Exquisite (23 page)

Grinning at her he walked in and
looked down at Shelly. “Sorry to interrupt lunch.”

“Nonsense. It’s fine.” she smiled
up at him.

He watched Lena stand then said
softly, “No, no I’ll just join you two. If you don’t mind?”

Shaking her head she sat back down.
The assistant was still standing glued to the spot staring at him. He smiled at
her and winked. He watched her turn bright red then seeming to find her footing
flee from the room. Turning his head he saw Lena arching a brow.

“Just can’t help yourself can you?”

He leaned back in the chair and put
a hand to his chest, “Me? What’d I do?’

“Throwing that charm around
everywhere.”

He looked over to Shelly who was
chewing on, he looked closer, what appeared to be lasagna. “At least she admits
I’m charming.”

Shelly grinned at him.

“So you’re here visiting your mom?”
Lena asked sitting very proper with her hands clasped on the table. She looked
so professional today with her hair pulled up into a bun and her scrubs and lab
coat on. Her glasses were sitting beside her on the table. Leaning forward her
reached across and flicked the name badge around in his fingers, Dr. Magdalena
O’Donnell M.D. and the rest was blocked by the lapel of her coat.
Wow
,
in this setting she was something else. All brains behind those careful eyes.
She was watching him closely right now so he grinned. Dressed like she was he
couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated, this lady was smart with a capital
S and what was he? A highly paid cook.

Lena watched his grin as he looked
at her closely. She couldn’t help but wonder what it was he was seeing. Was he
remembering the way she’d fallen apart in the flower shop? Or maybe the way
she’d clutched his hand, terrified to move across the cemetery. Either way she
found it infuriating that she didn’t know, and that he was grinning at her like
a loon.

“What’s your problem Langley?”

“Don’t have a problem. I was just
thinking how professional you look.”

Shelly laughed at that then blurted
out, “As opposed to how unprofessional she looks in a tub?”

“Shelly!” Lena cried and her eyes
flew to his. Her cheeks were heating and the more she tried to glare him down
the bigger the smirk was that covered his damn mouth.

“What?” her friend asked
innocently.

Looking toward Shelly, she said
through clenched teeth, “Shut it.” Then her eyes came back to rest on two
laughing blue ones. “And as for you?”

“Yes Dr?”

She narrowed her eyes and said in
the most dignified voice she could find, “Behave yourself.”

Grinning at her he sat back and
turned to face Shelly, and on a whispered she heard him say softly, “I don’t
know. She sure looked like a professional at what she was doing that night in
the tub.”

Lena stood quickly her chair
tipping back, “That’s it!”

Glaring down at him she noticed,
for the first time, he was wearing a pair of well worn jeans and a black
t-shirt that was molding to all his hotness and he’d dropped on the table a
black leather jacket. She shut her eyes for a minute, breathing deeply, because
quiet frankly she didn’t want to be thinking about that night in the tub when
he looked so damn amazing. When she heard a second chair push back she opened
her eyes and looked up at him where he now stood. She heard Shelly still
laughing softly behind them. He grinned down at her then reached out to push a
wisp of her behind her ear. “You’re so easy to fire up Lena O’Donnell.”

Still feeling pissy she crossed her
arms over her chest and tilted her chin up to him. “That’s Dr O’Donnell.”

She watched his mouth tug at the
corner and he nodded reaching down to grab his jacket. “Oh is it now?”

Rolling her eyes she snapped, “Is
there a reason you’re here Langley? Other than to drive me crazy and embarrass
me in my work place?”

He was about to say something when
Shelly chimed in. “In all fairness I did start it.”

He looked over his shoulder to her
friend, “I appreciate that.” then he turned back to her.

“Well?”

“I want you to come and see my
mother.”

Mason was trying very hard not to
laugh as Lena marched down the hall ahead of him.
Damn she was cute.
She
was all kinds of mad at him right now and he couldn’t find it anywhere in him
to care. She’d huffed out of the lunch room, pissed off at him and Shelly, then
made her way down in front of him to the elevators. She reached out and punched
the button and that’s when she finally looked over at him. “You’re an ass.”

Nodding he stepped to the left
close enough that their arms brushed. “Can I hold your hand?”

Her head snapped around to look at
him and he stepped back to where he’d been.

“
Okay.
I’ll take that as a
no.”

The elevator door pinged and they
stepped inside waiting quietly as the doors slid shut. She punched the floor
his mother was on then turned to glare at him. She looked as though she was
about to yell and then punch him, or punch him then yell, but instead she
shocked the shit out of him.

“Kiss me.” she demanded.

He didn’t need a second invitation.
He moved a step over to her grabbed the lapels of her lab coat and pulled her in
close covering her mouth with his. She groaned against him and parted her lips.
He quickly dipped his tongue inside, rubbing it up against hers, knowing the
doors were about to come back open. Then he pulled back and traced her bottom
lip ending it by nipping it gently. He stepped back and grinned at her reaching
out to take her hand.

“Don’t even think about it Langley.
You’re still an ass and you
can not
hold my hand.”

He couldn’t have kept the smile
from his face right then if his life had depended on it.

Lena stood silently beside Mason as
the elevator slowed. She was finding it hard not to grin at him and equally
hard to breathe after the kiss he’d just given her. The ping of the elevator
signaled they’d arrived. When the doors slid open she stepped out and made her
way down to the left already knowing what room his mother was in. When they got
there she pulled Catherine’s chart from the door and took a quick peek to make
sure everything was going well with her treatment. Scanning through the recent EKG’s
Lena frowned a little at what she was seeing then flipped the papers back and
walked into the room. Mason had already made his way inside and was leaning
down to kiss Catherine on the head. Lena stood silently just inside the doorway
not really knowing what to say. She watched as Mason brushed a hand down his
mom’s hair then stepped back to stand beside her. Comparing the two side by
side Lena could see the strong family resemblance. Catherine smiled over at her
and she watched her eyes crinkle up at the side from years of laughter. Lena
returned it and moved over to stand at the foot of the bed. The resemblance
didn’t end there. The blue eyes were exactly the same and now that she saw them
beside one another she was surprised she hadn’t seen it before, but then again
she hadn’t been looking. Mason stood by his mom grinning at her with his usual
effortless grin and he looked so relaxed and happy at that moment Lena couldn’t
help but finally give him a smile back.

“Lena honey, don’t you look like a
doctor?”

Laughing she heard Mason answer
her, “Well mom she is a doctor. So I suppose that’s a good thing.”

“Oh yes yes,” she said waving her
hand as though what she’d said was trivial. “I just meant that whenever I’ve
seen her she has looked so,” she paused and Lena wondered if she was looking
for the word lost. Then she continued, “Young.”

“Mother!” Mason admonished and
tsked her lightly. Lena couldn’t help but be amused as the two went back and
forward. “You should know better than to talk about a woman’s age. You taught
me that.”

“Oh hush Mason Langley. I didn’t
mean anything by it. Lena knows I think she’s lovely. I just meant that usually
she’s in casual clothes and looks like she just came from school.”

Finally Lena spoke up, “Well that’s
probably because when we first met I was in school You just have that same
image in your head.”

Nodding Catherine looked up at her
son. “You better be careful with this one son. She’s not going to let you walk
all over her because you’re handsome.”

Lena watched as Mason tried to pull
of an innocent,
who me look
, but his mother was having none of it. “Oh I
know how you work young man. From the time you were old enough to wrap someone
around your finger, especially women, you worked out how and then did it.”

Lena started to laugh because she
found it completely believable. It’d only been minutes ago she’d been telling
him to stop charming her defenseless receptionist.

“Lena dear how are you?”

Lena walked around the opposite
side of the bed to Mason and sat down next to Catherine. She reached out and
took her hand. “I’m good. The more important question is how are
you
?”

Catherine’s eyes widened a little,
almost looking worried for a moment, then she smiled wider and glanced over to
her son who’d now taken a seat in the corner facing them.

“I’m doing much better. I gave
myself a bit of a fright.”

Staring right at her Lena nodded,
“I’m sure you did. You need to be
very
careful when you leave and make
sure you do everything the doctor’s tell you.”

Catherine nodded then patted her hand.
“I know dear. I know.”

Lena whispered quietly, “
Do
you?” She watched Catherine’s eyes flick up to hers then move over to focus on
Mason. She smiled at him and nodded, “Yes, of course I do. Don’t worry. I have
to much to stick around for to clock out early.”

“Mom.” Mason admonished softly.

Lena squeezed her hand once again
then looked over to see he was staring right at her where their hands were
joined. His eyes softened as he looked up at her and then he smiled a slow warm
smile that said he was happy she was there.

Turning back to Catherine Lena said
softly. “Mason took me to see Carly yesterday.” she paused as she felt
Catherine’s hand squeeze hers. “Did he tell you?”

Catherine nodded. “I’m very proud
of you Lena. I know how hard that must’ve been.”

“It was. Terribly hard. But your
son helped me through it. I owe him a lot.”

“You owe me nothing.” she heard him
say softly from his chair. She turned grateful eyes to him and he enunciated
slowly. “Not a thing.”

“I wanted to thank you for making
her final resting spot such a beautiful place.”

Catherine shook her head then
reached up to stroke a finger down her cheek, much like her son sometimes did.
“I didn’t do anything special.”

“You displayed the flowers in a way
that makes it glow. Most people would’ve just laid them over the ground. You
decorated it.”

Catherine nodded, “It seemed like
something she would’ve liked.”

Lena thought that an odd thing to
say because Catherine hadn’t know Carly at all.

“I know I didn’t know her but I
feel as though I do now. I’ve been visiting and talking to her for nine years.
She knows all about my family. She even knew about Mason before you took him
there. Every day I’d go down and spend 15 mins or so tidying the area and
placing the new flowers in a vase and I’d tell her about my day.”

Lena felt a tear slide down her
face not quiet understanding what she was feeling but knowing she was grateful
that Carly hadn’t been alone. For nine years this lady, a stranger to her
sister, had been telling her all about her life while making Lena’s bearable by
taking on a task she herself couldn’t.

“I can never thank you enough for
what you’ve done.”

“Oh hush girl and stop this crying.
Tell me something exciting.” she paused, “Like how on earth you let my son talk
you into dating him.”

“Gee thanks mom.”

Lena was about to answer when a
short familiar young lady burst through the hospital door in tight black jeans
and a bright purple shirt that had red polka dots all over it. As if the outfit
wasn’t loud enough the girl’s hair was dark black but had an under layer of
bright purple that matched her shirt. She stopped suddenly when she saw Lena
sitting on the bed

“Oh sorry Doc. I’ll come back.” she
went to turn when Lena heard Mason speak up.

“Rach it’s ok. This is Lena.”

Watching the girl closely Lena saw
her turn to see Mason and walk over to him bending down to hug him Then she
stood back up and asked. “Lena?”

Looking back in Lena’s direction
she frowned then turned back to her brother. “Should I know her?” then she
whispered, “Did we meet her last week? Cause I don’t remember shit from back
then.”

“Rachel Langley watch your mouth.”
Catherine admonished from the bed.

“Sorry mom.”

Mason laughed softly then stood
reaching out to tug on a purple piece of hair. He grinned down at her then
moved past his sister and walked toward Lena. She felt him wrap an arm around
her. “This is Lena O’Donnell,
my
doctor.”

Arching a brow at him Lena muttered
under her breath, “Oh really?”

Rachel was frowning at them then it
seemed as though a light went off in her head as she grinned and slapped her
leg. “Oh I got it. This is pants suit!”

Mason winced at that and felt Lena
stiffen a little. He’d been kidding when he’d said she was his, but now that he
stood there with his arm around her and he could smell that sweet vanilla scent
of hers, he had to admit it was a fantastic idea.

“Pants suit?” he heard her ask his
sister. He glared at Rachel over Lena’s head and hoped she got the message but
because it was Rachel, and she only got a message when it was written in bold
letters on a large sheet of cardboard, she blurted out.