Green Card (4 page)

“No.” Mason thrust his way in and folded his arms, scarcely believing he was going to get involved in this.

His cool, collected voice must have surprised her uncle because he stopped. He let go of Katia and shoved her. “Go pack your things and get out!”

Then he turned to Mason. The older man’s bushy eyebrows seemed stuck together with a deep wrinkle in the middle. “You take advantage of my niece, and you don’t want to get out of my restaurant? I could shoot you as a robber right now, and no one would know otherwise.”

“Do not do that, uncle.” Katia straightened her posture and lifted her chin, defiantly. “I would tell the police what really happened.”

“What? You would turn against your own family?”

“Family? Ha! You treat me no better than a slave.”

“You ungrateful little whore. Say hello to your mother for me when you run back to her.”

Taking on his Totalitarian’s most menacing stance, Katia bristled. “Stop it, uncle!”

Mason held up one hand. “Don’t say another word, sir. Not another sentence. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll let me speak.”

The older man folded his arms and appeared amused. “And what are you going to do to me if I don’t?”

 Mason had to think of an explanation fast. There had to be some kind of logical clarification that wouldn’t get Katia in hot water. The only thing he could think of was the one thing he’d told her would never happen. “I heard about Katia’s mother. Apparently, you don’t feel inclined to help the woman, even though she’s your sister, so I said I would. I gave Katia some money to send to her.” Okay, so it wasn’t exactly a lie. Katia would probably have sent the money to her mother anyway.

“So you’re saying you fell for a pretty girl with a sad story. I imagine it was creatively told, too, with lots of tears?”

Katia gasped. “It’s not a story! Why would you say that, uncle?”

He shoved her in the direction of the kitchen and yelled, “Get to bed. I’ll deal with you, in the morning.”

“How?” Mason asked. “Are you going to slap her again?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Look, how can I convince you that she did nothing wrong?”

The old man stopped, appeared to be pondering the question, and with a gleam in his eye, said, “Come back tomorrow. I will think of something you can do by then. Meanwhile, I will not throw her out until you show you are willing to do whatever it is I ask of you. If you do not return, she will be punished severely and turned out on the street.”

Hope returned to Katia’s eyes then turned to a plea. If Mason chose to be her champion, what would that require? From what she had told him, her uncle was more interested in people willing to work than anything else. A few shifts at the restaurant shouldn’t be a hardship as long as he had time to finish his sketches. Katia could use the help. He’d only seen one other waitress.

Checking the front door for the hours, he said, “I’ll be here before you open.”

Chapter Four

A few minutes before eleven a.m., Mason stationed himself outside the restaurant. Katia came to the door, let him in and locked it behind him.

“I’m glad you got here early. My uncle is in the kitchen getting everything ready. If he yells, customers won’t be around to hear it.”

“Is he in a yelling mood?”

One side of Katia’s mouth curled in a sardonic smile. “Always.”

“As long as he doesn’t ask too much of me, he shouldn’t have to yell.”

“I can’t tell you how happy I am that you returned.”

Katia opened the swinging door to the kitchen and escorted him to the doorway. “Uncle Demetri, Mason’s here.”

“Have a seat.” Demetri pointed to a stool next to the door.

Mason sat as asked.

“Are you still willing to do anything I ask to prove Katia’s innocence?”

“As long as it isn’t too difficult, yes. She shouldn’t be ruined for something she didn’t do.”

The man was silent for several moments while he took a knife and went about slaying peppers into tiny bits. At last, he faced Mason with the deadly looking blade still in his hand. “I want you to take my niece into your home. She tells me you live within walking distance. She can still work for me and eat her meals here, but we are overcrowded and her presence has been a burden on my wife and children. She can sleep on your couch instead of mine.”

Mason could hardly believe his ears. Take her in? Why would her uncle assume he could do that? He already had a roommate. Hadn’t Katia told him? Mason rose to his feet and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I have a male roommate living with me.”

The man was not to be deterred. He faced Mason squarely and folded his arms in front of his chest. “How many bedrooms you got?”

“Two. One for each of us.”

“That’s all the bedrooms I have too--only there are seven of us and Katia makes eight.”

“Jeez!” Mason raked his fingers through his hair and paced. What would happen if Katia
was
pregnant? Would everyone assume he was the father? After she had her baby, would he be expected to marry her? If he refused to take her in, where would she go? His mind whirled as he pictured all the possible complications.

Would this kind of interruption in his life be worthwhile? He needed a model and yet, what if at the end of the week the publisher didn’t like what he saw and didn’t want his graphic novel?

“I—I like Katia and ordinarily, if I needed a roommate and she could pay half the rent…”

He had hoped her uncle would interrupt, make some sort of objection to another male in the apartment or mention she couldn’t afford rent or
something…
but Demetri remained silent.

Unnerved, Mason finally said, “I’ll have to ask my roommate. It’s not just my life this would affect.”

The man shrugged. “Of course. You will let me know what you decide by tomorrow. No dilly dallying as they say.” He turned his back and resumed chopping vegetables. Mason wandered out of the kitchen, stunned.

* * * *

Her only friend and lover approached, wearing an expression she would describe as astonished.

“Katia, do you know what your uncle wants us to do?”

She unlocked the front door, relieved no customers waited to come in. “Yes, he told me.”

His stare pierced her with an intensity she hadn’t seen in his eyes before, as if trying to access her soul. “Did you suggest it to him?”

“No, I did not. I don’t like to impose on family, but you are not even family, and I haven’t known you very long. I told him you would say no.”

“I didn’t say anything, yet. Frankly, I’m surprised he’d ask a man to take you in if he’s so strict.”

“I was too!” She hung her head. “He must really hate me.” When she looked up again, Mason was still scrutinising her and she wanted to squirm.

“When can you come over to pose next?”

“For how long?”

“An hour, maybe a little longer? My roommate needs to meet you.”

Her heart leapt. “Does this mean you’re considering it?”

“I don’t know. I’d like to think long and hard about it, but your uncle is rushing me. The situation would be temporary until you find someplace else, and my roomie has to be okay with it.”

Katia was reminded of what ‘long and hard’ meant to her, and she couldn’t imagine anything more wonderful than living with a man like Mason. Whatever his roommate was like didn’t matter. She could deal with anyone for a few weeks or months. After all, she had put up with her uncle for quite a while.

“And we have to figure out what to do before the ah…time comes for the ah…” He pointed to her abdomen.

She nodded. “Of course. My day off is Wednesday, and we were going to meet then anyway.”

“Your uncle gave me until tomorrow. When are you free today?”

“Today?” Shocked, she wondered why her uncle had forced him to act so quickly. Mason couldn’t have told him about the possibility of a baby… No, he couldn’t have done that. She was still alive.

Giving him a short time to make a major decision was a tactic her uncle would use, though. Less time to think clearly. Second thoughts might occur, but not until it was too late.

“I have to work until eleven again, and you said your roommate has to get up for early classes.”

“You aren’t working from opening to closing, are you? That’s twelve hours.”

“No. I don’t start working until it gets busy. Usually one o’clock.”

“I guess that cuts down my thinking time. Why don’t you come over now, and we’ll figure this out together. I’ll call my roommate and see if he can come home for lunch.”

Katia nodded. She’d never had a man offer to figure out her future with her. The males of her family always told her what to do and this new experience gave her a heady blast of self-empowerment. Now, she just had to hope Mason’s roommate didn’t nix it for her.

* * * *

Once at the apartment, Mason called his roommate on his cell phone. Katia settled herself on the sofa, watching him with big doe eyes.

Eddy answered the same way he always did. “Hey, roomie. What do you need?”

“You always assume I need something.”

“Well, don’t you?”

Mason huffed and admitted, “Yeah. I need you to come home for lunch and meet someone.”

“Don’t tell me you’re trying to set me up, because if you are, forget it.”

Mason eyed Katia and laughed. “No, buddy. This one’s mine.”

Katia smiled. There was that glow again. She took his breath away when she smiled like that.
I should try some romantic poses and draw that smile.
Capturing Katia’s glow from within would be a challenge, but Mason loved nothing better than a professional challenge.

“And it’s serious enough that you want me to come home to meet her? Why haven’t I heard anything about her?”

“Look, it’s complicated, and I have more to tell you.”

“Why the rush?”

“Like I said, there’s more to tell you, and I don’t want to do it over the phone.”

“Uh-oh. You got some poor girl pregnant, didn’t you?”

“Will you stop jumping to conclusions and get your ass home?” Mason stared at the ceiling, looking to some higher power to intervene on his behalf.

“Yeah, fine. I’ll be there in half an hour.”

“Thanks, Eddy.” Mason flipped his phone shut and laid it on the coffee table.

Tension filled Katia’s face. “Was he upset about coming home early?”

“No. There’s nothing to worry about. He was just being himself. He likes to figure things out instead of waiting for answers to reveal themselves. He’s young.”

Her shoulders relaxed, and she let out a deep breath. “I hope he’s all right with this. I—I hope
you
are, too.”

Mason had forgotten that he hadn’t made a decision yet. It seemed as if he had. Somehow, as he formulated what he should do, he had skipped right to the part where he needed to ask Eddy if he would mind her staying with them instead of talking to Katia and
himself
, first.

“Are you sure you want to live with two guys, Katia? We can be slobs sometimes. We might even leave the toilet seat up.”

She chuckled. “I don’t care about that. I’ll be taking care of the housework anyway.”

That got his attention, but mixed feelings followed. “Says who?”

“Well, I just assumed…”

“Because you’re the woman?”

She fidgeted and glanced downward. “I don’t know. Maybe, yes. In my country, it is always the woman who cleans, cooks and shops. But I would like to do it, if you can give me a discount on my part of the rent.”

At first, the idea of Katia thinking it was her
role
because of her gender troubled him. But the idea of having someone to do the chores they hated in exchange for part of the rent sounded awesome! He hoped his roommate would think so, too. Suddenly, he liked the old-fashioned girl in his Katia and realised he was really hoping Eddy would agree to this.

“We can all discuss that together as a possibility. Eddy won’t be here for half an hour. What would you like to do in the meantime?”

She gave him a coquettish look and said, “I can think of one thing I’d like to do for you, because you’re being so nice to me.”

“What’s that?”

She slid off the sofa onto her knees in front of him and reached for the zipper of his jeans.

“Whoa. You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to. Very much.”

“We’d better move to the bedroom for that. You sucking my dick wouldn’t make a very good first impression.” He rose and held his hand out to her, helping her up from her kneeling position. Then he wrapped his arm around her and happily escorted her to his bedroom.

The first thing he noticed was his stupid twin bed. “I’ll have to get a bigger bed if you’re going to stay with me.”

She looked surprised. “But I thought I’d have to sleep on the couch. I’d get to sleep in the bed with you?”

“Of course. If you’re pregnant, I couldn’t let you sleep on an uncomfortable couch, and I’m not going to be turned out of my bed, either.”

She grinned, reached for his zipper and yanked it down, seemingly anxious to get to his blowjob.

“I want you naked, too, sweetheart.”

“Oh!” Smiling shyly, she shed her clothes while he stripped.

“That’s better. I love looking at your body.”

“You do? I think it’s kind of…heavy.”

“It’s not. It’s voluptuous. Sensuous.” He reached out and palmed her breasts, enjoying the weight of them in his hands. “Beautiful.”

She seemed as if she might melt. In one reverent motion, Katia dropped onto her knees and clutched his cock in her hand. “Sex is a gift. This is my gift for you—only to give you pleasure. I know there is not enough time for fucking, but that is not what I want to do now. I want this to be about pleasure for you.”

She laved the shaft with her tongue then flicked across the sensitive underside. Mason moaned and leant back on his elbows, letting the sensation wash over him. As she drew the length of him into her hot, wet mouth, her skilful hands massaged his ball sac. When she rubbed the fine vein between his scrotum and cock, it sent him into a spike of need he hadn’t anticipated. Since when did he want to come so quickly?
Damn, she’s good.