Page 138

Her words and devotion and absolute conviction humbled him.

“Lyric loves with everything she is,” he told his therapist. “I’m so damn lucky, I sometimes can’t believe she’s mine.”

“Do you feel worthy of that kind of love?”

He grinned, thinking of the way Hawk tried to deny her friendship and love, though it was a different kind than the one they shared. “You can’t feel unworthy of what she gives because of the way she gives it. It’s so open and honest and pure. It’s so real, you can’t help but know she sees you, all of you, and still feels that way. So some part of you, even a small part has to be worthy of that. And if it is even just a small part of you, then it must be enough. I’m enough to deserve that love.”

“Maybe all my patients need someone like her.”

Mason agreed.

A gleeful shout came from the kitchen, and Mason smiled so big his cheeks hurt.

His therapist smiled, too. “I take it she’s home.”

“Early.” He was so damn happy, it felt like he might burst. “And she found her surprise.”

“I think we’ll leave things with you knowing you’re enough. Enjoy the rest of your day.” The therapist signed off.

Mason left the office on the hunt for his beautiful angel, though he knew exactly where to find her.

The second he stepped into the kitchen, she tapped her phone and the chorus to Tina Turner’s “The Best” rang out, along with his angel’s powerful voice, letting him know she thought he wasthe bestby pointing her finger at him. Then she hugged the brand-new professional six-burner gas range. She stood and continued singing, dancing, and pulling the simple white T-shirt she wore over her head, revealing the pale pink bra hugging her breasts. She danced to the double ovens, put her back to them, closed her eyes like she was in ecstasy, shimmied down, then back up them, and undid the button and fly on her jeans.

He simply grinned and kept his eyes glued to her, loving her voice in his ears, her spirit filling the room, her body calling to his.

She hit the chorus again as she ran her hands down the two ovens and bent at the waist, her ass out toward him. Then she hooked her fingers in the waistband and pulled those jeans and her panties all the way down to her ankles in a sexy striptease that had him hard and aching.

He groaned.

She kept singing and somehow kicked her shoes and the clothes away, leaving her gloriously naked, except for a bandage on her wrist.

He wondered what had happened but forgot that thought the second she put her back to his chest and shimmied down him to the beat of the music. Sheglided back up, her body rubbing against his, making him throb with need. It had been way too long since he’d been inside her, and his cock wanted to take the reins and put a stop to this amusing and wonderful moment. But he enjoyed watching her too much to take her now and found the strength and will to hold out.

Lucky him, because she kept running her hands all over him and singing how he was the best, and it reminded him of the conversation with his therapist moments ago about him being enough. His angel thought he was so much more to her.

And all of this dancing and singing because he’d upgraded the kitchen appliances from the ones she’d settled for because of the cost to the ones he knew she really wanted. She was worth the expense, and he would benefit from her amazing cooking skills.

Her hands swept down his back and over his hips, her hands grabbing his ass. He reached back and gripped her swaying hips, holding her close. She slid her hands under his thermal and pushed up, taking the material with it.

He took the hint and pulled it off over his head.

Her hands came around him and undid the button and fly on his jeans. Then her hand was locked around his hard cock, and he swore as she hit the part of the song about being torn apart. And he thought she could bring him to his knees in an instant.

He pulled her close in front of him, picked her up by the back of her thighs, set her lush ass on the brand-new countertop on the island in front of him, and took her mouth with his, cutting off the final verse of the song, letting Tina’s voice ring out with what they both believed about the other. Because the best was having the person you loved more than anything in your arms.

He lost himself in the kiss and wanted to thrust his aching cock inside her, but he managed some finesse and stroked his fingers along her sensitive inner thigh to her soft, damp folds, one finger, then two sliding into her heat. “You’re so wet for me.”

“I missed you,” she said against his lips.

“I’m pretty sure you’re more excited about the appliances.”

She chuckled, grabbed him by the hair, and made him look at her instead of kissing her again. “Nothing is better than you.”

The words made his heart overflow with love for this smart, kind, beautiful woman.

Then he lost all thought when she grabbed his hard length, freed it from his boxer briefs, and rubbed the head of it against her soft folds. “Love me.”

He didn’t need to be told twice and thrust into her, burying himself deep.