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“I love you, so you don’t have to do anything,” I murmur.

“What?” Disbelief echoes through his voice.

“I love you,” I say again. “If you can accept me and what I did?—”

“You have nothing to be agonized about. I’ll drill that into you for the rest of your life if I have to.”

“Oh, Mason.”

“Tell me you love me again.”

“Tell me first what Cassie’s doing here.”

He hears my irked tone and smiles. “I’ve had a lot of time lately to… mend fences. Cassie wanted to meet the woman responsible for making me human again.”

“Fine, but did she have to sit next to you? And why the fuck didn’t you warn me she was going to be here?”

“That seat was yours. She took it when I thought you weren’t coming. When we go back in, you’ll be next to me, where you belong. Now tell me you love me again.”

Of all the emotions churning through me, only one floats to the surface and I know it’s the truth that I’ve tried to resist since meeting this man. But saying it again, now, sets me flying higher than I ever thought I deserved to be. And it feels good. Deliriously good. “I love you, Mason.”

He groans and kisses me with a fervor that warms my frozen heart. I slide my arms around his neck, and he surges to his feet. He walks forward without breaking the kiss. It’s only when he sets me down that I look about the room.

“Where are we?”

He spins me around and slams me back against him. “Lincoln’s Bedroom.”

I gasp and reassess the elaborate furnishings. Sure enough, the room I’ve seen in books is laid out before me. I reach out to touch the antique bed cover and feel Mason’s hand lifting the hem of my gown.

My heart kicks up a thousand notches. “What’re you doing?”

“Delivering your punishment, of course,” he rasps in my ear.

I bite my lip to stop the groan of bliss that spirals through me. He gathers the cloth in one hand and pushes me forward with the other. My tiny thong is no barrier for what’s coming, and I gasp as the first smack lights up my ass and spreads through my body.

“Oh God!”

Smack.

“You knew this was coming, didn’t you, kitten?”

“Yes.”

Smack.

“Yes, what?”

Smack. Smack. Smack.

“Yes, sir. I love you.”

He groans. “God, I wasn’t going to fuck you now… Was going to take my time with you later, show you how much I’ve missed you, how much I love you. But your ass… I need you, baby.” He’s panting, and I hear his zipper open.

Love and fire, electricity and joy, light up my veins. “Mason, what if we get caught?”

“Then we’ll be the happiest jail birds in history.” He pulls my thong to one side and slides, thick, hot, and delicious, inside me. “Now shut up and let me love you. I have an award to collect.”

EPILOGUE