Ella Frank - Exquisite

Lena looked around the restaurant. It was packed. People at tables, people sitting and standing at the bar. A lot of people, period. Too many for her taste but she was sure the owner was happy with the turnout. The smooth melody of Nora Jones, Don't Know Why floated through the air. Spotting Shelly, in a red dress perched on a barstool flirting away with the hot bartender, Lena grimaced slightly then made her way over. She tapped her on the shoulder and Shelly swiveled around. She smiled and looked Lena up and down then narrowed her eyes.

"Hi there Lena. I'm so glad the library closed early enough for you to get away."

Lena glared at her then smirked taking the seat that was vacated beside her. "Well we keep shorter hours then the corner you walked off."

Shelly didn't take offense, in fact she laughed out loud, moving over so Lena could sit. "Lena, that was great! Seriously, that was funny. So honestly? You like my dress right?"

Lena looked at it again, the red dress was skintight and had two inch straps holding it up. It had a straight cut across her chest then came in tight under her breasts. It remained tight to mid thigh and she had completed the look with bright purple heels.

"I like your shoes."

Shelly laughed and took a sip of her Cosmo. "That's because you’re a shoe whore."

Lena looked up the end of the bar for the, now missing, hot bartender."Well I guess I'm not doing this right."

Shelly raised an eyebrow at her.

"I mean who do I need to suck face with or bat my eyelashes at to get a drink in this place?"

"Well you could start with me and see if you get anywhere."

Mason waited as she turned around on her seat. He quickly decided he would’ve given a weeks earnings to have a camera right then to capture the expression that came onto her face. It was a relief to him that her face could actually move. Before about ten seconds ago he’d thought it was stuck on pissed off but right now it was morphing. He watched her as she registered shock, disbelief and finally, a new level of downright pissed off.

"You? You work here?" she sputtered out, which he found refreshing and slightly victorious, since it would seem she was a hard person to rattle. As her friend sat staring between him then her, he leaned on the bar with his left hip.

"No. I waited outside all day for you then followed you here and jumped behind the bar."

He watched her green eyes narrow as she took a deep breath trying to gather patience, he would assume. Much like he had this morning when she’d dressed him down in the waiting room.

"God, could this day get worse?" she muttered to herself. Mason switched his attention to her bodacious friend and cranked up the charm.

"Well hi there. How rude of me not to introduce myself." he grinned as he saw the thing glare at him.

"I'm Mase. I met Lena this morning at work. This is such a nice surprise to see her here."

He watched her friend turn to look at Lena, "You two met this morning?"

Before Lena could say anything he jumped right back in. "Oh yes, didn't she tell you? I brought her flowers."

Mason had to try really hard to stop himself from laughing as he watched Lena's mouth fall open and her eyes get even narrower as she tried in vain to glare him to death. He continued to smile at her then turned that smile back to her friend who was sitting there looking dumbstruck.

"No she didn't tell me anything like that."

Turning to face Lena her friend asked, "Lena? Is there something you need to tell me?"

Leaning on the bar Mason could smell a hint of vanilla. "Yeah Lena, is there?"

She tilted her head to the side and one curl slip free from the clip at the back of her neck. Her eyes looked him over like he was a bug she wanted to squash then she dismissed him with those eyes, turning to Shelly.

"The only thing to tell you Shelly is that morning this gentleman decided that when I was not simpering at his feet he would go behind my back and report me to McKinney."

Mason watched, confused. Who the hell was McKinney? Then she turned back to him and hopped off the barstool picking up her purse.

"Now. We have to go and join the table over there with the other faculty member's of St Luke’s. So why don't you try and be good at one of your job's today and get the drink orders recited to you since you have trouble reading, flower man."

The thing's friend looked horrified but Mason just stood with his arms crossed and smiled a shit eating grin, nodding silently having a feeling that would annoy this prickly little woman even more. However, right before she was about to saunter away Wendy rushed over past the women.

"Boss man. Table of 15 are doctors from St Luke’s let's not screw up. Would be good to have them as regulars."

Mason winced slightly but kept his eyes on the woman in front of him and her suddenly frozen feet. He continued to smile like he didn't have a care in the world, and wasn’t someone who’d just been on the receiving end of a cutting insult. Then he tilted his head toward her. "I'll be sure to send one of my staff over to take care of you as soon as possible sweetheart."

There, he thought with satisfaction, what do you think of that Queen Bitch?

Shelly practically dragged Lena toward their table while constantly looking behind them to the bar. Lena on the other hand, followed without a backward glance. She was to busy processing exactly what’d just happened. The flower man was also a bartender? No, that didn’t seem to be adding up. The flower man was the restaurant manager? Hmm, maybe that was the case but why would the manager of the hottest restaurant in town be delivering flowers from that cute little flower boutique Precious Petals? So many questions and thoughts were flipping through her mind she didn’t even realize Shelly had come to a stop and turned to face her. Lena almost bumped into her but at the last minute she looked up and stopped. Shelly craned her neck to see past her, she would guess at Mr. Flower slash bartender slash restaurant manager slash pain in her ass.

“You did not tell me you knew Mason Langley.” she whispered. Her eyes so wide they looked like they might pop out of her face.

Shaking her head Lena answered, “I don’t know a Mason Langley.”

“That man over there burning a hole in your ass is Mason Langley. Owner and Head Chef of this little place called Exquisite .”

Opening her mouth to say something Lena found, for probably the first time in a long while, that she had absolutely nothing to say.

“You know the place we’re standing in? Where we are about to sit down and have a meal? Yeah, you just insulted the head honcho, the man who’ll probably go back there and spit in our food.”

“What do you want me to do? Go over there and apologize?”

Shelly nodded slowly like she was talking to an imbecile. “It would be a start.”

“Have you lost your mind?” Lena asked her in a loud whisper, “I was joking about apologizing.”

“Well I’m not and he’s still staring at your ass.”

Letting out a sigh Lena glared at her, “I’m sure he’s not looking at my ass.”

Shelly looked over at him again then lifted her hand in a small wave and smiled. Then looked back as Lena pouted.

“Why don’t you go and apologize? If you like him so much?"

“Because I wasn’t rude.” Shelly turned to their table and looked over her shoulder shooing her away. “You were.”

Gritting her teeth Lena spun around on her heel to see Mason, she assumed, still standing at the bar his head cocked to one side. His hip was leaning up against the dark mahogany counter and he was looking right at her. He really was incredible to look at, now that she didn’t have to listen to him talk , she thought with a smirk. Yeah that’s it, if he could just stand there silently she’d be happy to look at him. Unfortunately every time he opened his mouth he said something that either annoyed her or down right pissed her off then she morphed into a raging bitch. It was a shame really because he was probably the first man in, well as long as she could remember, that she found extremely attractive. His hair was jet black and cut shorter in the back with a slight curl around his ears. The front looked like he’d just run his hand through it and a stray piece flopped forward. The dark stubble didn’t detract from his appeal it drew attention to his jaw line and mouth. His eyelashes were insanely long, when she noticed those she couldn’t tell you, but she knew they surrounded piercing blue, almost midnight blue, eyes. However, that wasn’t what drew her eye the most, it was his very presence. He was a tall man, at least 6’3 if she had to guess and his shoulders were huge, especially in that black buttoned up shirt he was wearing tonight. They were out lined to perfection and the shirt hugged his torso all the way down to his slim waist where the shirt disappeared into tight black slacks that were framed by a black belt with a silver buckle. Oh yeah, she thought, it was such a shame he was a total pain in her ass . She looked right at him then straightened her spine for the battle to come. He didn’t smile as he continued to watch her, almost intently. It made Lena uncomfortable to be under such scrutiny when there were so many other people around. It was as though they’d all just vanished and she was back in the hospital lobby standing in front of him. However, this time he had the upper hand. Lena watched as one of the bartenders came over to him and started to speak, he nodded but kept his eyes on her the whole time. Looking over her shoulder at Shelly, she stiffened her shoulders then said softly. “Fine, but I’m only doing this because you’re making me and I don’t want spit in my food.”