“Late, so late, I am going to be so late!” I thought as I hastily put my waist length dark hair in a messy bun and rushed around my closet sized living space to get ready for my morning class at the college.
I gave a prayer of thanks I had Maria in my life, my best friend, whose dad was in real estate and had found me a flat so near the college and which I could actually afford.
Amazing, how clean clothes just seemed to vanish when you were in a hurry, I thought as I made my way around the room picking up piles of dirty clothes to find something worth wearing.
I’d forgotten to do laundry again this weekend and this was the result. Monday morning and nothing to wear that looked remotely clean enough.
I finally found something that looked presentable but it wasn’t college wear, it was short and summery. The dress was meant for a sunny day at the beach or a picnic, none of which I had time for in my life. It was also tight which was why I’d just thrown it at the back of the closet.
I was never in the mood to wear anything short and tight after I was done with my shift at the bar I worked at. The owner made everyone wear uniforms so short and tight, it should’ve been illegal.
I was a Latino of mixed ancestry, meaning I was half white. This meant that while I wasn’t built like an a****n Goddess, I wasn’t exactly lacking in curves.
I caught my reflection in the mirror on the closet and the dress looked so strange on me. It had been a while since I’d worn anything like this. I was slim and I’d never had any issues with my body image but recently I’d been wearing looser clothing. I didn’t like showing off my figure anymore.
It was because my body had landed me a job, the waitressing job at the nearby restaurant. The owner wanted attractive girls gracing his establishment which sounded creepy but had worked to my advantage when I had been desperate for a job. I had to deal with inappropriate behavior sometimes but the tips were great too so I couldn’t complain much.
Every coin has two sides, if one side gives you an advantage, the other will be disadvantageous, my grandma had used to say before she had died and left me at the mercy of this cruel world.
My parents had already left me, my dad had walked out on us when I had been just two and my mom had died soon afterwards, from a heart attack, it had said on the medical report but grandma used to say that her daughter had died of a broken heart.
I put on a long jacket on top of the dress just to make it look a bit more decent but the zip was broken and I couldn’t close it.
Trouble always came in multiples, I thought as I looked at my cell phone. The battery was dead and I couldn’t even call Maria to tell her I might get late and to save me a seat.
I hastily swept my books into my bag pack and picked up my sneakers in my hands intending to just run barefoot until I reached the street.
I locked the door behind me and berated myself for staying up so late last night. Again. I never learned.
The funny thing was that I had been studying. I never got time over the week to study anything and so it had become a habit to cram during the weekend and I really needed good grades to keep the scholarship I had.
It was a vicious circle. I needed to study to keep the scholarship and I needed the scholarship to study.
Life had given me no breaks.
I hurried down the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding a child with his ice cream while I tried to run and put on my sneakers at the same time.
God knew I must look crazy.
Thankfully I was just a few blocks away and I knew I could make it if I ran. I caught a look at my watch but obviously I’d forgotten that as well.
God, could this day get any worse?
I breathed out a sigh of relief as I spotted the college building. I was positive I wasn’t really late, I’d made good time.
I made a final run across the street, tripped and suddenly,
I was flying across the street.
I didn’t know what happened
I landed hard on the hard asphalt right in the middle of the road.
Horrified I looked to my left and my breath caught as I saw a car aiming straight at me. I closed my eyes, my life flashing before my eyes; sure I was going to die this second.
There was a loud screech of wheels but I didn’t open my eyes, certain of my all too imminent death.
A few seconds passed and I released the breath I hadn’t know I was holding. I slowly opened my eyes and heard a door slamming along with a curse.
A pair of legs came into my view and I followed them up, up along their length to the man in question standing over me with a frown on his face.
Boy, was he tall and clad in a business suit that fit him to the extent that it must have been stitched on him, I vaguely thought as I took in the sight of him, shocked at the suddenness of my near accident and then a man right out of the pages of a men’s magazine shouting down at me.
I shook my head clearing away the fog.
His face looked hewn out of granite and his eyes, an unusual grey glittered with anger down at me.
“What the fuck were you thinking? Do you have a death wish?” he growled.
I shook my head at his words, abruptly coming back to my senses.
“What do you mean, what was I doing? You should watch where you drive” I replied as a reflex, more because I didn’t have anything to say than because it was the truth.I knew it wasn’t anywhere close to the truth and the accident was more or less my fault. I hadn’t been looking when I’d crossed the street; I’d been too focused on my goal.“Watch my driving? Watch your mouth. If I hadn’t been so careful, you wouldn’t be alive right now!” He threw back and then held out his hand to help me up, “Come on,” he said, his tone commanding.The adrenaline was pumping in my body and I tried to get up on my own, rejecting his hand.How could he shout at me and then expect me to gratefully accept his help?But as soon as I leaned on my right leg, there was a lightning bolt of pain that went right up to my thigh and I let out a shout, falling back to the ground again.“I
His car was amazingly comfortable but that was obvious, considering it was a top of the line Mercedes. I felt like I was surrounded in the ultimate in luxury from the leather to the seats.I knew from hanging out with Maria so much that the car must have cost more than my entire college tuition combined. Maybe more.His scent had intensified in the car and it was now swimming in my head making me feel strange things. I looked over at him, his face was grim and his hands gripped the steering wheel really tightly. I wondered what was up with that.“Where are you taking me?” I ventured to ask him as I continued to stare at him.“To the hospital,” he replied curtly.“The hos..hospital?” I stammered, “No, please don’t. I’m fine. Can you just take me back to the campus? I have friends there, I can manage everything.”Not only did hospitals scare me but I knew I had no money to afford a vi
“P..penthouse?” I stammered in confusion.How had we suddenly gone from getting me a checkup for my injuries to a visit to a penthouse?His Penthouse.I swallowed, just what kind of a checkup was he planning?Who just brings a random stranger they just almost ran over to their home?And who is stupid enough to get in a car with a stranger who almost ran over them and then also come home with them? Me obviously, I was the idiot.I took a deep breath when he opened the door on my side.“Get out slowly, I’ll help you,” He started to give me a hand.Shrugging him off, I asked him “I’m not getting out, why are we here?”“Well, you didn’t want to go to the hospital…correct me if I’m wrong?” He tilted his head.I nodded. Now I was confused and he was looking at me as if the answer should be obvious.He sighed, “I’m going to
The man came back after what seemed ages and holding a first aid box.Was he a doctor? He could have been...but then, was he going to check me out himself?“Are you… a doctor?” I asked him.“No,” he sat down next to me, “but I’ve called one and he’s on his way.”“So what are you doing with that?”He bent down in front of me, which should have been impossible because he was wearing dress pants. But he did and the pants stretched alarmingly across his thighs making me more than ever conscious of him. This was insane because never before had I ever focused on a man like this. I was getting hot under the collar now. I started fidgeting under his scrutiny.“We should clean up your wound so it doesn’t get infected,” He looked at me then for a long minute, the man was making me wish I had worn jeans or something. In my scraped knee and this dress, I was feeling lik
We were drenched, both of us and lying on the floor of the shower cubicle.My eyes were tightly close because I didn’t want to face him. Face Mr. Damien Flynn.I suddenly realized I was lying on top of him, my body so intimately nestled into his that we could’ve been one person.I opened my eyes, certain my face must be a picture of embarrassment.Oh God, oh God, Oh God, I chanted in my head.I took a breath and lifted my head from where it was resting on his chest and peeked up at him.He was looking straight at me, his face totally unreadable and my heart started beating in double time.He must be able to feel it, I thought, maybe he’ll think it’s because of the fall.He tilted his head slightly and then, holy shit, I could feel his hand moving from my waist, down my butt and onto my bare thigh. Then he raised one of his legs a little so it was almost like I was riding his thigh.The thought tur
We were so close I could see the flecks in his grey eyes. All I wanted to do was fit my mouth to his, it was more than a compulsion, I felt obsessed by his lips.By the way his thumb felt on my lips, I wondered if he was feeling the same things I was.Was it possible?My body felt out of control, I could even hear a ringing in my head.Wait a sec…He dislodged me a little and started patting his pockets searching for something.Oh, it wasn’t in my brain, it was his phone ringing.Damn I was out of it.I tried to get up off him to give him some space but he stopped me with one hand while he shook his head and picked up the call with one hand.I couldn’t concentrate on his conversation with the person on the other end.I was looking at his arm, the one holding the phone to his ear, one of his cufflinks had come undone leaving his arm with drops of water clinging to it.Without realizing wha
I quickly changed into the sweats and realized he’d been right, they really were too big for me. I was folding up the bottoms of the sweatpants into some way where they would fit me at least a little better when there was a knock on the bedroom door and Damien came in. He stopped just inside the door and stared at me. I quickly looked at myself… Was I wearing the hoodie backwards? What was wrong? He slowly walked over, an expression on his face I couldn’t read. “Am I wearing it wrong?” I was confused. “On the contrary, you’re wearing it just right. I would say perfect even.” He came over to me then and gently taking each one of my hands in his, folded the sleeve up to my wrists. “You know I’ve never really worn this pair of sweats before, I thought it just wasn’t my color” He said casually. “Why did you buy it then?” I asked “I didn’t.. It was sent to me.” “Oh, I’ll get it back to y
I was speechless with shock, so much that I couldn’t even get my breath back enough to say goodbye to the handsome doctor. Just what in the hell was this man thinking? I couldn’t even comprehend the amount of things that had been wrong in that statement he had uttered to the doctor. First the words themselves.. What did it mean that I was staying here the entire week? How was that in any way, reality or fantasy even possible? His reality, probably my forbidden fantasy but I didn’t want to go into that. I was embarrassed of my own behavior. I didn’t know him, he didn’t know me. We didn’t know each other. And the way he had said it, so casually to the good doctor. As if.. As if.. My imagination led on from there.. As if I lived here regularly, as if being here was a common thing. As if I belonged in this home, as if I belonged in his bed, as if I belonged in his life. As if we were lovers and had been for