Olivia led him into her house, closing and locking the door behind them.

“Dishes and plates are in the cupboards,” she said, indicating towards the kitchen. “I’m going to take a shower. I’ll be out soon.” She wasn’t even looking at him.

“You know,” he called after her as she disappeared down the hall, “this is wasting my time with you.”

“It surprises me that you care,” she called back before shutting the door.

Mason was a little taken aback by her comment. She really didn’t think he cared about her? Well, maybe it was difficult to believe. It wasn’t as though he was shouting from the rooftops that he actually liked Olivia in a certain way. They even decided to keep whatever this relationship was a secret. But he knew what she meant. Mason was a very upfront, direct person. He said what he meant, and meant what he said. He could understand how people interpreted his behavior not caring. And he really didn’t care what people thought about him. Not his boss, not his friend, and especially not the people he worked with on a day-to-day basis.

But he did care about her. That didn’t mean that he was going to change who he was, but it did mean that he would feel slightly guilty if he hurt her in any way. And right now, even though she hadn’t said anything, he knew that he had somehow hurt her. Because in some twisted way, Olivia was much like Mason in the fact that instead of revealing their feelings, they got defensive.

He sighed as he began to grab plates from the cupboard over the sink, and putting the Chinese food on them. Whenever his team had lots of paperwork to finish, they would always stay at the hospital later and order Chinese food. There were even times, surprisingly, that Mason would join them. Not that he would do much, of course, but his presence was appreciated. It wasn’t like he had anything to go home to anyway. He was forty-four years old, for goodness’ sake, without a wife, without children, and without a family. This never used to bother Mason; he got on by just fine, and his own company was normally enough, but once he reached his forties, he actually began to feel… lonely. He wondered if he would ever be able to settle down, if he would ever even have the opportunity. And kids… he had always wanted a couple of kids, maybe one or two, but he heard his biological clock ticking and began to think that he may never get the chance.

Of course, it wasn’t as though he was planning a future with Olivia or anything, but the last actual relationship he had was back in his early thirties and lasted for three years. He had loved her, was even intent on marrying her, but she began to grow tired of his late nights at the hospital and wouldn’t put up with his attitude when things were getting stressful. He didn’t blame her. It would seem that since then, his longest relationship with a woman was with Olivia. She had been with him three years now. Erin had only lasted two, and he tried to avoid interacting with Carmen by all means necessary. Olivia had stayed with him, for better or worse.

He shook his head, vowing to never use that euphemism for a very long time.

When he was finished, he set the plates on the coffee table and then headed back into the kitchen. Would she be bothered if he grabbed some sort of soft drink or a beer or something to drink? He didn’t think so… but when he opened the door to her refrigerator, he found nothing but a couple of Fiji water bottles, cranberry juice, orange juice, and a carton of 2% milk.

“I don’t really drink soda,” she said from behind him, giving him a start.

He turned, looking down at her. Her hair was damp with soft waves, and her body was concealed only by a red satin robe that went just past her knees.

“I don’t see any alcohol in here either,” he told her, closing the door and cocking his head to the side. “What step are you on now?”

She smiled and crossed her arms over her chest, just deepening her cleavage. “I don’t like carbonation,” she told him. “I never have. Ergo, no beer and no soda.”

“What about strong alcoholic beverages?” he asked, leaning his tall frame on the refrigerator behind him.

“I don’t drink,” she replied nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders. “Never acquired the taste for it. Although, on rare occasions I’ll order a glass of wine.”

She took a step forward and gave him a sideways glance. He stepped away from the door and she opened the refrigerator. “You know your options,” she said, grabbing a bottle of water. “What do you want to drink?”

“I guess I’ll have the cranberry juice,” he told her, and she grabbed the carton of juice as well.

“On the rocks?” she teased and smiled an amused smile she had at her wit.

Mason rolled his blue eyes but couldn’t help but smile as well. “You are so corny,” he told her and took the bottle from her so that he could pour his own drink.

Once the two were situated, they headed back to the living room and each took a seat on the couch. Olivia was actually glad Mason had brought some sort of food because after she played soccer, she was always incredibly hungry but too tired to actually cook anything. Normally she would have a bowl of cereal or something as light, but Chinese food sounded good, and tasted good.

“So,” Mason said after finishing a rather large bite of sweet and sour pork. “I didn’t know you played soccer.”

“You don’t know a lot of things about me,” she informed him, and then took a long sip of her water.

“I don’t know anything about you,” he told her, watching her eat a rather big bite of broccoli. “I mean, I’m starting to know how your body responds to me, and I can tell how you’re feeling by the expression on your face, but I don’t know you.”

“I like that you don’t know about me,” she told him, giving him a sideways glance. “You know everything about everybody. I like being… different.” She smiled at her sentiment and turned her attention back to her food.

“I know you’re different,” Mason scoffed, “but I would like to know about the person I am sleeping with.”

Olivia stopped eating and set her plate on the coffee table. She leaned back into the couch and twisted her body so her torso was facing him. She seemed to be thinking about something.

“What are we?” she finally asked him, cocking her head to the side and looking him imploringly. Her expression was serious, her eyes losing all sparkles of amusement.

Mason was about to answer quite easily, but cut himself short. What were they, exactly? They were obviously colleagues, but he knew that wasn’t the relationship they were talking about. And friends seemed too general, too vague… too safe. They were obviously lovers, but while they shared an intimate connection, they really didn’t know anything about each other except for what Mason had already expressed. And they had already declared they wouldn’t use the term boyfriend or girlfriend while friends-with-benefits sounded too distant.

“I… don’t know,” he replied honestly and set his plate on the coffee table next to hers so they could have an uninterrupted conversation without the distraction of Chinese food.

“What do you want us to be?” she asked him. She wasn’t trying to pressure him into anything; her tone was completely curious.

“Well, what do you want us to be?” Damn his defensiveness.

Instead of reacting to his defensiveness, she pondered his question for a moment. “You want to know about me, and… I want to know about you,” she told him, her eyes meeting his. “I like… being with you, even though you are arguably the biggest asshole on the planet, and I definitely enjoy the way you kiss me, the way you touch me, the way you make love to me…” Her voice drifted off and he noticed her bright eyes slightly darkening. Just that familiar look in her eye caused him to start… responding.

“I agree,” he told her huskily.

“But… I don’t want things to move too quickly,” she told him seriously, her sensuous tone disappearing. “I mean, obviously they’ve moved quite fast concerning the physical aspect, and I do… care about you, whether you realize it or not, but I don’t want to be expected to… I don’t know… immediately fully commit to this. Don’t get me wrong,” she added quickly, “I definitely want to… just not now.”

He smiled at her and leaned closer to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. He loved the silky material of the robe, but he loved the feeling of her skin even more.

“I care about you too,” he told her, and for a moment, she looked surprised.

“I knew that,” she told him softly. “I just never expected you to… say anything.”

“I want to repay you for what you did this morning,” he told her, leaning his forehead against her own.

Again, her eyes darkened, but she shook her head and cupped his cheek with her palm. “I don’t want there to be any expectations,” she told him honestly. “When I did that this morning, I wanted to. I like pleasing you. I don’t ever want you to feel obligated in getting me off merely because I got you off because I never want to feel that way.”

“That’s good,” Mason said and then kissed her cheek softly. She felt her eyelashes flutter lightly against his cheek as she closed her eyes. “Because I want to do this for you.”

“Well, in that case…” she murmured lowly, letting her voice trail off. She smirked and crawled over to him, her eyes locked on his. He smiled as he watched her, and his smile deepened as she sat on his lap. Immediately, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him as she leaned her face up to kiss his neck.

“Hey, hey, hey,” he said, leaning his head away from her so her lips couldn’t reach his neck. “This is about you, not me.”

“Wow,” she said, resuming her position. Her eyes were dancing with his. “I never thought I would ever hear you say something like that.”

“It’s like you said, babe,” he said, leaning towards her with a mysterious twinkle in his eyes, “you don’t know anything about me.” With that, he scooped her up into his arms and stood up as she squealed before erupting into a fit of giggles, wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her chin on his shoulder. He smiled at her reaction, holding her tightly to him, and headed into her room.

Gently, he laid her down and brushed his lips against hers. She sighed through the soft touch and repositioned her arms around his neck, hoping to deepen the kiss. He tasted like sweet and sour, which seemed to be the very essence of what he was, except he was much more sour than sweet. His tongue clashed with hers, and he pulled her closer, her body increasing in temperature due to the passion of the kiss. He felt himself respond to her, his member pressing against the denim of his jeans.

“If you keep kissing me like that, things are going to take much longer than the… hour I have left with you,” he said breathlessly, resting his forehead against hers.

“That’s true,” she agreed. “You better get to it.” Olivia rested her head back down on the pillow and looked up at him expectantly.

Mason took a moment to look at her. She was so… beautiful. He was lucky; he knew it. Only a select few people had had the rare opportunity to see her like this, and he was glad that he was one of them. He might have been happier if he was the only person to see her like this, but he would take what he could get. She was looking up at him with a confident stare, that confident stare that had intrigued him since the first day he met her. Usually, the only two gazes he would receive were either disapproval from Carmen or wistful from Erin and now one of confidence from Olivia, his Olivia. He liked the sound of that.

“Hurry up or I’m going to have to do this myself,” she said with impatience.

“I wouldn’t mind that actually,” he told her as he crawled on top of her and then claimed the column of her throat with his hungry mouth.

Olivia moaned softly, her as closing and her hand lost itself in her hair. He trailed downwards, his right hand gently running up and down her smooth, bare calf. His lips reached her collarbone and traveled to the valley of her breasts. His hands found the belt of her robe and quickly undid it as his lips moved to his left. His fingers slipped under the robe and pushed the intruding fabric away so it revealed the majority of her body. She damn well looked like a painting. His lips took her nipple into his mouth while his right hand cupped her throat, his thumb trailing the sharp bone of her jaw. Her moaning caused his member to throb painfully, but he pushed his own reactions to the side; this was about her.

Mason’s hand left her neck and traced the curves of her body until it reached her hips. His lips continued their attack against her breast as his hand trailed downward until they reached her sex. They gently grazed her lips, causing her to gasp at his touch. He wanted to feel her desire for him, and so, he slipped his finger into her. Almost instinctively, her back arched up against his touch and he had to bite down on his lip to distract him from his pulsating arousal. She was so wet, wet for him.

Lower he went with his lips, down her curvy stomach, stopping just before he got to her pleasure center. His eyes perked up, looking at her.

“You’re… a goddamn tease,” she breathed, lifting her head to meet his eyes.

He smirked. “Quite the contrary, my dear,” he told her, running both hands up her sides. “You are the tease for hiding this body from me for so long.” Immediately after stating what was a simple fact to him, his hands cupped both of her breasts and his fingers began to fondle her hard nipples as his lips descended on her sex and his tongue began to administer pleasure on her clitoris. She whimpered at the sudden action, her eyes rolling back into her head. She was ready for him, and her tongue on her clit just heightened the sensation. His fingers seemed to be quite skilled in fondling her, and his tongue would increase and decrease speed.

Her breathing quickened, and that familiar tingling began to swell up in the center of her sex. How long had it been since he started? Who the fuck cared; she was about to release.

“I’m going to come against your face,” she stated before pressing herself against his face as she began to twitch uncontrollably against him. Her brow rose and a smile eclipsed her face as she began to calm down. He slowed his tongue before stopping altogether. Her breathing began to slow, but her face still had the flush that was beginning to get to him.

“That,” he said as he crawled up to the bed until he was next to her, “was probably the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

Without responding, she wrapped her arm around him and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

“I love the taste of me on your lips,” she said huskily, repositioning herself comfortably on her bed.

“Until you said that,” he said, glancing at her. “So,” he said, wrapping an arm around her waist, “are you going to tell me what Linley wanted with you?”

“He wanted me to manipulate some kid into believing cancer was nothing important,” she said tiredly before erupting into a yawn. “I told him he could go to hell.”

“Did he, you know…?” He looked at her expectantly, his brow rose.

“Hit on me?” she asked, looking at him. “Yes. He even touched the small of my back as he led me to his office.” She caught the flicker of anger that flashed in his eyes, and while it did excite her, she wanted to reassure him. “But you know what?” she asked him softly, arching her neck up and placing a kiss on his jawbone. “He doesn’t get to touch me the way you do.”

“He doesn’t have the ability to touch you the way I do,” he growled, meeting her lips with his.

She chuckled. “You’re probably right,” she agreed, “but guess what? Your two hours are up, so no more touching for the rest of the night.” She placed another quick kiss on his cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He couldn’t believe she was actually kicking him out. He smiled at the thought. She was honest, mysterious, hard to get… ah, the list went on. All he knew was that he would definitely miss sleeping close to her which baffled him as much as it scared him.