Page 27 of The Spare

She turns to face me with a curiosity that's intriguing. "I didn't know you smoked."

"There's a lot you don't know about me, butterfly," I murmur.

Like how good I can fuck. How much stamina I have. And she does too.

It's going to make for some really fun,longnights.

Opening the tin, I pull one out, putting the cigarette between my lips and flicking the lighter, keeping my eyes on hers the entire time. Her eyes nail themselves to the orange tip when I inhale, and I groanlow in my throat at how good the burn is and the sexy curiosity in her eyes.

Keeping my eyes on her, I hold the cigarette out as I blow out the smoke, smiling when she scrunches her nose and shakes her head.

"Good girl. I wouldn't have let you anyways."

"Oh, like you couldn't let me have an entire dance with that man back there, huh?" she retorts sarcastically. She turns, putting her back to me again.

"Exactly," I take another puff, groaning because it's just so good.

"What does it matter, Mason?" She turns her head slightly, tossing the question over her shoulder. "We're not together. You don't have to act like that."

"No, we're not together," I say simply, blowing out another plume of smoke as my eyes rake down the creamy skin of her neck and the divots in her collarbone. The gentle swell of her cleavage.

God, how would her nipples feel against my tongue… how creamy would she taste in my mouth? I raise the cigarette to my mouth again with trembling fingers, inhaling slowly, relishing the taste as it rids me of her torturous scent for a moment. Though it's immediately back as she's right there, so close I can press my lips to the sensitive skin of her neck.

I blow the smoke out slowly, catching the gaze of a middle aged woman on the other side of the terrace who is staring curiously at us. I turn my head dismissively, placing my hand back on the concrete parapet next to hers and tilting the cigarette away from her so the ash doesn't fall on her hand by accident.

Every time she exhales, it affords me a deeper look into the neckline of her cleavage. My cock strains against my pants when I see the merest hint of the edge of her light brown areola.

Her fingers clench when my thumb twitches, and I chuckle at how strung tight she is. I inch my thumb closer, rubbing it along the thin skin of her hand and the fragile bones underneath. But that's all I allow myself. Her breath catches in her throat, but she remains silent. My thumb strokes slowly, until it makes its way to the ring finger of her left hand.

She turns her head and looks over her shoulder, our height difference so much that she has to tilt her head to meet my eyes.

"What are you thinking about?" I smile, taking another drag.

"Nothing," she lies.

Lies.

I stiffen, partly because there's a whole lot of something swirling in those pretty brown eyes of hers, and also because I can't stand the wordnothing.It brings back sickening memories of the first time Father called me that.Nothing.

Useless. Worthless. Pathetic.

I tear my eyes from hers and wet my lips, flicking the cigarette over the balcony and stepping away. "Time to go."

Melody turns and cranes her neck back, folding her arms across her tummy. "What's the matter with you tonight?" she whispers.

"A whole lot," I quip back.

"Oh, it's definitely something," she bites back.

"Not anything you need to concern yourself with, trust me."

"Soyoucan insert yourself intomylife, chastise me when you don't like the look of something, but I have no right to know why you're acting like such a pig-headed, short-temperedassholeall of a sudden? Fine. I'm sorry for asking. Take me home," she snorts, shaking her head and checking me with her shoulder as she walks by.

I snatch her back by her elbow, ignoring her eyes flashing and her struggling against me as I lean down.

"If you must know, I have had one hell of a shitty day. I lost a shit ton of money this morning, Hendrix required my presence here, and you were the only reason why this was bearable in any way, shape, or form to me. So, if you must know,no,I didn't like you running off to go dance with that piece of shit when I would have preferred for you to be by my side forall of it."

"Selfish," she whispers back, panting lightly against my ear.