Where Would I Be Without You (11 page)

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 with 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 didn't 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 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.

W
hen 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 sir
ree 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 as I pulled the chicken casserole out of the oven and set it on top of the stove.  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 back, 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 didn't 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 leaned 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 he sent me and 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.

My voice held a bit of trepidation as I said his name in question. 
"Mason?"

"Yeah love."  He grabbed both our plates
, stood up and began walking towards the sink.

"Leave those.  I will get to them later. 
You're tired.  Let's move to the couch."  I offered.

"You
sure?  I don't mind.  I can even take my shirt off."  He teased.

"As pleasant as that sounds.  I want to hear about your day."  I grabbed his hand and walked him towards my couch.  As soon as he sat down, I handed him the remote, then I offered up.  "While we are in the early stages of dating, I might offer you things like, let's say, the remote but when we get more serious, I like to have control of my own remote."  I laughed.

He looked at me straight in the face and laid a sweet gentle kiss on my lips.  The next thing I knew, the remote was back in my hand and what he said next had my heart pounding like crazy.  "We are more serious.  Don't you think?  Especially after last night."

I replied with a kiss that led to other things
.  Later that night, I fell asleep in his arms listening to him talk about cooking me dinner tomorrow.  I guess I did not have to question what last night meant to him after all.

Chapter Nine

When Saturday arrived, I was hoping we could do something fun, but the universe was against us, at least the building universe that is.  Every single resident had some funky emergency or another.  Mr. Cartwright had a plugged up
toilet; Ms. Hinckley had a pet hamster that had gotten loose and ate her TV wire.  Not a building maintenance issue, but Mason promised to fix it for her, so she could watch her three o'clock show she watched every Saturday.  I personally think the eighty-year-old woman has a thing for him, as it was the fourth call this week, that, or she was lonely.  I went with the later and realized I was the one that had the lovesick thing going with the super.  However, tenants were talking.  Every place that Mason went to fix this or that 'emergency' they asked about him and me, as in, together as a couple.  Every chance between calls he would stop by and talk to me about it.

Unfortunately, the last time he came in, we had not closed the door
, and right now, half the neighbors on my floor were out of their apartments, and peeking towards my door wondering what on earth just happened.  Then from behind Mason, while he was holding me up by my ass with my arms and legs still wrapped around him, we both heard the distinct crackly voice of Ms. Hinckley.  "Well, I guess he's off the market, and I was hoping to catch me a young one this time."

Mason and I both started to laugh as he walked
into my apartment just far enough, me in his arms, to close my door, and he whispered against my lips.  "Cats out of the bag.  I can't wait for you to meet my parents tomorrow."

While
Mason held me in his arms, I felt victorious.  That all changed Sunday morning as I was getting ready to go to Mason's parents, I felt nothing but nerves.  We were to arrive at eleven in the morning for a Sunday brunch as that is what time his parents and sisters would be back from Church.  Just the fact that I had not gone to church since Easter made me feel inadequate.  Not to mention all the ideals that Mason spoke of that was the perfect woman for him, per his father.  I had a serious case of lacking going on in my brain, and it showed as I tried on the eighth dress for the morning.  Every dress I put on was either too sexy, too matronly, or I just didn't have the right heels to go with the dress.  I finally settled on a dress that might be too slinky, but the lightweight sweater over it with three-inch heels seemed sensible.

As soon as Mason knocked on my door, I realized there was no going back into my bedroom to change again.  I had to just be ok with who I am and hope that his family likes me as much as Mason does.

I opened my door to a very sexy looking man who was in a nice pair of tan slacks, a blue silk dress shirt opened just enough buttons it felt like a teaser, that I wouldn't mind taking the shirt off.  He has such a nice chest, nice pecs, he looks so good naked - I mentally babbled in my head.

He took a few steps in and laid a sweet kiss on my lips.  "You look gorgeous."

"Not too dressed up or too... you know, sexy?"  I questioned.

"No.  Perfect.  Although, I would like to see more cleavage.  Believe
me, my sisters are no Mother Theresa when it comes to dressing.  They've got some serious Latin blood in them.  They like their curves.  Ready to go?"  He grabbed my hand as I bit my lip and looked in the direction of my bedroom.