I can’t quite believe the way tonight has panned out. I knew Sarah was up to something with all the texts and furtive behaviour and yet I could never have imagined that she and Mason were conspiring. I had no clue she and Mase had met at my flat, she’d simply said my bag had been returned.
As we approach the table where Jed and Sarah are sitting, I can tell she’s nervous until she looks up and sees me with Mase. She immediately takes in the fact that we’re together, that he has an arm around my waist, keeping me close but I am unsure whose benefit it’s for, mine, his, or everyone around us.
“You need to remember whose friend you are,” I tell her as we stop at the edge of the table.
“I do remember, so you’re welcome,” she replies with a smirk.
I am grateful for her intervention, kind of, although I am sure Mason and I could and would have worked this out without her, but I know she has sped up the process, not that I’m not still a bit peeved with her. What if tonight had gone disastrously wrong? The temptation is for me to point all of this out to Sarah in very blunt terms but the sensation of Mason’s fingers gently rubbing across the exposed skin of my back distracts me from anything that isn’t pleasure at the feel of his skin on mine. He is making circles, or figures of eight I think but really don’t care because I am soaking up every single shudder and shiver his touch elicits from me.
“Drink or dance?” A single finger slips beneath the back of my dress and although it is only one finger that is simply stroking my skin beneath my covered back it might be the most intimate feeling I have ever known.
“Drink, please. I’m unsure what happened to my last one.”
“I wasn’t sure if you’d be back and I do hate waste.” Sarah holds up my glass that she’s just drained.
“Yeah, especially at these prices,” I frown making Jed laugh.
“You ain’t bloody kidding. The management and owners here are taking the piss. I know it’s nice but it ain’t that nice.”
I am the one laughing now as I explain. “Mason’s brother is the, what is he?” I ask looking up at Mase and am genuinely breathless at just how handsome he is.
“He is the manager and the owner, so I’ll be sure to pass on your feedback.” He grins before removing his hand which leaves my skin cold and my mind bereft. “You sit and I will get a round of drinks in before we dance.”
“I might hit the floor with Sarah while you’re gone, the bar looks busy,” I say, looking at the crowded bar.
“No chance. The way you dance is not suitable to do without me, so wait, please.”
The last word seems like something of an afterthought which I suppose in business it would be, making me think that he is not used to this, asking rather than telling.
“Don’t be long then. I get itchy feet when the music is playing,” I warn.
“You wait and I’ll scratch your itch as soon as I get back.” He grins, pausing to kiss me on the cheek, which is not where I want his lips, before taking orders and striding to the bar.
“Olive has found her Popeye,” Jed teases, making me and Sarah laugh.
I watch the crowd at the bar and it’s like watching the Red Sea being parted as a gap appears for Mason to walk through, like The Israelites allowing Moses through, but this gap is for Mase to be served quickly by one of the blonde girls from earlier who giggles at whatever he says making me unsure again and more than a little jealous which is quite alien to me. He laughs before returning to the table armed with drinks for us all.
“Now, we can dance,” he says, gazing down at me with an outstretched hand.
I leap to my feet and take a long sip of my drink before stepping out towards the dance floor with Mason in pursuit. We begin to move together as soon as we reach the floor but I am surprised at how quickly Mason is reaching for me, pulling me into him, his hands holding me close until there is nothing between us.
I recognise the sound of Mario singing the opening lines to Let Me Love You and am briefly sent back to being a teenager again until I feel Mason’s hands around my waist while his body moves in perfect time with mine and the music.
“I do like a man that can dance, or at least one that isn’t afraid to,” I tell him as my arms stretch up to circle his neck.
“So, you like me again,” he teases making me smile before we continue to dance, totally at ease with each other and the close proximity of our bodies.
I notice Jed and Sarah still at the table, but my friend is currently sitting on her fiancé’s lap and singing at him which seems to genuinely amuse him. The music changes and the air is flooded with Ke$ha singing ‘Take it Off’ which I think is about some dodgy place to go to for a good time. But it is a number that I can dance to independent of Mason which he seems quite cool with as he dances alongside me although he does raise his eyebrows when I sing along to the lines about turning me on and taking it off which only serves to encourage me to sing louder with even more provocative and exaggerated moves.
“Do you want your drink?” he asks after pulling me close enough to whisper against my ear.
I am about to say yes when the DJ announces that the next track is another Usher one, DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love.
“One more dance before a drink,” I say with a pout of my lips just in case Mason is about to object.
“Okay.” He smiles, pulling me into the space in front of him, not that he needs to because we still have loads of room around us.
I am absorbed by the music as I dance and quickly find I get lost in it, dancing with, around and for Mason and I’m only brought back to the present when I realise that my back is to him and although I am rubbing my behind against him I don’t expect him to pull me even closer.
