giving it up on Friday when I see Mason again, and every time I see him after that.” She turned and raised her eyebrows at me. “I’m just being honest,” I admitted. “I get around him and my panties try to shimmy themselves down my legs, eager for his touch.” After a pregnant pause, we both cracked up as we tried to picture my panties working their own way down my legs. The image was quite humorous and not very flattering.

Thursday’s classes sucked. I wasn’t sure if I had passed a surprise pop quiz in Biology and I broke a flip flop as I was walking to English, so I had spent the rest of the day barefooted. Thankfully, that night Evie and I had our movie date, which greatly improved my mood.

I still hadn’t heard from Dylan and was starting to get a little agitated. I thought that I at least deserved an explanation for what had happened Saturday, but at the same time, if I was being honest with myself, I wasn’t completely sure I wanted to hear it. Ash and I continued to text back and forth every other day or so. We kept up with what was going on in each other’s lives for the most part. BFFs… just like we wanted, right? Ugghhh…

Friday morning greeted me with the text that I had been both anticipating and dreading.

Dylan (8:22AM) Can we talk?

I groaned and threw myself back on the bed. I knew we needed to get this over with but I had never had to have an uncomfortable talk like this with a guy and it made me nervous.

Me (8:29AM) How’s tomorrow? Saturdays seem to work for you.

I knew that I didn’t need to make the snide remark about Saturday, but I was still a little pissed and my feelings were more than a little hurt about his strange behavior last Saturday followed by the lack of texts or calls for 6 days. All of this had been so out of character for him, at least it was for the Dylan that he had allowed to me know.

Dylan (8:30AM) Fair enough. I’ll be at your place at 5?

Me (8:30AM) K

By the time Friday afternoon rolled around, I was wound so tight with frustration and irritation; I thought I was going to snap. Fridays were usually the worst day of the week for me anyways because that was always day six of not seeing either Ash or Dylan. Day six of my male withdrawal. By Fridays, I longed for the following day when Dylan would hold me in his arms and kiss me sweetly. Even if it did lack passion and desire-filled lust, I enjoyed the time we spent together and thought of him as a good friend. A good friend that looked like a model and had soft kissable lips. And then of course there were my late nights with Ash and sleeping snugly in his arms until early the following afternoon. Those Sunday early morning hours were what I lived for and it was then that I felt most comfortable just being me.

But Friday nights were the absolute worst. I would toss and turn, get hot then cold, look at the alarm clock no less than ten times… So when I added the additional stress about the upcoming talk with Dylan, I needed a release in the worst way. Fortunately, my plans for the evening involved the one person that I knew could help me forget it all, even if it was for just the night.

I was no fool when it came to Mason Templeton. I knew that I was way out of my league when it came to him in almost every facet of life, and I didn’t for one minute fancy myself as the girl that was going to make him fall in love and change his bad boy, promiscuous ways. He was the lead singer in a pretty popular local band that was possibly headed for bigger things (according to the results of my Google search), co-owned a bar with his brother, and obviously wasn’t hurting for cash. I was sure that he had hundreds if not thousands of girls in his bed and there was a line just as long waiting to be the next. As long as I didn’t allow myself to forget any of those facts and not get emotionally attached, I was going to enjoy hanging out with this uber-sexy hot piece of sin and learn whatever he was willing to teach me. The reality of my situation was the guy I really liked was about to break off whatever it was that we had going and the guy I was in love with was never going to allow us to have a chance, so I figured why not spend time with the guy that I lusted after. The guy that made my body explode in a thousand pieces of pleasure with his hands and mouth. The decision was quite easy.

It was a little after eight when I heard the growl of Mason’s bike pull into the parking lot. I looked down at my short denim skirt and I shuddered at the thought of hiking it up and pressing my body against Mason’s back. The first cool front of the fall had blown through the night before so instead of a tank top, I opted for a fitted, long sleeved, old ringer tee that donned the cover from Van Morrison’s Moondance album. I hoped that Mason would understand my wearing it was a show of appreciation of his previous week’s serenade. It clung to my body and it was extremely thin from hundreds of wears and washes which allowed my satin chocolate brown bra to be clearly visible (I may or may not have gone shopping that afternoon especially for this bra and panty set to match this shirt.) I threw on some brown leather flip flops, and opted for the pigtail braids again since I had assumed he’d bring the bike and I didn’t want my hair to be a tangled mess.