Page 11 of Sensual Nights

She swallowed as he set an iced tea in front of her. She hadn't even ordered yet, he remembered. "Okay. Do you want me to come over tomorrow? While you are moving furniture in, I can be unpacking dishes and things."

Mason nodded. "That would be great. Then I can actually sleep there tomorrow and get some sort of order. I may even be able to find things and make breakfast."

She chuckled. "I'll do my best to organize things for you, so you can make breakfast."

"Thank you, Carley. That's very kind of you. I appreciate it."

She smiled and stared into his brown eyes. "I get lonely at home by myself, so I'm happy to help you out and do something that makes me feel useful."

Mason stopped wiping the bar and stared at her for a long moment. It felt like minutes. Long minutes. "You should always feel useful. And you should never feel lonely."

Her heart raced in her chest as his eyes bore into hers. Then someone from the other end of the bar called Mason away and she felt lost. Lonely all over again. That was stupid though, right?

8

Mason dipped his head and wiped the sweat from his forehead on his forearm. He and Marco were carrying his sofa down the hallway to his new condo. The Florida heat had him sweating as soon as he walked outside this morning to put things in his truck. He'd need a couple of showers today. The humidity was high and the temperature was higher. He should have looked at the weather before choosing to move today. He didn't even give the weather a second thought though, he wanted out of that apartment.

Marco stopped at the door to his condo. "We're going to have to tip it up on the side."

"Okay."

They worked together to tip the back of the sofa down and eased it through the door. Once inside, Marco grinned. "Where do you want it?"

"I don't know. What about against that wall?"

"You won't see out the patio doors that way."

Carley stepped inside, staring at the two of them holding a sofa, both of them sweating profusely. "If I may offer some assistance here, I'd say place the sofa right here." She moved toa spot on the floor. "That way, you can see out the patio doors and see into the kitchen. If you put your television above the fireplace, you can see both easily."

He grinned and looked at Marco. "You heard the lady."

They moved around and placed the sofa where Carley suggested and set it down. Both men mopped the sweat from their faces again as Carley set two grocery bags on the counter.

He glanced at the bags, "What's in there?"

"Cleaning supplies in this one." She pointed to the bag on the right. "Lunch in this one." She motioned to the bag on the left.

"You didn't have to buy cleaning supplies or lunch."

She smiled and he stood staring at her like a fool.

She began removing items from the cleaning supply bag. "I know. I wanted to. Now, finish getting your stuff in here so the air conditioning can catch up without the doors open."

He turned and followed directions without another comment. Marco followed him down the hallway, chuckling.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing."

He glanced back at his friend. "What?"

"You just jumped when she said jump."

"She brought food."

Marco laughed full-on at that. "Right."

They stepped outside to see Quinn and Jace pulling up in Quinn's truck with his bed, dresser, and night tables. He felt grateful for the help.

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