It was a long walk to Rebecca's room. All kinds of Nassau citizens either stared or wanted to talk or at least needed Mason to smile or nod or give them something.
Damnit people, he thought, you say you don't want Blake, then expect me to act exactly like Blake.
He did his best to smile, but walked past all of them until he got to his 'wing' of the hall, and locked the door behind him.
"Becky?" He found her in the bedroom, apparently asleep in the bed and half covered in a blanket, her long hair spread on the pillows. She looked so cute and content he just stood there a moment watching her, intending to turn around and let her sleep. But she blinked awake and rubbed at her big green eyes.
"Mason? Sorry. I've been going with the hunters and didn't sleep much." She sat up, revealing a lacy, practically see-through nightgown Mason could only describe as lingerie. Becky noticed Mason's eyes and covered herself with the blanket before blushing red. "I...was plannin’ on...seducing you. I guess."
Mason grinned and sat on the bed beside her. "It would have worked." He pushed some hair out of her face and smiled. "But it's not a competition, you know. You don't have to do anything. You make me happy. That's it. I'm not the deepest creature in the world."
Rebecca looked down. "I know. It's just..." she took a breath. “I don’t wanna give up anything.”
Mason kissed Becky’s temple and chuckled. “If you’re worried I won’t want you more than you can tolerate, you can stop right now.”
Becky still didn’t warm or look at him and he wasn’t quite sure what to do. She took a breath.
“I’m not worried about that. It’s just…we’re still so…new, and you’re the first man I’ve…and…oh gosh we’re in the apocalypse and I’m worried about romance. I’m being silly.”
She tried to flop back down on the bed but Mason held her up. “No you’re not. I get it now.”
“You do?” She barely met his eyes, and he smiled.
“You don’t want to miss out on any waterfalls.”
She finally looked at him now and nodded.
"This still feels so new. I want to be with you all the time,” she practically whined.
Mason couldn't help but smile at that, trailing his fingers down's Becky's neck and shoulder. "I can't believe how lucky I am. Finding you in all this craziness. Just remember—we’re players. So it’s always going to be you and me going out there where it’s dangerous. The forest. The dungeons. I can take you anywhere. Who knows what adventures we’ll get up to.”
He winked and she finally smiled.
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“Good. Because I ‘ain’t much of a cook, so we’d better leave it to Haley and…whoever. Oh!” She grabbed his leg and practically hopped out of bed. “But I like to bake! And I made those biscuits. Wanna go eat ‘em?”
She was so enthusiastic Mason couldn’t help but laugh and take her hand and follow her, eyes soon roaming her mostly uncovered body in the lingerie. They found the biscuits and Becky practically tore into them, going slightly pink as she handed one to Mason and licked at crumbs.
“I’m starting to think this might not have been entirely for me,” he said, then took a bite and groaned.
“No offence, but this is what I really wanted,” she laughed. Then he scooped her up and carried her to the couch with the container, sitting her on his lap. “OK,” she said, hugging him. “I wanted this too.”
They just sat awhile and cuddled and ate biscuits. Eventually she started asking him questions about his life ‘before’, which seemed abrupt but what the hell did Mason know about women. He told her about growing up with mostly absent foster parents and a string of tutors in a palatial home. She told him about the ranch and owning her own horses.
“Yours? Not your family’s?”
“All mine. We each got animals to take care of and name and everything. I got Maggie and Rainbow.”
“Rainbow? You already said ‘gosh’ earlier. This is getting to be too much.” Mason grinned and Rebecca met his eyes and flushed a little.
“She was a pony, and I got her when I was eleven. And shut up.”
Mason laughed and put a hand through her long, brown hair. “I can’t handle how adorable you are.”
“Don’t call me adorable I’m a grown ass woman I’m supposed to be sexy,” she punched his leg hard enough it probably would have bruised him a month ago.
“You can be both.” His hands started moving closer to less cutesy body parts, tracing a line down her lower back until she shivered.
“OK. I like being both,” she said, and closed her eyes. Then his lips were on hers and whatever hesitation she’d had before was gone as she turned in his arms and moaned. “Can this count as a fight?” she practically panted. “Like we have to make up now or something?”
Mason chuckled and spread her legs on either side of him. “That was definitely not a fight.” She gave him a stern look so he put up his hands. “Er, yes, we need to make up. Desperately. Urgently.”
She smiled and kissed him again, and he felt some tension draining away as he lost himself in the feel and scent and warmth of her, for a tiny moment happy Blake was too far away to interfere at the exact wrong…
[Settlement modification in progress. Please stand by.]
Rebecca squinted in confusion, then shrieked and grabbed Mason in something of a panic as the ground started to shake.
"What in the hell? Is it an earthquake?"
"You must have slept through the warning. Don't move." Then he pulled Becky back into his arms and just enjoyed the feel and smell of her. But his time was up, he realized. He needed to get out there and see what the hell had just happened to the settlement at least when everyone else did.
“You’re going to like this,” he said to the still scantily clad and increasingly aroused Becky.
She sighed, and looked at the door.
“We’ve gotta go, don’t we?”
He put his forehead to hers. “Rain check?”
“Rain check. Thanks for humoring me,” she said, her eyes still vulnerable. Mason stood and lifted her up until her legs wrapped around his waist.
“I feel the same as you, Becky, there’s just never enough damn time. But we’ll make it, OK? We’ll beat everything this stupid robot throws at us. Then we’ll walk from one side of the world to the other because we can, and visit every waterfall.”
She smiled with a little wetness in her eyes and kissed him.
“Sounds good to me.”
“Good.” He gave her ass a smack then set her down with a grin. “Now throw some clothes on, and let's go explore a giant underground nature God temple. Or whatever the hell it is.”
She looked at him like he was a little crazy. But then, he was getting used to people doing that.