His voice had hit those rough pitches that grated over her nerves and made her throb between her legs. “But if you want one thing in particular, I’ll give you this. All that amazing hair you have so neatly tucked away most of the time? I want to unravel that hair and wrap it around my cock and stroke myself with it. God, Lena, I think about you sitting on top of me and how it would feel all around me and I find myself going a little crazy.” One heartbeat, two heartbeats.
“Holy shit, Langley,” she murmured. “If you’re gonna die from frustration. I’m about to die from a meltdown.”
He chuckled, breaking the intense moment. “You asked.”
“Well, on that note I need to go and take a long cold shower.” She could almost see him smile when he spoke.
“I’ll see you Saturday. Be ready to sweat.”
“See you then, Langley,” and with that she hung up the phone.
Chapter Ten
Mason decided to visit his mother before driving into work. He pulled his car around the back of the shop and unlocked the service door. He whistled as he moved through the back aisle up to the front of the shop and saw his mother talking with a customer. Standing off to the side watching her with a smile, he wondered what she’d think of Lena. That led him to think about that first day at the hospital when he’d delivered the flowers for his mother. His mother had called Lena “poor Lena,” almost as though she knew the woman.
“Mason,” his mother said with a huge smile as she walked over to him. She took his face between her palms and pulled him down to kiss him quickly. “What brings you by, dear?”
“Do I need a reason? I just wanted to stop by and see you. Plus, Rachel is in the kitchen this morning so I don’t want to show up until she’s done.”
She put her hands on her hips, shaking her head. “You two still can’t play nice?”
“Not when it involves egos and cooking utensils. Trust me, Mom, we are much better separated.” Mason told her with a grin. He watched as she moved past him to help the same customer from a moment ago check out. Mason glanced around the shop, spotting the sunflowers in the corner, and smiled when he looked at them. She was right; they did make you smile. The customer walked out the door, leaving the shop empty.
“So I have a question for you.”
His mother wiped her hands on her apron. “What’s that, dear?” Picking up a red rose, she clipped the end and then placed it in a vase beside her.
“Remember about two or three weeks ago you sent me to that hospital?”
She looked up and then nodded, “Yes, down at University. What about it?”
Mason leaned his hip up against the counter and looked down at her. “Well, remember the lady I was delivering the flowers to?”
“Yes, they were for Lena.”
Mason tilted his head to the side and then narrowed his eyes a little. “Do you know Lena? Dr. O’Donnell?”
His mother put her scissors down and placed her hands on the counter. “Yes, I know Dr. O’Donnell. Why? Do you?”
Boy did he, Mason thought. Probably not exactly what his mother was referring to.
“Yes. We had a date last night. I’m surprised Rachel didn’t call you to gossip.”
He watched his mother frown a little, and then she smiled and tilted her head up to him. “I haven’t spoken to Rachel since she started dating that sous chef a few weeks back.”
“Charlie.” Mason nodded.
“Yes, that’s right. But that’s not what we’re talking about. You say you had a date with Lena?”
Mason smiled full blown. “Yes, last night.”
His mother carefully picked up another rose and clipped the end.
“How do you know her, Mom?”
She looked back at him with a small, almost sad smile. “I’ve known Lena for years, son.”
Mason hadn’t expected that response and watched his mother silently as she finished the arrangement, trying to work out what his mother had meant. When he came up with nothing, and his mother didn’t offer anything, he said softly, “I don’t understand. What do you mean that you’ve known her for years?”
She turned to face him and walked to the sunflowers in the corner. “These are hers.” She paused and then looked at him with a gentle smile on her face. “She’s been coming to my shop since she was in college. Every Monday night she orders seven sunflowers.”
Mason didn’t quite understand what she was telling him. “Why?”
His mother tilted her head and walked over to him. She stopped and reached up to cup his cheek. “It’s not my place to tell you, son. She’ll tell you when she’s ready. If she ever is.” She paused, smiling at him. “I’ve never met such a focused individual in my life. Maybe she needs someone like you to shake her up a bit.”
Mason reached up to touch his mother’s hand, then linked their fingers, bringing them down to rest beside them. “She confuses me, Mom.”
“Why?” she asked him softly, and then added, “She’s just a girl.”
He shook his head. “Maybe when you met her, but she’s so much more now.”
Unlinking their hands, his mother rested a hand over his heart and said softly, “Be careful Mason. Tread lightly and fall gracefully.”
He grinned now at her and chuckled. “Have you ever known me to do that?”
She smiled and patted his cheek. “No, but it was worth a shot.”
On Friday, Lena walked down the hospital corridor leading to the children’s oncology ward with one person in mind: Robbie Tipton. She’d heard he was responding well to the treatment but had recently come down with a bad infection. She wanted to go down and see the little guy. To reach out and know he was still there, that he was okay, and that she’d hopefully caught the signs early enough to give him a fighting chance. As she pushed through the airtight doors, she heard the laughter of children and the muted sounds of a TV in the rec room to the left. She stopped by the door and peered in, noting a nurse sitting in the corner keeping an eye on the children watching the cartoons.
It always amazed Lena when she came down here. Children had such resilience in the face of pain and suffering. Lena often found herself wondering, what made her think she could tell them the outcome of their lives? Cancer, though—it was a fickle friend that didn’t care about your age, gender, or race. It would move in, take up residence, and eventually kick you to the curb. It was a mean landlord and didn’t care who it hurt in order to get what it wanted. Lena waved at the nurse when she looked over to her and smiled, then turned and made her way down the hall to Room 308. Knocking lightly on the door, she stepped inside to see Becky Tipton, lying on a cot the nurses had made up for her, holding little Robbie and kissing his head. Behind her was her husband, Lena presumed, stroking a hand through her hair and looking down at them both. They made such a beautiful picture that she was almost upset she had interrupted, until Becky looked up at her and smiled.
“Dr. O’Donnell.”
Lena stepped forward and watched as Mr. Tipton came around the cot. He reached out offering his hand to her. “I’m Chad, Becky’s husband. She tells me you’re the one to thank for catching Robbie’s cancer early.”
Lena reached out and clasped his hand, then smiled when he shook it firmly. “I just ran the right blood tests, that’s all.”
He looked over his shoulder at his wife and child, then back at her. “That’s everything. You gave him the chance to fight.”
Lena moved back a step and placed her hands in her lab coat pockets. “I heard he was running a fever last night?”
Becky nodded. “Yeah. They said he had a small respiratory infection. Ahh, Dr., um, Monroe I believe, came and checked him, ordered some tests and meds, and since this morning his fever has slowly been dropping.”
Lena smiled and nodded. “That’s great news. I just wanted to stop by and check on my favorite little guy.” She turned to leave when she heard Chad say, “Thanks again, Doctor.”
Lena smiled and made her way back to her floor. She w
as just stepping off the elevator when she ran into Shelly.
“Hey there, stranger.” Lena walked with her friend toward the cafeteria. She hadn’t seen her since the big date, so Lena knew she was in for it. To be honest, she was kind of looking forward to it.
“So you know I’m dying over here. How’d it go?” Shelly asked eagerly.
Lena turned and grinned at her. “Oh, it went very well.”
Shelly grabbed her arm and shook it as if they were in high school instead of a hospital corridor. “I knew! Didn’t I tell you?”
Lena couldn’t help the smile on her face so she nodded and sighed. “You sure did.”
They finally reached the lunch line and grabbed their food. Heading to a seat in the back of the cafeteria, Shelly opened her water and took a sip. “So tell me, is he absolutely amazing in bed?”
Lena grinned. “We didn’t go to bed.” She paused and then leaned in and whispered, “Unless you mean the next day when he called me, and while I was still in bed and told me he wanted me to stroke his naked body all over with my hair.”
Shelly’s mouth dropped open. “Shut the hell up! He did not say that to you.”
Lena bit into her apple and nodded. “Well, I’m paraphrasing, but that was the G-rated version.”
Shelly sat back with a huge sigh. “What’d I tell you, huh? Lucky bitch. How was the dinner?”
Lena smiled at her friend. “He made absolutely delicious pasta, and then we made peach pie.”
Shelly cocked her head to the side. “Ah, the peach.”
Just that word alone made Lena’s thighs clench so she sat silently.
“He made you cook your own dessert?” Shelly asked in disbelief.
Lena took a sip of her water and then, as nonchalantly as she could manage, replied, “Yeah, after we peeled and cut them he squeezed it down my neck and then licked it off.”
Shelly narrowed her eyes. “Are you making this shit up to play with me?”
Lena stood and walked around to Shelly. She then leaned down to pull the collar of her shirt to the side revealing the lighter blue-black, but still obvious, hickey. She heard Shelly’s quick gasp, smiled at her friend and raised her eyebrows, then turned on her heel to walk away. Behind her, she heard Shelly yell, “Lucky bitch.”
Mason yawned as he looked at his sister who was sitting down eating a sandwich and talking to Wendy about this evening. Friday night, one of the busiest nights of the weeks at the restaurant and he had a food critic from Elegant Dining coming in. He ran a hand over his face and looked around the dining room. His staff had done a great job all day. Moving tables where he wanted them and setting candles, linens, silverware, glassware, lights, and music all to get the right feel for one of the most important nights he would ever have. This review would be in a national publication and would mean a huge deal to both the restaurant and them personally. He walked over to Wendy and reached out, hugging her to his side.
“We did it, you know.” He smiled over at Rachel. “We pulled this off.”
Wendy turned and smacked him lightly in the chest. “Don’t say that. You’ll jinx us.”
He grinned at her. “Nah, my week has been going too good.” Rachel rolled her eyes and he laughed. “Like you can talk. All we heard about for months was Charlie this and Charlie that.”
Wendy laughed and nodded along with him.
“Yeah, but we’re used to me acting like a lovesick idiot. On you it seems all wrong.”
“Hey now, who said anything about love?” Mason sputtered.
“Oh please, you dating one woman at a time? That has to be love.”
Mason rolled his eyes at her. “No, she’s complicated. I need all my wits about me to work her out.”
“In other words, she’s smart,” Wendy chimed in.
“In other words, she has a brain,” Rachel added and then grinned at him with the same smile he’d been born with.
“Well, of course ladies,” he said and turned to walk into the kitchen. “She’s dating me, isn’t she?”
Shelly had talked Lena into going out tonight. After all, it was Friday and she was dating a guy who owned the hottest restaurant in Chicago. Well, that was what Shelly claimed; Lena, on the other hand, wasn’t sure it was such a great idea. After all, they’d only had one official date where they had actually gotten along and not wanted to kill each other. Also, he may not appreciate her just showing up unannounced. It wasn’t as though they were a serious couple or anything like that. So there she was, sitting with Shelly in the back of a taxicab pulling up at the now-familiar valet of Exquisite. This evening it was packed. She’d been here two times and on both occasions it’d been busy, but tonight it was overflowing with people who were jammed into the front entrance to wait for their tables.
“We’ll never get in there tonight. Let’s go somewhere else,” Lena suggested, hoping her plan for escape would fly. She knew there would be no such luck with Shelly on the case.
“Come on! Stop whining and get out of the car. The minute he sees you he’s going to let you in. Plus, you look amazing tonight.”
Rolling her eyes at her friend, Lena got out of the cab and tugged her skirt down. Wrapping herself up in her shawl, she followed Shelly to the double doors. Lena went to stand in the back of the crowd when Shelly grabbed her hand and tugged her forward. She could feel people glaring holes at them as they watched her friend push through to the front, stand on tiptoe, and say something to the man at the door. He looked at them both and raised an eyebrow then disappeared.
“I told him to go and ask if we could come in. I gave your name. I hope you don’t mind.”
Shaking her head, Lena answered sarcastically, “Sure, why would I mind?”
They stood jammed in the tiny entrance waiting for an answer of yea or nay. “Did we miss something important tonight or is it like this every Friday?” Lena asked.
Looking around then back at her, Shelly shrugged. “I have no idea.”
The big guy who’d been at the front came back to the waiting area and moved over to where Lena and Shelly were standing in the corner.
“I spoke to Wendy, the manager. She said that was fine but you’d have to sit at the bar.”
Shelly grinned and grabbed Lena’s arm. “Not a problem, big guy.”
Just like that, they were in.
Mason was going insane with orders coming in and out of the dining room faster than he could blink. Rachel was having a fit because one of her blowtorches was missing and she needed it for her crème brûlées. He’d been told that the food critic was at table twenty-three and the server was in the process of delivering their meals. Mason took a deep breath and saw Wendy motion him over to the corner of the kitchen pass.
“What’s wrong?” he asked automatically.
She shook her head quickly to reassure him. “Nothing’s wrong. In fact, everything is going great and you have a line wrapped around your building. However, I did manage to sneak in two people, even though we’re at full capacity.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Who?”
“She’s at the bar.”
Mason looked around her and spotted the “she” Wendy was referring to at the very end of the old mahogany bar. The lights were low tonight and all he could see was a faint shadow of Lena’s silhouette, but her hair was falling down her back freely and suddenly he felt his stomach clench. He straightened back up and asked Wendy, “When did she get here?”
She looked at her watch. “Oh, about forty minutes ago, right during the rush. I figured I’d let you know when it slowed down a little.”
He nodded, appreciating the thought, and the fact that she hadn’t distracted him for the last hour, but now he wanted to go and see her. He still had his interview to do but everything else was taken care of. He wiped his hands down his apron and moved over to the bar.
Lena was on her fourth cosmo and feeling quite relaxed when Shelly wandered off to flirt with a man sitting on the other side of the bar. She’d found herself looking
around the dining room all night for Mason but had yet to see him. Deciding he was either too busy to deal with her or he was avoiding her, she picked her glass up and took another sip. She was starting to get annoyed because the man next to her kept trying to buy her drinks. Ultimately, she accepted because he just didn’t seem to be taking a hint. So there she was, dressed to impress a man who may or may not be avoiding her, drinking her fourth drink purchased by an annoying man who couldn’t take no for an answer, and quickly working her way to being drunk. She placed the empty glass back on the bar and looked up when she saw the bartender had stopped in front of her.
“What can I get for you tonight, Miss?” Mason asked as he watched Lena’s face register shock and then embarrassment as her flushed cheeks evidenced. He finally got his first close up look of her tonight and he was having a hard time staying on his side of the bar. She was dressed in a little black dress. Little being the operative word. Since she was seated, he couldn’t see much but what he could see he liked . . . a lot. The dress had three-quarter sleeves and scooped low across her chest, showing off her amazing breasts that seemed to be enhanced by a magical bra tonight, and her hair had been left out waving down over one of her shoulders. She finally seemed to gather her wits about her, even though he noticed she looked a little glassy-eyed from her drink. She sat forward, resting her hands on the bar, pushing her delectable breasts closer to him as she continued to drain all the blood from his head by opening her mouth.
“Hmmm. I was just thinking I would like an Orgasm,” she told him with such a suggestive smile he almost jumped the bar and gave her what she asked for.
Lena wasn’t sure at what point she would call herself drunk. She knew she felt good and relaxed as she sat there in front of the sexy as hell Mason Langley. He was dressed in what she assumed was his usual work attire, those black slacks and a black shirt all molding to his fit and lean body like a second skin. Slung low and tight around his hips was a long black apron that disappeared out of view behind the bar. He looked as though he’d run his hands through his hair on his way over to her. Now he was standing speechless in front of her. It wasn’t until the idiot next to her decided to add in, “I’ll get that for you, honey,” that she watched him raise his brow and say softly, “I’ll take care of that for her, sir.”