Monthly Bonus Content #1—'Awash in Rose...' (Mason Version) (Patreon)

Easing open the door to my apartment, my body sags as I let my bag slide from my shoulder and thump onto the ground. I sling my keys into the bowl on the dresser and try to force my feet onwards the last couple of metres to the sofa.

My exhaustion is temporarily lifted to find a welcome face and body slouched on the seat, as I flop down over the arm of the sofa to land beside him.

Mason stares down at me, my head in his lap, and he lifts a dark brow. “Long day?”

“The longest,” I groan, shifting around to lay more comfortably and look up at him from my position. “You’d think for Valentine’s day, people could just spend one day being happy and in love. But no, there’s more disturbances and upsets than any other day.”

“Love doesn’t always inspire the best in people,” Mason replies, stroking my cheek with a warm hand and instantly relieving about half of the tension knotting through my neck.

I moan into the touch. “It inspires the best in us though, right?”

A smirk catches his lips. “It certainly inspires a lot in me, sweetheart/handsome.” He leans down to press a hot, but far too quick, kiss on my lips.

I roll over, wrapping an arm around him to inhale the woody, smoky scent of him and letting it ease away my stress.

“For once, I’m kind of glad that you don’t like to do anything big for Valentine’s,” I mumble, letting my eyes fall closed. “After the day I’ve had, I’m happy to just stay here all night.”

My eyes flicker open as his body tenses under me.

“Shit…” he mutters, rubbing his fingers over his mouth, his expression folding into an uncertain frown.

I pull away with wide eyes. “Wait, are you saying you did do something?”

“It’s Felix’s fault,” he moans, rolling his eyes and shrugging. “He said I had to do something now we’ve been together this long.”

I break into a smile. “And you actually listened?”

He cups my face, a softness to his touch that sends a streak of warm happiness to pulsate through me. “I wouldn’t have for anyone else. But you’re worth it.”

I spring up into a sitting position. “So, what is it?”

“Follow me.”

I do, eagerly, my steps padding behind his on the carpet towards the bedroom…and I already get a sense of where this is going.

But when he eases open the door, my room looks just like my room.

I frown, but keep my thoughts to myself, continuing to trail after him towards the bathroom.

My mouth falls open at the sight of the room, the steamy bathroom tiles glistening in golds from the candles flickering about the room. Mounds of frothy white bubbles are swaying gently on the surface of the filled bath, a heady scent of roses washing through me.

“This is…not what I expected at all.”

Mason shifts from foot to foot, pulling his hair back from his face with a grimace. “It’s not exactly my thing. I didn’t know what I was supposed to be doing.”

“And yet you got it perfect,” I add, tilting his face to mine so as I can kiss him. His fingers wrap into the hem of my shirt, his fingertips leaving needful trails over my stomach, and I pull away with a gasp.

“I better leave you to it,” he murmurs against my lips.

“Why?” I ask, walking backwards as I tug him along with me. “Don’t you want to join me?”

He breaks into a smirk and is already half-naked before I can let out a chuckle.