Where Would I Be Without You - By CJ Hawk Page 0,19

long neck bottle beers, two waters and two menus. I didn't want to talk about my dad, but I didn't want Mason thinking he was a jerk either, so I quickly informed him of something he needed to know. "My dad's a great guy; you'd love him. He is a drinker though, but he seems to have called it quits on the extracurricular junk, so please don't hold it against him when you meet him." Oops, I just let Mason know that I was assuming he would meet my parents soon. A bit early for that, but oh well, he seemed to be taking it in stride.

"Glad to hear he's a great guy, and that he's trying. What do you want to eat? Their hot wings are spicy, but they are my favorite. Want to share an order?"

I never picked up my menu. I just stared in awe of him. "Sure that would be great." He seemed so casual about making this thing we have going on, turning it into a relationship. As badly as I wanted an evening nightcap, I also knew that was almost a fast track way of blowing a good thing. When he finally looked over at me and put the menu down, I watched his hand instinctively reach out for mine, and he smiled. What he said next about put me into a melted mess on to the floor.

"Amber Jones, you are the best thing that has happened to me in a long time. I'm really glad I picked this building to do my hands-on employment time and even happier that you ended up being my neighbor. Couldn't have worked out better. Thanks for the show the other night, by the way." He let out a little chuckle while looking down at his beer. When he looked back up with his sexy as sin eyes, he looked at me straight in the face and said the next thing very serious. "Best entertainment I have had in a long time."

Without hesitation, but a bit of blushing to my face, I held up my beer to his, clinked in a cheer's fashion and said the next thing with a dead on sexy smile to my face before I took a long drawl of the house beer. "Right back at cha champ. Really nice ass by the way."

He choked on a sip of his beer and started to laugh. "About that. How much naked did I show you?"

"All. And if I am not mistaken, you were a bit excited to get undressed or is that his relaxed state?" Now I was really turning the conversation to slutty. He laughed and made a quick turnaround in the conversation.

"I guess that is why you weren't so focused on my eye color. Although, I was told to get some curtains up by the old lady next to you. I guess she likes to sit with her cat in the window seat and has a view into my place as well."

"Hmm. That would be a terrible thing. Putting window coverings up in your bedroom. How would I be able to see you, you know, before you get undressed to take a shower?" I took another sip of my beer and looked at him with a sultry smile while holding the tip of the beer bottle up to my lips.

"That can be arranged. Sorry to say, though, curtains are already up. I guess I just have to remember to close them." Then he set his bottle down on the table, reached over, and whispered into my ear. "I don't plan on closing them anytime soon. Just so you know."

"Hmm. That's a good thing." Then I took a deep breath in and out, realizing that in all this time in the bar, it felt like we were the only two people in the room. I liked that. I liked that feeling a lot. I wasn't worried about who was looking at me, was my hair ok, was the cute guy at the bar looking at me, or Marion. Usually, men were looking at Marion.

By the time the food came, we had settled into an easy conversation about our lives. I told him about my job as an administrative assistant of the production line down at Crawley's, and my mother's aspirations for me to go to college, any college, any course, just to say I had a degree. He told me about his business degree from CU Boulder and that his dad had great plans