Chapter 12 - The Dinner Date

"Nina, if there are any important and urgent calls, tell me and put me through. But if they're not, leave them, I'll handle it tomorrow." Mason commanded as Nina nodded in understanding.

"Yes sir." She answered.

"Alright, I best be going then." He announced and left the office. Once he was in his car, he glanced at his gold watch and checked the time. It was already 4:37 and it would take him about half an hour to get home since it was already traffic hours. He sighed and figure it was fine to be late for a couple of minutes.

~ * ~ * ~

"Are you sure that I look fine?" Kelsey asked Ella for the millionth time.

"You look perfect, Kelsey. Now stop asking or I'm going to put some tape on your mouth." She threatened shutting Kelsey up. "Remember, table manners. Also, if your make-up fades, just touch it up. I put all the make-up you need in this purse." She said handing her the purse as Kelsey took it.

"Alright." Kelsey nodded and reassured Ella with a smile. "I think I'll be fine." She stated trying to convince herself more than Ella.

"If you say so. I gotta go, Lance and I have some plans for tonight." Ella said wiggling her eyebrows making Kelsey crunched her nose in disgust.

"I don't wanna know." Kelsey told her shaking her head from forming any nasty image in her head.

Ella laughed and grabbed her purse making her way out. "Just remember to be yourself!" She reminded. But before the elevator door closed, she called out, "Oh, and use protection! Its better to be safe than sorry!" She screamed causing Kelsey to groan in disgust. Ella laughed once again and the elevator's door shut close.

Kelsey sat on the couch in Mason's penthouse. She glanced at the wall clock and it read 4:45, Mason should be there any second. She suddenly felt nervous and she felt like there was a knot in her stomach. She was completely nervous because it was her first date. It wasn't like it counted as a date, but still, it was the first time she was going out with a guy.

She let out a breath and groaned in frustration. She rested her head on the head rest of the couch and closed her eyes as she felt tired all of a sudden.

~ * ~ * ~

The elevator door finally opened and Mason entered the penthouse. It was eerily silent like it always was. He checked his watch for the time and it was already 5:15, he was fifteen minutes late and he wondered whether Kelsey came back already from her makeover with Ella.

Mason loosened the tie around his neck and pulled it off. He was on his way upstairs to change into a different button-up long sleeves shirt when he saw a figure on the couch. He squinted his eyes and came close to the figure only to see Kelsey fast asleep. He stared at her in admiration. His sister did a great job because she sure did turn Kelsey into an elegant beautiful woman.

Mason didn't noticed the smile that formed on his lips while staring at her and figured he should wake her up. He slowly caressed her cheeks to awaken her. "Kelsey, Kelsey!" He called out. Kelsey stirred in her sleep and slowly open the lids of her eyes. She was in a hazed for a moment until she realized that she fell asleep on the couch with Mason hovering over her. They stared at each other's eyes for what felt like an hour before Mason pulled his hand that was caressing her cheek away and she stood up from the couch.

"Sorry, I must have fallen asleep." She apologized as the atmosphere became awkward all of a sudden.

"No, that's fine. Ella must have drained you out." He stated knowing full well how his sister could tire anyone out from all her shopping and talking. He finally had the guts to look at her but regretted it the moment he saw her dress.

She was standing there in front of him in a red dress that reached beyond her knees. It had one strap of sleeve while the other shoulder was open revealing her milky smooth skin. He was tempted to run a hand through her porcelain skin but prevented himself by forming a tight fist with his hand. The dress was perfect on her showing off her curvy figure. Mason usually dated actresses and models and Kelsey was far from them, but he found her even sexier than they all were.

"Mason?" Kelsey called out touching his shoulder snapping him out of his wild imagination on what he was planning to do when they got home after their dinner.

"Huh?" He asked in bewilderment as Kelsey pulled her hand and dropping it to her side.

"I said, should we go?" She repeated and Mason nodded shaking his thoughts away. He couldn't believe he zoned out on her.

"Yeah, yeah." He answered. "I just have to change my shirt. I'll be back." He announced climbing the stairs and all he wanted to do was smack himself in the face for thinking of Kelsey in such a sexual way.

He figured he wanted to look less formal so he removed his suit and settled by wearing a black long sleeve button-up shirt and tucked it in his black slacks with his belt on. He combed his already sleeked hair to remove the flyaway and checked himself out in the mirror. He was wearing all black so he decided to grab a red tie to match Kelsey's. Once he was satisfied with his looks, he came back down and saw that Kelsey was on the phone. He couldn't hear the other line but he did bears Kelsey talking to someone called Margie.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me, Kelsey!" Margie complained on the phone practically screaming at Kelsey causing her to flinch.

"I am so sorry, Marg. I was gonna tell you but it was happening all too fast that even I couldn't keep up." She tried explaining as Margie sighed on the other line.

"If I didn't come over to your apartment and visited you, I wouldn't have found out that you are engaged!" She barked.

"Again, I'm sorry! Please forgive me?" She begged her best friend and Margie sighed in response.

"Well, what else am I suppose to do other than to support you?" She explained as Kelsey was relieved that she forgave her. "I just can't believe that you are getting married to the Mason King. It's like every girl's dream to be married to a young, handsome, successful, wealthy guy."

"May I remind you, Margie, that this is a fake marriage. So please, stop overthinking it." Kelsey reminded her.

"I don't care whether it's a real wedding or not, but if that guy hurts you, poor or wealthy, I will not hesitate to rearrange his pretty face." Bryan threatened over the phone causing a smile to make its way on Kelsey's lips. She loved her friends, both Margie and Bryan, because they were both caring and loving people that have been supporting her since day 1.

"If he's going to rearrange his face, imagine what I'll be able to do to him." Margie threatened.

"I love you guys. But I think I can handle it." She assured them.

"Well if you need anything, don't hesitate to call me, 'kay?" Margie reminded her.

"I will. Can you just do me favor and look after my family? Especially Kyle, make sure he doesn't find out that I'm getting married to my supposedly 'boss'."

"Okay, I'll handle it. Bryan and I were planning to visit him anyway. I'll have a chat with the nurses there." Margie said causing Kelsey to sigh in relief. She didn't know what she'll do if Kyle found out that she was lying to him. She couldn't bare to see her brother furious at her. Kyle was a really jolly kid but he could be the worse person when he was angry.

"Thanks, Marg. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye. take care." She lastly said as she hanged up and Kelsey put her phone back in her purse. In the middle of putting her phone back in her purse, she saw Mason standing at the end of the staircase and she wondered if he heard her conversation with Margie.

"Were you standing there the whole time?" She asked causing him to snapped back in reality.

"No... I just came down." He lied and Kelsey didn't look persuaded as well so she stared at him with narrow eyes. "Shall we go?" He asked changing the subject. "We're already kind of late."

"Let's go." She said as she took her purse in her hand and they made their way to their dinner 'date'.