Excerpt
“Why don’t you let me pay for this?”
I turned to see my beautiful admirer sitting right beside me. I straightened my posture and extended my hand.
He smiled at my obvious attempt to appear sober.
“Jas-Jasmine. Hello,” I stammered, looking into his unflinching eyes. It was almost unnatural how good looking he was.
“I’m Victor. Go on, finish your drink.” His voice was heavy with an accent I couldn’t identify.
“Oh, no. I was just leaving.” I stumbled to my feet, and he placed his hand on my elbow to steady me.
I turned to look up into his face. His half-lidded eyes caught mine, and my knees went weak. His heady, intoxicating scent filled my nostrils. He smelled spicy, strong, and so safe. I wanted him to wrap me in his arms. I wanted to feel his chest pressed against mine while his tongue explored my mouth.
“I would like to see you home,” he stated in an oddly formal way.
“See me home, huh? Yea, let’s go.” I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been intimate with a man. My job at the library made my days run together, and I spent most of my weekends drunk on the couch reading trashy paperback novels. This pattern had never bothered me before.
Not until I realized I had every intention of sleeping with this man. A desire that had lain dormant inside me suddenly flared to the surface as he held my hand and carefully walked me out into the humid night.
God, I was so drunk, so close to blacking out, but I desperately wanted to remember him, this beautiful stranger who lead me toward my apartment above the corner store. I giggled as he followed me up the narrow stairs to the cramped hallway where my door stood across from two others.
“We have to be quiet so we don’t wake my neighbors,” I shouted while looking for my keys.
Victor smiled, reached out, and turned the knob. The door opened, and I admonished myself for leaving it unlocked all day. I could have sworn that I locked it.
I took another look at him and decided the locks didn’t matter.
He stepped closer to me. My breathing became slow and labored as he bent his head to whisper in my ear in that formal way of his, “Jasmine, would you like for me to stay for a little while?”
