Common Sense Doesn't Become Me (11 page)

He took a second as his eyes stared at me
seriously, almost afraid of what I wanted to talk about. Then he
piped up. "Sure. What about?"

"Us. You. I need you to tell me things about
you, so I don't listen to this internal voice that you are too good
to be true." My voice was pleading with him, as he confidently
answered me.

"Well then. It is I, who thinks that you are
too good to be true, but sure. Let's head to my place; I'll cook us
up a decent dinner, and you can ask me anything you want." He
followed that up with a kiss that left me struggling with my inner
fun girl as I drove my car all the way back to his apartment. It
wasn't until I was parked, and he was walking me up to his
building, hand in hand, that I realized that I had to go with my
gut on this one. He is a good guy.

Chapter Eight

Well, he is not a good
guy; he's a great one. That thought echoed in my brain as I sat at
his kitchen counter on a barstool, I watched him chop up a salad
for us, while he had two chicken breast cooking on the stove, in
some sauce that smelled to die for.

"You know." I started to tease. "Doing dishes
for a woman is one thing, but cooking for her takes it up a whole
other level."

"Do you need me to do this with my shirt off
too?" He teased as he looked over at me with just the right amount
of seduction to his face that I almost answered yes.

"That might make us jump to date number
seven, tonight." I took a sip of white wine that he poured for me,
because there was some truth to what I said. Just watching him
cook, with the way his ass looked in his jeans, and his cowboy
boots gave him a rugged sexy appeal, triple ah!

He put down his knife that he was using to
cut tomatoes, walked over to me and gently brushed my hair behind
my ear. He let his lips drop to mine for a soft kiss and when he
pulled back, he shocked me with what he said next. "As bad as I
want to make this date seven, and the fact that I wish we never set
a number, and we just let nature take its course; I know that we
both want something more here. Besides, you have not started asking
me questions. I thought I might be barraged with at least a few by
now. Instead, you have sat in my kitchen, looking at me like I need
to undress you and make you feel every bit the woman you are."

Oh swoon. I let out that ah sound, and he
laughed and walked back over to cutting tomatoes. I took a big swig
of wine, not very lady like, but I needed some courage. Once I
swallowed, Mason got his questions shot out at him like a tennis
ball practice machine in overdrive.

"So what made you want to stay with the
family business? What were your last serious girlfriends like? What
was this about Internet search on me, and can we do one on you
tonight? What is your family like? Your mother? Your sisters?
You've mentioned your dad is kind of hard on you, how so? How is it
you and Carl already know each other?" I would have gone on, but
the look on his face was priceless.

"Say again. What was your first question?" He
laughed.

"Ok. Tell me about your family." I put my
hands folded together under my chin and leaned my elbows on his
island countertop as I stared at him with intent.

By the time we finished eating, I knew more
about him than most men I have ever dated. He is the oldest of four
kids, and his Catholic family wanted him married off to a nice
Catholic girl years ago. His father preferred he married someone
like his sisters, educated and employed in prestige positions; his
mother just wanted him happy and in love. His sisters just wanted
another sister and some more babies to go around. His dad was hard
on him and rarely showed appreciation. We laughed about my mom
being the same with me, and that it must be a first-born child
thing. I found out that his last two girlfriends were a bit on the
stalker side; one actually called him every hour on the hour. Now,
he will not take a girl to meet his family until he does a
background check. He never got around to how he knows Carl, because
by the time we talked about him doing a background check on me, he
had his laptop in front of me and his name in a search engine
program that one must purchase. He told me to hit the return button
as he had already typed in his vital information.

I spent the next twenty minutes reading some
interesting things on Mason Montahue. He is quite the delectable
young man. Had a few strange posts on line but what person doesn't.
Had a YouTube video of him singing that he had begged a friend not
to post, which was why he refused to do a song with me at the bar
earlier this evening. I will not be asking that of him again. By
the time I looked over at him doing the dishes in his kitchen,
while whistling, I realized I was more in love with the man I just
read about and waiting a few more days were not necessary.

When he finally turned to my staring, he
leaned against his kitchen counter and smiled. "This was fun."

"Yes it was." I looked at him as a hungry
lion looks at a piece of meat.

"I know that look Amber." He walked towards
me and as soon as he got within reach, I practically slammed my
body against him. His mouth tasted like wine; his lips tingled
against mine, and my body was cooing a song that had me ignoring
all 'let's be smart about this' signs.

Mason was the first to pull away from the
kiss. He stepped back, ran his hands through his hair and gave me a
sideways glance. "I don't want to wait until our seventh date." His
pleas were begging me; I was begging me, and I thought what the
hell, it was only a number.

I looked over at the clock, and the night was
young, numbers were numbers, and I knew more about him than most
men that I slept with, not to mention; he knew just as much about
me. I let the one-word roll off my lips that gave him the go-ahead
sign, and things were going to progress from there; I was sure of
it. "Yes!"

As soon as our lips met again, clothes flew
to the side of us, skin was being touched and not much else was
said verbally, yet all the physical parts were spot on. It was as
if we were made for each other, knew what each one liked and
responded accordingly to each other.

Within the hour, we laid next to each other,
somehow in his bed, not quite remembering how we got there,
breathing hard just two naked bodies lying next to each other and
only thing touching were hands.

I spoke up first. "Wow." Because that was how
I felt. Not to compare to other men, but I did. Mason had me
figured out, or maybe; he just knew how to please me so well that I
did not think it got any better than it did.

"Wow is one word to describe it all. You are
fantastic." Then he rolled to his side and propped himself up as he
lowered his lips down to mine and kissed me. I felt his hand wander
over parts of my body briefly, and then he pulled back while
looking into my eyes. "You ok? You know. That we didn't wait."

"I'm good. I didn't know if I could hold out
much longer. I think if we had tried, we might have exploded." I
laughed.

"I was waiting out of respect. I respect you
Amber. You're fantastic." He kissed me again and then rolled off to
the side of me. Just hearing him say that ballooned my heart ten
times, even though, deep down, a small part of me worried that
since we didn't wait, he might have lost respect and could find
ways to think twice about what we were building.

That thinking, that once Mason and I had made
love that he would just want to dump me and move on was lingering
in my brain every second now. He must have sensed something as his
words and actions of encouragement of there being an us carried on
through the rest of the evening. Later that night, he walked me to
my apartment, kissed me good night in a way that told me this did
not end here tonight.

When I got home on Thursday from work, after
worrying because I had not heard from him all day, I was greeted
with a very stinky and slimy looking super in a work flannel shirt,
work pants and rubber boots. He was holding a mop and bucket. The
first words out of his mouth brought relief to my ears even though
they shouldn't have.

"I had to deal with a backed-up sewer issue
down in my apartment building. Cracked sewer pipe. Stuff no man
wants to see, smell or clean up. I have been dealing with a
plumbing contractor all day. I was just coming to this building to
get another mop and bucket, when I thought maybe you might be home
and want to know why I have not texted back all day. It's been a
real crapper today, literally."

I tried not to laugh as I pinched my nose,
but I did. I finally got out the words when the sorrowful look on
his face told me he needed a little TLC. "I'll make you dinner. You
go finish up and by all means wash up, and I'll be here
waiting."

He started to reach in to kiss me, but I took
a few steps back, opened my eyes to huge round circles and almost
screamed out. "No sirree buddy. You stink. Hurry up. Wash up! And
I'll be here." As soon as he took the step back out of my doorway
into the hall, I quickly slammed the door shut before he answered.
Whatever he had been cleaning all day obviously got on his work
boots and the smell soaked into his clothes, because he stank. I
heard him yell behind the door. "Thanks love. See you in a
bit."

Thanks love. See you in a bit. Those few
words, especially the first two replayed in my head several times
while I danced around the kitchen pulling a dinner together. I
opened a bottle of red wine and let it sit. I dashed into my room
and put on some sexy lingerie under a tight blue tee shirt and a
pair of fresh jeans. I slipped on a pair of four-inch heels in
leopard print. I was being sexy. Then I freshened up my makeup, put
on a pair of cute earrings and a gold necklace all while thinking
of those few words he shouted through the door.

Forty-five minutes later, a freshly showered
Mason stood knocking on my door. He had a six-pack of bottled beer
in his hand and a smile on his face that told me he was thankful I
had dinner waiting for him. "Smells good." He took a whiff in the
air as he stepped inside. I closed the door behind him and took the
beer out of his hands.

"Want to eat in front of the TV or at the
table?" I offered.

"Let's eat at the table." He followed me into
the kitchen where I put the beer in the refrigerator, pulling one
out for each of us, figuring the wine could set for later. I set
the beers on the table, and as I turned to pull the chicken
casserole out of the oven to set it on top of the stove, I heard
the distinct sound of the beer bottles being opened. As soon as I
closed the oven door and laid the hot pads off to the side, his
arms were wrapped up around behind me, and he was kissing my
neck.

"What a day. That smells really good. You
smell really good. If I wasn't so hungry for food, I would start
with you." I turned in his arms, wrapped my arms around his neck,
and laid a huge kiss on his lips.

When I pulled backward, I could not hold back
the earlier fears that I held in all day. "I worried when you
didn't text me back today. I did not want to be a stalker
girlfriend, but I wondered how your day was going. Seeing you
standing there after I got home, I won't doubt what kind of day you
had. Sorry about slamming the door, you stank. You smell nice now."
I pressed my lips against his neck and took a quick smell of his
freshly showered skin, and then I dropped a kiss on his neck.

When I pulled back, he had his hands wrapped
up in my hair and a look in his sultry eyes that made me want to
dive right in. It was a serious look, and his voice spoke just the
same. "This job is going to have some crazy moments. Believe me
when I say I am counting the days to wearing a suit and tie again,
but if I don't text back, it's not because I don't want to. You
don't know how good it felt to know I was coming back here, freshly
showered to a home-cooked meal." Then he let his lips drop to mine,
and our tongues quickly got involved as they felt a bit left out.
When we finished kissing, I pulled back and looked into his
eyes.

"Anytime you want; I'll cook you a
home-cooked meal." I kissed him quickly and then turned to shut off
the buzzer that was now sounding off loudly throughout the tiny
kitchen.

By the time I finished watching him polish
off three servings, I had only eaten a small portion of casserole
and a huge glass of water. I was not hungry all day because I was
thinking about him and our time together last night. Every time I
looked over at the flowers that he sent me and there was no text
back, I worried. As I sat in my kitchen watching him eat rapidly, I
realized I had worried myself for nothing. I had to realize that he
had a job that can give him some freedom here and there but could
also make a day go crazily awry. That thought made me think about
what our time would be like when I started these online courses. I
needed at least eight hours a week to complete the schooling and
log on for tests. I was good at time management and could see it
working, although doing course work seemed so boring compared to
being with Mason. Then I wondered how busy his job as an executive
would be. Carl's had him working long hours and some weekends.
Marion was accepting of it as I was her tagalong pal, but would
I?

He looked up from his last bite with a
satisfied smile on his face. "I can hear you thinking hard over
there. Your dinner was delish by the way. Not as tasty as you."
Then he leaned in and pulled my head in close for a kiss. That kiss
eased away all the worrisome thinking I was doing just a minute
ago.

"Don't mind me. I had a busy day as well. I
was a little worried when you didn't text me back. You know since
we got ahead of ourselves last night."

"We did. Didn't we." His dimple smile crept
wide as his eyes enlarged. I was sure his thoughts were thinking
about how well we got ahead of ourselves last night. I know my mind
quickly went back to the memories of our naked skin and the way we
interacted so well together. It wasn't sex. It was lovemaking, and
it was a bit scary how surreal it felt.