Page 64 of Mason's Run

“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 thetwins 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.

Damnit, he was sodamncute. 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.

“Um, yeah,” I said, trying to catch my breath. Any progress I’d made toward recovering my equilibrium was lost as his tongue snuck out of his mouth and teased at the skin between my fingers. Oh, my fucking zebra gods, that was hot…

I might have jumped him then and there if my phone hadn’t buzzed in my hand. Startled, I dropped it like a hot potato. We both seemed to have registered it was falling at the same time, as we both tried to grab it, but all we managed to do was flip it around back and forth until it landed on the couch. Luckily it was unbroken, but the call kind of broke the mood, and we both burst out laughing.