“You know, when I first heard that you stood up to Martha, I couldn’t help but wonder, how exactly does a twenty-five-year-old intend to make it in a world without her parents when all she’s known is….” His voice trailed off.
“Pampering?” she asked and he nodded.
“Yeah,” he said, smiling.
“Let’s just say I kept a nest egg handy,” she said.
“I would love to know more about that,” Mason said as the car came up to a stop.
“It’s a long story,” she said and he shrugged.
“I have time,” he said, smiling.
“It is almost midnight and we have an early morning, remember?” she asked and he shrugged.
“I’m the boss. I can go in late,” he said. “Plus it’s not like I have court tomorrow or anything.”
“The merger dissolution?” Athena asked. “Which actually happens at nine-thirty in the morning?”
“Oh please. That will be over in minutes once we disclose the fact that Daniels has been embezzling funds. Plus, I am not even the one handling it. I have better things to do with my weekends.” She smiled and shrugged.
“The weekend hasn’t even started yet. It’s still Thursday,” she said.
“Well, my weekends have been known to start a whole lot earlier than usual,” he said. “Trust me when I say that the only thing harder would be taking candy from a baby.”
Athena’s smile turned into a laugh as she looked at him.
“Well, thanks for dinner Mr. Alexander,” she said and he put up a finger. “Okay, Mason.”
He nodded and winked at her.
“That’s more like it,” he said.
“It’s now or never,” she thought as she looked at him.
She gently leaned over and for a second that almost seemed like an hour, lingered before she kissed his cheek. She was slowly pulling away when he suddenly held the side of her cheek. She could still smell the fermented grape of the wine in his breath as he looked into her eyes in the dim light. She knew almost too well what was going through his mind at that moment and she had never wanted anything more than what he was thinking. He gently brought his head down and she closed her eyes when he suddenly claimed her lips with his own. She responded by holding the back of his neck, gently taking his lower lip in between her own, slowly massaging it as she felt his tongue on hers.
“Damn it,” he said in a soft voice when he finally pulled away. “I’m sorry…I’m so sorry.”
He was rubbing his temple as he spoke and she shook her head.
“Don’t be…I wanted it to happen,” she said in a whisper.
“No, I took advantage of you,” he said, shaking his head.
“No you didn’t,” she said in a soft voice. “I have….” She started before he took her hand in his.
“Let me just walk you to your door and pretend that just didn’t happen,” he said in a soft voice as he opened the door and got out before she could get a chance to say anything. He walked round to her side of the door and opened it. By that time, Athena was tongue-tied. She wanted to tell him that she had wanted him to do that as much as he had. She wanted to throw herself in his arms again but she seemed to be rooted to the spot.
“My car,” she said in a soft voice as she looked at her Jeep parked in front of Mason’s town car.
“I told you I would have someone to bring it back to your place,” he said as he gently slipped an arm around her waist. He walked her up the steps and into her building. They were both quiet as they made their way to the building elevator.
“Here we are,” she said in a soft voice when they got to her door. “Are you sure you don’t want to come in?” she asked and he shook his head.
“Honestly, I don’t trust myself to be around you right now,” Mason said smiling.
“Well, thanks for dinner. And for bringing my car home,” she said as she looked at him.
“Any time, Athena,” Mason said.
Chapter 3
When she woke up the next morning, Athena felt like she had been dreaming. She was still not sure that she actually kissed Mason the previous night but the fact that her car was outside her building was proof enough given that she was not the one who drove it home. She looked at her reflection in the mirror as she put on her black printed wrap around dress. She took a long deep breath as she looked at her reflection. Even though she had lost weight and dropped down two sizes, she was still a plus size woman and there was not a single day that she didn’t miss being smaller. Being attractive. But thanks to Mackenzie’s tight eight hours a week schedule at the gym, she had managed to cut weight and no longer had to wear clothes that were big at the top to hide her flabby stomach. She had been spotting the perfectly flat stomach for eight months now and so far she liked what she saw.