Exquisite (24 page)

“Oh don’t worry. I know who you are
now. I called you that when he still didn’t know your name.”

“Rachel!” He watched Rachel’s eyes
twinkle and look from Lena’s stiff pose up to him.

“What? It’s true.”

“It’s irrelevant. I told you her
name was Lena and you’ll leave it at that.”

Rolling her eyes Rachel walked to
stand on the other side of their mother’s bed. She leaned down and kissed her
on the cheek. “How you doing today mom?”

He watched as his mother reached up
and patted Rachel’s cheek. “I’m doing great sweetheart. I like the purple.” she
said fingering the tips. “Very dramatic.”

“Thanks! Charlie hates it but is
that my fault? No and like I told him it's only hair and if he doesn’t quit
calling me Barney I’m going to shave my head and he can start calling me Sinead
instead.”

Lena glanced up at him like she was
scared. He couldn’t blame her, Rachel was a handful and a whirlwind. Usually when
someone first met her they spent the whole time trying to decide if she was
always so hyper. The short answer was yes.

“Stop flapping your mouth for a
second Rachel and let me introduce you properly. Dr Lena O’Donnell this is my
baby sister and head Pastry Chef Rachel.”

Lena nodded, “That’s why you seem
so familiar. I saw you that first night when,” she trailed off and was going
leave it at that but no such luck, Rachel was right their to bury him.

“When he kicked you out after like,
what was it Mase, 15 mins? If that?”

He heard his mother gasp and looked
down and saw the questions in her eyes. Just when he thought Lena would fly off
the handle and storm out in a fit of rage she did the complete opposite. She
burst into laughter. Loud laughter and he saw that she was nodding at Rachel,
who too was laughing like they’d shared the best joke in the world.

“Oh,” Lena said clutching her side,
“That was a horrible night. He was so mad at me.”  Then she started
laughing again, “He didn’t have a clue what my name was.”

Rachel chuckled then nodded her
head, “I remember him telling me that and he also told me you Googled him. I
knew right then I’d like you.”

Lena looked at him with pure joy in
her eyes and all of a sudden he didn’t mind that her hilarity was at his
expense. He grinned and she mouthed at him silently,
she likes me.

Leaning over he kissed her by her
ear and whispered, “So do I.” he felt her shiver a little and then his mother
asked.

“You’re on Google Mason?”

And with that they all burst out
laughing.

A
few days later Mason called asking if she’d be
free anytime this week. Lena had told him she was off on Friday and Monday this
week so he invited her down to the restaurant on Thursday night. She wasn’t
sure if it was such a good idea. After all, the restaurant was the place where
things tended to go downhill for them. Every time she set foot in that place
she seemed to end up leaving in shame. However, things felt different between
them now. When she’d left to go and finish her work, after visiting with his
mother and sister, he’d leaned over and kissed her gently telling her that he’d
see her after work. At first she’d been about to tell him she couldn’t because
she had work the next day but then he reminded her, the flower shop. So for the
last few evenings she’d gone down to Precious Petals and closed shop with him
then driven over to see Carly. It was amazing how every day it got a little bit
easier. Still, she didn’t think she could do it on her own yet. Just knowing he
was in the car or sometimes he came up with her, gave her the courage she
needed to go over and just, be. So she’d called him back this morning and
agreed to come down.

“So what time did you want me
there?”

“As soon as you can be here. I’m
manning the bar tonight so I wouldn’t mind you sitting in one corner for me to
look at.”

“That’s a little bit of a sexist
comment don’t you think?”

She heard him laugh softly. “How is
it sexiest? I’m not saying you can’t sit there and look at me all night as
well.”

Sighing she answered with much more
feigned annoyance than she actually felt. “Oh alright then. I’ll try to be
there by seven.”

So here she was.

Mason noticed her the minute she
stepped through the door. She had a different feel to her tonight than she had
before. She seemed calm. He watched as she scanned the dining room, looking for
him no doubt, when her eyes finally moved over to the bar and locked with his.
Raising a small hand she waved in his direction. Feeling a smile slide onto his
face he beckoned for her to come over with a raised hand. He watched as she
made her way toward him. Tonight she was in a bright siren red dress. It was
cut straight and high across her collarbone and had sleeves that came down
three quarters of her arm. The dress hugged her breasts and nipped in at the
waist before falling gently off the hip to land mid thigh. As she walked the
dress swished around her legs and gently brushed by her thighs drawing his eyes
down to her legs. Her hair, he noticed was pulled back at the nape of her neck
and seemed to be twisted some way to remain contained in a loose bun.
Altogether the end result was sophisticated and sexy as hell. Finally she
stopped at the end of the bar and smiled slowly at him.

“Evening Lena.”

Her lips, that were slicked with
the same shade of red, pulled up a notch in a smile that almost took his breath
away. “Evening Langley.”

“You look amazing.”

She looked him over quickly then
her pretty green eyes came back to land on his. “You don’t look so bad
yourself.” she paused then asked softly, “Where should I sit?”

Mason looked down the bar and
noticed no one was needing his immediate help then turned back to face her. He
walked over to the very end of the counter and stopped leaning his hip into the
curve of it.

“I reserved this seat just for
you.” he said with a grin. She followed him over and around the very end to the
stool that would have her facing down the bar.

“Thank you.”

“Hmm, you’re welcome.” he replied
as she hitched herself up onto the chair flashing him a glimpse of a smooth
naked thigh. “You’re going to distract me tonight in that dress.”

Placing her small black clutch on
the counter she rested her arms on the bar. “Am I?”

“You know you are. That dress is a
killer Lena.”

She laughed at him softly with such
carefree joy in her voice it gently stroked over every inch of him, including
his cock. Taking a deep breath and telling himself to calm the hell down he
asked her. “So what can I get you to drink?”

“I’d like a White Russian please.”

Nodding he moved away to get what
he needed and mixed it, all the while extremely aware of the woman in red.

Lena was looking at his ass.
So
what?
She couldn’t help it, it was right there. He’d turned away to make
her drink and that had put his very tight, very nice ass on display. He was
dressed in the usual tonight. Tight black fitted slacks and a black button down
shirt tucked in at the waist. On the shirt by the pocket was the word
Exquisite
.
Lena felt the side of her mouth pull up at that. How appropriate that he should
be wearing a shirt that declared to the world how sinfully attractive he was.
Like a fine wine he was, simply exquisite. He finally turned back and walked
over to her. She let her gaze follow him, enjoying the moment to flirt and
relax. His hair was pushed back and his eyes seemed to almost sparkle under the
soft lights and when he stopped in front of her she was trying to remember how
on earth she’d managed to end up dating such a gorgeous man.

“One White Russian.”

She reached across and took the glass
from him then lifted it to take a sip. When the liquid hit her tongue she
didn’t even realize the sweet creamy mixture had made her moan softly. He
leaned down toward her and said softly. “Ok you can’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Moan.” he almost hissed at her.
“You can’t sit there in that dress, drinking drinks from a straw and moan if
you expect me to work.”

Biting her lip she showed her teeth
in a wicked grin.

“I mean it.” he demanded.

“Ok, ok.” she agreed reluctantly,
putting the drink back on the bar. “I guess I can contain myself.”

He laughed, “Well that’s nice to
know doctor.”

Smiling she sat back and looked
around the place. “This is the quietest I’ve ever seen it here.”

“Yeah. Thursdays are usually steady
but not anything like Fridays and Saturdays. How was your day?”

She turned back to face him and
wondered when they’d become so comfortable they were asking the everyday
questions, she found she liked it.

“It was good. I finally got to see
a young patient go home today. He isn’t out of the woods yet but little Robbie
was good enough to at least go home for a while.”

“Well that’s great news.” he paused
then said softly, “I’m sorry I couldn’t get down to the flower shop today.”

Looking at him across the bar,
standing under the soft glow of the lights, she smiled and shook her head.
“Don’t apologize. You have a business to run. I probably needed a day off
anyway. I appreciate you sending someone over there for me.”

“You’re welcome. Anytime Lena. If
there’s anything I can do don’t ever hesitate to ask me.”

She nodded then lifted her drink
again being careful not to let out any pleasurable noises.

“I will. So Langley, now that you
have me here, what would you like to do with me?”

His grin could only be described as
mischievous and she found herself returning it.

“Well. I was thinking we could play
twenty questions.”

Arching a brow at him she looked
down the quiet bar then back.

“Ok. I’m game.” she paused then
asked, “Who gets to start?” After all she had liquid courage to get her
through.

“You can.” he said easily leaning a
hip against the bar and watching the dining room for a moment.

“Are there any rules?”

“Well you can’t ask me something
you already know. But other than that. Nope.”

Sitting up tall she nodded once
then asked, “When did you decide you wanted to be a chef?”

He looked as though he was trying
to remember then he gave her a huge smile.

“My dad use to cook in our house.
Mom, well she did everything else. For years as a child my father would make me
help him prepare the meal always telling me that my mother, his wife, did
everything to look after him. Was always there for whatever he needed, the
least he could do was feed her.” he paused then chuckled, “I’ve been feeding
beautiful women ever since.”

“I bet.” she murmured. “Your mom
and dad sound like they had a wonderful marriage.”

He nodded, “Yeah they did. You’ve
never met a couple more happy to be with each other.”

“That’s beautiful. It must’ve been
difficult on her when she lost him.”

“Devastating, but we pulled through
and she goes and talks to him everyday, so it makes her feel like he’s still
here. He’s actually in the same place where Carly is, so you probably ended up
helping her in a sense. She couldn’t avoid it.” Pausing he grinned over to her.
“Ok my turn.”

Lena braced herself for his
question then laughed when it finally came.

“What was your first impression of
me?”

Mason watched as she laughed.
Great
,
he thought. He remembered back to their first meeting and how she’d effectively
told him he was a moron in front of everyone and pissed him off so badly he
couldn’t get her out of his mind.

“Sure you want to hear this?”

“No, but now I need to since you’re
obviously laughing at me.”

“You made me so mad that day
because I knew my mom had sent those flowers and when I finally came out to see
who was making me take them, well my first impression was that you were
freakishly tall.”

He fell his mouth open. “I’m not
weirdly tall?” he paused, “Am I?” and that seemed to make her laugh even
harder.

“Well I was thinking I was tall but
you were looking down at me. I remembered thinking your mom must have stood you
in a lot of manure.”

“That’s lovely Lena.” he pouted.

She shrugged at him, “You asked.”

“So I did.” Shaking his head he
motioned to her. “Ok your turn.”

“Hmm.” she murmured pressing her
cherry lips together, he decided he needed them on him by the end of the night.
Then she grinned. “What do you like best about me?”

“Your ass.”

“I meant personality wise!”

“Well you didn’t specify.”

Sputtering a little she looked past
him. “You have a customer.”

He turned his head and saw the
middle aged man looking at them. He turned back to her knowing she was
expecting some kind of flirty question but he could wait for those so he asked
something he’d wanted to know for awhile now.

“My question, think about it while
I help him. Why did it take you nine years to visit your sister?”

Lena watched as he moved down to
the man at the middle of the bar.
Could she tell him she wished it’d been
her that night and not her sister? Could she explain to him and make him
understand the level of guilt she felt whenever she thought about driving them
across that street and having the car slam into them?
She watched in slow
motion, it seemed, as he turned and walked back over to her. Before he could
say anything she blurted out.

“Guilt.”

He tilted his head and asked,
“Guilt? You have nothing to feel guilty about.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.
That’s my answer.” she knew she was being harsh and probably a little more
bitchy than she should be so when he nodded and said
, your turn
, she
snapped out.