Exquisite

by Ella Frank

  “Ah, the lovely Lena,” he acknowledged as he moved around the hostess stand. Lena watched as two of the women sitting in the waiting area looked at him and stopped mid-conversation. She couldn’t believe she was standing there preparing voluntarily to eat dinner with him. What on earth had possessed her to do this? Then he smiled down at her and his damn dimples appeared. Sneaky, she thought, knowing he had just answered her question for her. Oh well; no need to be anything other than what she’d been from the start, and with that self-reminder, Lena grimaced a little.

  “Save the charm, Romeo. I don’t want it and I certainly don’t need it.”

  “Lena? That’s where I think you’re wrong.” He paused. “If anyone could benefit from some charm, it’d be you.”

  Lena watched him as he turned to the hostess, trying to decide if the smug bastard had just complimented or insulted her. She decided it had to be a veiled insult because that’d been their weapon of choice from the very beginning. After conversing with the woman behind the stand, he turned back to her and inclined his head a little.

  “Well, come on through and I’ll show you to our table.”

  Lena heard one of the women behind her sigh and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the absurdity of their simpering. Mason caught her look and raised his eyebrows as if to ask, what? As if he didn’t know what the two sighing idiots behind her were thinking. She brushed past him muttering, “Oh, I bet you’re loving this.” She heard him chuckle as he followed her. He led them through the main dining room over to frosted entry. As she stopped, he moved around her to push one of the doors open to the kitchen. He kept it like that with his hip as she raised an eyebrow at him.

  “We’re eating in the kitchen?”

  “No,” he stated, and cautiously walked through the bustling activity going on back there. Just remember she told herself, the sooner I arrive, the sooner I can leave.

  There were waiters running in and out a door at the far end. Three men behind a stainless steel pass, where a series of grills lined the back wall, were tossing food in fry pans and yelling at each other, all the while smiling and going about their business like a well-oiled machine. Over in another corner Lena spotted a short lady in a bright purple chef smock and a hot pink bandana. The lady glanced right at them, grinned, and then winked at Mason. Great. Another groupie in our midst, Lena thought, looking back up at Mason.

  “So if not here, where?”

  He walked down the aisle directly in front of him and then made a left turn. Lena followed until they finally came to a standstill in a narrow hall. He leaned against the wall facing her as she paused on the opposite side. She looked at the closed door and then back at him. “So we’re eating in there?”

  He nodded and then grinned. “Yep.”

  Trying not to look at him as though he was the most idiotic man on the planet, she asked, “Let me get this straight. I left my office to come down here and eat dinner in your office?”

  Lena stepped back as he pushed himself off the wall and moved toward her. Taking two steps forward, he was so close that his shirt brushed the front of hers. She sucked in a quick breath and stood with her back pushed up against the wall. Oh man did he smell amazing. However, not one to be intimidated, she tilted her head up to face him and watched as the left side of his mouth pulled up in a smirk.

  “Do you ever have anything nice to say?” he asked, his voice dipping down low enough to make Lena’s pulse pick up. She swallowed once, trying not to notice the way his tone was slowly melting her resistance.

  “What can I say?” she paused, licked her bottom lip, then continued, “You bring out the best in me.”

  Leaning down even closer to her, he moved aside at the last moment to push open the office door, but not soon enough that she didn’t feel the warmth of his breath as it ghosted across her cheek. When she managed to catch her breath, she moved past him and heard him say, “Now why do I doubt that?”

  Mason watched as she marched into his office, still stiff as a board. For a moment there, he’d noticed her eyes widen and her breath catch when he’d moved in a little closer than necessary. He wondered whether it was because she couldn’t stand the thought of him touching her or if it was because she wanted him to touch her. Somehow, he thought, looking at her expression as she stopped in front of his desk, he concluded it was the former.

  Just to irritate her further, he smiled wide and walked in, shutting the door with a definite click as the lock sounded. He noticed her eyes narrow on his hand, and then she turned back around and took a seat in the chair opposite his. Walking around his desk, he sat down as she took inventory of his office. Sure, this wasn’t what he’d originally planned. He had only come here to grab his jacket at first. However, when she’d turned on the snotty attitude he’d changed his mind and thought, let the games begin.

  “So do you conduct all your first dates in such a formal manner, Mason?” she asked, bringing her gaze back to rest on him. “Or in here, would you prefer me to call you Mr. Langley?”

  Rocking back on his chair, Mason laughed and watched her as she put her purse down on the floor. “Oh, so you do have a sense of humor hiding somewhere under that suit of armor?”

  “I was actually being serious but I think I’ll stick with Langley. Mr. implies you’re a gentleman.” She paused. “Suit of armor?”

  He looked her over from head to toe. “You know? That outfit was designed to deter me from seeing you as a woman. Buttoned up from waist to neck and pants covering any skin available.” He paused and then sat forward. “I hate to be the one to break it to you, Lena, but it does the exact opposite. It just makes me want to know what’s under there and how I can get to it,” he told her, shocked to discover that was exactly what he wanted to find out.

  Lena had made a promise to herself that there was no way she would ever sleep with Mason Langley. However, as she sat there with her legs crossed and a desk between them, she felt an ache start to form deep down between her thighs. His words, spoken in that deep honeyed tone, slid right under her skin and kept playing on repeat as she stared at him, speechless.

  As the silence seemed to echo through the small space, she realized he was waiting for her to say something. Finally pulling herself together, she swallowed, trying to moisten her dry throat and instead of acknowledging his seductive comment, she blurted out, “I Googled you.”

  He sat back, bringing his left foot up to rest his ankle on his right knee. “Did you? Well, I guess you have me at a disadvantage. I don’t even know your last name.”

  For a moment, Lena stared at him in shock and then felt her face morph to disbelief that he didn’t know her last name and that she’d never told him! Wouldn’t it have been on the flowers? Actually, now that she thought of it, the flowers had been sent to ‘Lena Floor 6 - University Hospital. After all, her mom and dad were hardly going to call her Dr. O’Donnell. So here she was sitting in a tiny room—make that a tiny locked room—on a date with a man who hadn’t even asked her last name. The sooner I arrive, the sooner I can leave, she repeated to herself.

  “Is that really a requirement for you? Obviously it isn’t that important since you still don’t know it.”

  Expecting some kind of apology, Lena was shocked when he shrugged. “No. I don’t care either way.” Before she could come back with an equally degrading reply, he went on. “So what did you learn from Google, Lena?” Sitting back in the chair again, he watched her with laughter in his eyes.

  “I figured out that there are at least thirty-three very unintelligent women roaming the streets of Chicago,” she finally grinned at him, and he abruptly stopped rocking on his chair.

  He sat up straight and rested his long forearms on the desk. She couldn’t help but glance at them as she looked back up to meet his steady gaze. He smiled slowly and his dimples appeared.

  “I don’t know what you mean by that but from the unholy grin on your face, it had to be a great insult. I’m just sorry I don’t understand.”
<
br />   Standing up, he came around to the front of the desk and leaned back to rest against it.

  “Maybe you should Google it?” she told him almost gleefully.

  Moving quickly he leaned down and grabbed the sides of the chair she was sitting in, bringing them almost nose-to-nose. “Maybe you should tell me your last name,” he demanded in a tone hinting at his growing frustration.

  Losing the grin, Lena stared right back at him. “Why?”

  “Don’t you think I deserve to know who insults me?”

  Lena held his stare and narrowed her eyes. “You could’ve found out my name from the flower store you delivered from, and yet you still don’t know. Maybe I was right all along and you really can’t read or apparently ask questions?”

  She felt his hands grip the chair tighter and watched his jaw clench as he stood and spun away from her, running a hand through his hair.

  “You’re so infuriating!” He turned back to face her and drew his hands up, palms facing forward, and he was shocked to notice they were shaking – this woman made him crazy. “I surrender. You win. You’re much better at this than I am.”

  “Better at what?” she asked, feeling her chest tighten. She’d been trying to get away from him all night and now that she knew that mission was accomplished, she didn’t feel as victorious as she thought she would.

  “This ice you have.” Pausing, he shook his head, narrowing his eyes. “This meanness you spit out without even blinking.” He took a deep shuddering breath of defeat. “This isn’t me. It’d probably be best if you leave.”

  Standing up, Lena took her purse and walked toward him. Stopping in front of him, she felt her heart squeeze, then grimaced slightly.

  “That’s not a bad thing, Langley.” With that, she turned and walked out the door.

  Throwing her purse onto the couch, Lena made her way to her wine cabinet. She pulled out a bottle of merlot and sat down, pouring herself a glass. Kicking off her heels, she closed her eyes for a moment. Maybe you should tell me your last name. His voice kept repeating itself over and over the whole way home. She couldn’t begin to understand why she cared so much that he’d kicked her out, but she did.

  She took a sip of the wine and sighed. She was beyond tired. Her head was throbbing and all she wanted was a hot shower. Standing up, she walked down the hall, wine in hand, and flicked on the bathroom light. Placing the half-empty glass on the counter, she started to get undressed. Pulling the clip from her hair, she watched as it tumbled down in waves to the curve of her back. Looking in the mirror, she grimaced at her reflection. She really did look like she was wearing a suit of armor. Her blouse was a high-neck collar that buttoned all the way up. It just makes me want to know what’s under there and how I can get to it. Sighing, Lena reached out, grabbed the glass, and downed the rest of the wine. The man was so annoying! Even when he wasn’t here he was in her head being totally offensive.

  Oh, but he was so totally appealing in every other way. She placed the glass back down and undressed. Turning on the shower, she stepped in and let the spray slide over her flesh. Taking the sponge, she lathered it up and started to run it up her arms. She found herself thinking about Mason’s long arms when he’d placed them on his desk and imagined how good it would feel to have him wet and naked behind her in the shower with those same arms wrapped around her from behind, knowing they would be long enough to let that big hand slide down her tummy to between her thighs. No! She refused to allow Langley to be her fantasy. Oh, he’d just love that, the smug bastard, she thought, and finished washing herself with quick efficiency.

  When Mason got home, he headed straight to bed, flopping down on it with a sigh. He watched his fan spin above him and tried to work out what the hell had happened tonight. He’d known from the start that the date was not going to be the usual. He had not, however, expected it to turn into a colossal fuck up. It had gone from the both of them launching insults at one another, to her unexpected show of humor, to him losing his temper and kicking her out.

  He raised his arm up to rest across his forehead and thought back to their conversation. She was such a prickly woman that he didn’t even really understand how he’d managed to piss her off so badly. Oh well, he thought, and closed his eyes, it wasn’t as if he went into the evening thinking it would go well.

  What was bothering him, though, was that moment right before she left, when her guard came down. She had softened up a little and he saw another side to the woman she was trying so hard to project. It was a pity it had taken him telling her to go away for her finally to show up.

  Chapter Five

  The next day Lena made a point to be early to work and instead of going to the cafeteria, she went straight up to her office. She sat down and looked at the Post-its on her desk with messages and numbers on them for callbacks. She hadn’t slept well at all. Once she’d finally managed to doze off, she’d woken up in the midst of the same gut-wrenching nightmare she always had. She knew she needed to get a shrink, or at the very least talk to someone about it, but the whole idea of sitting down and confessing to someone that she was an emotional wreck from being the one who was driving the night of her sister’s death, made her want to jab her eyes out with a hot poker.

  Just as she was about to get up and grab a coffee, her phone rang. She glanced over, saw Shelly’s extension, and picked up the phone.

  “So, are we feeling nice and relaxed today?” Shelly inquired – ever so sweetly.

  Leaning back in her chair, Lena shut her eyes and thought back to last night. “No. I didn’t sleep well at all.”

  “Oh?” Shelly teased, getting the wrong impression altogether.

  “No, there is no oh, like I did anything exciting. Just the same old, same old.”

  “What do you mean the same old? I picked him out, gift wrapped him, and gave him to you. All you had to do was unwrap.”

  Lena sighed then sat forward, playing with the cord on her phone. “You did not pick him out, Shelly. He barged into my life, tricked me into a date, and then kicked me out after ten minutes.”

  She could almost hear Shelly’s jaw hit the desk. “Stay right there. Do not move. I’m coming to you.”

  Before Lena could say a word, the phone hung up.

  Mason’s morning was not much different from Lena’s. He woke up to the sound of his phone continuously ringing. Opening one eye, he looked at the clock and noticed it was seven a.m. Yawning, he sat up and snatched up the phone. “Hello?”

  “Good morning, sunshine.”

  “Rachel, it’s way too early to be as happy as you are right now.”

  He heard her laughing on the other end and rubbed his eyes. “Why are you bothering me?”

  “You know, for someone who had a hot date last night, you’re awfully grumpy this morning.”

  He grunted at that and without acknowledging her comment asked again, “Why are you bothering me?”

  “You’re really not going to tell me anything?”

  He could almost see her pout at the end of that sentence. He paused and then leaned back against the headboard. “Okay. Two questions.”

  She fired her first one off so quickly he knew she’d been thinking about it. “What time did she leave or did she?”

  He heard her laughing on the other end, thinking she’d asked a good one. Well, get ready to be shocked, he thought. “You mean you didn’t see her storm out? Around fifteen minutes after she arrived.”

  There was dead silence at the other end of the phone.

  “Are you serious? I must have been out the back in the fridge. Ha, so what did you do to her?” She paused. “No, no wait! That is not my second question.”

  Mason had to smile. They’d been playing this game since they were kids.

  “Hmm. Okay, let me think of a good one.” She paused and then asked, “What’s her name?”

  Mason answered quickly, “Lena.”

  “Her whole name?” Rachel emphasized. Geez, what was it with women? Had she been stand
ing with her ear pressed to the door last night?

  “Is that your second question?” he asked, avoiding her.

  “You do know her whole name right?”

  “No,” and with that he hung up, more than a little frustrated with himself.

  Lena looked up as Shelly walked into her office and shut the door. After Shelly was seated she waited silently, and Lena was reminded of her horrible night all over again.

  “What’d you do?” she demanded when it became obvious Lena wasn’t going to volunteer any information.

  “What makes you think I did something?” she demanded defensively before mumbling, “It could’ve been him.”

  “Do you forget that I was there the night he asked you out? I know he isn’t the problem here.” She paused and then asked again, “So what’d you do?”

  Lena frowned at her. “Nothing! I may have been a little annoyed that he didn’t know my last name.”

  Shelly sat staring at her friend for a moment. Then Shelly asked, “Did you ever tell him? Or introduce yourself in between all your bitchy remarks?”

  Rolling her eyes, Lena shook her head. “No, but—”

  “No buts Lena!” Shelly sighed loudly and sat forward. “What’s the real problem here, because that man was hot and nice. Do you know how rare that is? And for some crazy ass reason he asked you on a date.”

  “Gee, thanks, Shelly.”

  “Oh, come on, you know I’m right. Even you were shocked he asked you after your horrible behavior.”

  “Did you know he’s dated thirty three women this year?” Lena paused. “This year! It isn’t even June yet! He’s a womanizer. That’s who you want me to open my heart to? Really?”

  “How do you know he’s dated thirty-three women? Did he tell you that before he kicked you out?”

  “He didn’t tell me.” Lena sat forward and started to flick through her Post-its. “I Googled him and that’s what came up.” She looked at Shelly, daring her to laugh, and saw her friend biting her lip tight as if trying to hold back. “Oh just say it!”