Make Me Believe: Unbelievable, Book 3 (11 page)

Tears burned the back of her eyes again. “I’ll try. For you.”

Chapter Seven

“So, I’ve been thinking…”

“Yeah?” She bent over the bathroom sink, rinsed the cleanser off her face and dried her hands on a towel. “About what?”

Mason’s voice rumbled from her bedroom. “This whole engagement and marriage thing hasn’t gone very well for us in the past.”

“Understatement, but yes.” A laugh bubbled out of her as she ran a brush through her hair, then set it on the vanity.

It had been a month since the fire, and Mason had gone back to work two days before. He was on light duty for another couple of weeks because of the arm, but he’d come straight to her place when he’d left the firehouse. He sat naked in her bed, propped against the headboard. His long legs were crossed at the ankle, and he watched her leave the bathroom and walk toward him. “Damn. You are so beautiful.”

“Thanks.” She did a little pirouette in the vintage, lacy chemise. “Do you like it?”

“Is that even a question? I love it.” He grinned. “I have every intention of enabling this obsession you have with fancy lingerie.”

Her eyebrows arched, and she smiled back at him. It felt good. She’d been happier in the last month than she had been in years. Maybe forever. It was still hard to trust it, but it got a little easier every day. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.” His gaze blazed pure fire when he looked at her, then he shook his head and chuckled. “You’re distracting me.”

She winked. “You’re welcome.”

Rolling his eyes, he sobered. “So, what I was saying…I really don’t have any desire to be engaged again, just like you don’t want to be married again.”

“Right.” She froze at the end of the bed, suddenly wary that this fragile sense of safety she’d developed in the last few weeks was going to get rocked. “I’m with you so far.”

He crossed his arms, his muscles chest rippling with the movement, and the pink skin of the new scar on his arm shining bright against his flesh. She forced herself to look away from it, to meet his gaze when he spoke. “So here’s my proposal… I’d like to
not
be married to you for the rest of our lives.”

Now there was an interesting thought. If they were never engaged, never married, they could never get divorced. Considering the ugliness both of them associated with matrimony, she had no desire to ever associate marriage with Mason. What she had with him was so much better than that. “And would this be an exclusive non-marriage?”

“Fuck, yeah.” His dark brows snapped together in a scowl. “I’m not sharing.”

She hummed in her throat. “Would this non-marriage include a white picket fence and two-point-five kids?”

Shifting on the bed, he uncrossed his ankles and sat forward. “I’m open to kids, but I’m not a fan of white picket fences. But, hey, if you really want one, I can put one up around my front yard.”

“No, thanks.” She shuddered. “I have nightmares about white picket fences.”

“Whatever you want.” His gaze locked on her face, the intensity of his expression telling her how much the wrong answer would hurt him. “So…what do you say?”

She drifted a little closer, brushing a hand up his calf. “Would it work for you if I said,
I do
?”

“Yeah.” He grinned, a surprised laugh cracking out. “I do too.”

The moment stretched on forever, more honest and beautiful than either of her wedding ceremonies. This commitment was one she hoped would last forever. She wanted it, and she’d work her ass off to keep it. More importantly, she knew he would too. Mason held on to the things he wanted with both hands. No one understood how persistent he was as much as she did.

He patted the mattress beside his hip. “Come here.”

“Are you sure you’re up for anything?” A dart of worry passed through her, and her gaze fell to his wounded arm.

“After a month of having you in my bed, but not getting to have sex with you? I’m more than
up
.” His rising erection certainly proved his point.

She snorted, though her body heated at the evidence of his arousal, and the need to cement their vows to each other in the most carnal way possible. “You know what I mean.”

“The doctor cleared me to go back to the firehouse, and before you ask, yes, I asked if sex was okay. It is.” He gave her an impious grin and folded his hands behind his head. “But if you’re worried, I’ll just lie back and let you do most of the work.”

“You’ve been waiting a whole month to use that line, haven’t you?”

“Yep. You know me so well.”

She did, actually. It amazed her how well she understood him after so short an amount of time, but there it was.

“I want you.” He reached for her, and when she put her hand in his, he tugged her into his lap. She straddled his thighs, her negligee riding up until there was nothing between their sexes. The position alone sent excitement winging through her, and her core went slick with juices.

The head of his cock slid over the lips if her pussy as he leaned forward to kiss her. It was just as good as the first time. Sweet and hot and irresistible. She pushed her tongue into his mouth, craving the taste of him. Waiting all these weeks to have her hands on him again was more than she could bear. His palms stroking down her back, heating the silk of the gown, was heaven. Her nipples tightened, thrusting against the soft lace that made up the bodice of her chemise. The stimulation made her shudder.

He bit her bottom lip lightly, and she whimpered into his mouth. She rocked her body against his, loving the friction, the slide of her softer curves against his hardness. It was addictive, the way he made her feel. He kissed her chin, her jaw, and she let her head fall back when he moved to her neck. His lips were soft, and then he used his teeth. A moan spilled out of her, and she jerked at the sharp contrast. He licked and sucked at her neck until she felt lightheaded with the rush of need. Of its own accord, her body undulated, pressing her sex to his, retreating, only to return.

Groaning, his hands bracketed her hips, pulling her down to grind against her clit. She cried out, her damp core flooding with more moisture. It was too much. She reached behind her and guided his cock to her opening. He shoved upward while she pushed down, seating her on his cock. The fullness of his penetration was almost painful after a month of celibacy. Almost.

“God, Mason. I love the feel of you inside me.”

His chuckle was a rusty sound. “I love being inside you. I just love you, period.”

The sweetness of those words made her sex clench tight. It left her reeling, gasping as he shoved his cock deeper into her pussy. Her fingers curled around his shoulders, her eyes meeting his…and she saw his every emotion shining there, just for her. Love. It was more than she’d ever thought she’d have again.

A sob caught in her throat, a quiver running through her. One corner of his mouth kicked up in a smile, and empathy shone in those green eyes, so clear and beautiful she wanted to cry. He got where she was coming from, why she had doubts, and he waited for her to be ready. He understood, perhaps more than any other person she’d ever met in her life.

“I love you,” she whispered.

His eyes sparkled the way they did every time she said those three words, and his little smile blazed brighter. He took her hand and placed it over his heart, where she could feel it hammering in his chest. “That’s all I’ll ever need. You are my heart and soul, baby.”

A tear slipped down her cheek. He reached up to brush it away with his thumb, and she turned her head to kiss his hand. “I love you so much.”

She said it again because she had to, because she couldn’t hold it back, not from him. This feeling had been building for so long, she didn’t even know when it had started. Perhaps, like him, she had known it from the beginning and been too scared to face it. That this one man was perfect for her, the sum of all her fears, and that she’d have to let go of those fears if she wanted to keep him.

Cupping the nape of her neck, he drew her down for a kiss. The movement made his rigid cock shift inside her, and she moaned, her body reminding her forcibly that her cravings were yet to be satisfied. She could feel the grin on his lips as they played over hers.

He broke away. “Move on me, Celia.”

There was no way to refuse, and she didn’t want to. She didn’t want to refuse him anything. Arching her hips, she drove her pelvis against his, angling herself so his strokes had the best effect. It was electric, gave everything a deeper meaning. It was no longer just sex, but a physical expression of all the things she’d locked inside for so long. Things she could now say.

Had it ever been
just sex
with him? She laughed, the sound tripping over a moan as he pushed her harder, faster, his hands sliding over her sweat-slicked flesh. She lifted and lowered herself on his cock, the heat and friction enough to drive her crazy. And she loved it.

Ecstasy gathered deep within, streaked over her skin, rising in an unstoppable riptide that dragged her under. She let herself go, released all control, and gave in to him, to herself, to her heart. Orgasm seized her inner muscles, milking the length of his cock. Still she rode him, rocking herself on his dick, letting her climax continue as her sex pulsed around his thick shaft. She never wanted this to end, this perfect moment with him.

His gaze locked with hers, letting her see everything he was feeling. His face flushed with lust, and love reflected in his eyes. She could see how he struggled to keep from coming, how he tried to fight the end of this, just as she did.

“Come for me, Mason. Come inside me.”

The sound he made was like a human volcano erupting. His hands clamped over her hips, jerking her down to the base of his cock, forcing himself as deep as he could go. His come jetted into her, filled her. He shuddered underneath her. “I love you, Celia. I love you so fucking much. I’ll love you forever.”

She believed him.

Epilogue

Tori propped her shoulder against one of the big oaks in the town square. Celia and Mason sat having coffee with Price and Aubrey outside of Bean There, Done That. Tori didn’t worry about them noticing her. Even if they did, they wouldn’t recognize her. Gone was the disguise she’d been sporting for the year she’d been in Cedarville. No more old lady for her, she was back to her normal self, and they would see a young woman with long, dark that rippled to her waist. She ran her hand through it, glad to be rid of the bun on her head. Guardian angels could look like anyone they wanted, and she’d been in that disguise far longer than she’d anticipated.

“This was a real bitch of an assignment.” Jericho echoed her thought as he stepped up beside her and rested one palm on her shoulder.

“And you had to hook up Price and Aubrey before you became a gay stylist,
Jerry
. Cedarville rode you hard and put you away wet.”

“Don’t call me Jerry.” A shudder ran through his big form. Just as she did, he looked like himself again. No longer slender and effeminate, he was tall, muscular, and had a face too craggy to be called pretty. “Price and Aubrey were tough nuts to crack, yeah. Celia was worse, I think.”

“Mason too.” She shook her head. “I was starting to fear he’d never pull his head far enough out of his ass to realize he was in love.”

She’d also worried that Celia wouldn’t be able to move forward into a permanent relationship. Then again, who was she to judge? She’d had to learn the same lesson herself. Accept the harsh truths of the past and believe in the possibilities of the future. It had taken Jericho’s persistence to get the message through to her. For an angel who specialized in pushing soul mates together, it was sad she’d needed the reminder, but there it was.

“Job well done, my love.” He slid his hand up to cup the nape of her neck.

“You too.” She slanted him a glance. “Though I have to say, mentioning the guardian angel thing in that note to Mason and Celia was a little over the top.”

He snorted. “Says the woman who vandalized Celia’s house.”

Tossing her hands in the air, she arched her eyebrows. “You
wanted
me to do something drastic.”

“So I did.” He grinned at her, and her heart flipped. “We did good.”

“Yeah, we did.” She was damn proud too. There were times when she’d had more than a few doubts that even some help from her angelic
woo-woo
wasn’t going to get Celia and Mason together. “Where do you think the Powers That Be will send us next?”

Jericho’s broad shoulder dipped in a shrug. “No clue, but I hope we get some down time before our next assignment. I know what I’d do with a little time off.”

“What would you do?”

“You.” The smile he gave her was hot and wicked and utterly unangelic.

Heat flooded her body, just as it always had whenever he looked at her like that. She’d known the man for over a hundred years, and he still did it for her.

“Let’s go, my Vittoria.” He held out his hand, an invitation, a promise.

She twined her fingers with his, no hesitation. It had been a long, winding road getting here, but she believed she’d found what she needed, and she’d helped a few lost soul mates get what they needed too. It felt good. A grin tugged at her lips, and she turned with Jericho to walk toward their future. Together.

Their work here was done.

About the Author

Crystal Jordan began writing romance after she finished graduate school and needed something to fill the hours that used to be eaten away by homework. Currently, she serves as a librarian at a university in California, but has lived and worked all over the United States. She writes paranormal, futuristic and erotic romance.

To learn more about Crystal please visit
www.crystaljordan.com
. Send an email to Crystal at
[email protected]
or join her Yahoo! group to join in the fun with other readers as well as Crystal!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crystal-jordan

Look for these titles by Crystal Jordan

Now Available:

Wasteland: The Wanderer

Treasured

Forbidden Passions