Page 135 of Finding Us
Leaning down, I place a soft kiss on his chest. “Morning,” he rumbles in a deep baritone voice.
“Morning.”
He lifts his head off the pillow and the moment he takes in my face, his body starts to shake with laughter. “What’s so funny?”
Reaching up, he peels something off my cheek. I wince and heat floods my face when he holds up one of the fake eyelashes I’d been wearing. It must’ve come off during the night.
After placing it on his bedside table, he slides his hands under my arms and drags my body up until his lips cover mine. “I’ve missed waking up beside you.”
“I’ve missed it too.”
His hand comes up to caress the side of my face. “I love you, Red, and I’m going to dedicate the rest of my life to making you happy.”
Tears burn the back of my eyes. “I love you too.”
“I promise I’ll never take advantage of your love, I’m going to cherish it … and you.”
“Can we tell Blake about us now?”
“Yes. We’ll take him out for breakfast this morning. Come,” he says, sitting up. “Let’s get you in the shower and wash all this gunk off you. I’m going to need to change my sheets too, because they’re covered in glitter.”
I rise from the bed and he follows, slapping my arse on the way to the bathroom. I look over my shoulder and narrow my eyes. “Hey, I’ve already taken my punishment.”
“And don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy it,” he says, capturing me around the waist and lifting me off my feet, making me squeal.
“I still owe you a knuckle sandwich.” He chuckles, placing me back down in front of the vanity. His hands move up to palm my breasts as he watches on in the mirror.
“You are too adorable for your own good, Jacinta Maloney.”
“And you, Mason Bradley, are a brute.”
He rests his chin on the top of my head and laughs. “You don’t mean that.”
“I don’t,” I admit as I lean in to remove the other fake lashes from my eyelid. I look like a hot mess, with panda eyes and blonde locks that now resemble a bird’s nest. “I’m going to need to run a brush through my hair before I wash it. The girls teased the roots last night to give it more volume.”
“Let me do it,” he offers, opening the drawer and pulling out a brush. I’m grinning like a fool when he goes to work, gently running the brush through the ends. It’s the sweetest thing ever. I wince when he moves up to the roots, and the brush gets caught on a knot. “Sorry, babe,” he says, leaning in to place a soft kiss on the top of my head. That movement makes me all emotional. I believe him when he says he’d never intentionally hurt me, and I feel silly for walking away from him now. “How much product did they put in your hair?”
“About a can of hairspray.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
When he’s done, he leads me under the spray, steps in behind me, and reaches for the shampoo. I close my eyes, angle my head back, and moan as he massages it into my scalp.
“Keep making noises like that,” he says, “and I’ll have to dirty you up again once I’ve got you clean.”
I glance over my shoulder at him and smile. “I’m okay with that.”
Chapter38
Mason
Iplace the bunch of white roses down beside my mother’s gravestone. The lady at the florist told me they symbolise purity, youthfulness, and innocence. Everything she stood for. She was only thirty-four years old when my father took her life. Five years older than I am now.
It took three weeks for us to get confirmation from the coroner that the remains were indeed hers, and another week for me to organise her funeral. I opted for a private, small gravesite burial with only a handful of people in attendance—the ones that have welcomed me and my son into their lives with open arms. Jacinta, Connor, Grace, and Jim … my new family. It was a sombre occasion, but with Red by my side, I managed to get through it.
I run my fingertips over her name:
Rebecca Anne Miller
