Free Common Sense Doesn't Become Me by CJ Hawk

pulled out a chair for me to sit down in. My small oak
wood dinette and chairs were a simple thing, but with the cake and
candles, it felt grand. He pulled a lighter out of his pocket and
lit the candles. "I have to confess. I don't smoke, so my sister
bought me this to have on hand to light the candles she bought.
Does it seem weird? You know. That my sister did this?"
    "Not at all." I replied as I watched him sit.
"Just the fact you told your sister was enough for me. If she did
all the sidebar work to make it happen for you, I think that is
really sweet. However, you are setting the bar a little high on our
second date."
    He laughed and grabbed my hand to hold. "Then
perhaps I had better take some notes on what is expected of me and
keep my sister on standby for help."
    "That would be a wonderful idea." I smirked
with a glint of sparkle to my eye. "You are going to love this
cake. The bakery down the street makes a wonderful chocolate cake.
You should taste their muffins too. To die for. And their holiday
pies, they are about the only thing I insist I get to bring to
holiday parties."
    Just then, he looked me in the eye, leaned
forward out of his chair, gave me a soft simple kiss on my lips and
said the next thing that made me make that ah sound. "Nothing is
sweeter than you."
    Then he sat back down in his chair and took a
bite of cake; he muttered out before he swallowed. "I think we need
to make a muffin run there this weekend, maybe Saturday if you are
free."
    Well, not only would I make myself free; I
was already thinking about what to wear and which booth I wanted to
sit in that was quiet and cozy. However, I did not respond quickly
as I finally took a bite of cake, and as soon as I swallowed it
with a drink of the milk in the glass on the table I replied.
"Mason, that would be really nice."
    "So this is date two. Tomorrow after your
work is date three. Perhaps I should give you Thursday and Friday
off and make Saturday date four. Then if you are up for it..." He
paused as I was giving him the pouty sad girl face.
    "What's wrong?" His voice held genuine
concern. I was good, no great, at the pouty girl face. It even won
me a part in the high school play for a, don't laugh, poor sad
girl.
    I let him off the hook quickly with a teasing
laughter. "Who says I need a night off? Work goes so much better if
I know I have a boyfriend to come home to."
    "Then we should make plans for Thursday and
Friday." He smiled over at me with a serious look to his face.
Could he be feeling what I was feeling? It was as if neither of us
could not get enough of each other.
    "That would be nice." My voice trailed with
the word nice on an elongated note.
    We did not decide right then and there about
what to do; it was as if just knowing we were going to do something
together that made both of us relax and polish off two pieces of
cake and two more glasses of milk. When we were done, he cleared
the plates and glasses, and began to wash them off in the sink with
dish soap, and then set them on the dish rack next to the sink.
    I had to tease. "You know, watching you do
dishes is like porn for a woman, only it would be more erotic if
your shirt was off."
    He stopped washing a glass, set it back in
the sink, and took his shirt off and flung it towards me, almost
knocking the lit candle over. We both started to laugh at my quick
reflexes to grab the shirt in midair with my left hand while
catching the candle in my right. I blew both candles out and
watched him turn back around to the sink. As soon as he did, I held
his shirt up to my nose and breathed in deep. His cologne scent of
something fresh was on it mixed with the smell of his skin that
intoxicated me. Without him turning, he talked to me with his back
to me.
    "I saw that in the window reflection." Then
he turned to me, soapy dishcloth in one hand, chocolate-covered
fork in the other, and a very nice set of muscular abs and chest
muscles that made me swoon. Through his window was one thing, in