Chapter 12

Riley was sitting on her couch staring at her TV...It was 5 pm and she'd been on leave for the last 3 weeks. She had checked her voice mail and Mark had actually called her and left a few messages...something along the lines of Hi on one and I miss you on another.

After an hour of staring at her TV, Riley noticed it was 6 pm. She'd officially been watching something on TV, but had no damn clue as to what it was...She threw her hands up in the air as she pushed her head into the cushion of the arm of the couch. A few minutes after the mental and cushion beat down, someone knocked on her door.

Riley walked over and looked at herself in the mirror...Oh sure...track pants, T-shirt, bare foot, and hair in a sloppy ponytail. Riley rolled her eyes, not even looking through the peep hole as she unlocked the door and pulled it opened...only to be shocked nearly to death to see Mark Jindrak on the other side of the door.

Riley stood there pretty much dumb founded. Mark smiled once of his little smirk smiles and she wanted to jump on him...but contained herself. Mark pulled a long stem red rose out from behind his back and handed it to her. Riley smiled a little and said, "What's going on? Why are you here?" Mark said, "May I come in?"

Riley said, "Sure...Enter at your own risk." Riley half smiled when Mark chuckled at her and stepped into her spacious apartment. Mark looked around everything was black red or white. Mark said, "Nice place." Riley nodded and said, "And once again...Why are you here?" Mark said, "Breaking a promise I made to Stephanie...but making things better."

Riley said, "Once more with clarity?" Mark said, "C'mon we don't have time for that...We have to get you dressed." Riley said, "Time out...I dress myself." Mark cracked a smile and said, "Not tonight baby." Riley quirked an eyebrow at him when he called her baby. Mark started walking towards her bedroom, when he noticed she wasn't following.

Mark walked back over and said, "Are you coming?" Riley said, "Are you on drugs? I mean, I'm a doctor...I should know the signs or symptoms...But I can't tell. I think its lack of sleep or coffee...pick one." Mark smirked as he leaned over and hoisted Riley over his shoulder and carried her down the hall to her bedroom where he planted her on the bed.

Riley sat there as she watched Mark go through her closet...and pulled out a black slinky dress she hadn't worn in forever...and then squatted down and rummaged through her boxes of shoes. Mark said, "I swear I've never seen someone with a shoe collection this big or organized...wanna explain it to me?"

Riley said, "I had the boxes shoes come in, so I went to the dollar store and bought a whole bunch of plastic boxes with lids, so they stay clean...but you can't tell which shoe pair is in which box so I took Polaroid's and taped them to the front. What is it you're looking for?"

Mark said, "Something with a great heel and open toed...and black...any suggestions with that dress?" He nodded towards the dress hanging on the mirror and she said, "Forth from the left 5th box down." Mark said, "Damn you're a genius." Mark set the shoes on the floor as he walked over and said, "Okay what do you have under your clothes?"

Riley said, "The norm, panties and a bra." Mark smirked he loved her smart mouth, Riley stood up and pulled her shirt off revealing her black lace bra and the dropped her track pants and said, "See?" Mark smirked again, how he did love her boy short panties, he walked over and pulled her dresser open and dug through it and smirked to himself when he found her matching black lace garter belts.

Mark grabbed her thigh highs as he walked back over and had her step into her garter, and pulled it up around his hips...She said, "You do realize I can dress myself right?" Mark leaned down and got close to her ear and said, "Just enjoy the contact." Riley blushed and smiled and nodded in agreement.

Mark sat her on the bed and slowly side on both her thigh highs, after attaching them to the garters, he kissed her knees softly. Riley had to exhale or they wouldn't be going where ever he was dressing her up to take her...Riley stood up and pulled the dress on, then Mark sat her back down as he slipped her shoes on and pulled the straps up and around her ankles and then stood up and pulled the hair tie out of her hair and tossed it over his shoulder.

Mark took her hand and said, "Let's go." Riley said, "Wait you still haven't said what's going on?" Mark stopped and said, "I made Stephanie a promise to leave you alone until you came back from your leave...Since I knew you were on leave because of me...I was an idiot...ok? I got some sense beat into me through Luther and Kurt...and then Stephanie, John and Cynthia."

Riley said, "What happened with Torrie?" As she rolled her eyes. Mark laughed and said, "Torrie and I never were going to happen...I was trying to give you the impression I was with someone else."

Riley slapped Mark's arm as he grabbed her and pulled her against his body...Mark leaned down and brushed a soft kiss against her lips as his hand came up to her jaw and pushed her head back a little as he deepened the kiss. Mark pulled away a little and said, "We should get going before we forget we've got somewhere to be." Riley said, "And how important is this place to be?"

Mark walked over and locked the apartment door from the inside. Riley smirked as Mark came back over and watched as she kicked off her heels...Mark took her waist in his hands and pulled her against him again...He said no more as he lifted her in his arms and said, "By the way...I'm here...cause I want to give us a chance..."

Nothing more was said as he carried her back to the bedroom...Nothing more needed to be said.