It was like I was sitting inside of a stormcloud. The pressure in the air surrounded me, crushing my chest until no words could escape. All around us electricity crackled and snapped just waiting for its chance to burst. Without even realizing it, my body started to move on its own. I leaned forward and tilted my head slightly, offering my lips to him.

"Five minutes," he said suddenly.

"Huh?"

His words had somehow managed to break their way through my cloudy head, but that didn't mean I was processing them any better. He gave me a weak smile, his eyes screaming with regret and agony.

"If we start now, I won't be able to stop," he explained. "Give me five minutes to get us checked in and then, I promise, you can do whatever you want with me."

Were I in my right mind, I probably would have given him a slight nod and agreed that that was a good idea. Were I in a half-decent state of mind, I probably given him a playful smile and told him not to make me wait too long. However, currently, I was neither.

Instead, I hooked my finger on the collar of his shirt and tugged him towards me, leaning in until my lips just barely brushed against his. As I wrapped my arms around his neck, the pressure in the air seemed to double around us.

"I'm going to hold you to that," I murmured.

And then, I let him go. All at once, I released him from my arms and sat back in my seat, giving him an innocent smile.

He stared at me blankly. Probably wondering where the insatiable minx he'd had wrapped around him just seconds ago had suddenly disappeared to. It took a minute, but eventually, the information finally caught up with his brain. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a heavy sigh.

"God, you're going to be the death of me," he muttered.

Without another word, he opened the door and hurried outside. Though whether that was to get us checked in quicker or just to make sure I didn't rope him in again, I couldn't be sure.

I giggled to myself at the second idea. My heart was pounding like crazy. My cheeks were burning with embarrassment and excitement. And I couldn't stop smiling.

God, I couldn't remember the last time I felt so good. Usually with Mason, I always had this hint of guilt or doubt in the back of my mind. The knowledge that I knew what I was doing was wrong in some way and I probably shouldn't be doing it.

But not tonight. Tonight, I was ready to go feral. Fuck Phil, fuck the suburbs, and fuck Mrs. Henderson! I was going to have fun. I was going to get wild. I was going to send their whole prim and proper world crumbling to the ground around me. And when I was done, I was going to fuck Mason on the rubble.

As excited as I was to get started with this night of careless rebellion, thinking of Phil did help to remind me that I couldn't be too careless. I grabbed out my phone and pulled up Ronnie's number.

Hey, let Eli know I'm taking him up on his offer to cover for me while I "have fun." So, if Phil calls, I'm with you guys. K?

After a couple of minutes, I heard the familiar ping on my phone. The message that followed wasn't too surprising.

Sure, we got you. Mind if I ask what changed though? You seemed super against the idea last time he brought it up.

I gave a small dry laugh and rolled my eyes as I typed out a response.

Charity dinner at Phil's company tonight. Cancer research. I'll let you fill in the blanks.

And he would. I knew Ronnie. And he knew Phil. It wouldn't take too many logical leaps before he figured out what had happened. And knowing Ronnie, he'd be about as happy with it as I was.

Sure enough, another small ping followed not two minutes later.

You know what? Fuck him twice. Stay as long as you want. We got you. Have fun.

I snickered a bit at the obvious venom in the message. Yeah, Ronnie was pissed. Phil had made a very powerful enemy tonight and he didn't even know it. I smiled and shook my head as I turned off my phone and tucked it back into my clutch.

Not a moment too soon either. Within seconds I noticed Mason heading back to the car. He waved to me in a vague signal that I could come out now.

As I stepped outside I stretched my arms. I guess the ride was a little longer than I'd planned for.

"Feeling stiff?" he asked, leaning casually against the hood of the car.

I smiled as I closed the door. "Funny, I was going to ask you the same."

Again the wild flash returned to his eyes. A mischievous smile filled his face as he lifted the little paper envelope with our room key in it.

"Sure am," he teased. "So, why don't we get up to our room? Maybe help each other to loosen up a bit?"

"Lead the way."

I said it more to be flirty than anything else. However, as Mason turned in the exact opposite direction of the lobby door, I started to wonder if maybe I really did need him to show me what way I was going. He smiled as he noticed my confused face.

"Nice little feature of this hotel: they have a back entrance," he explained, slipping his hand around my waist and leading me forward. "CCTV monitored, but otherwise private. Accessible only by keycard. Handy if you don't feel like walking all the way to the front. Or dealing with all the people in the lobby.

"Not that I think anyone you know would be way out here in the middle of nowhere anyway, but, hey, better safe than sorry, right?"

I wasn't sure what to say. I'm sure he said all that to make me feel more secure, but all it really did was make my chest hurt.

Again. He did it again. Without me saying a single thing, he again, took it upon himself to think of me and my position in his plans tonight. Even knowing we were just here for sex, even knowing that all I really expected of him tonight was some cheap motel, he still went out of his way to not only take me somewhere nice, but to plan it so carefully that I wouldn't even have to risk seeing another person tonight. It was the kind of gesture that was Mason through and through. And I just couldn't understand how one man could possibly be so thoughtful. Especially when thinking of me.

But whether I understood it or not didn't matter. The point was that he had done it, and he deserved to have that thoughtfulness recognized in some way. I just wasn't sure how to do it. Or, more specifically, I wasn't sure how to do it in a way that didn't boil down to something like cheap sex.

That trainwreck of a thought was interrupted by the sudden chime and mechanical whirring that only an automated hotel door can make. I glanced around only to be met with the classic bland wall and cookie-cutter artwork of a hotel hallway. Had we made it to the room already?

Apparently, we had. Mason smiled at me as he pushed open the door in front of us, gesturing inside. "Ladies first."

I played along and gave him a small smile as I stepped inside the room. However, that smile quickly gave way to a dropped jaw as I saw the kind of room we were in.

I honestly couldn't tell what it was. Were my expectations really that low? Or was Mason actually going that far above and beyond what the normal amount of effort would be here?

The walls were a deep red. A color that almost seemed alien in a hotel like this. A large bed was draped in luxurious sheets of a matching color. A crystal chandelier hung in the center of the room casting fractions of shimmering lights and rainbows across various areas of the room. The most notable feature, however, was the back wall of the room. Or, more specifically, the lack thereof.

Instead, a giant window stretched from end to end of the room. I could see so far that I swear I could even see the lights of the city twinkling in the distance. As I walked toward it, I reached out, my fingers pressing against the cool glass.

Again, I stared at my reflection. But this time, I had absolutely no clue who the woman looking back at me was.

Who was this woman draped in designer clothes and fifty-thousand-dollar jewelry? Who was this woman surrounded by walls that just dripped with decadence and luxury? I didn't know her. She was a stranger to me. And that feeling was scary.

I bit my lip as I looked outside, wrapping my arms around myself for comfort. However, not long after, I noticed another reflection appear alongside mine.

Mason.

"Hey, are you alright?" He asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, forcing the smile to my face.

He frowned at me, crossing his arms as he leaned against the window. "Hey, come on, I thought we agreed no more of that fake, 'cheery suburb' crap. Just be real with me. What's up?"

I sighed and gave a slight nod. "Sorry. It's just... a lot..."

"What is?" He asked, genuinely confused.

"This," I said, gesturing around at everything. "The hotel, the jewelry, the planning you put into everything. It's just... It's just so much."

He honestly seemed startled by the comment. However, as he took a glance around the room a look of understanding slowly started to overtake his face. He lowered his eyes to the ground and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, a sheepish smile on his lips.

"Now that you mention it, I guess it does seem a bit... excessive," he admitted. "Sorry, I wasn't trying to make you uncomfortable."

"No, no. Don't apologize," I said quickly. "You didn't do anything wrong. If anything, I feel bad for not being more appreciative.

"You clearly put a lot of thought and effort into bringing me here, and it's definitely a lot nicer than any 'date' I've been on in a very long time. It's just..."

I paused. I wasn't even sure how to finish that sentence. "It was just..." what? What exactly was bothering me about all this?

The money? No. If he lived in our neighborhood then one night like this certainly wasn't going to bankrupt him. The luxury? I mean, I certainly wouldn't say I was in my element right now, but I highly doubted Mason had any strict expectations for how I should behave myself tonight. Hell, if anything, I think he was probably hoping that I wouldn't behave myself.

No, none of that was what was bothering me. Instead, much like always, the real issue here seemed to be Phil. Or, more specifically, the emotional scars our so-called "relationship" had left me with.

Thoughtfulness was scheming. Kindness was deception. And "gifts" were nothing more than advanced payments for things I was expected to do later.

This was the world I had been living in for so long. The world I'd had to build up defenses to protect myself against. The problem wasn't Mason or the things he had done for me. The problem was that my heart and mind had become so irreparably scarred and twisted that I couldn't trust his intentions. Even when I knew wholeheartedly that they were nothing but good.

But it wasn't just his intentions that were good. It was Mason himself that was good. Which is why, again, without any prompting whatsoever on my part, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close in a comforting embrace.

"No, you're right. It is a lot," he agreed. "I'd probably be a little uncomfortable if you suddenly sprung something like this on me too. I guess it just felt like a waste not to do something like this tonight, you know?"

"What do you mean?"

He gave a small shrug. "I mean, how many opportunities am I really going to have to be with you like this? All dolled up and mine for the night? Even I know chances like that will be few and far between. So, I have to seize them as they come. After all, if I only have one night to treat you like you deserve, then you can be damn sure that I'm going to go all out doing it."

A smile tugged at the corners of my lips. "Treat me like I deserve, huh? And how exactly do I deserve to be treated? Just out of curiosity."

He returned my smile with one of his own. "Oh, nothing too fancy. Luxury hotel suites, decadent food, fine wines, knee-buckling orgasms. You know, the basics."

A small snicker snorted through my lips. I lifted my hand up to stifle it, but the hint of amusement in his eyes told me it was already too late.

So, I surrendered. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing my body against his. "Well then, what are you waiting for? Treat me."

"With pleasure."

And then he kissed me. Firmly, greedily. As if desperate to join our bodies together in any way that he could. A small shiver of pleasure ran through me as his teeth grazed gently against my lips, sending the familiar warmth spreading throughout my body in a way that only he could ever do.

How did Mason think I deserved to be treated? I still wasn't entirely sure. But one thing was for sure: I was excited to find out.