Common Sense Doesn't Become Me (12 page)

My voice held a bit of trepidation as I said
his name in question. "Mason?"

"Yeah love." He grabbed both our plates,
stood up and began walking towards the sink.

"Leave those. I will get to them later.
You're tired. Let's move to the couch." I offered.

"You sure? I don't mind. I can even take my
shirt off." He teased.

"As pleasant as that sounds. I want to hear
about your day." I grabbed his hand and walked him towards my
couch. As soon as he sat down, I handed him the remote, and then I
offered up. "While we are in the early stages of dating, I might
offer you things like, let's say, the remote, but when we get more
serious, I like to have control of my own remote." I laughed.

He looked at me straight in the face and laid
a sweet gentle kiss on my lips. The next thing I knew, the remote
was back in my hand and what he said next had my heart pounding
like crazy. "We are more serious. Don't you think? Especially after
last night."

I replied with a kiss that led to other
things. Later that night, I fell asleep in his arms listening to
him talk about cooking me dinner tomorrow. I guess I did not have
to question what last night meant to him after all.

Chapter Nine

When Saturday arrived, I
was hoping we could do something fun, but the universe was against
us, at least the building universe that is. Every single resident
had some funky emergency or another. Mr. Cartwright had a plugged
up toilet; Ms. Hinckley had a pet hamster that had gotten loose and
ate her TV wire. Not a building maintenance issue, but Mason
promised to fix it for her, so she could watch her three o'clock
show that she loved to watch every Saturday. I personally think the
sixty-year-old woman has a thing for him, as it was the fourth call
this week; that or she was lonely. I went with the later and
realized I was the one that had the lovesick thing going with the
super. However, tenants were talking. Every place that Mason went
to fix this or that 'emergency' they asked about him and me, as in,
together as a couple. Every chance between calls he would stop by
and talk to me about it.

Unfortunately, the last time he came in, we
had not closed the door, and right now, half the neighbors on my
floor were out of their apartments, and peeking towards my door
wondering what on earth just happened. Then from behind Mason,
while he was holding me up by my ass, with my arms and legs still
wrapped around him; we both heard the distinct crackly voice of Ms.
Hinckley. "Well, I guess he's off the market, and I was hoping to
catch me a young one this time."

Mason and I both started to laugh as he
walked into my apartment just far enough, me in his arms, to close
my door, and he whispered against my lips. "Cats out of the bag. I
can't wait for you to meet my parents tomorrow."

While Mason held me in his arms, I felt
victorious. That all changed Sunday morning as I was getting ready
to go to Mason's parents, I felt nothing but nerves. We were to
arrive at eleven in the morning for a Sunday brunch as that is what
time his parents and sisters would be back from Church. Just the
fact that I had not gone to church since Easter made me feel
inadequate. Not to mention all the ideals that Mason spoke of that
was the perfect woman for him, per his father. I had a serious case
of lacking going on in my brain, and it showed as I tried on the
eighth dress for the morning. Every dress I put on was either too
sexy, too matronly, or I just did not have the right heels to go
with the dress. I finally settled on a dress that might be too
slinky, but the lightweight sweater over it with three-inch heels
seemed sensible.

As soon as Mason knocked on my door, I
realized there was no going back into my bedroom to change again. I
had to just be ok with who I am and hope that his family likes me
as much as Mason does.

I opened my door to a very sexy looking man
who was in a nice pair of tan slacks, and a blue silk dress shirt
opened just enough buttons that it felt like a teaser, that I would
not mind taking the shirt off. He has such a nice chest, nice arms,
and he looks so good naked - I mentally babbled in my head.

He took a few steps in and laid a sweet kiss
on my lips. "You look gorgeous."

"Not too dressed up or too... you know,
sexy?" I questioned.

"No. Perfect. Although, I would like to see
more cleavage. Believe me, my sisters are no Mother Theresa when it
comes to dressing. They've got some serious Latin blood in them.
They like their curves. Ready to go?" He grabbed my hand as I bit
my lip and looked in the direction of my bedroom.

"Maybe I should go change. You know. To
something different. Maybe you could help me." I felt the palms of
my hands start to sweat.

"Love. If I go in your bedroom with you and
watch you get undressed, we won't be making it to my parents' house
on time, or at all." His voice held a bit of laughter as his eyes
twinkled while trailing my body. "Lose the sweater. It's warm out.
You have a great body. Don't start acting like you need to hide it.
Besides, that dress is almost to your ankles and all I can think
about is how I want it to scrunch up around your waist."

I slapped his hand as he started to pull my
dress up to peek under. "Later."

"Promise?" He laughed.

I pulled his head down for a kiss and when I
pulled back, I gave him a sultry flirting look and a simple reply.
"Absolutely." From that point, we walked out to his black BMW, the
one that he told me his dad bought him after college, giving me a
quick trepidation about meeting his family and all of their money.
Then he squeezed my hand, and I felt a little more reassured that
meeting his family would not be so bad after all, as long as he was
by my side.

We walked into a kitchen with four women
bustling about preparing food, all of them with gorgeous long
dark-brown hair that held big loose curls. They were all wearing
simple summer dresses but with their body and curves, it made them
look as if they were walking the red carpet. I wanted to escape to
the restroom and do a little plumping action of the girls by
pitching them higher in my bra. My C cups felt like A's in this
room.

When his mother turned to me with so much
excitement and warmth to her personality, I wanted to take her home
and claim her as my own mother. His mother's warm embrace and
comments about how adorable I am, put me at a complete ease about
how this day was going to play out. However, I thought I heard one
of his sister's comments under her breath that I might be Mason's
type, but I was not their father's type for Mason. When I turned
sharply to the comment, I had nothing to say as the two married
sisters who looked almost identical stood there with a sweet smile
on their face. Maybe I was imagining things.

Mason finally stop picking at bites of food
and looked up to a silent room of five women. "Oops, sorry.
Everyone knows your name. Amber this is my mother Sophia. My sister
Adoncia, which means sweet; however, I beg to differ at times." He
chuckled, and she smacked at his arm with the back of her hand.

"Watch it big brother. You be nice." She
laughed.

Mason continued on. He walked over to his
other sister standing next to Adoncia and hugged her from behind.
"This is Felicina. Which means happy and she is our happy sister,
no matter what, if you are down, she will make you happy."

I watched her turn and kiss Mason on the
cheek. It was evident that they had a strong bond. It was very
sweet. Then he walked over to his youngest sister who was at least
ten years younger than he was and patted her on the head. "And this
sweet little thing is my accomplice. She was the one that helped me
with your birthday gift. This is Maria, which has a lot of innocent
meanings, but I like to think her name means rebellion as she likes
to mimic my rebelliousness. However, I think I have all the
rebellion this family needs." He chuckled, but his sisters began a
collective coo of agreement on that, which gave me a small amount
of nervousness. A rebellious man often never stayed with one woman.
Would my Latin be everything to me lover, quickly bore of me and
move on?

Maria spoke up in a joking voice. "Maria
means a lot of different things in different languages; Mason just
likes to tease me because I tend to be a rebel. Not as much as he's
been known to be but maybe that's why we get along so well." She
walked over to me and whispered in my ear. "He's grown up a bit,
but you watch out."

Mason's mother Sophia must have sensed my
overwhelming feelings of his family, as she took my hand in hers,
and offered to show me their garden just outside the kitchen. As
she led me outside, she hollered over her shoulder for Mason to
pull the roast out of the oven.

We stepped out of the huge gallery kitchen
into a garden that was quite spectacular. Spring and early summer
flowers were still in bloom, with soft flowering trees marking a
brick paved path that twisted around in a curvy pattern to a
beautiful outdoor cement patio that had an impressive pavilion with
stone pillars and covered roof. There at the table was a man who
was Mason's maker. He stood as I approached so that he could
introduce himself as he took my hand. Sofia presented me to him as
if she was a game-show host. She had that graceful presence about
her.

"Amber this is Mason's father, Mark Anthony
Montahue. Dear, this is Mason's new girlfriend, Amber Jones."

"It's a pleasure to meet you finally. I've
heard all sorts of wonderful things about you." He smiled, and I
could see where Mason got his incredible smile from, and it warmed
me. His charm was evident, and I felt myself relax a bit.

"Pleasure is all mine Sir. You have a
beautiful mansion..." I stuttered. "I mean home here and the
gardens are spectacular."

"Why thank you." He replied then he turned
his attention to Sophia. "How much longer until brunch dear? I have
a few things I need to run into my office and get done."

"About fifteen minutes." She replied as I
could see the adoring love she had for Mason's father.

"Wonderful. Now if you two will excuse me, I
think I will get about fifteen minutes worth of work done. Have
Maria get me when it's time. Again, lovely to meet you Amber."

As I watched him walk away, I thought how
easy it would be for me to fit right into this family. How
desperately I would love making this my own. Not that I did not
love my father and sister, and ok, my mother, but this was the type
of classy family a poor girl like me dreams about growing up and
marrying into. Bethany made her success and was beginning to reap
her rewards. I was a bit lazy and rebellious, and yes, I liked the
finer things. I just did not want to have to go to college or work
too hard to get it. Marrying into this would be a dream. Marion
did, why couldn't I?

Then I remembered the way Marion thought
Carl's family would readily accept her and slowly, painfully, found
out that she was considered a gold digger and outcast. I did not
want these lovely people to think of me this way. If I had a doubt
about my 'now that I am grown up and thirty plans', I didn't now.
Just meeting his family made me want to be a better, stronger
person who gives back and works hard. Ok. Some. Having fun with
Mason was top on my list, but I now knew that I could easily
squeeze in a bit of college courses and volunteer community time,
hopefully with Mason at my side when he had time.

By the time we made it back into the kitchen,
the girls were buzzing and Mason was nowhere to be found. Maria
spoke up quickly. "My dad stole Mason to discuss work things. Mind
helping me frost the cake for dessert?"

Did I mind frosting a cake? Heck no. Before I
could think, I reacted with a bubbly remark. "Only if I can lick
the knife when I am done." I chuckled. The room was quiet for a
second then Sofia spoke up.

"Oh dear, you will fit in perfect with us."
She said it with a true note of happiness in her voice, and I was
starting to feel it. Except for the fact that the two older sisters
had whispered something back and forth to each other, and I worried
it was about me, my fair wage job, lack of college and compared to
their high-end labeled clothes; I was wearing a discount rack
dress. However, my shoes were four hundred bought used for fifty
off eBay, so I guess I was a little in their league.

By the time we were taking food out in a
uniformed line to the outdoor patio table, which was nicer than any
dining room table I had ever seen, well except Marion and Carl's,
Mason was finally out of his dad's office and walking with the cake
I just frosted with a cover on top, out to the patio. The look on
his face was one of a beaten man. His happy-go-lucky in love look
was gone. Something negative was spoken between the two men and for
Mason's sake, I worried. I instantly felt his sadness and wanted to
take him in my arms and kiss him. Instead, I grabbed the cake out
of his hands and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, which seemed
to cheer him up.

"Hey. I frosted that cake." I practically
bubbled out.

"You did?" He let a smile grow back on his
face, and his eyes lit up as I turned and looked back over my
shoulder at him with a wink.

Once we all sat down, we held hands and said
grace, which didn't feel strange as my mother still insists on it,
but it made me think about how uncatholic I have been lately,
rarely saying prayers or grace, sleeping with a man before
marriage, yet alone commitment. Although, Mason and I had verbally
agreed, we were committed. So that's something? Right? However, I
sensed it wasn't in his father's eyes, and perhaps I was the start
of the angst between them. Perhaps, Mark Anthony found out what
kind of crazy, free and easy, gal I was. I gulped hard as the last
few words of grace were spoken by Mason's father.