Exquisite (32 page)

"Bitten by the love bug?
Really? Could these writers’s 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 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 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 from it 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."

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. "Ok, how about sexy as sin."

Lena felt her thighs tremble as he
finally connected those
magic
lips to hers. She opened to him
immediately and let his tongue slide inside. 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 more hot.
Sizzling
hot.

"I don't know if I'm sick but
you sure as hell have everything to do with my temperature issues."

"Oh yeah?"

"For sure."

Stroking a finger down her cheek he
turned then looked 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 his eyes traveled down her jean clad legs and back
up to her tight purple cowl neck sweater, 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 smelt 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,
More Than A Feeling
blaring through the
house and 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 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 it.

"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 defended 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
peeled 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 girl’s 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 up 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 learnt 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 8pm. She’d left the
hospital at around 7.15pm and made the trip down to see Carly, then come home.
She’d been going down to visit her on her own now for the past three months. At
first it’d been difficult and nerve wracking 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 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, trust
them
and so far it’d been
close to perfect and if she was honest, that was what scared her the most. She
kept waiting for the punch line,
at her expense
.

"I saw the Tipton's
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 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, another case 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 completely melt 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 warehouse, his bedroom.
Although technically she could probably call it their bedroom, with the amount
of time she spent there, it wasn't official yet so she still referred to it as
his. Stripping off her skirt then top she made her way into the big 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.
They 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 they all sat down and had 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 half her life, 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
out into the bedroom about to grab the robe off the foot of the bed and found
Mason standing there holding it.

"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."

Arching a brow Lena tilted her head
back letting her hair fall down behind her, and pushing her bra covered breasts
forward she walked barefoot towards 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 a bit. 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 a sexy as
hell lingerie set.
Tilting his head to the side he pursed his lips at her.
"What are you willing to give me for it?"

Looking at the arm that now had the
robe behind his back she licked her lips 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 like 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, had known for months. He’d completely
involved her 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
trust worthy 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 sweat pants. Raising her eyes back to his she smiled at him
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
to go out into the kitchen and eat the soup he now 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, she 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 sweat
pants and he held his breath as she dragged them down his thick thighs that
were now straddled and clenched tight holding him still. His cock sprang free,
because he hadn't bothered with underwear when he’d got 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 tiny 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?"