Page 100 of Word to the Wise

He smiles. “Completely.”

I can’t help the grin that stretches my face. “Well, that’s probably good, seeing as you’re a little loopy and at my mercy right now.”

Mason leans in and plants a kiss on my lips, pausing for a moment before breaking it. “My heart’s been at your mercy since I met you.”

“Doubt that.” I roll my eyes. “You were plenty occupied when we met.”

Mason’s revolving door of women was as prolific as my brother’s. And I was fine with that. It was one more reason on the list of why I shouldn’t have been thinking about him the way I was. Especially when I had a boyfriend.

“I was just looking for something I was never going to find.”

“What makes you think you’d never find it?” I tap his lip with my finger. “After all, you were putting in so much effort.”

He grins, grabbing my chin and tipping my face up to his. “Keep it up, Sticks. I might be too drugged to act on it now, but I’m going to have fun taming this mouth later.”

“Promise?”

His gaze heats, and a growl rumbles in his chest. Mason leans in, nipping at my lower lip before pulling away.

“But seriously, why not?”

“Because…” He shrugs. “None of them were going to be you.”

I roll my eyes.

“Seriously. Do you believe in love at first sight?”

“No.” I shake my head. “But I do believe you’ve mixed a little too much whiskey and Benadryl, and it’s making you say things you’re going to regret in the morning.”

“Can’t regret the truth. And you can’t run from it either. It’s always going to be staring you in the face until you finally accept it.”

I wait for him to realize what he’s saying to me. But he doesn’t falter. He just stares.

“Love at first sight,” I repeat, trying to picture it.

“I believe in love at first sight,” he says. “I loved you the first moment I met you.”

“That’s called lust.”

“Nope.” Mason shakes his head, and he’s in and out of sleep with his steady breaths. “Lust fades out. Whatever you planted in my chest just keeps growing, no matter how much my demons try to hack it away. I loved you the first time I saw you, and nothing’s ever going to make that stop.”

My heart is hammering at his confession. At how it sits in this quiet room while he drifts off to sleep.

Love.

I brush his dark blond hair off his forehead and trace his face.

Love.

I don’t want to feel it.

Love.

I didn’t want that ever again.

Love.

So what’s this warm feeling welling up under my ribs?