Exquisite

  Pushing back on him, she moaned and panted, “Yes.”

  She felt one hand go to her hip and in the next instant, she felt a hard tug as her panties were ripped off. He threw them aside and gripped her hips. Bracing her hands on the window for what she knew was about to be a rough ride, she almost lost her control when he dipped his legs and slid his rock hard erection up between her wet folds without entering her. Groaning deeply, he reached over and planted his hands beside hers.

  Dragging a tongue up her ear, he muttered, “I sure hope no one’s watching, Lena O’Donnell, because I’m about to make you come all over me and I don’t give a fuck who watches.” And with that she saw one of his hands disappear and then felt the head of his thick cock push into her in one deep thrust, making her scream his name into the darkness.

  Mason felt like he was sliding into heaven. Her wet heat gripped him and sucked him in deeper than he’d ever been before. She just about screamed the neighborhood down and he couldn’t help the smug grin that he was wearing as he stilled inside her, letting her catch her breath. His cock was pulsing and he was pretty sure most of the blood in his body was now between his thighs. When she used her hands on the window to push back on him and looked over her shoulder to whisper in a husky voice, “Fuck me,” he got the message real quick. With his right hand on the window beside hers, he spread his legs apart, bunched her shirt in his left hand, and started to stroke his cock in and out. He started slow, then as she pushed back on him he started to pound into her until he let go of the window and gripped her hips hard, thrusting in and out of her like there was never going to be another time or opportunity. He felt his orgasm as it balled at the base of his spine and when her wet pussy clamped down hard around his cock like a tight, hot vise, she screamed his name against the window, and he poured everything he was into her.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Six months later

  Is the playboy chef in love? Maybe we should ask the Doctor.

  Rumor has it that sizzling young chef Mason Langley has been spotted around downtown Chicago over the last few months with a stunning brunette. Now ladies, before you start to cry, grab that box of tissues and listen closely. In recent interviews, Langley has neither confirmed nor denied this new relationship. We have discovered, however, that the young lady in question is a doctor at University Hospital. Is it possible that Chef Langley has been bitten by the love bug and is seeking medical treatment? Or is it a more long-term treatment plan?

  “Did you see this article?” Lena asked as she tossed the magazine on the bar. Mason turned from hanging glasses overhead and looked at the glossy cover of Elegant Dining magazine. He grinned and raised his eyes to her. Leaning his hands on the bar top, he lowered his head and kissed her smiling mouth.

  “Yep.”

  Laughing, she pulled back and hitched up onto the stool. It was Tuesday morning and she had the day off. She’d decided to come down and see him before the restaurant opened and on the way she’d noticed, on a corner stand, a picture of Mason on the front cover of a magazine. Stopping, she’d picked it up and started flipping through it only to stop and read about his new medical condition.

  “‘Bitten by the love bug’? Really? Could these writers get anymore clichéd?”

  He chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest and resting his hip against the bar. Today he was wearing jeans and a navy blue V-neck sweater over a white button-up shirt, and he looked very sexy. His eyes had taken on the color of the sweater and they were currently laughing at her.

  “So, Doctor, do you think you can help me? I’ve been feeling a little bit hot.”

  Snorting indelicately, Lena raised a brow. “I’m sure you have.”

  “Oh yeah. I feel hot, sweaty, and a little bit shivery.”

  Rolling her eyes at him, she shook her head. “You’re ridiculous and so is this article.”

  Reaching out, he picked it up and read the first line to her. “Oh, I like this. Rumor has it that sizzling young chef . . .” Looking over at her, he raised an eyebrow. “‘Sizzling,’ huh?”

  “Are you kidding me, Langley? Could you be vainer?”

  Laughing, he continued, “Hang on! Hang on! Look at this. Apparently, I’m seeing a ‘stunning brunette.’”

  Dropping the magazine on the bar, he pushed away and walked to the end, coming around to stand in front of her. Turning on the stool, Lena watched him carefully and smiled as he reached out a familiar hand and twisted it in her hair, tugging her head up.

  “That adjective is all wrong for you,” Mason told her with a grin.

  Licking her lips, she thought about this morning and how he’d slowly made love to her in his big bed while the sun had tickled over their skin.

  “What would you use?”

  Rubbing his nose gently against hers, he smiled. “Hmm. Smart, complicated, too hot to touch—”

  Interrupting, she pointed out, “You’re touching me right now.”

  Arching a brow, he gripped the hair a little tighter. “Okay, how about sexy as sin.”

  Lena felt her thighs tremble as he finally connected those magic lips to hers. She opened her mouth to him immediately and let his tongue slide between her lips. Groaning against him, she reached up and put her palms against his chest. Gripping his pecs gently, she felt a rumble go through him and when he pulled away, he licked his lips and his eyes looked a lot less happy and a lot hotter. Sizzling hot.

  “I don’t know if I’m sick but you sure as hell have everything to do with my temperature issues,” Mason explained, looking down at her with a smirk.

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “For sure,” he reiterated firmly while stroking a finger down her cheek. He then turned and started to move away from her before stopping to look over his shoulder at her. “I have to go and order a few things, in my very private office.”

  Hopping down off the stool, Lena took great pleasure in the fact that his eyes traveled down her jeans-clad legs and back up to her tight purple cowl-neck sweater, and then closed as though he were praying. From past experience, she knew he was trying to keep himself under control.

  “Maybe I should leave you to your work then?”

  Reaching out, he snagged her hand. “Maybe you should come back and assist.”

  “Why? I don’t work here.” She pouted. “Maybe I want to go out and enjoy the day.”

  Tugging her closer and tightening his fingers around hers, he whispered. “Too bad. I want to enjoy you.”

  Laughing, she let him tug her into the kitchen and down the back to his very private office.

  Two days later, Lena unlocked the door, hands full of brown grocery bags, and pushed it open with her hip. Tossing her keys on the side table, she looked around the huge open space she now found herself occupying, and tried to spot the man who owned it. He was nowhere in sight but the condo smelled amazing so she knew he wasn’t far. Kicking off her heels, she came around the corner and found him at the stove. He hadn’t heard her yet because he had Boston’s “More Than a Feeling” blaring through the house. Lena noticed he was singing loudly and playing air guitar as he stirred a big pot on the stove. For a moment, she just stood there and looked at him.

  This man had totally blindsided her. He’d pushed into her life a little over six months ago and then demanded his way into her heart, and now he had her buying him groceries and virtually living with him. Not that it was a hardship; the man cooked for her whenever he wasn’t at work and she slept like a baby when she was with him. Somehow, she’d gone and fallen madly in love with Mason Langley—not that she’d told him. Almost as though a silent battle of wills was occurring, they both seemed reluctant to be the first to admit their feelings.

  “Hey there, rock star,” she finally called to him over the music. He turned around, smiling at her.

  “Hey. I didn’t hear you come in.”

  Nodding, Lena walked over and put the groceries on the counter. “I’m not surprised, with this music.”

  “Hey, there
’s nothing wrong with a little Boston,” he protested as he made his way over to her, wrapping her in his arms and humming in her ear. Looking up at him while the guitar pealed in the background, she rocked back and forward, totally out of sync with the music, but caught up in the warmth of the moment. His black hair flopped down over one eye and she reached up to push it away. With one hand, he took her wrist and brought it to his mouth, smiling against it as he continued to hum about girls walking away. Then as the guitar wailed again, she closed her eyes and could feel the vibrations through his body. When the song finished, she opened her eyes and looked at him as he smiled down at her.

  “Still here,” Lena joked and pulled out of his arms. “Now, what’re you cooking? It smells amazing.”

  Reaching behind her to the counter, he grabbed the remote and turned the volume down. “Just a basic chicken soup.”

  “Yeah, right. Basic for you is a recipe you learned while studying at the hands of a renowned Italian, French, or German chef.”

  Laughing, he walked back to the stove. “There’s never been a German.”

  “Oh, my apologies.”

  “Smart ass.”

  “Well, it smells great.”

  Yawning, she rolled her shoulders. Looking at the clock, she noticed it was just going on eight thirty p.m. She’d left the hospital at around seven fifteen and made the trip down to see Carly, then come home to Mason’s.

  She’d been going down to visit Carly on her own now for the past three months. At first, it’d been difficult and nerve-racking, but in the end, Mason had urged her, and she now found it one of the most important parts of her day.

  In a sense, Carly was her version of a diary. She went there to talk about her happiness and confusion, which all seemed to be wrapped up in the man in front of her. She also confessed to her the fears that he brought out in her. Lena couldn’t help but shake the feeling he was going to somehow leave and break her heart. She knew it was an irrational fear that stemmed from losing her sister at such a young age, but no matter how much she told herself that, she found it difficult to live without that fear.

  Isn’t that what he’d been telling her all along? She needed to trust him, to trust them, and so far, it’d been close to perfect. If she were honest, that was what scared her the most. She kept waiting for the punch line at her expense.

  “I saw the Tiptons today.”

  She watched as he turned to look at her from over his shoulder.

  “How are they?”

  “Good,” she said, nodding and smiling softly. “Still hard to believe Robbie pulled through all of that. He sure is a fighter.”

  Robbie Tipton had defied all the odds. He’d pulled through a horrible pneumonia and then managed to go into remission with his cancer. Although he was constantly coming in for tests and scans, he seemed to be doing extremely well. This was just one more instance of someone defying all odds.

  “That’s amazing, Lena. One of those stories you hear and it makes your heart happy.”

  “You make my heart happy.”

  The smile he gave her right then was enough to melt completely every single wall of resistance she’d ever had against him. His dimples appeared and she was sunk.

  “Do I?”

  “You sure do.” She stood tall and yawned again. “I’m just going to go change before dinner.”

  “Sounds good. About five minutes.”

  Nodding, she walked through the condo and made her way into the only other space in the home: his bedroom. Although technically she could probably call it their bedroom, with the amount of time she spent here, it wasn’t official yet so she still referred to it as his. Stripping off her skirt and top, she made her way into the master bathroom in her bra and panties and splashed some water on her face. She looked a little tired, but other than that, she thought she looked the healthiest she ever had. She and Mason had started running together on her mornings off and she now ate regular meals, which she had to admit were the best meals she’d ever had, and obviously, it was agreeing with her.

  Another regular occurrence for them was Monday night dinners at the Langley’s. Every Monday they made their way over to the little yellow cottage and sat down for a family dinner and Lena loved every single minute of it. They were such a warm group of people and she’d already known Catherine for several years, but it was amazing to see a whole new side of the kind woman who now meant as much to her as her own mother. Pulling a brush through her hair, she saw the shower almost beckoning her and she was close to stripping down when she heard her name being called. “Lena!”

  Placing the brush down, she stepped into the bedroom about to grab the robe off the foot of the bed and found Mason standing there holding it in his hand.

  “Looking for this?”

  “I knew it was there. I was coming to get it.”

  Grinning, he held it out on the tip of his finger, letting it dangle as he looked her over from head to toe and at all the exposed skin in between.

  “Well, come and get it,” Mason told her with a smug grin.

  Arching a brow, Lena tilted her head back, letting her hair fall down behind her, and curving her back a little to push her bra-covered breasts forward, she walked barefoot toward him.

  Mason watched the siren in front of him walk over. He loved that she was confident and comfortable enough with him now to play. She knew she just had to crook a finger and he was hers, but right at this moment he didn’t care one little bit that she held the power.. Stopping in front of him, she reached out to take the robe but he pulled it back at the last minute, clutching it behind his back with both hands. Her eyes narrowed as she stood facing him in a little lilac bra and panty set, the woman sure did know how to buy sexy as hell lingerie. Tilting his head to the side, he pursed his lips at her. “What are you willing to give me for it?”

  Looking at his arm that now had the robe behind his back, she licked her lips and then placed her hands on her hips. She looked amazing. Over the last few months, things had started to get serious between them. From the beginning, he’d known Lena was different; he’d sensed it in his reactions to her. In the way she made him feel. Whenever she was near him, he felt her almost as if she was a part of him. As corny as it sounded, he seemed to feel her in his blood. Almost like a drug of sorts. She hummed through him and he knew when she was near.

  After the night he’d given her his house key she’d practically moved in, only going to stay at her house occasionally when she felt he needed to rest or needed some space from her. He told her she was crazy—he didn’t need space—but she didn’t believe him. Little did she know he wanted her permanently. He hadn’t dared mentioned the ‘L’ word because he still felt at times she was skittish and waiting for him to screw up somehow or leave and he knew that would just make her more tense, but he sure felt it. He knew he was in love with her, and had known for months. He’d completely involved her in his life and introduced her to his family; she was now just as much a part of them as Wendy was and he couldn’t wait until the day he could finally make that legal. Getting her to a point where she felt that he was genuine, real, and trustworthy was the biggest hurdle, but he felt they were close.

  “Now I have to give you something?” She paused. “For my robe?”

  His eyes zeroed in on her little nipples that were now getting hard and pushing against the lilac lace. “Well, technically it’s my robe.”

  Smirking, she nodded. “I suppose it is.”

  Lowering her eyes, she ran her gaze down over his white T-shirt and he knew she could see his hard-on tenting the front of his grey workout pants. Raising her eyes back to his, she smiled in a way that made him think of a cat that had just eaten a bowl of cream. Licking her lips, he watched as she slowly knelt down in front of him. His breathing started coming faster and he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

  He’d wanted a quick kiss and then figured they’d go into the kitchen to eat the soup he had cooling on the counter, but now he was thinking screw the damn
soup. Looking up at him from beneath her lashes while she sat back on her heels, her head in line with his very prominent and very hard cock, Lena gave him a seductive grin and reached out to touch him. She ran two fingers up the tented grey sweats and looked up quickly as she heard him catch his breath. When he didn’t move a muscle, she licked her bottom lip and stood herself up on her knees so her head was level with his stomach and navel. Reaching out, she gripped the sides of his sweatpants and he held his breath as she dragged them down his thick thighs that were now parted and clenched tight, holding him still. His cock sprang free because he hadn’t bothered with underwear when he’d gotten home, and she was now looking at his very naked, very hard erection. Gripping his thighs with those soft little hands, she looked up at him. He saw her breasts rising and falling in that skimpy little bra and he thought they were going to burst free.

  “So let me get this straight,” she whispered, and her warm breath floated across his cock like a caress. “I can’t have my, I’m sorry, your robe, until I give you something?”

  Swallowing deeply, he raised his eyes heavenward but still managed to clutch the robe behind his back. His bare ass was feeling the cool air but his cock was on fire. He nodded, having a feeling he was going to die from what she was about to give him. That wasn’t enough for his little temptress, though.

  “What was that?” she asked, blowing across the throbbing tip.

  Rolling his eyes and then squeezing them shut, he answered, “Yes. That’s right.”

  When he felt one of her small hands come up to grip the base of his shaft, he groaned and his eyes snapped open. He looked down at her and she smiled up at him in such a way that he knew he would do anything for her at that moment.

  “Don’t let go of the robe, Langley, or I’ll stop.”

  He blinked once and then again. He realized he was clutching the robe behind himself and that meant he couldn’t grab her hair or touch her—smart, sneaky woman. He moaned in the back of his throat as he watched her lean down and flick her tongue across the weeping tip.