Exquisite

by Ella Frank

  Lena closed her eyes and prayed to whoever was listening that this was really happening.

  “Okay. I’ll be there.”

  “Lena?” he asked, and she clutched the phone tight.

  “Yes?”

  “Wear the boots.” And with that, he hung up.

  Mason was standing in his office the next day when Rachel came in. “Hey you.”

  He looked up and she smiled at him as she leaned against the door. “Hi.”

  “So I’m going down to see Lena today.”

  He nodded and said softly, “Yeah, she told me.”

  Rachel moved in and asked cautiously, “Are you two, you know?”

  Grinning, he asked innocently, “No what?”

  Rolling her eyes she sighed, “Are you two back together?”

  He shook his head and watched the disappointment slide onto her face. Then he added, “Not yet.”

  A grin replaced the frown and she asked, “But will be?”

  “Fingers crossed,” he said holding his crossed fingers up. He came around the desk and reached out for his sister. She wrapped her arms around him and he kissed the top of her head.

  “I’m sorry I checked out for a while there.”

  Rachel looked at him and he saw a tear fall down her cheek. “I knew you were here, Mase. We just had to deal with things in our own way. I’m just glad you came back to us and I’m glad you’re bringing her back to us, too.” She paused, sniffed, and then said softly, “Mom really loved her, you know?”

  “What makes you say that?”

  Rachel gave him a sad smile and told him, “She used to tell me about a girl around my age, who would come into the shop and she was so sad and Mom really wanted to help her.”

  Mason was silent, not quite believing that Rachel had known about Lena all along. It was true; Lena’s life had been running parallel to his their whole lives and it was as though his mother and fate had finally made them cross paths. He heard Rachel say his name.

  “Mason?”

  Looking at her, he smiled. “Yeah, Rach.”

  “Some things are just meant to be.”

  Nodding, he pulled her in tight and hugged her hard. Yeah, he thought, some things were just meant to be.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Lena arrived at Precious Petals at four thirty p.m. She opened the door and heard the chimes tinkle above her head as she stepped inside. She took a deep breath and looked around the familiar space. Everything looked the same but it wasn’t. The most important part of this place had gone—the heart. Catherine. Looking around, she tried to recall a memory when she’d been in here and Catherine wasn’t. The only one she could come up with was when she’d gone to hospital that one time and Mason had been here instead, but he wasn’t here either. She moved through the aisle and then saw Rachel step out from behind the back door.

  “Lena,” she said, smiling at her. Not until this moment had Lena noticed how very alike mother and daughter had been. Rachel may have been on the loud side when it came to her hair and clothes but the warm smile and the shining eyes mirrored her mother. This was now the heart of the shop. Moving to the counter, Lena returned her smile and reached over to take her hands.

  “Hi, Rachel.”

  “How are you?” Rachel asked, grinning. She had dimples just like her brother and Lena couldn’t help but smile back at her.

  “I’m good. Busy at work but otherwise good.”

  “You look great!” Rachel pointed out as she leaned over the counter looking her over. “Killer boots!”

  Feeling a blush creep over her face, Lena nodded. “Ahh, thanks.” Pausing, she hiked her bag up on her shoulder and asked, “So where are these papers you need me to sign?”

  “Oh!” she said, rushing back behind the door and coming out with a smile. “Yeah, it’s a trip she left you part of this place, right?”

  Lena looked at Rachel quickly, wondering if she was upset about it, but then Rachel nodded. “But it makes sense. You were here more than we were. Mom said you use to come in every Monday night for years.”

  Lena sucked in a breath, not knowing what to say. She wasn’t aware that Rachel had even known about that. Rachel reached out, took her hand, and squeezed her fingers between her own. Then in a voice far more serious than Lena had ever heard from her, Rachel told her softly,

  “Don’t worry. I never knew who you were, not until just recently. Mom used to tell me about a girl who came to her shop. I always thought it was so sad but Mom told me she loved it when you’d visit. She looked forward to five thirty p.m. when you would stop by and pick out your sunflower. She told me how proud she was that you turned out to be an amazing doctor.” Pausing, Rachel looked her right in the eye and said in a soft whisper, “She loved you. You’re just as much a part of her as we are. She was so very proud of you and I’m so glad I got to meet you.”

  Lena felt a tear run down her face as she stood in the store she once thought of as her safe haven and held the hand of someone she now considered her sister.

  She arrived at Mason’s condo around five thirty p.m. Rachel had given her the key and she’d made her way over to his place quickly, wanting to be there before him. She let herself in and put her bag on the kitchen counter. Leaving the lights off, she walked into the living room and turned on the lamp he had on a side table. It illuminated the room with a soft glow and she looked around at the familiar furniture. She was feeling nervous.

  Tonight was the first night in months where they would be together in what promised to be an intimate evening. After laying her heart on the line the other night, all she could do was hope he’d managed to forgive her and try to convince him she was worth taking a chance on. Turning toward the window, she moved over to it and looked down at the people walking by on the street. The sun was just starting to dip down below the lake and disappear behind the horizon and the streetlights were starting to blink on. As she stood at the large window, she was reminded of a conversation they’d had many months ago. She’d been asking him for his ultimate fantasy, and although the answer he’d given her had confused her at the time and had not been what she wanted to hear, he’d told her and she’d listened, and tonight she would deliver it to him.

  Mason was almost home. He was so eager to get to her he’d missed half of the cab ride, which wasn’t a bad thing since he hated cabs and had been forced into one this morning because his car was in the shop. However, when they finally got to the corner of his block, Mason asked the cabbie to drop him off, leaned over the seat, and paid before getting out and racing to the lobby to get into his building and up the stairs. For some reason, Mason stopped before reaching the lobby doors and looked up as he walked toward the entrance of his place and there she was. Standing in the window of his condo, illuminated by a soft glow, she stood in his window looking down at him. His eyes were glued to her. From where he stood, he could see she had on a short skirt—he was assuming the mini—and her hair was flowing over her shoulders. His eyes moved down and he could see those sexy boots just above her knees that wrapped around her beautiful thighs and disappeared below the bottom of his window. She looked so unbelievably sexy standing there that he felt his mouth fall open a little bit in a sigh. Her eyes were glued to his and even from this distance, he could tell she was watching his every move.

  She looked different to him tonight. It was as though he were looking up at a stranger in his house because it had been so long since he’d been able to touch her. Running a tongue over his bottom lip, he watched her smile down at him with a sexy smirk, and then she raised a hand behind her skirt and moved it in what appeared to be an unzipping motion. Turning on those booted heels, she looked over her shoulder, down through the window at him, and winked before she slowly walked out of view. Holy shit, his fantasy had just come to life.

  Lena had removed her skirt and top and all she wore now as she leaned back against Mason’s huge headboard were her thigh-high boots. She’d arranged her hair so it was falling down over each shoul
der and tickling her hard nipples. Watching Mason in the street below, she’d been so turned on that she had been hard pressed to turn and walk away from the window. However, that was part of his fantasy—the stranger in the window who beckoned to him and he couldn’t touch.

  She heard the key push in and unlock. She smiled to herself when she heard the door slam and the keys get thrown either on the side table or on the counter; she couldn’t tell. Then she waited, breathing deeply, trying to keep herself under control as she watched the partition with wide eyes in the dim light. She’d only turned on a soft lamp in the bedroom and as she waited there on the bed, she was starting to wish she’d left it off. However, that thought quickly disappeared when Mason finally stepped into the room and made his way over to the bed, stopping at the foot of it. He was still dressed but had pulled his black work shirt out of his pants and he’d obviously started to undo the top few buttons of his shirt. As he stood there looking at her, she could almost feel the path his eyes made as they traced every single line of her body that was now on very prominent display. She felt her thighs clench when his eyes scorched a trail up and over her hips to her navel, then up past her breasts, and finally those burning hot eyes landed on hers and pinned her to the bed.

  “Hello, Lena,” he finally spoke in a breathy tone.

  Feeling his voice deep down inside her, she slowly smiled and bravely raised one booted leg up so it was resting foot flat on the bed, bending her knee and giving him a front row view to everything he was making her feel.

  Holy fuck! was Mason’s first thought as he watched Lena slide her booted foot up and rest it at an angle that showed him just how juicy she really was. He swallowed deeply as he looked at the woman lounging on his bed, naked as the day she was born except for the thigh-high boots, and whistled low.

  “Langley,” she replied in a voice that was so low and husky it sounded as though she almost had difficulty breathing. He knew how that felt, he thought, as he stood frozen to the spot trying to take her all in.

  When he’d seen her in the window smiling and walking away, all he could think about was getting upstairs and getting inside of her but now that he was here and she was lying there naked and vulnerable, all he wanted to do was touch her so gently she would never forget it. Reaching out with his fingers, he traced a circle around the boot that was still stretched out in front of him.

  “You look really good lying there in my bed, Doctor.”

  Looking up at him with heavy eyes, she tilted her head and he watched her hair trickle down to sweep the underside of her breast. He groaned at the movement.

  “Do I?”

  “Yes, you fucking do,” he replied, and leaned down to pull the zipper on her boot.

  “I thought you wanted my boots on?” she asked him. Raising his head from the task, Mason’s eyes latched onto her questioning ones and he nodded.

  “I did.” Pausing, he leaned over and then bent down to drag his tongue down the strip of skin he’d revealed from behind the zipper. He heard her take in a deep breath and he moved back to grip the boot and tug it off. “But now I’ve changed my mind.”

  Tossing the boot to the side, he leaned over, grabbed her bent foot, and tugged her down the bed a little, which dragged her ass toward him, and had her back flat in about two seconds. He unzipped the second boot, tossed it to the floor, and then reached down, grasping both ankles. Looking at her, his eyes stayed glued to hers as he kneeled down at the foot of the bed and tugged her closer to him. He heard her shriek and try to pull back but he was having none of it. With a hand clamped around each ankle, he tugged her until her ass was at the edge of the bed and her legs were now hanging loosely over his shoulders. He could smell how turned on she was and he took a deep breath in and then blew a hot warm breath across her most vulnerable flesh. Mason watched as she got up on her elbows and looked down at him kneeling at the end of the bed. He now had her knees bracketing his ears and he felt himself grinning at her with the wickedest smile he’d ever given.

  “I decided I’d rather have your knees wrapped around my ears than your boots wrapped around my waist.”

  Groaning, she took a deep breath and watched as he leaned forward and dragged his tongue down the crease of her thigh and her hip. He heard her sob and then say his name in a moan. “Mason.”

  He lifted his head and he knew his eyes had to be raging with lust because while he was kneeling in front of her fully dressed she was completely bare and open to him. Right now, he couldn’t possibly think of anything sexier.

  “Yeah, Lena?” he asked against her thigh, nipping it with his teeth. She moaned in the back of her throat and let her elbows fall from beneath her and her back fell flat on the bed. He chuckled and she moaned again, raising her hips toward his hot mouth.

  “Please,” she begged, and he finally took pity and leaned in, nuzzling his nose in between her thighs where she was glistening and wet. She smelled amazing and he could have stayed there for hours happy just to be where he was. He heard her let out a piercing moan as she reached down and gripped his hair and he figured it was time for some action. Opening his mouth, he dragged his tongue from her swollen clitoris down through her wet folds where he teased her relentlessly with his tongue by dipping it in and out of her flushed lips, and as she screamed out his name, he smiled against her and did it again.

  Lena thought she was going to die. Was it possible to die from too much pleasure? She couldn’t believe she was lying down on Mason’s bed with her legs wrapped around his head while he buried his tongue deep inside her, all while he was still fully dressed. She arched her back up as his tongue found a particularly sensitive spot and she felt his hands come up and grip her ass, hauling her hips up higher to him. Her cry pierced the air when she felt his lips between her thighs, sucking one of her lips into his mouth. When he let it go and moved to the other, she cried out from the sheer pleasure that was racking her body. She knew she was gripping his hair too hard but as he thrust into her with his wicked tongue, she couldn’t even begin to care. Over and over, he dragged his wet hard tongue back and forth against her swollen nub and then he finally took it between his lips and sucked her to the most amazing orgasm she’d ever had.

  She screamed his name as her thighs tightened and her hands pulled at his hair and as she came down from her orgasmic bliss, she felt her thighs relax and fall open in a most unladylike way. Finding the energy to raise her head, she looked down at the man kneeling between her thighs and he grinned up at her with the most unrepentant gaze. She couldn’t help but grin back. He lowered her legs gently from his shoulders so her feet were bent and touching the floor, and then he stood up and removed his clothes. She was still spread naked across his bed but now she was relaxed and her body was open to him. Finally, he moved over her naked body and rubbed his straining hard cock against her belly. Grinning over her, he leaned in and kissed her and she found herself completely turned on by the taste of herself on his mouth.

  “Think you can find the energy to scoot up the bed, Doctor?”

  She bit his bottom lip, watched his eyes darken, and whispered against his mouth, “You pulled me down here.”

  Nodding as he held himself over her, he rubbed his now weeping cock against her stomach and replied in a strangled groan, “True. But now I need you to move up there so I can get in,” and he moved one hand down and trailed it between her thighs, his fingers finding her and sliding over her slippery folds. She gasped and arched.

  “So I can get in here. I need you to move up the bed, Lena, so I can get in here,” he stressed again, this time pushing a finger deep inside of her. She moaned and he leaned down and ran his tongue along one of her pouty folds. With his hand still firmly between her thighs and his other holding him up above her, he looked down into her eyes and whispered, “You’re so beautiful.”

  Smiling at him, her eyes flickered and then focused on him. She ground her hips against his hand. “You don’t have to say things like that.”

  He shook his h
ead and lowered his lips against her mouth. “I mean it. You’re absolutely breathtaking.”

  Closing her eyes, Lena groaned as his fingers pulled out and she scooted up the bed with him crawling over her and following her down. She blinked at him as he lowered his body over hers and in the dim light, he stroked her hair from her face and smiled at her.

  “I’ve missed this,” he said softly as he rocked his hips, dragging his hard erection through her wet folds. She moaned against his mouth and blinked at him languidly. He breathed down against her lips and then sucked her bottom lip into his and nudged his hips again, making her eyes widen and focus on his. “I’ve missed you.”

  She reached up with a hand, ran it over his cheek, and then around to spread her fingers through his hair. Gripping it tightly, she pulled him in close and rocking her hips up to meet his, they started to move harder against one another, enjoying the delicious friction. She whispered back softly, “I missed you too, Mason. I love you.”

  He reared his head and hips back, and then looking down at her, he lined himself up against her hot wet folds and sunk deep down inside of her in one solid thrust. Groaning deeply, he braced his arms on either side of her head and lowered himself down, moving his hips and dragging his throbbing hardness in and out of her. She arched her back and thrust her hips up to meet his as he thrust in and out.

  She felt amazing, was the only thought in his mind. Every inch of her was tight, wet, and hot as it gripped his aching erection. Cursing and squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to keep some control but he knew it was no use. It had been too long and she felt too good as she moved under him, gripping his ass in one hand and his hair with the other. She bit down on his ear and he arched his back, groaning her name as he came deep inside of her. She wasn’t far behind, clamping down around his cock as it throbbed its release into her. His mouth was close by her ear and when he heard her sigh and her body relax under him, he leaned in, kissed her gently, and whispered, “I love you too, Lena O’Donnell.”