I watched her from across the table, transfixed by her beauty. She wasn’t just the most beautiful woman in the restaurant, but the most beautiful woman ever to have walked in there. Now she sat across from me—because she was mine. Her halter top revealed the deep plunge of her cleavage, the gorgeous olive skin that begged for my tongue. Her hair was pulled back elegantly, revealing the nice contours of her face. She had rounded shoulders, toned from using her arms so much in her work. I couldn’t see her legs under the table, but I knew they looked absolutely stunning tonight.
And she was all mine.
I drank from my glass, my lips savoring the liquor. I imagined pouring it directly onto her pussy and drinking it all away. I imagined my wet lips sucking her nipples until they were raw. She said she needed to get out because she felt trapped in my apartment.
But I felt trapped when I couldn’t fuck her whenever I wanted.
She held her glass as she looked around at the other tables, staring at the couples and families as they enjoyed their dinner. She chose a glass of red wine, a dry blend to complement the steak she ordered. Her eyes turned back to me, and she set her glass down. “What?”
I didn’t blink.
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
“You know why.” My eyes were doors to my thoughts, and my thoughts weren’t difficult to decipher, especially when they were so plainly written on my face. I wasn’t a complicated man, and my thoughts were simple. There were only a handful of things I thought about, and there were even fewer things I thought about when it came to Vanessa. Everything was reduced to sex and violence.
She drank from her glass and brushed off my comment subtly, pretending it didn’t affect her as deeply as it really did. But we both knew she loved to be the object of my obsession. If I went home with a different woman, it would kill her. The jealousy would eat her alive, and she’d lash out at me, fists flying. If my wound became lethal, she’d beat me too. We despised each other, but we were both being forced to face the hard truth.
We couldn’t live without each other.
Dinner was served, and we ate in silence, not exchanging conversation the way most people did. Vanessa and I could say nothing at all, and we’d be at the same level of comfort. An exchange of eye contact was more than enough.
She needed to get out of the apartment, but it resulted in the same situation. We didn’t care about anything around us but each other. We didn’t speak to anyone or even make eye contact with the waiter. She stared at my body like she couldn’t wait to dig her nails into my muscles, and I did the same.
She said she was worried about my gunshot wound, but I think it turned her on.
Bullets killed lesser men. But all they did was slow me down.
Vanessa was a strong woman, so she must be attracted to strong men. I fit that description perfectly, even if I wasn’t the most moral person. I did criminal things, but that didn’t lessen my strength and protectiveness.
I overheard Conway tell her exactly what he wanted, to have her marry a strong man who could take care of her.
I fit the bill.
She knew it.
I knew it.
We finished dinner then Vanessa excused herself to the restroom.
I got the bill and paid with cash—because I paid for everything with cash. I was eager to leave that public establishment and get back to my place. I preferred Vanessa in just her panties and in my bed. In a restaurant, all the men could look at her. I had to pretend to be okay with it—even though I wasn’t.
She was mine.
A brunette walked over to me, her eyes making contact with mine. She was sitting at a table with a few other girls, and as she came closer, she smiled like she knew exactly who I was.
I didn’t recognize her.
She stopped at my table. “Hey, B. How are you?”
Her face still wasn’t ringing a bell, but she obviously knew who I was. When I picked up women out on the town, I couldn’t introduce myself as Bones—not without looking like a weirdo. So I went with the first letter in the name. I told them I had a crazy long name that no one could pronounce, so I stuck with B. “Good. How are you, sweetheart?”
“Great. I’m out with some friends tonight. When I saw you over here, I just wanted to say hi.”
No one just wanted to say hi. She wanted something from me. Since I still didn’t know who she was, I assumed we’d slept together one time and then moved on. Maybe she was interested in another round. If Vanessa walked out of the bathroom and saw this, she’d flip.