“Does it ring any bells? Or are you taking advantage of a vulnerable woman, again?” She asked, slicing through his thoughts.
“I didn’t send that message. Brody, the guy I was just with? He must have sent it to you when I left him alone in my apartment this morning,” Kai replied hoarsely. “He brought me here under false pretenses, he said he had a gallery owner for me to meet at 9pm.”
“Oh, you’re into Art?” She asked. He sensed excitement in her tone.
“I paint,” he simply replied avoiding her gaze. He felt embarrassed by this whole situation Brody had put him in and he wanted to leave. Desperately.
“What do you paint?” She asked, signaling the barman.
“Anything.”
“Look, I’ll tell you what, we’re here, let’s just have a drink and afterwards try to forget this ever happened?” She suggested.
Finally pulling his head up to meet her eyes, he smiled. “That is the best thing I’ve heard all night.” He replied with sarcasm evident in his tone, immediately regretting his choice of words when he caught her face falling.
“Shall we?” He asked, with a frown as their drinks were placed in front of them.
Grabbing her drink, she followed him away from the bar. Her eyes curiously took in his physique from behind. He was around 6”1” with broad shoulders and a slim waist. Impeccably dressed in a black long-sleeved shirt with black trousers, she noticed the fabric of his shirt clinging to his biceps. He must work out. Her eyes were drawn lower, and there they stayed as she followed him. Nice ass. Very nice ass. Coming to a standstill, he turned around to see her eyes were lowered, her cheeks were flushed and her face held a lazy smile.
“Are you checking me out?” He asked, placing his beer on the table and sitting down.
Of course, how could I not?
“Hell no! I was admiring your…Uhm…shoes,” she finished, taking up the seat opposite him.
“My shoes? Well that’s a first. Normally, it’s my backside,” he replied.
“So, what made you respond to my advert?” She asked quickly to change the subject.
Takin
g a swig of beer, he chuckled. “You really don’t want to hear the answer to that…Uhm…?”
“Myla, my name is Myla.” She smiled, “And why don’t I want to hear the answer to that?”
“Because, I’ll offend you,” he replied nonchalantly.
“In case you haven’t noticed Mister, I’m a big girl,” she said taking a slug of lemonade.
Raising his eyebrows, he let out a chuckle and crossed his arms, leant on the table then locked his eyes with hers. Damn! He has spellbinding eyes. Copper blended with honey, warm and tempting like hot chocolate. “I was drunk. I was out with friends and came across your advert and replied. That’s why I had no idea who you were when you contacted me, and no recollection of Shots until you reminded me.”
She blew out a sigh, letting her lips reverberate against each other and swallowed hard to steal herself from some catty comment. Her eyes unlocked from his and drifted down to his mouth. His top lip was thinner than his bottom lip and he had a cleft in his chiseled jaw, slightly hidden by his five o’clock shadow. As she watched, his tongue slid out to moisten his lips and she let out a small pant. There must be something wrong with him, surely? Letting out a stifled laugh at the voices in her head, she grabbed a beer mat and attempted to fan herself, “I didn’t catch your name?”
“That’s because one, you didn’t ask and two, I haven’t offered it to you.” Kai smirked. He unlocked his folded arms and sat back in the bucket seat, taking his pint of beer with him.
“You, are a jack ass!” She diverted her eyes away from him to look around absentmindedly at the other people in the bar.
“I’ll take that as a complement, Capulet.”
Rolling her eyes, she turned and glared at him, “My name is Myla, not Juliet or Capulet or anything else you may wish to call me. It’s Myla.”
“I’m intrigued, Myla, how come someone like yourself, has the need to be advertising for a fake fiancé? Did yours run for the hills, screaming?” He challenged with a laugh as he quoted her own words from one of her messages to him.
He watched her intently. He watched her scrape a dainty hand over her dark locks that framed her heart-shaped face, her big brown eyes grew wider as the red hue of embarrassment sat prominently on her cheeks, then she parted her red lips and let out a strangled groan. “My sister is getting married in my home state of Florida next week, I’m supposed to be attending with my fiancé but, he…Uhm…doesn’t exist,” she mumbled the last two words out with a lowered voice, hoping he didn’t hear.
He let out a guttural roar of laughter, and his whole body was shaking uncontrollably in the chair, he clamped a large hand over his mouth in a desperate bid to suffocate it. “Wow,” he replied once his laughter had died down. “What makes your family think you have a fiancé in the first place?”
Myla caught the flicker of excitement in his face at her impending answer. She began twisting her fingers around in her lap contemplating how best to answer his question, without causing the dire need for him to burst into another round of laughter.