In My Neighbor's Bed

Ch. 14: Done

It felt like it took an eternity to unpack that box. Every time I thought I was on the last layer of books, another appeared underneath it. I was starting to worry that it was some kind of bottomless, magic box or something when I finally hit cardboard. I let out a huge sigh of relief as I did.

"Everything okay over there?" Mason asked.

"Why do you have so many books?" I groaned, piling the last few into my arms.

"To read. I thought that would be obvious," he laughed.

I rolled my eyes as I shoved the last of them onto the shelf. I grunted faintly, stretching my arms a bit as I did. I wasn't sure how long we'd been at this exactly, but it had to be long enough for anyone watching to be convinced that we were just unpacking, right?

Mason seemed to have the same idea. I watched as he pulled a chair next to the window and opened up another box.

"Want to help me with the curtains?" he asked, pulling out a thick, heavy-looking drape. "I suck at putting these up, so it might go faster if you do it."

"Sure."

As I walked over, he held out his hand, offering it for balance to help me onto the chair. I tried to ignore the fluttering in my chest as his hand held mine.

Thankfully, it didn't last long. As soon as I was safely on the chair, he let go. Probably smart considering we still couldn't be sure if anyone was watching or not.

I pulled down the rod and held out my hand for the curtain. He handed it to me without a word. I tried to calm myself by focusing all my attention on the task at hand.

As I was weaving the rod through the holes in the curtain, I was surprised to feel Mason's hand on the back of my legs. As always, his touch instantly sent a shiver of pleasure running through my entire body. I tried to ignore the residual tingling as I refocused my attention back on the curtain.

It was fine. Him touching me like this was fine. It didn't mean anything. After all, it was just the back of my leg. He was probably just making sure I kept my balance or whatever.

However, as his hand slowly slid up the back of my thigh, that idea became less and less convincing. I could feel my legs getting weaker beneath me at his touch. A slight problem considering where I was standing right now.

"Hey, I'm on a chair," I reminded him.

"Sorry," he murmured. His voice sounded like he was a million miles away right now. "Got distracted by the view. I don't think I've ever seen you in jeans before."

I snickered a bit, standing on my tiptoes to put the curtain rod back. "They're just jeans. You're wearing a pair too, you know."

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure my ass doesn't fill them out half as nicely as yours does."

His hand slid up and cupped my ass, squeezing it gently. I yipped involuntarily, shocked by his sudden boldness.

"H-hey! I don't have the curtains up yet!" I reminded him, quickly lifting it to block my reddening face from outside.

"Don't worry. The way you're holding the curtain right now should block anyone from seeing," he explained, a mischievous smile on his face. "But if you're really that concerned, then I suggest finishing up with those curtains so we can close them already."

"Well, maybe I'd be done with them already if somebody wasn't throwing me off balance by trying to play grab-ass right now," I shot back.

He laughed and stepped away from me, holding his hands in the air like he was at gunpoint. "Fine, fine. Fair enough. I'll be good. I promise."