Chapter 8

Mason

Every cell in my brain screams for me to back the fuck off and yet, when I kiss Leah, it’s as if I’ve been shattered and my final form rises out of the broken fragments like a god.

Dramatic as fuck, yes, but this isn’t just some kiss that hardens my dick.

It’s a connection I feel from the base of my feet to the roots of my hair.

Leah’s nails scrape my scalp as she takes over, and it makes my toes curl. Jesus Christ, what’s gotten into us? Before losing what’s left of my control, I gently place my hand on her throat and bite her bottom lip before pulling back.

Leah’s flushed and gorgeous when she says, “Harder, Daddy.”

The little air left in my lungs evaporates. “Fucking hell.” I kiss her again, my restraint snapping like taut cords severed by a knife. Leah’s that knife. “I want to fuck you.”

I’ll be careful so I don’t accidentally break her cut open again.

“Take this fucking shirt off.” I hate the Yankees almost as much as I hate myself.

When I lift her shirt, Leah smacks my hands away. “Fuck me with it on.”

Excuse me? I inch closer to her face, our mouths nearly touching. “I hate the Yankees.”

She doesn’t back down. “Show me how much.”

This woman takes my aggression and turns it into an aphrodisiac.

Growling, I smash my mouth to hers again and we’re both ripping her shorts down and getting my pants off. Suddenly, Leah hisses in pain and I jerk back. “Shit, are you okay?”

She looks down at her palm and I swear my dick deflates instantly. That my greedy goddamn nature might have caused her more harm makes me sick. Without saying a word, I pick her up and carry her over to the couch. I don’t trust myself to put her back in my bed. “What can I do?”

“Nothing. I’m fine.” Leah cradles her palm. “It just stings a bit.”

My throat feels tight, and it’s hard to swallow. I glance in the kitchen and realize there’s still glass, water, and flowers all over the floor. I look back at Leah and see she’s staring at me like a hawk.

“I’m torn between taking care of your needs and cleaning that mess up, so it’s safer in here for you, Princess.” Every time I call her that, she visibly melts a little.

“I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself, Mason.”

I know she is, but I don’t want her cleaning up my messes. Leah cleaning my shower and mopping my floor suddenly sits badly with me, too. This insane urge to spoil and keep her is going to get us both into a heap of trouble.

I have to be careful.

“When is your next job?”

Leah’s brow furrows. “You mean after I’m done here?”

She’s done here already; she just doesn’t know it. “Yeah.”

“Two o’clock.”

“Where?”

“South Side. At Sampson Hill.”

One glance at my watch tells me she only gives herself three hours to clean my condo and get over to the other side of town. When does she eat? “Come on.” I help her stand. “I’ll take you.”

“What? No. Mason, that’s not necessary.”

“Yes, it is. You’re done cleaning here.” The look on her face cuts me to the quick. Does she think I’m firing her? Shit. “It’s not even dirty.” She still doesn’t look pleased. Is it the money she’ll get for cleaning? “I’ll still pay you for the allotted time, don’t worry.”

She yanks away from me and shoves me back. “God, you’re such an asshole.”

What the fuck? “What did I do?”

“You just throw money at everything like that makes it all better, don’t you?”

“That’s not what I was doing.”

“You just said you were paying me for my time.” She jams her finger in my chest. “I’m not Daisy Ren right now, Mason. You can’t pay me to have your way and finish with a fat tip and think that makes me happy when it’s really only to ease your conscience.”

Hold up.

“I know you’re not Daisy right now, Leah. And I’m not throwing money at anything to make you happy or ease my fucking conscience. I’m simply paying for the time allotted to clean my condo because that’s business. And instead of wasting your time cleaning an already pristine home, I’m going to get you a nice lunch, drive you to your next two jobs, and help you because it’s what I want to do.”

She freezes. “ Help me?” Leah has the audacity to look me up and down. “Help me how?”

“Clean, obviously.” I give her the same look she just gave me, but Leah bursts out in this awful fake laugh that makes my blood boil. “What’s so funny?”

“Something tells me, Mason Finch, that you’ve never scrubbed a toilet in your life.”

She’s right. “So?”

“Oh, my god. Just stop.” Leah shoves past me and I let her this time because I don’t want her falling or tripping and hurting herself more. Instead of marching out my front door, she heads back into the kitchen.

I barge in and snatch the broom and pan from her cart before she can get to it.

“Damnit, what is wrong with you?” She stomps her foot. It’s fucking precious. “I’m trying to earn my living and I don’t like handouts. Let me do my damn job.”

“Sit,” I growl. “And let me take care of this.” Worried I’m coming off a little too dickish, I soften my next words. “Please, Princess?”

She looks at the mess, then back at me. “Fine.” Leah pokes her finger at me. “But when you’re done cleaning up in here, I’m finishing the rest of your condo on my own.”

I don’t like it, but I admire her tenacity. “Deal.”

A half hour later, she’s in the hallway mopping and I pull out the vacuum from my spare bedroom closet to start on the rug in my living room, even though she cleaned in there already.

Leah storms in with her hands up in the air. “What are you doing?”

“Practicing,” I snap back.

She storms back into the bathroom, mumbling under her breath.

Damn, her ass is delectable.

The electricity between us is palpable. I think I like having her annoyed with me. My dick sure enjoys it.

Surprisingly, vacuuming turns out to be quite soothing. I like the lines it makes in the carpet. The repetitiveness is calming.

Wow. I have no clue what this says about me.

New kinks unlock every day.

Not that this shit turns me on, but it is oddly satisfying.

A knot forms in my belly as I mentally tally all the maids my family has been through. Being nice to the help got me in trouble a lot. Psht, just talking to them got us in deep shit.

The household staff were to be silent and invisible.

So were us kids.

Leah giggles in the bathroom. Other than her giving me shit for vacuuming, she hasn’t said a word since I cleaned up the kitchen floor. In fact, she’d stuffed her earbuds back in her head and hasn’t even danced. I don’t like that today’s Leah is so different from last week’s version.

She was so vibrant and carefree when she thought no one was around last time. Even as Daisy Ren, she’s charming and sweet and fun and sexy as all get out. Today, however, she’s different. Feisty and bossy but closed off.

I’m not a fan.

It’s my fault. I know that. Still, I’m dying to see Leah in her natural state. What’s her home like? What’s her favorite food? Does she watch movies or read books in her spare time?

I know her kinks include almost getting caught and being praised. She made that really fucking obvious. God damn, this woman has no clue what she’s doing to me. The push and pull between us is driving me bananas.

Being around Leah is like landing in paradise after getting shipwrecked. Excitement, fear, curiosity, relief swirl in my gut. That’s a red flag, right?

Fuck if I know.

She gasps in the bathroom and then cackle-laughs. Something warm blooms in my chest and I sneak down the hall to catch her leaning against my sink, her hands curled against her cheeks. This beautiful smile spreads across her face and she laughs again, cupping her mouth and shaking her head.

Then she catches me watching and her smile drops. Spinning around, she scrubs the sinks harder and really puts her back into it.

I lean against the door, enjoying the view. She likes cleaning. It’s so obvious.

“What?” She pulls her earbuds out.

I didn’t say anything, and I bet she knows it. This woman’s testing me again. “No singing today?”

“Audiobook.” She goes to put her earbuds back in, but I snag one from her.

“Hey!” Her hands rest on her ample hips. “You’re gonna regret that.”

Doubtful.

Pushing the earbud in, a man’s deep voice booms, “—presses his cock against her wet pussy. I’m gonna fuck you so hard, my little cum dumpster .”

My eyes widen with shock and Leah laughs so hard she holds her stomach and doubles over.

I can’t believe she walks around with a straight face while smut pipes into her ears. “You’ve been listening to this for the past hour?”

“You just missed the good part where he had to prep her for his knot.”

“His what ?”

“Knot. It’s this extra thing at the base of his dick that swells when he’s about to blow his load.”

Damn. That’s… hot.

“I told you you’d regret—”

“Shhhh.” I just missed the dude’s next line. “I want to hear this.”

I’ll google what knots are later.

The next forty-five minutes pass by with both of us in different rooms, listening to the same story. We laugh at the same parts. I hear her squeal twice. My dick gets rock hard during this one scene where the hero bends his human mate over a boulder and rims her before fucking her ass with his tail.

“You ready?” Leah asks, pulling her yellow gloves off.

My dick’s tenting my slacks and I’m all sweaty. Holy hell, I had no clue audiobooks were like this. Or that I’d be into whatever this genre is. “Yeah.”

Leah heads over to grab her cart from the hallway. Chapter Fourteen starts up in my left ear as I rush to grab the cart handle from her. She’s not wheeling this thing herself. Anything I can do to help, I will.

“This guy has the best voice, doesn’t he?” She holds the door while I drag her shit out of my condo.

“Definitely.”

Her gaze lands on my hard-on. It’s easy to see in these pants. I love that she can’t pull her eyes off it.

The door shuts, closing us in the elevator, and Leah blindly smacks the button for the lobby.

It only takes her three steps to reach me. With our gazes deadlocked, she closes the space between us and the narrator in our ears says, “You make me crazy, you filthy little bitch. And I’m unhinged enough to fuck you until you can’t walk away from me ever again.”

I lick my lips. Leah’s gaze drags to my mouth.

Then she slams me against the back wall and kisses me.

Fuck. Yes.

While the couple in our ears fuck, we ravage each other in the elevator. Our hands are all over the place, groping, sqeeezing every body part we can touch. But the instant we reach the lobby, and the doors slide open, we break away panting.

My heart’s in my throat. I feel lightheaded and floaty.

What the hell is she doing to me?

Leah seems to know exactly how affected I am by her, because she’s still blocking my way out.

“Turn around, Princess.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to stare at your sweet ass while I fix my hard cock. I can’t have it punching a hole through my pants for everyone in the lobby to see.”

“Maybe they’d like to see it.” Her eyes are lit with a fire that makes me cock twitch.

She looks down and gropes my dick, grazing her nails over the fabric of my pants and I grown. “Maybe you should tuck it,” she says teasingly. “We wouldn’t want anyone to trip over this massive thing and break their leg.”

“That would be tragic.”

Giggling, Leah turns around, but she’s not big enough to hide my bulk. Not that I thought she would be. It’s just a great excuse to stare at what I plan to fuck, lick, and worship later.

Chapter Fifteen starts up in our ears, but she pauses it on her phone. The silence makes all the regular noises seem like an intrusion on our fantasy. She steps out of the elevator first, and I follow, lugging her cart behind me. My dick’s still hard, but that’s not going to change. As long as I’m around this woman, I suspect I’ll be in a constant state of I-wanna-fuck-her .

After loading her things in my car, I check the time. “We have forty minutes to get there. What do you want for lunch?”

“You,” she teases with a wicked smile. This woman is wonderful for my ego. “But I’ll settle for a Mexican bowl.”

I hold the door for her while she slips into my passenger seat. The animosity between us has vanished. I still feel her kiss on my lips and my dick’s dying for a turn.

“Start that audiobook back up, Princess.” Revving my engine, I throw it in reverse. “I have to see how this all ends now.”

“Ohhh you’re invested, huh?”

“Yeah,” I drag my gaze down her body. “I am.”