MASON"Where the hell have you been?" I ask Anna as the bell signals her arrival into the store. I take a quick scan of her body to make sure she's okay. "It's almost eight pm. You never go out this late. What happened?"She finally meets my eyes and I almost do a double take. Her eyes are red rimmed and puffy from crying. My heart drops to the bottom of my shoes.I take her arm and lead her to a chair, forcing her to sit down. I cup her chin, lifting her face to the overhead lights."You've been crying." I whisper, almost as if I cannot believe it myself. "What happened? Who hurt you, Anna? Talk to me."She holds my gaze," It's nothing, Mira. Just some stupid boys at school."My pulse leaps,"Did they hurt you?"Her eyes snap to mine in surprise." What, no? They didn't hurt me physically. Just orally."" Oh, my poor baby. What did they say to you?"She leans back in her seat and asks instead,"If you had the opportunity to sell the store off to an extremely wealthy man, a man not
MIRASomething's off.I don't know why, but I've been having a strange sense of foreboding since last night. Standing at the store's counter right now, my heart twists and turns in the way it usually does when something horrible is about to happen.I shake my head and continue with my cleaning. I'm probably imagining things again.I look up to find Anna sitting just by the door, looking lost in thought. "Do you feel any better, sweetie?" I ask her.Her head shoots up, her eyes widening like I just caught her doing something she's not supposed to be doing. Huh. Strange.She touches her hand to her head and winces. "Yes, just a little headache. It should be gone in no time."I give her a smile and continue with my work. Anna was feeling a little sick this morning, so I told her to skip school and come with me to the store where I can keep an eye on her. The day passes pretty quickly. The customers keep me busy until late in the afternoon, so I do not really get the time to contemplat
MASONSeeing Mira for the first time in an entire year feels like a fucking blow to my guts. She looks like she's lost a few pounds, but asides from that, she's the stuff of my wildest dreams…and my greatest nightmares.I wait for the feeling of pride and victory I had expected to fill me at the sight of her pain, but right now, looking into those huge, green, tear filled orbs, I really begin to feel like the worst bastard there is.I wrap my arms tighter around her slight frame, but she doesn't move. She doesn't fight me. She doesn't even push me away. She only sits there, looking lost…and broken.Fuck! This is what I fucking wanted, wasn't it? I wanted to break her. To make her so utterly defeated, she wouldn't have a single doubt as to whom she belongs to. But seeing her distant eyes, I want that fire back. I do not want Mira Fernandez broken and cowering at my feet. I need her fire. I need my little Italian firecracker back. And there's only one way to bring her back."If you t
MIRA"What the hell do you mean by he found you?!" Vanessa blares down the phone, so loud, I have to pull the device away from my ear to avoid getting the organ blocked.Vanessa still lives in New York. Her life and work prevented her from running to Las Vegas with us. While we most definitely missed the hell out of each other, we were restricted to communicating via encrypted phonecalls, so no one could trace my location. No one being Mason and any of his goons.I guess that will no longer be the case.I give her the short version of what went down at the store today, and what Anna did. I can practically feel her rage from a thousand miles away."That stupid, sonofabitch! Shamelessly manipulating a teenager. He should be arrested!"For the first time since all these chaos blew up, I almost laugh."You know that is not possible, Nessa. He's the richest man in New York."She huffs her dissatisfaction," So what are we gonna do now?"I pause the lipgloss halfway to my lips."No, Vanessa
MIRAI have absolutely no idea where I'm going. I just run, and run, hoping this burning pain in my chest will go aware soon. I run blindly, silently telling myself that I'm not supposed to care. I'm not supposed to care if Mason keeps a thousand different mistresses, or if he touched a million naked girls during the past year. I'm not supposed to care, but the tightening of my chest says otherwise.I care more than I can say.A strangled sound tears from my throat as I fly down the hallways as fast as I can in my stilettos. I have to go. I don't know where, but I just have to escape this place. I do not run for a long when suddenly, I slam against a hard, tall brick wall. I freeze as I slide bonelessly to the ground. I do not reach the ground though. Steely arms grab my waist, lifting me to my feet.I ignore my fog of self pity long enough to open my eyes and regard my new captor. Darth."Get out of my way, Darth." I say with a warning tone.He shakes his head, his eyes sparking an
MIRAI stare at Mason, momentarily transfixed at the look of pure savage in his eyes. The roaring in my ears tells me I haven't passed out yet.He pulls me flush against him in one smooth move, his gaze burning a lethal path straight to my soul."You shouldn't have done that, Mira. You shouldn't have."I hold his gaze, trying in vain to swallow my fear. Mason looks downright murderous. His hands lift to my face, and I flinch. I hang my head, waiting for the blow, just like those times in my dark, dark past. It never comes. I lift my head slowly to find Mason's furious gaze on me, and an embarrassed blush stains my cheeks. In a flash, he grabs my chin between his fingers and pulls me closer. I stiffen as I come within mere inches of him. We're so close, one little forward move and I could have those sinful lips against mine. My thighs clench at the thought."You flinched away from me." He growls angrily. " You thought I would hit you." Since he's not asking questions, merely stati
MASON"...I hate you…"Mira's words play over and over in my brain as I struggle to concentrate on the pile of work before me. Numbers and decimal points swirl before me as memories of her pain filled eyes intrude in my vision. I shouldn't care. I shouldn't fucking care. And I don't.I push the papers away. There's no way I will fucking concentrate with images of her fleshy, bubble butt high the air, and getting reddened from my spanking constantly flashing through my mind.I lean forward to take the handkerchief from earlier out of the clean, empty trash. I lean back in my seat, and put it against my face, shutting my eyes as the scent of her arousal drugs my senses. My plan was to take Mira fully, after she signs my new document, but she just had to fuck up. My plan was to fuck her into oblivion right on this table. But I did not want to touch her until her signatures were on that contract.One look at those stubborn eyes and upturned lips, and my perfectly laid out plans went up
MASONI watch as all the blood drains from Mira's face, my own blood boiling with rage. When Darth told me she was coming to the bank, I knew something was amiss. And I do not want anything interfering with my plans to own her. Darth reported that she'd been in the bank Manager's office for more than five minutes, and I dropped my truckload of work and drove like a possesed demon down here.Call me weird, but the thought of Mira being in an enclosed space with any man, any man at all, makes me feel fucking murderous.My vision almost goes black with fury as images of the over bellied prick before me trying to feel up my woman invades my vision.I will kill him. I will fucking kill him."What is this nonsense? I'm sure you must be mistaken." He has the audacity to say.Despite my need to lash out and kill, I push my anger away long enough to smile at the bastard. A slow, cold smile that has him swallowing and fumbling with his tie."You would love for me to be mistaken, would'nt you,
MIRA “Wake up, princess. It’s getting late.” I blink sleepily, smiling to myself when I catch a whiff of heavenly smelling cologne. With my eyes still firmly shut, I reach out to the source of the delicious scent and my arms instantly come in contact with broad, cloth covered shoulders. With a determined tug, I pull the shoulders closer to myself and it lands against me with a soft thud, then I proceed to sink my face into the neck of the owner of the shoulder and get a better whiff of that addictive scent. “Mmm… you smell so good.” I feel soft, warm lips against my cheek. “Thank you, baby.” That jolts me out of my sleepy state. I open my eyes and I’m immediately assailed by piercing gray eyes. I blink up at him for a second. “Good morning, baby girl.” He whispers. I swallow. “Good morning.” I feel every part of my body tense up, mostly because I believe I have an early morning arousal and the world’s most handsome man is lying almost fully against me. I try to move awa
MASONI should be holding Mira right now. I should be reassuring her of my unlimited devotion. But her confessions earlier struck a chord deep in my heart."Fuck!" I curse into the empty office.Unable to keep sitting still, I walk to the mini wet bar and pour myself a glass of my favourite Cognac. I tip the shot glass and down the contents in one gulp. The sharp burn does nothing to lessen the pain inside of me. It does nothing to quench the fire that burns so desperately for one green eyed, stubborn-as-fuck female.I slam the shot glass on the counter to stop myself from throwing it against the wall.Mira wouldn't want to stay with me unless I admit that I'm in love with her. Am I in love with Mira?The sudden realization has me freezing in my tracks. It hits me out of nowhere, numbing my senses.I walk back to my chair and sink into it. It is either that or fall flat on my face. I've always seen myself as incapable of love or anything related to the term. Turns out, the little
MIRAMason and I fall into each other in a tangled heat of fused mouths and moving hands. He picks me from the bathtub and I hold on to him, enjoying the delicious slide of his wet body against mine.“Wrap your legs around me, baby.” He whispers urgently against my lips, and I comply. He grabs my arse, his fingers digging into the soft skin. The combination of pain and pleasure almost leaves me reeling.My core is already slick and dripping from arousal. My entire body feels like I’ve been set alight with a flaming torch.Mason pins me atop one of the counters in the bathroom. He spreads my legs and steps between them. His hot, hard, throbbing erection brushes against the swollen nub of my clit and I throw my head back, a slight whimper escaping my lips.“Mason. Mason please…”He runs his hot lips over the skin of my neck.“Please what, baby? What do you want?” He whispers against me. “Whatever you want is yours. Whatever you want, baby girl.”“Touch me. Touch me, please.” My voice is
MIRA“Bathe with me.” He says confidently like he hasn’t just made a declaration that has my heart spilt all over his thousand dollar shirt.All traces of sleep departs from me and I stare at him, transfixed. He looks serious. Dead serious.“Is…is this still part of the challenge? Getting me to fall in love with you, I mean.” Because if it is, unfortunately for me, that ship has long sailed. I need to know where all this is coming from.For a moment, Mason says nothing. He simply stares at me, those stormy grays causing havoc to my raging nerves.“Do I look like I’m joking, little flower? Challenge aside, I’ve decided that I want you. I need you with me every single fucking moment.” My breath hitches. “You’re not there for five seconds and I suddenly can’t breathe properly. I remember that whatever is going on here is temporary and I want to smash something against the wall.” He pauses, his chest heaving rapidly. I have never seen him so…worked up. “ I think I’m obsessed with you, Mi
MIRAIt’s eight o’clock and Mason still isn’t back. I left Vanessa’s a while ago after spending enough quality time with my sister and promising to come back. Actually, Darth came up and declared in his usual quiet, lethal manner that the boss wanted me back home. I would have defied him and stayed back, but I want to get this tuition issue out of the way once and for all.That was seven o’clock, almost an hour ago. Now, I sit in the main room and stare unseeingly at the beautiful mini aquarium, worrying myself to death. I started calling him thirty minutes ago. So far, he hasn’t answered any of my calls. Neither has he returned them. He said he was going after those who hurt me. What if they hurt him? My heart squeezes at the thought of him probably lying broken and hurt somewhere with no means of getting help, and I call his phone over and over again. It keeps going to voice mail. I throw the stupid thing against the wall, watching it crack open and fall to the ground with a sick
MASONMira and I have been back to civilization for all of three days and I already want to load her up and take her back. I admit that our little vacation time together was…positively enlightening, but I never wanted it to end. Sadly, the real world was calling. I had to come back and make plans, put things in place.Mira trusts me to take revenge on everyone who hurt her in the past, and that is exactly what I’m going to do. I haven’t told her about our little encounter when she was fucking nineteen years old. The very thought of telling her makes my insides turn to ice.She might run. She might want to leave me. I won’t let her. Losing Mira would destroy me. I never counted on wanting a woman so much, not seeing or hearing from her for up to an hour would make me itch, but Mira changed…everything. So if keeping this little secret from her for the meantime would guarantee that she stays with me a little longer, that is exactly what I’m going to do.“What’s the plan?” I turn my
MASON Mira might seem a little dazed, a little confused even, but I meant what I said. I protect her now. Her care is my responsibility. I know everything might go to shit later when she finds out that my uncle is in fact Escobar Scuderi and I’m the nephew she was “given to,” but when that time comes, I will be ready. She may have an anger fit, she might cry, she might even throw things at me. But even then, I’m not letting her go anywhere. She’s stuck with me for life now, even if I have to force a ring on that finger to prove it. I freeze as that thought flits through my mind, but the thought of Mira in my house, legally mine with my ring on her finger to prove it leaves me hot…and hard. I want to bind her to me in every possible way. I don’t really care if she accepts it as first. In the long run, she will come to understand that there won’t ever be another man in her life except me. As it should be. When I saw Mira for the first time at Le Delegharo, it felt like I was being p
MIRAYou know that point in your life when it feels like you have absolutely no idea which path you're headed?That part where you feel like you had everything all figured out and suddenly, the way you chose doesn't feel like the right way anymore and you're all toggled up with confusion? That is exactly how I feel right now.Mason's eyes spark with conviction and something else, an emotion I have seen one two many times in those gray depths…determination. "I'm the one who owes you not the other way round, Mason."One of his perfectly shaped brows shoot up."And what exactly do you feel you owe me, Miss Fernandez? Sex? Mistress duties?"Okay, now I'm confused. I lift my chin, my gaze equally tinged with determination."I'm sorry, did I perhaps miss the memo? Isn't that exactly why I'm here?"Mason stares down at me for a while. An emotion that feels too dangerously close to indecision flits in his gaze."I don't want you to just be my mistress anymore."I freeze." What?"He rolls off
MASONAfter two, or was it three more rounds of hard sex, Mason and I finally find ourselves back in the bathroom where he gives me soothing, refreshing bath. He literally scrubs me clean.When we’re both squeaky clean, Mason pins me beneath him on the bed. My legs are completely entangled with his. There’s absolutely no escaping him.”I like you like this.” He murmurs, running a thumb over my cheeks.”Oh? Like what?””Naked in my bed. Completely mine.”My pulse spikes and my heart begins to burn with a warm glow. Calm down, stupid heart.”I’m not utterly yours, Mason.” I challenge.His eyes equally spark with a dangerous, gray gleam.”Want me to show you all over again?” He asks, running his fingers over my thighs suggestively.”Are you joking?”His face is a perfect mask of seriousness,”Do you think I’m joking?”My mouth falls open and for a few seconds, I’m not able to utter a single word.”We just had…sex a couple minutes ago. I’m incredibly sore.” I point out incredulously.His