He seems taken aback. He opens his mouth and then closes it again. He brings our hands up and presses his lips to the back of my knuckles. “I’m your husband, Mia. And you’re my wife. I know nothing about today was normal, but what I do know is that you can kiss me anytime you want. And you’re wrong, Mia.”
“Wrong about what?” I ask, feeling lost as I watch his lips touch my hand.
He drops our hands to his lap, pressing my palm to his thick, corded thigh. I can feel the muscles pull and flex under my palm, and he rests his hand on top of mine. “I do want you here. With me.”
My whole body shivers, and I can feel my heart start to race. He wants me here. I could keep talking, asking him questions just so I can hear his voice, but I don’t. I sit next to him in the cab of his truck, listening to the soft song on the radio as he drives us to our honeymoon cabin. I’m not expecting words of love or anything like that, but for the rough start we had, it’s definitely improving. I look over at Mason and watch him as he drives before smoothing out my dress.
“Your dress is pretty,” Mason says even though I don’t think he even looked in my direction to see me smoothing it out. Maybe because he says so very little, his compliment means more to me because I can feel my cheeks burning with my blush.
“Thank you,” I tell him before looking out the window and already trying to picture what our future holds.
6
Mason
I pull in to the driveway of the cabin that is in the mountains of Snow Valley. I could have just taken her home, to my place at the edge of town, but I thought this would be better. We need time to get to know one another. My family has decided that instead of a big Christmas, we will see the family closer to the New Year to give everyone time to get settled. But I know my family, especially my mom. There’s no way she could stay away, and I don’t want to share Mia with anyone right now. I want to spend it with her and only her.
I help her out of the truck and carry our bags inside, setting them by the front door. “Would you like something to eat?” I ask her. “I had the fridge stocked up. I wasn’t sure what you liked, but I made sure to get a variety of things.”
She’s gripping the edge of the counter, her knuckles white from the pressure, and I know she’s nervous. “I, uh—” She puts her hand over her stomach and grimaces. “I don’t think I can eat anything right now. Nerves!” she says with a laugh.
I hold my hand out to her, and she looks at it for what feels like minutes but is probably a mere few seconds. I almost pull back, rejected, but she finally reaches out, putting her hand in mine. “I’ll show you around.”
We walk around the cabin, and I show her the rest of the kitchen and living room. She admires the Christmas tree in the corner, and after seeing the pleasure on her face, I’m glad that the company had the cabin decorated for the holiday. I pull her toward the stairs, grabbing one of her bags on the way and then release her hand so I can follow her up the stairs for the bedrooms. Her hips sway in front of me, and the sound of her dress swishing back and forth mesmerizes me. Her dress is fitted along her bottom and short enough I can see her curvy calves. With my mouth watering and telling myself I need to relax before I scare the daylights out of her, I take deep, muted breaths and ignore the expanding bulge in my pants.
I show her the bathroom in the hallway, a spare bedroom, and then the bedroom that I had already set my suitcase in earlier. “I’ll bring your luggage up in a little while.”
She looks around the room and walks toward the window, looking out at the backyard. “It’s beautiful, Mason.”
I walk up behind her, but instead of looking outside like I intended, I’m looking down at the top of her head. Her body is tense in front of me, and I reach out, my hand spanning her waist. She turns in my arms and looks up at me with hooded eyes. Because I can’t not do it, I lean down and capture her lips with mine. She kisses me back, her hand cupping my jaw and stretching along my neck.
Our lips move against each other until instead of soft and exploring, something switches, and it becomes something more. The kiss turns frenzied and demanding, and my hands start to roam her body, across her shoulders and down her back to land on her sweet, full backside. I squeeze her, pulling her into me, and before I’m too far gone, I feel her tense in my arms, like an iron board, hard and unyielding.