Not What She Seems (23 page)

Slowly he removed his sweater, his eyes never leaving Sylvia’s. She ran one lone finger down slowly down his abdomen. His breath
sputtered at her touch. Unable to contain himself anymore, he lunged at her and kissed her fiercely as his fingers tangled in her hair. She returned his aggressive kiss and ran her hands up and down his broad, muscular back. Desire flooded through her. She didn’t just want the sweet, pure energy their lovemaking would give her, she wanted him, all of him. Her inner Hunger was dim compared to the primal physical need that clawed within her.

She paused to slip her arms out of the spaghetti straps that held up her negligee. Mason’s eyes burned with desire as she exposed herself to him. Greedily he pulled her back to him and resumed their kiss as his hands roamed her naked upper body. Sylvia felt dizzy from his touch as she fought to keep herself in check. She wanted to rip off his pants, throw him on the bed and take him then and there
, but she knew she had to let things play out as they would. There was no way to rush this other than to allow him to set the pace he was comfortable with. Her head rolled back and she moaned with pleasure as Mason moved his mouth down to give attention to her exposed parts. Waves of ecstasy rolled through her when she discovered he was more adept at this than she first believed him to be. Her Innocent may have been a virgin, but he sure knew his way around a woman’s body.

It was he, not
she, who reached down and unbuttoned his khakis, much to her surprise. He paused to stand up and let them drop to the floor. She watched him eagerly, anxious to see just how far he was willing to go.

He laid her back on the bed and resumed exploring her breasts with his mouth while his eager finger
s explored her below. Sylvia bucked beneath his hand, mewling with anticipation. Unable to contain herself any longer she reached down and yanked off his boxers so she could properly explore the part of him she most desired. When he pulled away from her abruptly she worried he had changed his mind and she wasn’t going to deflower this Innocent tonight, but to her delight he had only paused to slide her negligee off completely.

They lay there, kissing and necking and exploring each other’s most intimate parts until Sylvia th
ought she could stand it no longer. She reached blindly with one hand to her nightstand and found a small cosmetics bag she had placed there earlier in the day when she changed to go horseback riding. With nimble fingers she unzipped the bag and pulled out what she sought.

“
Here.” She thrust the condom at Mason in between ardent kisses.

He took it from her but seemed suddenly hesitant as he pulled away from her. He sat on the bed, staring a
t the condom in his hands, and it set Sylvia on edge. She was
so close
to getting what she wanted, what she needed.

“I can’t,” he said softly.

Her heart sank. “It’s okay, we don’t need to, I just thought it was the perfect day and we’re really into each other and, well, you know.” It was hard to hide the disappointment in her voice.

“I’m sorry to let you down, but there’s someth
ing about me you don’t know yet.” He paused to gather the courage to tell her. “I’m a virgin, Sylvia.”

“You don’t have to-”

Mason held up his hand to stop her from speaking. “I know, it’s weird, at my age, to still be a virgin. I’m studying religion now so I can teach it one day, but when I was younger, I thought I might like to lead a church, a congregation of my own. I believed in saving myself for marriage, as did Kate, the woman I was engaged to before she was killed on the mission in Africa. We never had sex as we were saving it for our wedding night. Of course that never came, and I never had a romantic relationship again until you came along.”

“Mason,
it’s okay, I-” She felt sorry for him despite her crushing disappointment. It was obviously embarrassing for him to tell her all of this and she wanted him to be at ease. Kate must be the secret Marjory had alluded to, in the restroom at the art gallery.

“Please, just let me finish. I’ve
been dreading telling you this since we first met, and I’m sorry I couldn’t be upfront with you from the start about it. It’s embarrassing, and I didn’t want you to think less of me for it. Kate and I had this grand plan to save ourselves for marriage, and when she died… Well, I guess I’ve been saving myself for someone else very special to me since then. I’m not stuck on saving myself for marriage now, I just want to make sure it’s the right woman at the right time. That’s why I really wanted to take that part of our relationship slow, because while I’m no longer saving myself for marriage, I still want to be sure my first time is with someone very special to me. You’re becoming very special to me, Sylvia, but I’m not ready yet. I want everything to be perfect when and if we finally get to that point. I hope you’re not too disappointed with me, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. You’re just so beautiful, I think I got a bit carried away tonight, and I’m sorry to have misled you.”

“It’s okay, really. W
e’ll take our time, and when the time is right for it, you’ll know it.” Now she understood why he was still a virgin, despite his age, good looks and charm. This task was becoming more difficult than she expected it to be. She knew seducing him wasn’t a sure thing tonight, but she hadn’t expected to come this far only to have him hit the brakes on her. Having patience was never something she excelled at, but it seemed to be her only option at this point.

“I want to, don’t think I don’t want to. But it’s just so soon, and I
just pictured it, I don’t know- different. Not in Marjory’s guest house, for one thing.”

“I told you it’s fine;
it can wait,” Sylvia reassured him. But she was worried.
Could
it wait, really? Chances were Elora was spending time with her Innocent this weekend as well. Her younger Innocent, who likely had far fewer sexual hang-ups than Mason seemed to be burdened with. She sighed with resignation as she realized the call from Lilith, announcing Elora as the winner of the Challenge, could come at any time. Here she was, with her Innocent, her Innocent who wanted to do everything physical but have sex. And there was nothing she could do about it but wait for the time when he’d be ready for her.

“Look, I didn’t mean to totally ruin the mood here.” He pulled Sylvia close and held her as she rested her head on his chest. “I’m sorry, but now you know where I stand.”

“Yes, now I do.” She had little else to say on the matter. Her frustration was mounting rapidly despite her attempt to remain patient. Here they were, naked in a private guest house in a lovely country setting with the fireplace going, and still Mason wouldn’t have sex with her. She wondered briefly if the whole thing was a waste of her time, until she remembered the little teases of energy she was getting from him every time they kissed. They fed her well, but they wouldn’t save her rights to her territory. Mason was the only Innocent she could find, so she’d have to work with what she had for the Challenge.

As upset as she was that things hadn’t worked out the way she wanted them to, Sylvia
was determined not to let him see how let down she felt. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings. “I must admit, I don’t mind waiting. It builds the suspense, and now that I know it’ll be your first time, I want it to be absolutely perfect for you, just as you always imagined it.”

He kissed the top of her head “Thank you for that, and thank you for your understanding. I’m a little surprised you’re still here, honestly.”

Sylvia sat up to study him. “Where else would I be? Did you think I would just stomp out of here, furious you won’t have sex with me?” she joked, trying to pull him out of his somber mood. If they weren’t going to have sex tonight, the least they could do was enjoy each other’s company. She truly did enjoy spending time with him, even with their clothes on.

“Well, I can’t say I’d blame you. I don’t imagine you’re a woman who hears ‘no’ in the bedroom too oft
en.” He chuckled good naturedly, and she smiled at him. She realized she was sitting there naked, which didn’t bother her at all except she was getting chilled. She put her negligee back on and handed Mason his boxers.

“Here, I guess we might as well rest up for tomorrow. I know Marjory men
tioned she’d like to take us into town to explore, after brunch.”

“I can’t tell you how happy she is you’re here, Sylv
ia. She really likes you.” He slid his boxers back on and slipped under the covers. She climbed in beside him, turning onto her side so he might spoon her. He curled up behind her, draping one arm across her midsection.

“This
is really nice,” he breathed into her hair. Sylvia smiled to herself. Even though their night together hadn’t worked out as she had hoped, she had to admit he was right, it was nice to have him snuggled up against her. He was a good guy, and she had forgotten what it was like to spend time with one of those. She was always ditching the decent ones right after they had sex, so there was no chance of building a relationship. With Innocents being so very rare, she didn’t come across men like Mason very often. Trying to seduce an Innocent had forced her to interact with a genuinely respectable man, and she was surprised how much she enjoyed being with him.

A shor
t time later she could tell he had fallen asleep, pushed up against her, holding her close. She lay awake for hours longer, her head filled with thoughts about the Challenge, her failed attempt to seduce Mason, and the future of her territory. By the time she fell asleep she was resigned to keep on trying with him while working to prepare herself for losing the Challenge. She wasn’t ready to give up fighting Elora yet, but he was turning out to be more work than she had bargained for.

~~~

Mason nuzzled her neck as she sleepily rolled over the next morning.

“Good morning, gorgeous. This I could get used to!”

“Good morning.” She blinked as she struggled to wake up. The realization that she’d have to get up, get dressed and make her way to the main house in order to find the first cup of coffee of the day seemed a bit daunting to her at the moment.

Almost as if he read
her mind, he said, “Would you like some coffee? I think I saw a coffee maker in the kitchen downstairs. I’ll go get some started.”

“Yes
, please, that would be great.”

He kissed her softly and ran his hand down her hip before pulling himself out of bed
to start the coffee and Sylvia got up to use the bathroom and take a quick shower. When she walked into the bathroom, she noticed she had placed her phone on the bag she had brought in there to change the night before. The phone flashed to indicate she had a message so she picked it up to see who it was. It was Lilith, as she expected. No doubt calling to tell her either Elora had done it and won the Challenge so she needed to find a new territory, or the Hunter had claimed his next victim. It wasn’t news she wanted to hear, no matter which it was, so she placed her phone back on top of her bag without listening to the message. She had one more day in New Hampshire with Mason before heading home that evening, and she wasn’t going to let Lilith’s message spoil it for her.

The shower was blissfully hot and while Sylvia didn’t expect Mason to join her she couldn’t help but hope he would. He didn’t. She mulled over the events of the night before and felt an incredible sense of loss. It was impossible to guess when such a perfect
opportunity to seduce him would present itself again yet she had failed. As a succubus she had never before failed to seduce the man of her desires. It was a first for her and she didn’t like it. It left her feeling unsettled and worthless, until she reminded herself the Challenge wasn’t over yet, nor was her relationship with Mason. It was better to look at it a as setback instead of a failure so she tried to convince herself to view it that way instead.

It wasn’t until she turned off the shower that she realized her cell phone wa
s ringing.

“Not now Lilith,” she mumbled to herself as she toweled off. The cell phone chirped to signal she had received a new text. Irritated she grabbed it to re
ad the text. Maybe if she text Lilith back she could get some peace again.

WHERE
ARE U? CALL ASAP!

Bold
letters, that was a bad sign. Something was up, and judging by the number of times Lilith had tried to call her while she was in the shower, it was serious.

With a sigh she
hit the button to call Lilith back. She didn’t want to deal with whatever the problem was, but Lilith would keep calling and texting her until she replied. It was best to just get it over with. She didn’t need Lilith’s harassment hanging over her all day.

Chapter 23

“Hi. W
hat’s going on?” Sylvia asked Lilith when she picked up on the first ring.

“Where are you?”
Her tone was frazzled.

“Out of state for a little break from everything, why?” She preferred not to let Lilith know about her trip to Peterborough,
but her tone scared her. She was always so calm and collected. The fact that she even sounded so upset pointed to bad news indeed.

Lilith exhaled noisily. “I’m so glad to hear it. We thought he had gotten you.”