Phantoms of Fourteenth Avenue

Chapter 17

I stared out onto the big backyard, sipping slowly on my morning coffee. Fall had really started to reveal itself. The wind coming in from the back door blew over my face and I shivered.

Closing the back door, I turned around and looked at the Kitchen. I'd been here for at least two months now. Grace deteriorating by the day. It won't be long until I would have to pack up my belongings and head back home.

Something I've wanted since the first day I stood outside examining the house. But only now, I wanted to stay. There was only one reason for it - Mason.

Thinking about all the kisses Mason and I had shared, I brushed my lips with my fingertips remembering how amazing it had felt.

The last week or so, things had seemed to intensify between us but it seemed that both of us were too afraid to make a move on the other. In the meantime, we really got to a point of being considered friends, maybe a little more than friends? At least that's what I told him last night, while he was asleep.

I sat down at the kitchen table, my cup in hand and closed my eyes, just listening to the sounds that this old house whispered.

After what I had thought was a woman walking into my room, I hadn't had another unexplained experience in this house, apart from the normal creaking of water pipes and old wooden floors and not to mention the f****d up dream that I had last night.

I quickly opened my eyes when I heard Mason's footsteps enter the Kitchen.

“Morning Alli.” he yawned, grabbing the milk out of the fridge to make himself a cup of Coffee.

“Hi Mase, did you sleep well?” I smiled, noticing how groggy he seemed.

Mason just nodded, eyeing me as he still tried to wake completely.

I sighed a thoughtful sigh. Lately things were actually great here. Apart from poor Grace, I was really starting to enjoy my stay with Mason.

As much as I valued the friendship we had built the last few weeks, a major part of me wanted to explore him more.

I gawked at him as he sat at the table looking down at his cup.

This man is just so gorgeous. I eyed his beautiful black hair that glossed from the light coming from the kitchen ceiling. How I wouldn't have minded just to run my hand through it.

My eyes wandered lower to his captivating dark blue eyes. How I longed for him to look at me the way I was looking at him right now.

Then I noticed his lips. My gaze froze as I remembered our first kiss. Yes, it had happened in a pretty tense, maybe crazy moment but I couldn't have imagined anything that would have ripped me out of my crazy mind as quickly as those juicy, thick lips did.

He suddenly looked up from his cup and stared at me. “Can I ask you something?”

I tensed immediately. Normally a question like that would have ended with a far more complicated question that I could only imagine wasn't something I would have wanted to answer.

I nodded and tried not to show how much my palms sweat and my heart rate increased.

“And please keep in mind that I want you to be completely honest. I won't take offense. It's just something that has been gnawing at me for a while and I need to know.” he said seriously.

Oh s**t. What could it be? Was he going to ask about Ryan? No. We had already silently agreed to keep Ryan in the no discuss zone and even though I had seen Ryan a couple of times and he had visited quite a few times as well, Mason had always seemed to keep his distance when Ryan had been over.

I had postponed my intimacy with Ryan so many times because Grace needed me. I hadn't come here to have dates with guys I bumped into at grocery stores. I was hired as a live-in nurse.

Mason suddenly got up from his chair and moved it so that it was seated right next to me. He sat down but turned his whole posture to face me completely.

I turned my head and watched him, pushing all my angst back. The wave of his cologne blew over me and I suddenly felt weak in the knees. How was it possible for someone to look the way he did, sound the way he did and smell the way he did.

Did he just smell like this naturally or did he put cologne on first thing in the morning? I really should ask him as soon as we get close enough to ask questions like that.

His face got closer to mine and he looked at me thoughtfully, brushing one of my locks out of my face. I sucked in a breath and just stared back at him.

Is he going to kiss me again? The suspense was killing me. Because if he was going to do it, he'd better hurry up. My body physically couldn't take anymore of the tension between us. A woman also has needs.

“Would you like to go out for dinner sometime?”

That's it? Dinner? Here I was, thinking about kissing him and he was asking me out to dinner? Did he hear me last night? This is just coming out of the blue. It's odd.

“Or maybe, we could just forget about dinner and skip to the fact that I really just want to kiss you.” He intensified his gaze and smirked as he ended his sentence.

I was instantly filled with a needing hunger for him. I could feel every inch of my body trembling. I wanted him to do more than just kiss me. I wanted him to take his Big strong hands and explore my whole body.

But where did this come from all of a sudden?

“What?” I whispered, as I could not believe what I was hearing.

“Ali, I've been holding it in for too long. I want you. I know you are with Ryan now but…” His sentence was cut short when without a second thought I closed our distance and pressed my lips against his. He grabbed me by the waist and pulled me on top of his lap.

I grabbed him by the hair that I just moments ago dreamed about and tugged at it. He opened his mouth, giving me permission to explore his delicious mouth with my tongue and I felt myself go weak.

Finally! Finally he had reciprocated my feelings. Did he hear me last night? Was that why there was a sudden shift in our friendship?

As we kissed each other with a hunger both of us were trying to satisfy, I felt him harden underneath me. I made him hard. I did that.

He took one hand and slipped it under my pajama shirt and grabbed me by the hip. I moaned against his lips. God, that felt good. He raised his firm hand all the way up and grabbed my breast firmly above the bra.

I was completely taken by surprise when Mason abruptly pushed me off him with a force that almost made me fall backward.

I grabbed the table just in time and steadied myself as I looked at Mason confused just as the front door opened and someone's footsteps echoed through the house.