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Chapter Thirteen

"Turn around."

"What?"

"Turn around."

"I didn't make you turn around!"

I put my hands on my hips. With a sigh Mason turned around. The full moon reflected his bare back on the water.

I was feeing a little self-conscious. And excited. I had a feeling this would be on my dad's list of things that Shelby was never supposed to do.

But what daddy didn't know...

I slid out of my bottoms and panties. Mason's arms were skimming the top of the water. I yanked my top over my head.

"Shel?"

"Don't turn around!"

I took a deep breath. This was the moment. In seconds I was going to be in the water with Mason. Naked. I closed my eyes.

I jumped in. As was my ritual, I held my breath for five seconds and then broke the surface of the water. I flipped my hair back and drew in a breath.

That breath was interrupted by Mason's mouth on mine. My hands reached out in surprise. I allowed my fingers to curl around his shoulders.

Mason wasn't playing around. This wasn't just a 'lounging on the haystack' loft kiss. This was...

Amazing. He drew my lips to his like a moth to flame. I wanted more. My mouth opened ever so slightly. Mason took the invitation. His tongue ran along the top of my bottom teeth and then probed deeper. I was surprised when a moan rose from my throat. I felt him tense up. His hands reached for my waist and I shivered deliciously at the pressure of his fingertips on my bare skin.

It seemed like we were locked together forever without breathing. When he finally did pull back, I felt like a piece of me was disappearing. I grabbed his face and brought it back to mine. I nibbled on his bottom lip. Our eyes seemed to open at the same time. There was a smoky look in his eyes that I had never seen before...

"Shel," he gasped. He kissed me hard again and I felt again like I was being sucked into a trance. My hands, once wrapped around his shoulders made their way lazily into his hair. Mason's hands began to slide up my sides.

I realized that my body wasn't in as much of a trance as my mind. A thousand little volts of electricity shot through me as his hands slid along the underside of my breasts. Before those jolts even disappeared, his fingers ran lazy circles around my nipples. Another moan, this time louder, escaped from me.

Oh god, I was a moaner.

"Beautiful," Mason murmured. His lips fell to my neck. I didn't know what was driving me more nuts. It all felt so...good. I tugged on his hair. His teeth grabbed the sensitive flesh of my neck and sucked. His hands splayed across my breasts and squeezed. He pressed closer to me.

That's when I felt...

"Mason?" I whispered.

"Mmm?"

"Are there any snakes in this lake?"

He sucked on my neck again. Long and hard. Just like...

"That's not a snake, Shel."

Oh my fucking God.

It took me a moment to get over the shock of that. Once I did, well...

My hands slipped down his chest. His lips paused on my neck. In fact, he seemed to completely freeze. I could feel my pulse in my ears. I dipped my hands lower...lower still...

His hands fell from my breasts and grabbed my waist as if he was suddenly afraid that he might drown. My fingers ran the length of him.

I might not have much experience, but I had heard a lot in the last year or so. It's amazing the tips you can overhear while sitting on a toilet seat in order to escape gym class. If rooms got movie ratings, the girl's bathroom would be rated R...or NC-17.

Now seemed like a good opportunity to see if those girls were all talk. I used the very tips of my nails, gently dragging along. It seemed a lot bigger than what I had imagined. The girls in the bathroom were always complaining about them being too small...

"Fuck," Mason growled. I met his eyes. He looked a little...insane. But it was a good type of insane. Not like a 'I'm going to murder you in the lake' insane. I grabbed him hard. He kissed me again and we began to move to the more shallow part of the water. My head was spinning. I momentarily forgot everything. Even my name. My hands drifted back up to his chest. I really did love that chest.

Suddenly his arms were under my legs and I was being picked up. His lips were still on mine but he had gotten footing in the water and he was making it back up to land.

He made it back to the grass and placed me down on the soft grass. I stared up at him. His arms were pressed down on either side of my head. Water dripped off of his nose and chin. He was breathing hard, but then again so was I. My eyes drifted down...down...down. When I looked back at him he was staring at me in amazement.

"You're gorgeous," he said. He sucked in his bottom lip and all the water droplets disappeared. Like magic. One of his hands disappeared from beside my head and pressed against my abdomen. My eyes closed. His touch felt good. The combination of grass, water, and warmth was soothing. His fingertips went back up to my breasts....then back down. Then his hand was gone and his mouth was at all of those places and my toes were curling and I felt like I might split in half from aching so much. It wasn't an ache I had ever felt before but it hurt so bad and I just wanted to...

He leaned down and suddenly we were chest to chest and his lips were back on mine. My fingers ran up and down his back and his hand slipped into that sandwiched space between us. Suddenly I felt his erection pressing against the inside of my thigh.

It was all happening so fast.

Was I...were we really going to?

I broke away from those otherworldly lips.

"Mason," I whispered.

"Baby," he murmured. He went back to my neck. For a moment, I wanted to toss every worry out the window. It was a struggle to regain my sense of sanity.

"What are we doing?" I whispered. He paused. He met my eyes. His mouth opened.

"I---"

"I don't think I'm ready."

My voice sounded small. I was scared. The last thing I wanted was to make him mad or disappoint him.

"It's just...I've never gone this far. And to go farther..."

He inhaled deeply. I felt tears springing to my eyes.

"You're right," he said quietly. I looked at him in surprise. Slowly the warmth of his body was replaced by the night air. He rolled over on his back. Both of us stared up at the sky.

"I didn't plan to...y'know. Just skinny dipping," he admitted.

"I liked that part," I admitted. "I liked...it all."

He laughed.

"We won't do anything until we're both ready. Okay?" he said. His hand reached over and took mine.

I was lying naked with my best friend and we just didn't have sex and yet everything was still okay.

I think it was at that moment when I fell in love.