“Can I be the villain of your fairy tales, my Ever After? Or would you prefer I be the bad boy in your fantasy?”
Eyes closed. A solid body anchored to mine. Being led out of a noisy club and into quieter surroundings with a cool breeze on my face and bare shoulders, arms, and midriff. I’m lifted into the stranger’s arms. He purposefully trips, and I wrap myself around him. Leather seats. A tender kiss on the top of my head. Straddling thick thighs while sitting in a pickup truck.
Bobby demanding that I look at him. “Open your eyes, Ever. I want you to see who you promised one day and one night to.”
Bobby is intently watching my face. He’s right. I’m an open book, and I see what he’s seeing as I relive my fantasy. Mouth parted. Eyes darkened with longing. My pulse jumps under my skin, below my jawline. Flushed cheeks.
“Both,” I rasp. “I choose both.”
Satisfaction flashes across his face before a mask of concern slips into place. “Will I make you late for work by keeping you on the line?”
“I have time, but if you have somewhere to be, we should end the call.” I don’t want to. Talking with him makes me feel alive again. “I’d hate to disrupt whatever you have planned for the day.”
Waiting for his answer, I brush my hair and pull it into a ponytail. It’s nice to get ready for work and have someone to talk to before the start of my day.
“Just more work. I’m good with talking, Ever. This is a nice change for me.”
“Same.” I carry the phone with me back to my bedroom. “I’m changing into my work clothes in case all you see are plushies.” I place my phone on its side. Masculine laughter fills my bedroom, decorated in shades of pink and purple.
I pick up my phone and glance at the screen. There’s a shit-eating grin on Bobby’s face.
“You weren’t kidding when you said plushies bring you happiness. Seeing your collection brings me happiness, sweetness,” he confesses.
My heart melts. Not thinking, my heart singing, I blow Bobby a kiss. I don’t wait for his reaction. I turn the phone away from me and quickly dress. I spritz perfume on my pulse points—on my neck and wrists—then flip the phone over and lean into the screen. My ponytail falls over my shoulder.
Bobby’s gaze hangs on my eyes and my mouth before dropping to my buttoned-up shirt. “You look good in blue, Ever. The color brings out a mesmerizing rust in your pretty eyes.”
I blush.
I’ll never look at or think about rust the same way again. And my boring eyes? Not so boring after all.
“What’s this more work you’re doing on a Saturday? Unless you don’t want to say,” I backtrack. “I have no right to ask. We just met yesterday.”
“Prepping for business meetings. I fly out tomorrow morning. Bay Area.”
“Oh. Thank you.” I close-mouth smile. He’s looping me in on his life even though he could’ve said it’s none of my business.
Bobby is on the move. A door creaks open. The phone moves and then stops. Bobby must’ve set the phone on a ledge, because I’m watching him get ready in the bathroom. The top three buttons of his dress shirt are unbuttoned. My fingers itch to caress the ink on his neck and lower until my fingers are trenched in his chest hair through the phone screen.
What significance do the skull, blossoms, snakes, and angel wings have for this sexy stranger who is becoming less of a stranger as we talk and get to know one another?
“Is that a private bathroom?”
“Yep. Only I have the key.”
“Because you and the owner are good friends?”
“True that.” Bobby smirks.
I laugh. “Are you a frat boy, now?”
“Fuck no, unless frat boy talk gets you off.”
It’s like a switch has flipped, and I’m seeing a different side of him—the real Bobby, who is comfortable dropping f-bombs when talking to a girl he barely knows—and I like it.
Carlos was more crass than refined in both his words and actions. He treated me like a princess in public, but in private, he was not gentle. He taught me that pain and pleasure go hand in hand. I like this version of Bobby.
“I’m used to frat boy talk, bluntness, and cursing,” I admit. “I’d rather you be real than tiptoe around me with words and actions that aren’t you.” I lay everything out because I’m not someone who plays games with another’s heart. Carlos showed me what it was like to be genuine and authentic and to be accepted for it. God, I miss him.
