“My dad use to cook in our house. Mom, well she did everything else. For years as a child my father would make me help him prepare the meal always telling me that my mother, his wife, did everything to look after him. Was always there for whatever he needed, the least he could do was feed her.” he paused then chuckled, “I’ve been feeding beautiful women ever since.”

“I bet.” she murmured. “Your mom and dad sound like they had a wonderful marriage.”

He nodded, “Yeah they did. You’ve never met a couple more happy to be with each other.”

“That’s beautiful. It must’ve been difficult on her when she lost him.”

“Devastating, but we pulled through and she goes and talks to him everyday, so it makes her feel like he’s still here. He’s actually in the same place where Carly is, so you probably ended up helping her in a sense. She couldn’t avoid it.” Pausing he grinned over to her. “Ok my turn.”

Lena braced herself for his question then laughed when it finally came.


“What was your first impression of me?”

Mason watched as she laughed. Great, he thought. He remembered back to their first meeting and how she’d effectively told him he was a moron in front of everyone and pissed him off so badly he couldn’t get her out of his mind.

“Sure you want to hear this?”

“No, but now I need to since you’re obviously laughing at me.”

“You made me so mad that day because I knew my mom had sent those flowers and when I finally came out to see who was making me take them, well my first impression was that you were freakishly tall.”

He fell his mouth open. “I’m not weirdly tall?” he paused, “Am I?” and that seemed to make her laugh even harder.

“Well I was thinking I was tall but you were looking down at me. I remembered thinking your mom must have stood you in a lot of manure.”

“That’s lovely Lena.” he pouted.

She shrugged at him, “You asked.”

“So I did.” Shaking his head he motioned to her. “Ok your turn.”

“Hmm.” she murmured pressing her cherry lips together, he decided he needed them on him by the end of the night. Then she grinned. “What do you like best about me?”

“Your ass.”

“I meant personality wise!”

“Well you didn’t specify.”

Sputtering a little she looked past him. “You have a customer.”

He turned his head and saw the middle aged man looking at them. He turned back to her knowing she was expecting some kind of flirty question but he could wait for those so he asked something he’d wanted to know for awhile now.

“My question, think about it while I help him. Why did it take you nine years to visit your sister?”


Lena watched as he moved down to the man at the middle of the bar. Could she tell him she wished it’d been her that night and not her sister? Could she explain to him and make him understand the level of guilt she felt whenever she thought about driving them across that street and having the car slam into them? She watched in slow motion, it seemed, as he turned and walked back over to her. Before he could say anything she blurted out.

“Guilt.”

He tilted his head and asked, “Guilt? You have nothing to feel guilty about.”

“I don’t want to talk about it. That’s my answer.” she knew she was being harsh and probably a little more bitchy than she should be so when he nodded and said, your turn, she snapped out.

“Why do you want to date me?”

Without so much as blinking he answered, “Because you’re so much fun.”

She looked at him and saw his serious face and felt the sarcasm dripping off his words. “Hilarious Langley.”

He arched a brow and leaned into the bar. “What do you like most about me?”

She deadpanned and replied, “Your ass.”

He grinned at her, “Be serious.”

“I am. You have a really nice ass.”

“You can’t steal my answers.” he said pretending to be put out. Back to being relaxed she lifted her glass and took another sip.

“Ok favorite color?”

“Blue, that light sky blue. But I’m also growing found of forest green.”

“Ha! Google was right about that too. Not the green part.”

“They have my favorite color on there?”

She nodded.

“Hey you weren’t supposed to ask me something you knew.”

Shrugging at him she grinned, “I didn’t know it for sure. I wanted to confirm their sources so I knew if other important details were correct. You know like how many..”

“Stop.” he warned her, “You’re doing so well.”

She laughed and motioned to him. “Your turn.”

“What color panties are you wearing?”

Lena looked around quickly feeling a blush creep up to her cheeks.

“Do they match your dress?”

“That’s two questions.”

“Well not technically they could be considered one.”

Taking one last gulp of her drink she motioned for a second one and he grinned widely at her. “Answer me Lena.”

“Fine.” she answered in a snotty tone then gave as good as she got. “A cherry red thong.”

She was happy to see his mouth fall open.


Mason couldn’t help all the images that were now flooding his head. Holy shit, he wanted to see it. In fact he was ready to close early just so he could. Taking a gulp he placed a fresh drink in front of her then nodded not quiet trusting his voice yet. She seemed to understand because she reached out took a drink then proceeded to blow his mind.

“How many times tonight have you imagine my lips on you since I sat down?”

He couldn’t decide how to answer that. Here she was sitting at the end of his bar dressed to drive him insane, wrapping her mouth, no that was the wrong choice of words at this moment. Throwing around words and questions that had him imagining exactly what she’d intended. As though her words had a direct line to the actual part of his anatomy that he wanted those lips around, he felt himself go rock hard.

“At least once, now.” he managed to get out, then coughed to clear his throat. “But I’m sure it’ll be crossing my mind a few more by the end of the night.”

Her mouth tipped up in a sexy smile and she licked those red lips wetting them with her tongue and made him groan.

“Are you enjoying this?”

“Is that your question?”

He shook his head and took a deep breath. “Three years since you’ve had sex. Are you nervous about it?”

Her eyes boldly moved over his body then came back up to land on his face. She shook her head. “That’s not the right word.”

“Oh? What’s the right word?”

“That’s two questions.”

He sighed frustrated beyond belief. “Answer the damn question Lena.”

She blinked slowly, “Anxious.”

Swallowing hard he tried to keep focus. “Your turn Lena.”

Knowing the drink had relaxed her, and she was saying things she wouldn’t usually ever say, was making this game interesting. At every turn she went from innocent and shocked to hot and downright sexy as she teased him with questions that were blowing his mind and this one was no different.

“Ultimate fantasy?”

He narrowed his eyes at her, “Sexual or life goal fantasy?”

“Both.” she replied licking the drink from her bottom lip.

“But that’s two questions.”

“So? You asked two this is my payback.”

Laughing he nodded. “Ok life fantasy. Obviously I want the restaurant to be a success, but I also want a partner to share it with. I want success in my life with a wife. I want children and I want to grow old and die happy knowing that I loved someone completely and they loved me back. I want essentially what my parents had.”

He watched Lena taking in his answer then she smiled at him, almost wistfully and he wondered if she even realized he was starting to picture her in the leading role of that fantasy. Before he embarrassed himself and told her he leaned down and rested his elbows on the bar. He looked her right in the eye and said softly, “Sexual fantasy.”

He saw her take a deep breath and watched her chest rise then fall when she let it out again. “There are so many I can think of, but right now my ultimate fantasy is of a beautiful stranger and she’s standing just out of my reach but she’s fully captured my attention. Her presence holds me, almost in a trance. She sees me as well and watches me from where she’s standing. Then she smiles, the most sexy smile, that seems to invite me to come play with her. Knowing it’s driving me crazy, knowing I’m outside looking in watching her but not being able to get to her. Then I watch as she moves away from view but it’s with the unspoken invitation for me to join her, so I do.”

He noticed her pupils had dilated and her breathing was slow as he waited for her to say something.

“Why a stranger? What’s the fascination with watching her from a distance? I’d think a fantasy would be touching and rolling around somewhere, not looking at someone unobtainable. Doesn’t that defeat the sexual aspect?”

He reached out and touched her cheek. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because she seems untouchable but in the end she lets me touch her. As for the stranger part of it all, I think it’s more that she isn’t familiar to me. It’s new. Hot and passionate but so foreign it feels surreal. I can’t explain it.”

Her eyes flicked up to his and she sat back picked up her glass and drained it dry.


Lena had no idea how to respond. She wasn’t sure she even liked his answer. What did he mean, a stranger? Was he referring to her or some random stranger? She would like to think he meant her but if that were the case he must have a bad memory because she sure remembered letting him touch her, several times. So really it came down to, he’d just basically told her something he wanted to do with another woman. The perfect unobtainable woman and that totally pissed her off. He seemed to be waiting for her to say something but honestly she had nothing to say.