“It’s been awhile,” I said, taking a stab in the dark. I mean, it wasn’t like it was a complete stab, because if I’d seen him recently, I totally would’ve remembered him.
“You look good,” I added on.
He sized me up in return, as if truly scrutinizing me. Though even that stony, confidently handsome face of his couldn’t keep him from the truth.
“So do you. Better than ever in fact,” he stated, turning towards me and looking so intense. “Easy to see you’ve been taking good care of yourself. You’re hotter than even my memories could do justice,” he said so openly, looking utterly unperturbed by the confession.
As if the words didn’t affect him at all, but I knew the difference. I jut my hip out, my hand on it like I was going to another photo shoot, and gave him my best smile. “So are you going to buy me a drink, then?” I asked, trying to be cocky.
“I remember a time when you would barely let me do that much,” he said, cracking the slightest of little smirks as he flagged down the bartender, able to command he
r attention so easily, when most of us struggled. “I trust you like the same,” he said, before ordering me a Cosmo, same as I’d always loved, since I was a girl.
He’d bought me drinks before — or at least offered — and I still couldn’t even remember him. Maybe he was, like, ugly or something before. Lost some weight or something?
I just couldn’t place him, and trust me, I’d have remembered someone like him.
“So when’d you get back?” I asked, guessing once more.
“Just last week, in fact. Rolled into town to buy a few businesses up,” he said as our drinks arrived, him with a vodka tonic, sipping it as he looked me over. “I was going to look you up, but honestly, I didn’t expect to stumble upon you this quickly,” he leaned against the bar, his own fit form silhouetted in the dark light so well as he studied me, soaked me in like I was the main course of a meal.
“I know what you’ve been up to though,” he said with a cocky grin.
I giggled as I took the straw into my mouth, wrapping my tongue around it before taking a sip of the drink.
“Ohh, a stalker?” I purred out.
“Not quite,” he replied, taking another mouthful of his stiff drink. “I just figure there’s no chance in hell that with that body of yours, you’ve changed since we last met. And you’re still doing the exact same thing since last I touched bases with you. Am I wrong?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow in challenge to me.
I shrugged. The fact that I couldn’t remember him was starting to grow old, and I was getting frustrated, so I took another sip of my Cosmo and gave him a dazzling smile, flipping my long hair from my shoulder.
“I know what I want in life, is that a crime?”
“No. And I hope that means you won’t blame me for pursuing what I want so damn hard either,” he said with a wolfish grin, as if I was his prey. He knocked back the rest of his drink, then laid the empty tumbler on the bar top as he leaned in just a bit closer. “I know you don’t remember, but when last we met I wanted something more than just a fling. You left me in the dirt.” He reached out to touch his strong hand upon my hip, “I never forgot you. And like all things, I have trouble letting go of my desires.”
Oh.
Oh right. It was slowly coming back to me, but I sipped my drink, making him wait for my response. As if I weren’t inwardly, like, freaking out, even though I was.
“You can’t blame a girl for not wanting to settle down,” I purred, and I caught the barest hint of his aftershave. It was delicious. “And that was a long, long time ago.”
“High School still,” he responded, his firm grasp upon my hip so commanding, so strong. His presence was so masculine, so authoritative, and it was easy to see how someone like him had gone so far. “I had big plans for us, for me, but you wanted to stay here and party. Seems we both accomplished our goals, Trisha,” he said with that predatory grin of his.
“Well, to high school dreams, then,” I said, raising my glass in a toast before finishing it off. I’d had such a bad day, and now he was harshing my buzz. Making me feel bad for doing something I couldn't even remember.
How many men — no, boys — had wanted something more from me? Had big dreams for our future?
But that wasn’t who I was. Though with my parent’s impending financial crisis...
I put on a brighter smile, “But we all have to grow up sometime, right?”
He lifted his hand from the bar to lightly trail his fingers along my chin and jawline, cupping my face ever so lightly with his hard hands.
“No. Not necessarily,” he said in a low, husky growl. “I’ve come to appreciate you for who and what you are. I don’t want to change you, make you aspire to be anything but you. Though still,” he said with that wolfish grin widening, “I’ve just got to have you all to myself. Whatever it takes.”
My head tilted to the side as I looked up at him. It was a way more intense conversation than I could really have. My life was falling apart and I didn’t need some guy I knew in high school coming in and trying to...
To what? Have me all to himself?