Common Sense Doesn't Become Me (8 page)

His voice was cheerful, and it sounded like
he was just as happy to see me as I was him. This was too good to
be true. He was either the most romantic man I had ever dated, or I
was in some kind of dream that I have yet to wake up from. Maybe I
haven't woken up from the night after my family birthday dinner.
That thought caused a shiver, so I pinched myself.

"Amber? You there? I can hear you breathing."
He sounded worried so I responded quickly.

"I'm here. Sorry. I guess I am a bit stunned.
The cake, the cushion, where do I start? It's all very..." I let my
voice trail off.

"I know romantic. Does it make me sound any
more like a man if I tell you my younger sister helped? She stopped
by earlier and wanted to know what was new. I told her about you
and your birthday tomorrow. She did the investigative work on the
cake. Found the bakery you ordered from and picked up the cake. She
actually found the cushion too. Sorry, I would like to take claim
to that..."

I stopped him before he went on. "Hurry your
ass up over here and tell me then. And Mason?"

His voice held a bit of laughter. "Yes?"

"I missed you today." I let out that sigh
that he made me feel as if I was lost in a lustful bliss.

"I missed you too." He hung up and I barely
had time to brush my teeth and fluff my hair when a knock on my
door had me running out of the bathroom.

"Your door was unlocked. Not very safe." Then
he turned and locked the door.

"In my defense, I was a bit surprised. The
cake and candles, the milk, the cushion." I took the steps to close
the gap between us, and before I could kiss him, he had me wrapped
up in his arms kissing me like a hungry man. I quickly wondered if
date number two was too early for hanky-panky. At least, my whohaw
wondered. My mature female, needs to grow up brain, told my whohaw,
not tonight dear, just a few more dates. Mature parenting sucks,
even if it is to your own body.

When we pulled away from the kiss, he looked
into my eyes as he stroked the side of my face, letting his fingers
linger down to my neck. Then with a soft voice, he admitted to me.
"It was all my sister's idea. A good one at that with the reaction
I just got."

"I haven't even met her, but I know I like
her already." I smiled up at him.

"You'd love her. She's smart, funny, sweet
but not a push over. She's the one sister I really connected with.
You know. We talk about everything. I always check up on her and
she does the same with me." He looked as if he was remembering fond
memories of his sister while talking to me, which touched a soft
spot in my heart. At one point in our lives, Bethany and I were
great friends, not just competitors in our mom's love and
affection. She won out at an early age, so I quickly gave up
trying. I still loved Bethany as a sister, but Marion and I had
that sister connection that kept us best friends as long as we have
been.

"Hey." I pulled his arm over to the table.
"I'm starved. Let's eat this cake."

He let me lure him over to the table, where
he quickly pulled out a chair for me to sit down in. My small oak
wood dinette and chairs were a simple thing, but with the cake and
candles, it felt grand. He pulled a lighter out of his pocket and
lit the candles. "I have to confess. I don't smoke, so my sister
bought me this to have on hand to light the candles she bought.
Does it seem weird? You know. That my sister did this?"

"Not at all." I replied as I watched him sit.
"Just the fact you told your sister was enough for me. If she did
all the sidebar work to make it happen for you, I think that is
really sweet. However, you are setting the bar a little high on our
second date."

He laughed and grabbed my hand to hold. "Then
perhaps I had better take some notes on what is expected of me and
keep my sister on standby for help."

"That would be a wonderful idea." I smirked
with a glint of sparkle to my eye. "You are going to love this
cake. The bakery down the street makes a wonderful chocolate cake.
You should taste their muffins too. To die for. And their holiday
pies, they are about the only thing I insist I get to bring to
holiday parties."

Just then, he looked me in the eye, leaned
forward out of his chair, gave me a soft simple kiss on my lips and
said the next thing that made me make that ah sound. "Nothing is
sweeter than you."

Then he sat back down in his chair and took a
bite of cake; he muttered out before he swallowed. "I think we need
to make a muffin run there this weekend, maybe Saturday if you are
free."

Well, not only would I make myself free; I
was already thinking about what to wear and which booth I wanted to
sit in that was quiet and cozy. However, I did not respond quickly
as I finally took a bite of cake, and as soon as I swallowed it
with a drink of the milk in the glass on the table I replied.
"Mason, that would be really nice."

"So this is date two. Tomorrow after your
work is date three. Perhaps I should give you Thursday and Friday
off and make Saturday date four. Then if you are up for it..." He
paused as I was giving him the pouty sad girl face.

"What's wrong?" His voice held genuine
concern. I was good, no great, at the pouty girl face. It even won
me a part in the high school play for a, don't laugh, poor sad
girl.

I let him off the hook quickly with a teasing
laughter. "Who says I need a night off? Work goes so much better if
I know I have a boyfriend to come home to."

"Then we should make plans for Thursday and
Friday." He smiled over at me with a serious look to his face.
Could he be feeling what I was feeling? It was as if neither of us
could not get enough of each other.

"That would be nice." My voice trailed with
the word nice on an elongated note.

We did not decide right then and there about
what to do; it was as if just knowing we were going to do something
together that made both of us relax and polish off two pieces of
cake and two more glasses of milk. When we were done, he cleared
the plates and glasses, and began to wash them off in the sink with
dish soap, and then set them on the dish rack next to the sink.

I had to tease. "You know, watching you do
dishes is like porn for a woman, only it would be more erotic if
your shirt was off."

He stopped washing a glass, set it back in
the sink, and took his shirt off and flung it towards me, almost
knocking the lit candle over. We both started to laugh at my quick
reflexes to grab the shirt in midair with my left hand while
catching the candle in my right. I blew both candles out and
watched him turn back around to the sink. As soon as he did, I held
his shirt up to my nose and breathed in deep. His cologne scent of
something fresh was on it mixed with the smell of his skin that
intoxicated me. Without him turning, he talked to me with his back
to me.

"I saw that in the window reflection." Then
he turned to me, soapy dishcloth in one hand, chocolate-covered
fork in the other, and a very nice set of muscular abs and chest
muscles that made me swoon. Through his window was one thing, in my
kitchen doing dishes, I was in trouble.

"You look busted." He joked.

"I feel busted. That's not me. A normal me.
Smelling your clothes." Then I paused. I might as well warn him
now. "Ok. I... I have a secret." I raised one eyebrow and looked at
him with my head diverted down but my eyes slightly looking up at
him with my head tilted. He seemed to be waiting patiently for my
secret. I finally got out the words. "I don't always do the common
sense thing. Sometimes I do really stupid things. Maybe even
immature." The last word eked out of me slow and long.

He shrugged his shoulders and tossed the fork
in the sink. "Who doesn't." Then he walked over, motioned for me to
stand. I did, and then he picked me up while I started to giggle,
and he carried me to the kitchen countertop. He set my butt on the
counter and stood between my legs with my head in his hands. "Where
would I be without you right now? Sitting on my couch watching the
game? Trolling on the Internet for a girlfriend? Fixing some old
farts whatever that is broken? Instead, I am here with you, and you
are the most mature thing I want to think about. I've done a lot of
stupid things in my life, ask my father. The night I put you to
sleep naked in your bed after watching you do whatever it was that
you were doing; I couldn't stop thinking about you. You are real,
and I like what is happening here."

I said it as I felt it. "Gulp."

"Sorry too much, too soon." He sounded
worried, but I wasn't. What he just said made a hell of a lot of
sense. We were two lost souls looking for our mate, and fate put us
across the building from each other. I would have wanted the first
time he met me not to be a drunk naked passed out stupor, yet he
didn't hold that against me. I needed to tell him everything, about
Steve, my mom's control and inability to love me just as I am, my
need to have Marion in every part of my life, which meant he would
have to love her just as much, and my crazy aunt, my perfect
sister, all of it. For now, I grabbed his head, slammed my lips
against his, and began kissing him with all the craziness I felt
deep inside of me; that feeling caused tangling tongue and heavy
breathing.

It took several minutes before I realized
that things were going to progress too far, too soon, and we both
knew that taking this a bit slower was better for making something
out of this. I felt his excitement, and I knew my own was off the
charts molten mess. We both seemed to pull away at the same time,
and we pressed our foreheads against each other while breathing
hard. I finally found the words to speak up.

"I think I should be the one to question,
where would I be without you? My common sense doesn't become me. It
takes me for a joyride from time to time, and I end up in a lot of
trouble. I have a confession to make."

He laughed at my reference. "What is it?"

"Well. You may not like this. Ok. Here it
goes. Tomorrow, after I am officially thirty, I need to act more
grown up. Be responsible. Take a college class. Volunteer. Do
things that are thought through and not spur of the moment, 'hey
that seems like a great idea'. I think you might find me rather
dull after I turn thirty."

He laughed with a soft sound and then held my
face as he looked into my eyes. "Doubt it. But hey, if you need a
support group in this new challenge, I'm up for it."

It was as if the gates of heaven opened up,
and a spotlight shined down on him while angels sang, and heavenly
music cued in. Therefore, I looked at him questioningly and asked.
"Really? You want to help me be a better person?"

"Only if you do. I like you the way you are,
and I googled you. Sorry, force of habit. Had a few crazy
girlfriends in my past; you think your Steve guy is crazy; I can
one up him. Besides I couldn't take you on Sunday to meet my
parents if I didn't. House rules for all of us kids. Besides, I
could do a little growing up on my own. Maybe we could help each
other out."

I was shocked. Ok, not about the Google thing
because it was almost a prerequisite to dating anymore. Perhaps I
would not be in so much trouble if I had done that with Steve.
Telling him the brief overview of Steve last night did not cause a
cautious reaction; however, I did not tell him everything. Having
him admit to crazy girlfriends didn't shock me, because with his
looks and the way he carries himself, I was sure he attracted
everything, even the odd ones. It was the fact that he already
wanted me to meet his parents. He talked about how formal his
family was as we tried to create a diversion last night from other
things. Talking family seemed to quickly cool both of us down. It
felt good to be with a man whose family was as judgmental,
competitive, and crazy as mine, although his did seem to have a lot
more money and structure. I guess you don't have to be poor to be
dysfunctional, rich people do it just as well.

"Hey Mason. I'm glad things are turning out
much better for me. Only a week ago, things were a bit
different."

He lifted me off the counter and set me on my
feet. "We should probably try to find another distraction for a
bit, before we get too excited again." I had to agree. I found him
a bit too irresistible, and talking about life seems to put things
back into perspective for us.

I took his hand to pull him towards my front
room to try out the new window seat cushion. He grabbed his tee
shirt off the chair as we walked by. We sat down in the window seat
facing each other and looked at each other in the face. I felt my
demon girl side get bothered by the fact he put his shirt back on,
as my mature woman side stated that it was for the best.

"Your sister has good taste. It's soft, and I
like the blue silky fabric." I stroked my hand over the fabric and
then looked up to see the delight on his face that I liked his
gift.

"I told her that your favorite color is
blue." Just then, I was sure I saw his eyes twinkle with a
deviousness.

I looked at him inquisitively. "How did you
know that?"

"Blue curtains, light blue couch, blue
comforter and when I folded your laundry, most of your clothes were
in shades of blue. My sisters told me that a woman's favorite color
would show in her clothes and how she decorates. Having three
sisters, I do learn a lot about women."

I laughed. "Then you are already broken in
and know the game rules. Gosh, you're going to be an easy
boyfriend. Wait here. I am going to grab some cushions to lean
against instead of the wall."

I walked over to my couch to grab some
decorative cushions off, and before I could turn back around to
walk over to the window seat, Mason stood there right behind me,
with my back to him. He pulled my body into his, causing me to drop
the pillows, and he started to kiss me on the neck just under my
ear with his lips barely brushing the sensitive spot. That kiss
sent shivers through my entire body, and I moaned out a long 'yes'
without hesitation. When he pulled back, he joked. "Not a good idea
to bend over in front of me right now."