Where Would I Be Without You (6 page)

"Mason?"  I said it while trying to look into his eyes that just made me want to shut up and let him kiss me again.

"Look.  My day is done.  I've pulled a full shift and then some, well, considering all I had to deal with last night."  He laughed lightly with a teasing note to his sentence.  "How bout we go get an early bite to eat?  Get to know each other a bit?"

I didn't have to think about it, but I wanted to put on something sexy.  Do a little
makeup and hair touch up and make sure my push-up bra was causing an after dinner enticement that Mason could not refuse.

"Give me an hour.  You know.  To put my laundry away."  I looked at him with a bit
e of my lip and pleading eyes that made his sexy smile widen on his face.

He stepped
forward, let his hand pull my chin up and kissed me lightly on the lips.  "I'll give you all the time you need.  Something tells me you are worth the wait."

Hot tamales.  Did they have a Latin lover class somewhere, because if they did
, I can assure you that boy passed with all A pluses on his report card.

One hour later, precisely, he was at my door, with a nice pair of jeans, leather loafers, a well-pressed
blue shirt slightly open and sleeves rolled up and the smell of cologne that made me want to breathe in deep.  I let him inside, with myself dressed in my bar jeans, black tank top and black push-up bra to give the girls a view.  I made sure the matching black thong did not feel left behind.  I was down to deciding on which shoes to wear.  The shoe decision might have been delayed with the smoky eye makeup and few extra curls in my hair.

He let out a low appreciation whistle while his eyes undressed the very outfit that took too long to decide on wearing.  Well not the bra and thong.  That was a quick decision.

"Wow.  Amber.  If I didn't know better, you get more gorgeous by the minute."

Ok.  Ladies.  Here is where I want to break out in song and dance, and no, I am not drunk.  I am listening to my heart pound in my ears, my chest restricting, my toes
curl, and my lovely lady spot vibrating.  Then before I could say a word, he kissed me again.  This time, we had to work together to close the door behind him as we fell against it moaning and kissing.

I pulled away first.  I could have easily pulled another
reckless love moment, but a little notion told me he wanted to know more, establish a friendship and so did I.  It was either that, or cupid just shot me with the 'stop being stupid' arrow.

He spoke up first.  "I could easily devour you here and not leave your place until morning.  However, I
have not eaten a bite all day, and I need to suffice my appetite with food.  Then I can suffice my other appetite, if you decide to invite me back for a night cap."

I had work in the morning and a huge lack of proper sleep from the previous night.  But did I say no?  No, I did not.  Who needs a good night's sleep two nights in a row when I have got my whole life ahead of me.  I reached up, gave him a quick peck, and told him I needed to grab my shoes and purse.  I decided on the easy slip off kind.  I didn't want any delays when we got back.

Chapter
Five

The pub he selected to take me
to was one of my favorites and was only five blocks away from our building.  Living in the city had its advantages, in many ways.  Getting tipsy at the local pub and needing to walk home was one of them.

Just as we walked out of the apartment building
and into the warm evening air, I felt his hand go to my back as we stepped out on the street.  With only five or six click clacks of my three-inch slip on kitten heels in red leather, with white stitching, they are very cute, trust me; I felt his hand reach for mine.  I looked down just as I let his fingers intertwine with mine, and then I looked up to his sultry colored eyes as he was already looking at me with a smile that said what I felt.  This is nice.

The five
block walk to the pub was taken in slow easy steps.  It was as if we were in no hurry to get there.  I knew he mentioned he was hungry but at the pace we were walking, and his slow easy conversation telling me about his day with the tenants in both buildings, I could have walked a mile and never stopped.  It was a great feeling to hold his hand and walk down the street in a casual pace, one that I could see us replaying this scenario many nights to come.

It was then that it hit me as he held the door open for me to the
pub, and we walked in with his hand to my lower back that I realized I needed to not muck this one up, take it slow, make it a real relationship, not a fly by night passionate thing.  That was my smart mature brain talking; however, my whohaw was thinking something totally different should be happening at the end of this evening.  The race between the two was on.  I had my bets placed on the mature relationship date, while some of the people in the pub that could not seem to take their eyes off us made me think the other would be the winner.  I caught a reflection in a mirror as we sat at a two-person bar height table and saw the romantic couple we were portraying to the world.  It was the type of love and affection couples showed each other that seemed real, not first date nervous, not I have to be here to get laid, but a sign that two people clicked.  Mason and I clicked, and with that thought, so did my neither region; it was clicking a mile a minute.  This was going to be a tough call at the end of this evening.

I decided to do what I do best when flustering feelings of fantasy take place in an inappropriate
place; I babbled a few questions out.  "So, Mason, tell me what it is like doing maintenance on the two buildings?  I mean you have told me a few interesting stories about the tenants, but I could easily see how two buildings could be a bit much for one man."

He looked me straight in the eye and made a sexual
suggestion that was more of a statement of his manhood than how he handles the building maintenance.  "I can handle a lot.  I'm very good with my hands."

I cleared my throat as I
thought of all the ways he was good with his hands.  Then I decided to ask him about working for his dad.  "So, how big of a corporation is Montahue Properties and how do you like working for your dad?"

Just
then, the waitress came up and asked us for our order.  Mason looked at me and smiled, while keeping his eyes on me, he spoke to the waitress.  Two long necks, house special, and two glasses of water; can we have some menus please."  The waitress walked off with a 'sure' and most likely didn't think twice that Mason was staring at me while talking to her, but I did, and I liked it; however, I needed to make sure of something to calm my date jitter nerves  "Is there some lipstick on my teeth or some eyelashes stuck together because you have a funny smile on your face?"

He reached over
, put his hand behind my head and pulled me in close to him for a quick kiss.  When he pulled back, I was silent as I let out a huge breath of air in pure happiness.  That is what his kisses did to me; they made me tingle, smile and sing in places on my body that liked singing during moments like this.  When he spoke up, his voice flirted with me.  "I just felt like kissing you, just as that waitress walked up.  It took all I had in me not to kiss you without telling her our order."

I
laughed, because I was queen of the distraction ploy and thought perhaps that was what he was doing.  "It was either that or you didn't want to talk about Montahue Properties or your dad."

He laughed and reached for my hand and held it on the table.  "It could be that or I'd rather not talk so much shop about me.  Kissing you seemed like a heck of a better idea.  So what's your favorite thing to eat here, I am guessing you like to eat here as you have a glass vase full of matches from this place.  Do people still collect those things?"

I laughed.  "Just me.  It started when I was a kid and wanted to know where my dad was at on a Friday or Saturday night.  I would tell him in my stubborn nine-year-old voice that he needed to prove it to me.  He knew I liked to wait up silently in my room until his shift ended, and he was safely home, so he reassured me by bringing home matches from the bar he used to get a drink at after work.  My dad's a retired cop, and he used to tell me that Friday and Saturday nights were the worst.  Brought out the weirdos in his district, and he just needed some down time before he came home around midnight.  So I started saving all the ones he remembered to bring home and when he didn't bring home I figured he forgot.  As I got older, I got wiser.  It wasn't just the bar he was having a drink at, but a lady friend or two.  I guess that is how my match collecting started."

"Ah.  Ouch.  That must have hurt."  He said it with such
compassion instead of the typical response of well some men are like that.  Although with my dad, I think it had become a lifetime habit of deciding to stay married to my mom for the sake of us girls and then when we moved out, I don't think either of them could decide to do anything different about it.  Then I felt his hand touch my face gently.

"You ok?  You kind of faded off
there, thinking of something?  Listen.  I'm sure that had to hurt knowing your dad was making a bad decision but not all good men are like that.  Not that I'm saying your dad's not a good man, it's just a bad decision to do something like that."

Could you cue in the ark angels singing
here?  Because this raised Catholic girl just found herself, a man that didn't think cheating was out of necessity or ok.  Unlike Steve and a few other guy's I knew.  "I'm ok."  I replied.  Just then, the waitress showed up with our long neck bottle beers, two waters and two menus.  I didn't want to talk about my dad, but I didn't want Mason thinking he was a jerk either, so I quickly informed him of something he needed to know.  "My dad's a great guy; you'd love him.  He is a drinker though, but he seems to have called it quits on the extracurricular junk, so please don't hold it against him when you meet him."  Oops, I just let Mason know that I was assuming he would meet my parents soon.  A bit early for that, but oh well, he seemed to be taking it in stride.

"Glad to hear he's a great guy, and that he's trying. 
What do you want to eat?  Their hot wings are spicy, but they are my favorite.  Want to share an order?"

I never picked up my menu.  I just stared in awe of him.  "Sure that would be great."  He seemed so casual about making this thing we have going
on, turning it into a relationship.  As badly as I wanted an evening nightcap, I also knew that was almost a fast track way of blowing a good thing.  When he finally looked over at me and put the menu down, I watched his hand instinctively reach out for mine, and he smiled.  What he said next about put me into a melted mess on to the floor.

"Amber Jones, you are the best thing that has happened to me in a long time.  I'm really glad I picked this building to do my
hands-on employment time and even happier that you ended up being my neighbor.  Couldn't have worked out better.  Thanks for the show the other night, by the way."  He let out a little chuckle while looking down at his beer.  When he looked back up with his sexy as sin eyes, he looked at me straight in the face and said the next thing very serious.  "Best entertainment I have had in a long time."

Without hesitation, but a bit of blushing to my face, I held up my beer to his, clinked in a
cheer's fashion and said the next thing with a dead on sexy smile to my face before I took a long drawl of the house beer.  "Right back at cha champ.  Really nice ass by the way."

He choked on a sip of his beer and started to laugh.  "About that.  How much naked did I show you?"

"All.  And if I am not mistaken, you were a bit excited to get undressed or is that his relaxed state?"  Now I was really turning the conversation to slutty.  He laughed and made a quick turnaround in the conversation.

"I guess that is why you weren't so focused on my eye color. 
Although, I was told to get some curtains up by the old lady next to you.  I guess she likes to sit with her cat in the window seat and has a view into my place as well."

"
Hmm.  That would be a terrible thing.  Putting window coverings up in your bedroom.  How would I be able to see you, you know, before you get undressed to take a shower?"  I took another sip of my beer and looked at him with a sultry smile while holding the tip of the beer bottle up to my lips.

"That can be arranged.  Sorry to
say, though, curtains are already up.  I guess I just have to remember to close them."  Then he set his bottle down on the table, reached over, and whispered into my ear.  "I don't plan on closing them anytime soon.  Just so you know."

"Hmm.  That's a good thing."  Then I took a deep breath in and out, realizing that in all this time in the bar, it felt like we were the only two people in
the room.  I liked that.  I liked that feeling a lot.  I wasn't worried about who was looking at me, was my hair ok, was the cute guy at the bar looking at me, or Marion.  Usually, men were looking at Marion.

By the time the food came, we had settled into an easy conversation about our lives.  I told him about my
job as an administrative assistant of the production line down at Crawley's, and my mother's aspirations for me to go to college, any college, any course, just to say I had a degree.  He told me about his business degree from CU Boulder and that his dad had great plans for him, yet he kept alluding to what they were.  Therefore, I talked about Marion and her husband Carl, and I gleamed over her pregnancy.  I talked about my aunt Heather, who is a perpetual party girl even in her forties, never married, no kids and how she says she doesn't need them when she has me as her favorite niece to spoil.  Mason told me about his two sisters already married with kids, yet he was the oldest of the four kids, and his youngest sister just finished up her first year in college.  It felt as if we could talk on and on all night, but we didn't.