Masks (6 page)

“Of course I’m sure.” She scooted closer to where he was sitting on the side of the bed. “How did it happen?” she asked, sensing that they needed to get his history out of the way before they could go into anything else.

Mark sighed heavily. “Fire when I was a kid. I was the only one home and it was some kind of electrical thing that started it—they’re still not sure what exactly. Anyway, I was trapped under a burning beam for a while—thought I was going to die. My clothes mostly protected my body, but my face…” He shook his head. “A fireman got me out just before the whole place collapsed.” He frowned. “I was grateful that he saved my life but at the same time, sometimes I wished he hadn’t.”

“Why?” Chloe frowned. “How can you say something like that?”

Mark gave her a crooked smile. “You sound like my mom now. I wished he hadn’t because of this, of course.” He gestured to the left side of his face. “I was just getting into high school and you know how kids can be.”

“I know,” Chloe said. “I know I don’t have anything like…what you have, but high school wasn’t the best time for me either. See, I have this sister who’s always been the most popular and the best at everything. It was hard being in her shadow all the time. I guess I felt…invisible, most of the time.” She bit her lip after she said it, realizing that she had never admitted that before, not even to herself.

“Yeah.” Mark sighed again. “I guess high school’s hard on everyone, huh? Anyway, they tried skin grafts and everything.” He gestured to his face again. “But nothing worked. Apparently I’m a ‘poor candidate for facial surgery’. So the surgeons told me I’d just have to live with it. So I do,” he said simply.

“It’s not as bad as you think,” Chloe said. “I mean, it doesn’t bother me.”

“No?” He turned to face her fully, showing both sides of his face, both ruined and handsome at the same time. Blue eyes searched hers, looking for the truth.

“No,” she said firmly. “Can…can I touch it? Can I touch you, I mean?”

“Do you really want to?”

“Yes.” Hesitantly, Chloe reached for him, cupping the left side of his face in her hand. The scar tissue was warm and rough against the palm of her hand, like melted wax, but she didn’t find it repulsive. Mark closed his eyes while she touched him, letting her fingers explore both sides of his face as she had explored his shaft earlier. Chloe thought she had never been shown such trust before by anyone and it touched her deeply.

“You’re very gentle,” he said at last, opening his eyes to look at her.

“So are you,” Chloe told him. “You know, I’ve never had anyone make love to me the way you did,” she said, surprised that she had the nerve to say it. “It was…really special, Mark. I just…I want you to know that.” She leaned forward and kissed the scarred cheek gently, putting her heart into the gesture.

“I think you’re special too.” His deep voice was low and appreciative. “In fact, you’re nothing like what I expected at all.”

“I thought the same thing about you when you showed up on the doorstep.” She grinned at him and then shivered. “I’m cold, can we get under the covers again?”

“Don’t have to ask me twice.” He got back into bed and pulled her close again, sliding the sheets and comforter up to cover them both.

“Mmm.” Chloe snuggled close, enjoying the heat of his big body. She rubbed her face against his lightly furred chest, glad that the feather mask was no longer in her way. She took a deep breath of his spicy scent, enjoying the feel of being held in a pair of warm, masculine arms. How long had it been since she’d been held like this? Too long, Chloe decided. She was glad she’d decided to take a risk and break the rules. “You know,” she murmured, rubbing a hand lazily over his chest and abs. “This is really nice.”

“It’s going to get more than nice in a minute if you don’t stop stroking me that way.” Mark’s deep voice was only half joking and Chloe felt a little shiver of sexual excitement along her spine.

“More than nice is good.” Daringly, she ran her hand lower, stroking his thighs teasingly, not quite touching his shaft.

“That’s the way you want it, huh?” Mark rolled on his side and began caressing her back and shoulders with large, warm hands.

“Mmm, that’s exactly the way I want it.” She reached down to stroke his shaft, surprised all over again at her own bravery, but Mark didn’t seem to mind. His cock throbbed in her hand, giving her a new idea. She thought of the way he had tasted her, slowly and relentlessly pushing her to the brink with his lips and tongue. Suddenly, she wanted to do the same to him.

“Lie back for a minute.” She pushed against his broad chest, urging him to lie flat on the bed.

“Why?” he asked, even as he complied.

“You’ll see.” Chloe rose to her knees and knelt over his sculpted torso. She shook out her hair and let it trail in a silky mass down his abdomen to the hardened club of his sex. Mark groaned aloud as she caressed his pulsing shaft with her hair, teasing him by winding the long, silky tendrils around his cock and balls.

“God—that’s amazing. Where did you learn that?”

“I made it up,” she said, feeling sexy and naughty at the same time.

He reached for her but she took his hands and put them firmly on his chest.

“Uh-uh, I’m in charge this time.” She couldn’t believe she was saying it, but for the first time she thought she might understand how Zoe could do something like this for a living. It was kind of
fun
being in charge. Besides, she wanted to pleasure Mark the way he had pleasured her.

She unwrapped her hair from him and leaned closer to grasp his cock at the base of the shaft. Teasingly, she blew a cool stream of air over the broad, mushroom-shaped head.

Marked groaned again. “You’re
killing
me, sweetheart!”

“Just wait,” Chloe teased. “It only gets better.” Suiting actions to words, she placed a wet, open-mouthed kiss on the head of his cock, tasting him for the first time. He was delicious, hot and salty and spicy, and his scent was stronger here too. Chloe had never realized how intoxicating the raw odor of masculinity could be—warm musk filled her senses, earthy and clean with just a hint of sweat.

Wanting to taste more of him, she opened her lips wider, taking the entire head inside and allowing her tongue to explore the sensitive slit at the top. Mark gasped at the tiny, delicate movement and she felt him bury his hands, large and warm, in her hair.

“That’s right, sweetheart,” he murmured. “Let me feel your lips around me. Let me feel your tongue.”

This wasn’t something she had done very much but those hot words spoken in his deep, sensuous voice gave her confidence to go on. Chloe dipped her head to take even more of his shaft into her mouth, using her tongue on him as though he was the world’s most delicious lollipop.

Mark moaned and she could feel the big muscles of his thighs tensing as she increased her gentle suction. His hands in her hair urged her on without forcing her in any way. Although there was no way she could take even half of him into her mouth, Chloe found she enjoyed trying to take as much as she could. She grasped his shaft with one hand and cupped the sensitive sac between his legs with the other, tickling gently with her fingertips.

“Oh God, sweetheart…you’re so good at that!” His words gave her confidence, making her feel sexy and competent at the same time. Chloe had never considered herself “good” at anything that had to do with sex but now she felt like a goddess.

At last, just when she was wondering what his cum would taste like, Mark pulled her gently but firmly away. “No,” he said, his deep voice hoarse when she looked at him questioningly. “That’s not how I want to come, as wonderful as it is.” He smiled at her, a lazy, sensual smile that seemed to turn over her insides. “I want to come inside you,” he told her softly.

Chloe smiled back at him. “I like the sound of that.” She was glad again that they had discarded their masks. Without the black leather to get in the way, she could see the warmth on his face and the heat in his eyes so much more clearly.

Mark rolled over to snag another condom and she started to lie on her back again, but he stopped her. “Want you to be on top this time.” He stroked a stray wisp of hair out of her eyes and kissed her mouth hungrily. “I want to watch your breasts bounce while I fuck up into you,” he said.

Chloe had tried this position once or twice with one of her previous lovers, but it had been a fumbling, not very enjoyable experience. She’d felt somehow like she was riding an untrustworthy horse that might buck her off at any moment. Despite her misgiving, Mark’s hot words convinced her to give it another try.

“All right,” she said softly, kneeling beside him. “Show me how you want me.”

“Like this.” He got her into position, straddling his narrow, muscular hips while he held her by the waist. Looking down, Chloe could see the broad head of his cock just brushing the soft, downy, blonde fuzz that covered her mound.

“Just lower yourself down and let me slide into you.” Mark’s voice was a little strained and she could tell that he wanted her badly but he made no move to rush her. Taking his shaft in her hand, Chloe rubbed it first against the sensitive bud of her clit, enjoying the slick sensation and the sharp, tingling pleasure it created. But she was ready for a deeper pleasure now.

Biting her lower lip in concentration, she positioned the head of his cock at the entrance to her sex and began to press down. He slid into her more easily this time but the feeling of being filled by him was still incredibly intense. They both gasped as he reached the end of her channel, the head of his cock almost kissing the mouth of her womb.

“God!” Mark’s strong hands tightened on her waist, holding her in place for a moment. His blue eyes blazed and Chloe could feel every muscle in his big body tense beneath her in anticipation of their mutual pleasure. Unable to wait any longer, she made a small motion with her hips, feeling his shaft slide just a fraction of an inch out of her set sex and then back in.

Her movement seemed to unleash something in Mark. He grasped her hips more firmly and began to move in her—long, deep, deliberate strokes that seemed designed to drive her out of her mind with pure pleasure.

“Oh…
oh
!” Chloe heard herself gasping. She could barely think around the liquid silver sensations that were running along her spine. It felt right to have him lodged so deeply within her, to feel the relentless stroking of his large shaft into her wet cunt.

“Lean down,” Mark growled softly, motioning to her as he thrust. “Want to suck your sweet, ripe nipples while I pump your pretty little pussy, sweetheart.”

Chloe leaned over him and he captured one of her nipples in his mouth, sucking hard as he continued to grind into her heated, open sex. It seemed impossible that she could come again after the way he had eaten her and made love to her earlier, and yet, she felt her orgasm building like a tidal wave inside her.

“Mark!” she gasped. “Think I’m going to…so close…”

“Sit back then, sweetheart,” he said, understanding her at once. “Lean back and let me get really deep inside you. Let me watch the expression on your face when you come on my cock.”

Chloe sat up straighter, looking for balance, but Mark grabbed her hands, intertwining their fingers to give her support. She watched their fingers squeezed tightly together, hers small and slender interlaced with his, large and blunt. Trusting him to hold her, she leaned back completely, allowing him to fill her as he hadn’t quite been able to before.

“Oh God,
yes
!” The words broke from her lips as he stroked deeply into her, holding her steady as he fucked hard and deep into her cunt. She began to feel that the approaching orgasm was going to be the most intense of all—that it might drown her in its fury when it came—but she didn’t care.

“That’s right, sweetheart, work for it.” Mark’s voice was a low growl and his gaze met hers and held. “You’ve earned it, let go. Come for me. Let me feel you come.”

Chloe felt the wave breaking over her at last. With a long, low moan she gave him what he demanded as he stiffened beneath her, allowing her orgasm to trigger his own.

When it was over she collapsed on his chest, enjoying the rise and fall of his breathing as he held her tight. Trying to catch her breath after the intense pleasure, Chloe couldn’t get over the feeling that this was something special. With Mark, she had been able to let herself go as she never had before. She barely knew him but she felt instinctively that he was a man she could trust—maybe even love, if she gave herself time.

Chapter Three

“I’m hungry,” he said two hours later while they were cuddled in bed, enjoying the second afterglow of the evening. After making love a second time they had cuddled under the covers and talked and talked. It turned out they had a lot of mutual interests.