Chapter 16 Mason #2
We laughed and talked for a few more minutes before she had to take off for work. Before saying goodbye, she reminded me of the guest lecture at Akron U that afternoon. I was really looking forward to this event.
I eyed the clock and realized we’d talked for almost an hour. We’d only been apart a few days, but damn, I missed her.
I dragged my body out of bed and showered and dressed.
I was debating whether I should look for Lee or just request a cab or Uber to take me to the school. As I exited the hallway, I noticed the fire had been extinguished in the hearth. I smiled at the slightly rumpled look to the cushions on the couch.
In the kitchen itself stood Lee, and my heart sped up as I looked at him.
Damn, he was hot! His short blond hair curled in the steam from the stove.
He wore an old t-shirt and a pair of cutoff jeans that hugged his delectable ass.
The shirt was black with a white a scrawl across the middle, with words underneath proudly proclaiming “The Burninator.”
He was stirring something on the stove, humming slightly to himself as he cooked. I wasn’t sure what he was singing – I didn’t hear any music playing but I saw the telltale sign of earbuds in his ears. I looked at the phone on the counter and couldn’t help the bark of laughter that escaped me.
“Taylor Swift? Really, dude? And in a Trogdor shirt, no less?” I asked teasingly, smiling as he jumped and fumbled with the phone as music poured from the earpieces he pulled from his ears. “That’s grounds for having your geek card revoked.”
“Whaddyou mean? Taylor’s classic!” he exclaimed.
His face had turned a bright red, and I didn’t think it was from the heat.
I could see the thoughts pass like lightning across his face and saw the instant when he just decided to own it and sang into the wooden spoon he was using to stir whatever was bubbling on the stove.
“I knew you were trouble when you walked in… Trouble! Trouble! Trouble!” he sang.
I laughed at him and he grinned back, his green eyes twinkling at me. Damn, that smile was dangerous.
“So, you slept well?” he asked, eyes turning back to our food. At least, I hoped it was “our” because it smelled delicious, and I realized with a start that I was starving.
“Yeah, I slept like a rock,” I mumbled, feeling the tell-tale heat begin to work its way up my neck.
“Really, now? And how exactly does a rock sleep, Mr. Malone?” he asked, continuing to use the spoon as a microphone. “Would you say they slept hard… and were thick… and long… and heavy in the sack…” He teased, drawing out every salacious consonant as he eye-fucked me.
“Fucker,” I muttered, sitting down at the table, feeling the heat move up my face. I was glad for my long hair, because at least he wasn’t able to see my pink ears.
“That’s Mr. Fucker to you, boyo,” he teased.
He set a plate in front of me, then joined me at the table. I took a bite of the eggs he placed in front of me. Damn, he might not have much in the variety department, but the man made some damn good eggs.
“So, do you always make eggs whenever…” I paused, trying to figure out how to classify last night. It hadn’t felt like a one-night stand, but we hadn’t exactly been focusing on relationships or labels at the time.
“Whenever what…? Whenever I…fly?” he prodded with a non-sequitur.
I didn’t respond at first, because I was reliving the evening on my end, an event painfully attested to by my cock. It had swollen almost painfully as I’d watch Lee move around the kitchen. Apparently, my silence egged him on.
“Whenever I… host a world-famous artist and writer?” He asked, throwing out increasingly more ridiculous options as I became more flustered and hesitated to respond.
“…Kiss a hippo?” he quipped. The image was so unexpected, I laughed out loud.
“No, jackass,” I said, finally, when I caught my breath, “…whenever you sleep with someone.”
His face sobered as he set the rest of the eggs and toast on the table and served himself.
“Nope. I just suck at cooking everything else, so it’s usually eggs or Pop Tarts for breakfast,” he said, grinning.
“Hmmm… I’m not a bad cook, maybe one morning I’ll wake you up with French toast,” I said.
He froze across from me, his gaze turning heated as his eyes locked mine. “I would be honored to eat your French toast.”
The moment broke and we both burst out laughing.
He was being a huge goofball as we ate at the dinette table, so different from the guy I'd met just a few days ago, and I wasn’t really sure what to make of him.
“There’s coffee if you want it,” he said. “But I usually stop at the donut shop on my way into work. They make way better coffee than I ever could.”
“Oh my god!” I exclaimed. “Donut shop coffee? Please tell me you’re joking,” I scoffed.
“Hey! I’ll have you know that Jubilee Donuts makes the best coffee this side of, um, Seattle,” he continued. “And their cream sticks are to die for!”
I mumbled something appropriately snarky about him and his stick full of cream, but he just laughed. “Don’t knock ’em till you try them!”
We ate together in comfortable silence for a few minutes and I tried to figure out what it was about Lee that made me so strangely comfortable in his presence. I didn’t usually relate well to strangers. My therapist said I had trust issues. No shit!
He had just swallowed a bite of toast when his eyes caught mine, his face sobering.
“Seriously, though, how are you... you know, feeling today?” He asked, pushing eggs around his plate, but his concern apparent on his face.
“Um, good,” I said, trying to take stock of my emotional inventory. “Weirdly relaxed. I feel kind of like I hit the sex lottery,” I teased.
The grin on Lee’s face got wider. He jumped to his feet and did an over-the-top fist pump.
“Hoo ahhhh! Yes, ladies and gentlemen. Or rather, gentleman and gentleman, I suppose,” he eyed me cheekily and winked. “You definitely ‘hit’ the jackpot. Now I need a t-shirt made that says ‘Jackpot’ on it.”
We laughed and I might or might not have argued with him about who, exactly, had scored last night… but before long we had finished breakfast and were placing dishes in the dishwasher.
“So, what’s on the agenda for today?” He asked, settling on the living room sofa.
“Well, I have the art school lecture early afternoon, and then the discussion at that community center later on in the week.”
“Community center?” Lee asked, raising an eyebrow at me.
“Um, yeah,” I said, digging my phone out of my pocket. “Something called C.B.P. Community Center?”
Lee shook his head. “I’m not familiar with that one. Where is it?”
I showed Lee the address on my phone.
“Hmmmm… that’s pretty far out there. It’s going to take about forty-five minutes to get there. Make sure we plan for that,” he said.
“Do you have to work today?” I asked.
“Not today. I am, literally, at your service.”
“Okay…” I looked around the room, not quite looking at him. “So, what should we do for the rest of the day?”
“Well,” he said, quirking an eyebrow at me, “We could go see the twins at the store, or we could head out to the school and make sure we’ve got a good idea where everything is. I don’t think we have enough time to hit the movies…”
His voice trailed off. I wouldn’t have minded the store, but it kind of seemed like a busman’s holiday for Lee.
For myself, I was feeling adventurous today.
Apparently, I hadn’t gotten all the great sex endorphins out of my body, because I still felt remarkably calm and centered despite the upcoming speaking engagements.
“I was kind of hoping we could do something… different,” I said smiling at him. “I’m kinda hyper this morning. Not sure what to make of that,” I smiled ruefully at him.
I offered to help with dishes, but he wouldn’t let me. I walked into the living room to wait for him to be ready to go do something.
Looking around the room, I noted multiple pictures of him and his fiancé.
I’d seen them before, but hadn’t really had an opportunity to study them.
As I did so now, I realized, looking at the pictures that Lee’s appearance had changed subtly over the years, which made sense, I guessed.
His younger pictures all seemed so carefree; I could almost taste the joy that was bubbling off of him back then.
.. a lot like he was today, to tell the truth.
The Lee of the last few days, though, had been different.
Even with his lighthearted mood today, he still had little worry lines on his face, at the corners of his eyes.
I remembered being able to see the weariness in his eyes, hidden behind his smile.
In the photos, Mack seemed like the older of the two. In some of them he looked on at some crazy stunt Lee and his brothers were into. The warmth of love and pride practically glowed out of the pictures.
“I’ve got it!” Lee said, loudly enough to make me jump. “I know what we are doing this afternoon.” He grinned evilly at me as he walked into the living room and settled down next to me.
“So, what are you thinking?” I asked.
“Well, first, we take you to your art class, then…”
“Then, what?” I asked.
He looked at me impishly “…It’s a surprise.”
“Seriously?” I asked, both intrigued and annoyed.
“Yep. I could tell you, but if I told you, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise, would it?” he teased, and I groaned.
“Really? You’re going to tease me about this, aren’t you?” I asked.
“Well,” Lee said, his voice low and rumbly in his chest as the hand that had been laid across the back of the sofa came down to take my hand in his. He ran his thumb softly over my knuckles. “I could tease you about something else…” he winked.
Damn it, he was so damn cute. It wasn’t fair.
“You don’t play fair, do you?” I asked, laughing.
“Nope. I play to win,” he said, lifting my hand to his mouth and laying a gentle kiss on my palm. My breath hitched in my throat and suddenly my cock decided to stand to attention. Fuck.