If You Dare

As Mason pulls me into a straddle, he's unbelievably gentle about it. He's gentle about everything with me. Like he's afraid that I'll break if he holds me too tight.

When he looks at me just before he kisses me, I don't need to read his thoughts. I can see everything in his eyes for once, so I ignore his brain.

He can't even look at me without wondering what I must think of him. And now it's written on his face.

As he starts to kiss me, I can feel my thoughts draining.

All I really want right now is him. In more ways than one.

I'm seventeen, of course I think of this stuff. Hormones, sometimes. But right now, it's just because I know I want him. I mean, you tend to want to give everything to the person  you love.

Did I just say that I love Mason?!

Do I?

He breaks the kiss, allowing me to catch my breath. He gives me small kisses and my thoughts continue to race.

I don't love him, do I?

When he finally stops and pulls away, just staring down at me. I have my answer.

I grip his shirt in my hands and rest my head on his shoulder, kissing his neck lightly.

"Mason?"

He rubs my back lightly in his protective grip. "Yeah?"

I take a deep breath and whisper almost silently, "I love you."

There's silence for at least fifteen seconds, and I can feel fear creeping up on me. I feel like it would be wrong to violate his thoughts right now, but I want to so bad...

"What?" he asks, sounding confused.

I snuggle deeper into his shoulder, nuzzling his neck. "I love you," I whisper again, almost shaking.

The silence returns for a bit longer and every inch of me feels frozen as I grip onto his shirt tighter. I don't think he knows how much this is killing me.

"Alex," he says, attempting to pull me out of his shoulder. "Alex, please. Can you just look at me for a second?"

"I'm scared," I choke out, feeling myself cut off by threatening tears.

"Why?"

I take a breath and pull out slowly. I feel like one look from those dark eyes of his could break my cool.

"Alex?"

"Yes?"

"Can you look me in the eye now?"

I want to shake my head and scream no. But I can't. I look up slowly and see him staring down at me with sad eyes.

It's a bit too much.

"I'm sorry," I sob, holding my face in my hands. "I'm sorry that I said that. But I don't want to bottle it up and I feel like I'm about to explode and I just can't do it anymore. I'm sorry that I love you."

Mason doesn't skip sneaky and throws his arms around me, holding me close. "Alex, I-"