My heart lifted into my throat as I stood there looking down at the beaten-up old thing.I was so in love with the new cello.It played like a dream.But the realization was only just starting to set in.My mom’s was gone.
Part of me had known that already.When no one had mentioned it following the accident, I suspected that it had just been tossed.Maybe that would have been better.Not knowing, making up endless scenarios in my head, leaving the possibility open that I might one day get to play my mother’s cello again…
“I’m sorry the luthier couldn’t repair it,” Mason said when he saw my face.Crossing to me, he cupped my cheeks in his hands.“I know how much it meant to you.”
With a choked half laugh, I felt the first tear spill down my cheek.“It’s like I lost her all over again, Mase.It was all I had left of her.”
“Come here.”He pulled me into him, and I buried my face in his chest, wrapping my arms around him tightly as the first sob broke free.
For the longest time, we just stood there.He held me, letting me cry it all out while holding me up.When I finally pulled back to look at him, his shirt was soaked and I felt considerably lighter, as if a part of me was finally starting to heal.In my heart, I knew I’d never fully recover from losing my mom.But I felt her all around me, and I was yet again convinced that she had sent Mason and his family to me.
“Thank you,” I murmured.
Wiping at my tears with his thumbs, he frowned.“For what, beautiful girl?”
So much, the list was endless.
“Being you,” I said instead.
Something darkened in his eyes, and not for the first time, I felt the crackle of need between us.I flattened my hands against his back, not holding on anymore, but finally giving in.Trusting that Mom knew what she was doing when she sent me this man.Listening to my heart that it was safe to love him.
He felt the change in my touch, and his body immediately responded, going hard in a way that caused heat to explode in my core.His eyes dropped to my mouth, his exhale a half groan as he slowly lowered his head, giving me plenty of time to stop him.
I didn’t.
“Sutton,” he breathed my name like it was a vow, a promise, maybe even a warning.I accepted them all and pushed up onto my toes, brushing my lips against his.
Oh fuck.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting.Butterflies and goose bumps, perhaps.Not tiny explosions of sensation erupting throughout my entire body.Not the quiver of heat and want that shook me.Definitely not the whimper that escaped when he grasped the back of my head and deepened the kiss.
I moved my hands from low on his back to his chest then up around his neck.I felt the rumble in his chest before my ears fully registered his growl, a feral sound that had those tiny explosions going off right between my legs.
First kisses weren’t supposed to be like this.They were supposed to be clumsy and awkward.Teeth bumping teeth.No one knowing where to put their hands.Heavy breathing because no one remembered they could breathe through their nose.
Mason didn’t have any of those issues because he was an experienced man, over a decade older than me.He knew exactly what he was doing, tipping my chin at the perfect angle so he could tease my lips open, playing with the tip of my tongue until I whined, signaling permission for him to invade my mouth.
He kissed me until I was clutching at his shirt, my breathing labored because I wanted more.Of his lips.His hands.More of those explosions that felt so good, they were borderline painful.More, more, more.
One kiss and I was greedy for this man.Which wasn’t surprising.This was Mason.He was meant to be mine.My savior.My protector.My safe harbor.
My anchor.
Please let me be his compass.
Lifting his head, he brushed his thumb roughly over my bottom lip.“So fucking beautiful.”
His voice was full of reverence, with something extra, because he’d accepted what this was long before I had allowed the truth to settle inside me.It wasn’t simply trust.Or mere adoration.It was all of our broken parts sliding into place like puzzle pieces.
I’d never thought about what love would feel like, not the forever kind.All I’d ever known of love was what I felt for Mom, and despite how strong that was, it wasn’t even close to comparing to this.
And that was fucking terrifying in the best possible ways.
Blue-gray eyes locked with mine, his entire face lighting up when he saw that I finally understood.This wasn’t him being my white knight.We weren’t simply friends.He was mine and I was his, exactly the way fate had intended.Whether my mother had handpicked him from heaven or not, Mason was the other half of my soul.
“Hi,” he said tenderly, his gaze taking in every detail of my face as if he were seeing me for the first time.
“Hi,” I breathed back, enthralled with how his lips had plumped ever so slightly from our kiss, the way the light caught his lashes.My blood seemed to hum through my veins with a level of happiness I’d never imagined was possible.
