“Just can’t help yourself can you?”
He leaned back in the chair and put a hand to his chest, “Me? What’d I do?’
“Throwing that charm around everywhere.”
He looked over to Shelly who was chewing on, he looked closer, what appeared to be lasagna. “At least she admits I’m charming.”
Shelly grinned at him.
“So you’re here visiting your mom?” Lena asked sitting very proper with her hands clasped on the table. She looked so professional today with her hair pulled up into a bun and her scrubs and lab coat on. Her glasses were sitting beside her on the table. Leaning forward her reached across and flicked the name badge around in his fingers, Dr. Magdalena O’Donnell M.D. and the rest was blocked by the lapel of her coat. Wow, in this setting she was something else. All brains behind those careful eyes. She was watching him closely right now so he grinned. Dressed like she was he couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated, this lady was smart with a capital S and what was he? A highly paid cook.
Lena watched his grin as he looked at her closely. She couldn’t help but wonder what it was he was seeing. Was he remembering the way she’d fallen apart in the flower shop? Or maybe the way she’d clutched his hand, terrified to move across the cemetery. Either way she found it infuriating that she didn’t know, and that he was grinning at her like a loon.
“What’s your problem Langley?”
“Don’t have a problem. I was just thinking how professional you look.”
Shelly laughed at that then blurted out, “As opposed to how unprofessional she looks in a tub?”
“Shelly!” Lena cried and her eyes flew to his. Her cheeks were heating and the more she tried to glare him down the bigger the smirk was that covered his damn mouth.
“What?” her friend asked innocently.
Looking toward Shelly, she said through clenched teeth, “Shut it.” Then her eyes came back to rest on two laughing blue ones. “And as for you?”
“Yes Dr?”
She narrowed her eyes and said in the most dignified voice she could find, “Behave yourself.”
Grinning at her he sat back and turned to face Shelly, and on a whispered she heard him say softly, “I don’t know. She sure looked like a professional at what she was doing that night in the tub.”
Lena stood quickly her chair tipping back, “That’s it!”
Glaring down at him she noticed, for the first time, he was wearing a pair of well worn jeans and a black t-shirt that was molding to all his hotness and he’d dropped on the table a black leather jacket. She shut her eyes for a minute, breathing deeply, because quiet frankly she didn’t want to be thinking about that night in the tub when he looked so damn amazing. When she heard a second chair push back she opened her eyes and looked up at him where he now stood. She heard Shelly still laughing softly behind them. He grinned down at her then reached out to push a wisp of her behind her ear. “You’re so easy to fire up Lena O’Donnell.”
Still feeling pissy she crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her chin up to him. “That’s Dr O’Donnell.”
She watched his mouth tug at the corner and he nodded reaching down to grab his jacket. “Oh is it now?”
Rolling her eyes she snapped, “Is there a reason you’re here Langley? Other than to drive me crazy and embarrass me in my work place?”
He was about to say something when Shelly chimed in. “In all fairness I did start it.”
He looked over his shoulder to her friend, “I appreciate that.” then he turned back to her.
“Well?”
“I want you to come and see my mother.”
Mason was trying very hard not to laugh as Lena marched down the hall ahead of him. Damn she was cute. She was all kinds of mad at him right now and he couldn’t find it anywhere in him to care. She’d huffed out of the lunch room, pissed off at him and Shelly, then made her way down in front of him to the elevators. She reached out and punched the button and that’s when she finally looked over at him. “You’re an ass.”
Nodding he stepped to the left close enough that their arms brushed. “Can I hold your hand?”
Her head snapped around to look at him and he stepped back to where he’d been.
“Okay. I’ll take that as a no.”
The elevator door pinged and they stepped inside waiting quietly as the doors slid shut. She punched the floor his mother was on then turned to glare at him. She looked as though she was about to yell and then punch him, or punch him then yell, but instead she shocked the shit out of him.
“Kiss me.” she demanded.
He didn’t need a second invitation. He moved a step over to her grabbed the lapels of her lab coat and pulled her in close covering her mouth with his. She groaned against him and parted her lips. He quickly dipped his tongue inside, rubbing it up against hers, knowing the doors were about to come back open. Then he pulled back and traced her bottom lip ending it by nipping it gently. He stepped back and grinned at her reaching out to take her hand.
“Don’t even think about it Langley. You’re still an ass and you can not hold my hand.”
He couldn’t have kept the smile from his face right then if his life had depended on it.
Lena stood silently beside Mason as the elevator slowed. She was finding it hard not to grin at him and equally hard to breathe after the kiss he’d just given her. The ping of the elevator signaled they’d arrived. When the doors slid open she stepped out and made her way down to the left already knowing what room his mother was in. When they got there she pulled Catherine’s chart from the door and took a quick peek to make sure everything was going well with her treatment. Scanning through the recent EKG’s Lena frowned a little at what she was seeing then flipped the papers back and walked into the room. Mason had already made his way inside and was leaning down to kiss Catherine on the head. Lena stood silently just inside the doorway not really knowing what to say. She watched as Mason brushed a hand down his mom’s hair then stepped back to stand beside her. Comparing the two side by side Lena could see the strong family resemblance. Catherine smiled over at her and she watched her eyes crinkle up at the side from years of laughter. Lena returned it and moved over to stand at the foot of the bed. The resemblance didn’t end there. The blue eyes were exactly the same and now that she saw them beside one another she was surprised she hadn’t seen it before, but then again she hadn’t been looking. Mason stood by his mom grinning at her with his usual effortless grin and he looked so relaxed and happy at that moment Lena couldn’t help but finally give him a smile back.
“Lena honey, don’t you look like a doctor?”
Laughing she heard Mason answer her, “Well mom she is a doctor. So I suppose that’s a good thing.”
“Oh yes yes,” she said waving her hand as though what she’d said was trivial. “I just meant that whenever I’ve seen her she has looked so,” she paused and Lena wondered if she was looking for the word lost. Then she continued, “Young.”
“Mother!” Mason admonished and tsked her lightly. Lena couldn’t help but be amused as the two went back and forward. “You should know better than to talk about a woman’s age. You taught me that.”
“Oh hush Mason Langley. I didn’t mean anything by it. Lena knows I think she’s lovely. I just meant that usually she’s in casual clothes and looks like she just came from school.”
Finally Lena spoke up, “Well that’s probably because when we first met I was in school You just have that same image in your head.”