Exquisite (16 page)

She smiled too and bit his bottom
lip gently. “Make me beg.”

He brought his free hand up and
tugged on one of her wet nipples and finally he slid his other finger under the
leg of her panties. She groaned loudly when she felt it slide back and forward
though her wetness, teasing her clitoris with each pass. She shut her eyes and
heard him groan. “Damn Lena, you’re fucking dripping.”

Swallowing she pushed against his
hand and finally she felt his finger slide inside her. Her eyes flew open and
locked with his as he pulled the same finger out then slid it in again. He
smirked at her. “Good?”

Licking her top lip she nodded then
reached down to grab his other hand. She brought it up to her mouth and when he
pushed inside her again she sucked his other finger into her mouth deeply. He
bumped his hips up against her.

“Fuck.” he muttered and leaned down
to take her mouth. He slid his tongue deep inside her as he pushed his finger
in and out between her slippery folds. Groaning against his mouth she felt him
hitch her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he wedged her against
the wall and fucked her with his fingers. Panting harder she wrapped her arms
around his neck and felt him take one of her nipples into his mouth right when
he pushed two thick fingers into her. She screamed and clamped down hard
against his hand crushing him against her breasts as the orgasm washed over
her.

L
ena woke the next morning with a killer hangover.
She winced as the sun streamed into her room and across her pillow. Groaning
she moved over on the bed and ran into something solid. She froze,
please no
please no
, but as she turned her head slowly there he was lying beside her
with his head nestled into one of her pillows.
How had this happened?
The last thing she remembered was their huge fight then him pulling her aside
and blowing her mind on the stairs. After that there was nothing. Again, she
looked over at him, very careful not to make any sudden moves that might wake
him. He was lying on his back, and his hair was so dark against her white
pillow she almost reached out to touch it. She bit her lip and pulled her hand
back to her chest clutching the sheet tight. His eyes were closed, and she
noticed those long sooty lashes against his cheek. He truly was an absolutely
breathtaking man. Scooting over she was about to get out of bed when his eyes
opened and locked onto hers. He didn’t move, just stayed right where he was, as
though she’d invited him.
For all she knew, maybe she had.

“Good morning Lena.” he said in a
low gravely voice.

“Ahh..morning.”  she watched
as he lifted an arm and casually draped it over his head giving her an amazing
view of his bicep as it flexed and the soft hair springing out from under.
Dragging her eyes up to his face again she saw him watching her.

“Where were you going?”

Arching a brow at him she asked,
“Have you forgotten you’re in my bed?” pausing for a moment she then rushed on,
“Actually.
Why
are you in my bed?”

With his other hand he lazily
scratched his chest then grinned. “You invited me.”

Lena’s mouth fell open and she
shook her head. “I find that very hard to believe Langley. Especially after,”
she paused.

“Especially after our fight?” he
asked.

“Yes. The last thing I remember is
you,” she stopped clutching the sheet tighter.

“Me?”

“You know what you did.”

Finally he moved to sit up against
the headboard so she scooted back a little and a laugh escaped him.

“A little to late for that now
don’t you think?”

She looked at the sheet that had
fallen into his lap and all of the naked chest that was now on display. “I
don’t remember anything after the stairs.”

As she watched a grin pull up on
his mouth, his dimples crept out. “You do remember what happened on the stairs
though?”

Lena felt a flush spread over her
body and nodded.

“Then everything went blank you
say?” he asked running a hand through his hair.

“Stop being so mysterious Langley
and tell me how we ended up back at my place, in bed!” she demanded,
embarrassed to hear her voice hitting close to hysterical.

Reaching down he lifted the sheet
and flung it off himself. Lena averted her head quickly, which seemed slightly
immature, but at this point she didn’t care. Then she caught a flash of black
as he walked around the side of the bed and stopped an inch from her in a pair
of black silk boxers.

 Mason watched as she looked
up at him with wide eyes and lots of questions. He reached out and pushed a
stray curl behind her ear. “Nothing happened doctor, relax. I’m not naked,
you’re not naked.”

“We might as well be!” she pointed
out, “You’re all..” and she waved her hand up and down at him.

“In boxers.” then bending down at
the waist so they were nose to nose he grinned, “And you’re in a little black
thong.”

Blushing and holding the sheet
tighter to herself he grinned then stood walking over to the window. “Anyway,
lets focus on the real issue here. You must’ve had to much to drink and after
you went off, like fireworks on the Fourth of July, you passed out.”

“Please tell me you’re lying.”

“I wish I could but...”  he
shrugged. “Then Shelly told me your address and I drove you home.”

“That still doesn’t explain how
you’re in my bed. Why didn’t you just drop me off then leave?”

Stretching his long arms above his
head he heard her move behind him and knew she was reaching for a shirt. “Well
I put you down on the bed and was about to leave when you reached out and asked
me to stay. So I did.”

He turned back to face her and
noticed she looked appalled, which for some reason made him want to crawl back
into that bed and do what she thought they had, but instead of doing that he
leaned against the window and crossed his arms and legs. “Don’t worry Lena all
the exciting stuff happened on the stairs.”

“That’s not the point.” she
mumbled.

“Then what is?”

Sputtering she tried to come up
with a good answer then she blew out a breath making a curl flop forward in her
face. She must’ve been annoyed by that because she reached up and pushed the
offending strand behind her ear. Almost reluctantly she raised her eyes to his
again.

“So ah, what happened with
Delicious
?”

He arched a brow at her and
smirked. “So you do remember bits and pieces?”

Visibly she stiffened then snapped
at him. “I told you I did.”

“So you did,” he nodded then pushed
off the window to stand straight. “I won’t know until the article comes out on
Monday but right after you passed out I called Peter and asked him if we could
do a phone interview. He agreed and I called him after I got you safely in
bed.”

Groaning loudly she flopped back on
the bed her hair fluffing out behind her as she threw her arm over her eyes.
“God Mason! This is a disaster.”

Taking her arm away and turning her
head toward him she muttered, “I’m a disaster.”

He walked over and crouched down
beside her. She’d shut her eyes so he reached out and stroked a finger down her
cheek watching them spring back open. “I was comparing you more to a train
wreck, but same conclusion.”

She grimaced then asked softly,
“Then why are you still here?”

Lena couldn’t believe she’d asked
him that. She shouldn’t even care why he was here
or
if he was going to
stay but suddenly it seemed vital to her very existence to know.

“I have no idea. You really messed
up last night.”

Although she didn’t like hearing it
she knew he was right. She also knew he was half naked and very close. Pulling
her hand out from under the sheet she reached out to stroke his chest. “I told
you I wasn’t good at this.”

He laughed softly, “Yeah but you
didn’t say you’d been the downfall of my career.”

Her eyes widened and he wrapped a
curl around his finger, “I’m just kidding. I’m sure it wont be that bad.
Although I’d love to be there when you finally meet up with Shelly again.”

Lena sighed then sat up as he
walked away and she found she missed him being close to her. She froze when she
saw him in front of her dresser, he reached out and picked up the picture of
Carly and herself. He turned to face her with a smile and when his eyes met
hers it disappeared. She felt the blood drain away from her face and all her
walls shifting back into place. Suddenly last night disappeared and any
pleasure she’d been feeling was suffocated by a heavy dose of guilt mixed with
pain. Even though she knew it was coming she flinched when he asked.

“Who’s this in the picture with
you?”

Mason knew he was walking through a
minefield with the way Lena was frozen and barely breathing. Somehow the moment
had gone from warm and almost, dare he say, tender? To arctic cold. He watched
her eyes go from his face to the frame in his hand then back up to his face.
He’d never had anyone look at him with such an icy glare, but suddenly the room
was frigid.

“None of your business.” she
answered coolly.

Okay, whoever this girl was,
obviously it was a huge no go zone because suddenly he felt like he needed to
dive back under the covers to warm up, or hide.
Turning he placed the frame
back then walked around the side of the bed he’d slept in. He bent down and
picked up his clothes looking over to see that Lena hadn’t moved an inch. She
didn’t so much as spare him a glance as he walked around the bed, clothes in
hand to, the door.

“I’m going to walk out this door
right now.” he paused and even though he had no indication as to whether or not
she was listening he added, “This isn’t done though. Whatever it is you’re
thinking, and whatever walls you’re trying to put up, don’t even think about
it. I’m here to stay, you don’t get to kick me out yet.” and with that he left
her sitting in the middle of her huge white bed, alone. Exactly the way she seemed
to want it.

Lena sat staring at the dresser in
absolute silence. She knew it was absolute because she’d just heard the front
door slam signaling Mason’s departure. She couldn’t have explained what she was
feeling at that moment if her life had depended on it. She’d been on her way to
trying her luck at inviting Mason back to bed, to continue what they’d started
last night, when everything had gotten flipped upside down. Taking a deep
breath she pushed the covers off walking over to the dresser. Picking up the
picture he’d been holding, not five minutes earlier, she stared at the two
happy people in it. It felt like a lifetime ago, and it was, Carly’s life. She
knew she’d been horribly rude to him about the photograph but she just hadn’t
been ready to let him in, an honestly she didn’t know if she ever would be, and
that was a damn shame. Putting the picture back in its place Lena made her way
over to the bathroom. She splashed her face with cold water then looked at
herself in the mirror.
What the hell was the matter with her?
Here she
had a funny, gorgeous guy, who for some reason kept coming back when she
continually screwed things up, and she couldn’t find it in her to let him in.
Not having any idea what Mason Langley saw in her she was thinking that maybe
she needed to squash whatever it was before he got in deeper and she squashed
his heart instead.

Mason was standing in the small
coffee shop he’d seen down on the corner of Lena’s street, still trying to
decide what the hell had just happened back there. Things had been going well
until the picture. Obviously it represented something important, he just had no
idea what.
Maybe it was a friend of hers who’d screwed her over? Maybe it
was her sister who she no longer talked to and didn’t want to explain, hell he
had no clue
. He got to the counter ordered two coffees to go and two
blueberry muffins. All he knew was she thought he was going home and leaving
her alone, but she was in for a rude surprise. She’d invited him to go for a
run today and he was going to hold her to that promise whether she wanted to or
not. Grabbing up the small white paper sack with the muffins he balanced the
coffee tray and headed back to the war zone.

Not twenty minutes after Mason left
Lena heard a loud knock on her front door. She’d tied her hair up in a ponytail
and brushed her teeth then gone back to her bedroom and thrown on some grey
yoga pants. Rubbing her eyes she made her way to the door. Yawning once she
didn’t bother checking who was on the other side before she flung it open,
that
would teach her.
“I thought you left.” she watched as he looked her over.

“I told you I was leaving for the
moment. You and I have a running date, incase you’ve forgotten.” he paused then
raised the tray of coffee, “Plus I bought you coffee.”

“I don’t want a coffee. I want you
to leave.” she snapped at him.

Pushing his way off the door jamb
he stood tall and looked down at her. Lena tilted her head back still holding
the door blocking half the entrance.

“This can be easy Lena, or it can
be hard. Your choice.”

Clenching her jaw she took a deep
breath. He was being stubborn and that was not helping her in the slightest.
Why couldn’t he be like the guy she’d originally thought he was and just shrug
and walk away?
When had he turned into a stubborn wall of pain in the ass?

“Do you enjoy hanging around women
who don’t want you?”

He rolled his eyes at her latest
attempt of,
mean
. “We both know that statement is a lie and if you were
a wooden boy your nose would be ten feet long.”

She felt a crack in her defense as
her lip twitched. “I would hope you wouldn’t be having this conversation with a
wooden boy.”