Something More (2 page)

Waking up with a jolt,
I look around to make sure I am where I should be. Yep, I'm in my little
apartment, all alone. This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on
how you look at it. I'm okay with it. My dream starred “Mr. Tall Water”, and
since I know that he's way out of my league, I'm perfectly fine with him just
starring in my dreams. 

“Time to get up and
start the day, Bec,” I mumble quietly to myself. Same routine as always.
Coffee, shower, get dressed. Blah blah blah. Today, though, I fix myself a bowl
of oatmeal so I don't have to buy food while I'm out.

I don't have anything
major in the works for today, just shopping for scrubs and a few groceries. I
look myself over in the mirror and think,
Gorgeous!
I snicker. I have on
my sexiest pair of sweats, hair in a ponytail, and my tennies on. I'm ready for
shopping. I'm showing Portland all of my sides…the good, the bad, and the
hideous. This is
definitely
not the former. 

*
* * * *

As I'm getting into my
car after the last store of the day, I think I see “Mr. Tall Water” out of the
corner of my eye. I glance in that direction, trying to be inconspicuous.
Yep,
that's him.
He's walking briskly towards a tall office building, then he
disappears inside. Even taking a short peek at him from a distance, I'm
flushed.
How does that happen? Sheesh
. I guess he'll be starring in my
dreams again tonight. I shake my head to rid myself of dirty thoughts so I can
concentrate enough to drive home.

Once home, I put my
groceries away and dump all my scrubs in the washer so I don't have to worry
about it later. I decide to shoot Alyssa a text and see if she wants to go to
dinner or grab drinks tonight. She texts back rather quickly.

Alyssa: Sure. Let's do
both. I know this great little place near my apartment.

Me: Sounds great! Where
should we meet?

Alyssa: My place is
good. I live in the Brookwood Apartments. #104.

Oh, sweet.
She lives in the same complex as me. A new friend
and
neighbor...a 'two-fer',
as I call them. I text her back and tell her that we live in the same complex
and I will see her at five o'clock.
This is fantastic
. I love being
within walking distance of so many things, at least in the summer. It might be
another story in the snow. I'll probably end up being a hermit holed up in my
apartment all winter. 

I knock on Alyssa's
door and she opens it right away. She looks like she's ready for a good time
tonight. “Hi,” I say, smiling.

“Hey. Come on in.” I
step into an apartment very similar to my own.

“I'm excited to see
that we live in the same building,” I say. “I'm just in four thirteen.”

“Oh,” she says, “that's
in the two bedrooms section of the complex. Nice.”

We chitchat while she
puts the finishing touches on and then we are out the door.

The bar we walk over to
is a cute little sports bar. Drinks and food are all I need right now, nothing
fancy. The place only has pub tables and we pick one over on the side wall near
the window so we can see outside. Because I’m not into sports, I don’t care if
we have a view of one of the several television monitors.

We grab menus off the
table and look it over. “You want to split a sampler appetizer and then I will
just get a salad?” I ask.

She says, “That sounds
like a great idea. I will do the same. Cheap and quick. My kind of girl.” We
both giggle.

“Who are you calling
cheap? You barely even know me. This
is
a cheap date, until I start with
my drink order.”

Alyssa gives me an evil
look. “Are you a big drinker, Bec?”

As I am about to
answer, the waitress pops over. “What can I get you ladies to drink?”

I answer for both of us.
“I think we will order everything now since we are ready. We're going to split
the sampler platter, and then two house salads. One with honey mustard and the
other...?”

Smiling, Alyssa chimes
in, “Same.”
Well, aren't we two peas in a pod
.

“And to drink?”

I say, “I’ll take a lemon
drop martini and a glass of water.”

“I’ll take a rum and
coke.” The waitress heads off to put in our order and, soon after, shows up
again with our drinks. 

Getting back to our
conversation, I say, “No, I'm not a big drinker anymore. I think I drank plenty
when I was younger but, as I got older, it just kind of fizzled away. I'm more
of a social drinker these days. I have a drink on occasion at home. But I think
I can drink you under the table, if you ever want to challenge me.”

She laughs loudly. “You
are on! I don't know if I am ready to do that tonight, though.” She snickers. “I
have to work in the morning.”

“Oh, alright, not
tonight. It's good to see that you are responsible. I definitely wasn't when I
was your age.”

We talk a lot
throughout dinner about what she's doing in school. She asks about my daughter
and why I moved across the country. We were basically just getting to know each
other a little better. She reminds me a lot of my daughter, but a little bit
more mature. It turns out she is twenty-three, and is in graduate school. My
daughter is a freshman under-grad and eighteen. They were close to six years
apart, but what a difference in maturity. 

After we finish eating,
I order another drink…a buttery nipple. It's my drink of choice, but doesn't go
very well with food. It's more of a dessert kind of cocktail. Alyssa has never
tried one so I offer her a taste. “Oh, now that's good. It's almost like a
butterscotch candy.”

I smile. “Yes, it’s one
my favorites.”

As we are about to pay
our checks and head back to our apartment complex, the door to the bar opens,
and in walks “Mr. Tall Water”. I flush immediately. My stomach tightens and I
get a little shaky inside.

Alyssa looks at me with
concern. “Are you okay?”

A moment passes before
I reply. “Uh. Yeah.” She looks puzzled. I try to offer up some words to
reassure her, but I am speechless.

I look down at the
table nervously, but not before catching him glance at me as he walks through
to take a seat at the bar. I feel a heat run through my body. “This is so
strange,” I whisper so low that Alyssa can't make out what I've said.
Phew
.
I look up at her and then my eyes dart over to him again and see that he is
staring at me. My eyes flash back to Alyssa.

“Are you sure you are
okay?” she asks.

“Yeah. It's just that
guy over there.” I nod in his direction. “Since the day I met you at the
bookstore, I’ve seen him almost every day. Now he's staring at me and I feel...”
I trail off.

I feel like taking his
fine ass right here in the middle of the bar and making him scream my name, is
what I feel
. Good gravy, this guy has the most
erotic effect on me and he's never even spoken a word to me!

Alyssa calls me back to
reality, snapping her fingers. “Becca! Hello? Are you back on this planet now?
Would you like to finish your sentence?” She chuckles. I huff out a breath,
coming out of my reverie.

Still flushed, I say, “Oh,
yeah. Where was I?” We giggle.

“You were saying that
delicious looking man over there…who is still staring at you, by the way…makes
you feel...?”

“Right. Well, you can
see what he does to my thought process. And now he's actually looking at me
with a wickedness that makes my body feel like it's on fire.”

Her mouth falls open as
if she can't believe I just shared that information with her. Honestly, I can't
believe I did, either. We just met! I blame the alcohol.

I get to thinking that
maybe she knows who he is so I ask, “Have you ever seen him before?”

“Yes, I see him around
here and there. He's all over the newspapers and TV. He's some kind of business
mogul. I don't know exactly what he does, though.”

“Do you mind if we stay
for just one more drink?” I ask.

Alyssa replies
excitedly, “Of course not! I want to see what this is all about.” She calls the
waitress over and we order another round. Alyssa gets a buttery nipple this
time, too. Because my nerves are wound up tight, my drink disappears quite a
bit faster than it should have.

Because she can see
him, Alyssa has been keeping me informed of his actions. He is still at the bar
drinking, watching me.

“Man, my dreams should
be spectacular tonight. This is the longest I've been in his presence. I might
have to take care of...some
things
before I go to sleep tonight,” I
murmur. Alyssa's eyebrows shoot up.

“Oops. I have to learn
to filter my thoughts before I blurt them out to new people.”

 She smirks. “Us single
ladies gotta do what we gotta do. Ain't no shame in it. At least he's smokin'
hot and will do...uh...your dreams justice.” We both laugh loudly and notice
everyone look in our direction. Oops, again.

We pay our bills and I
excuse myself to go to the restroom, even though our apartment complex is just
around the corner. I didn't want to feel rushed to get home just to go to the
bathroom.

As I walk past him, I
take a quick glance.
Damn, he's so gorgeous
. One corner of my mouth
lifts into a half smile.

Once I was done in the
stall and I make sure I look decent and don't have toilet paper sticking out of
my pants or stuck to a shoe, I sling open the door to head back out into the
bar.

I walk out, and slam
right into a hard body. “Oomf,” I hear.

“Oh, my god! I'm so
sorry!” I exclaim.

The hit made me stammer
back a little and then the restroom door swings back, hitting me in the ass.
This launches me forward again.

A little unstable, I
try to catch myself before smacking into the hard body again. I am a little
wobbly and all up in his personal space. A hand shoots out to grab my arm to
help steady me. The fire that blooms over my body from the light touch is
overwhelming.

“Jesus, I'm such a
klutz. I'm really am sorry,” I apologize once more, as I look up to see who
I've embarrassed myself in front of.

Oh. My. God
.
I am staring up into a set of mesmerizing, deep blue eyes…like the color of the
deep Caribbean waters.

My knees feel a little
shaky. “I...I should've paid more attention to where I was going,” I struggle
to say without sounding like an idiot.

Then the most calming,
sexy voice I've ever heard fills my ears. “Please don't worry about me. It was
my fault. Although I would have to say that the door hitting you from behind
was all you,” he jokes.

A sexy chuckle emerges
from this beautiful man. I give a breathy little laugh, still hypnotized by his
eyes. My insides are shivering and my core is at attention. This feeling is
un-fucking-believable.

“So embarrassing,” I
whisper.

He grins, embarrassing
me further. “It wasn't too bad. Could've been worse.”

Thinking about that a
moment, he’s right. I could've fallen and busted my ass. “Yes, I guess you are
right.”

He sticks out his hand.
“Drew Chambers, by the way.”

Automatically taking
his hand, I reply, “Becca Michaels.”

“Becca?” he asks as if
trying it out.

“Short for Rebecca.”

“Ah. Rebecca is a
beautiful name. You should use it.”

Smirking, I reply, “I
will take that under advisement.”

Still holding my hand,
he brings it up to his mouth and kisses it. I see something change in his eyes
for a moment, then it's gone. “It's been a pleasure meeting you, Rebecca. Maybe
we will meet again. Soon, I hope.”

“I guess we will just
have to see about that. I really need to get back to my friend. I don’t want
her worrying that I’ve gotten lost. She’ll think I will never learn my way
around this city.”

“You're new here?” he
asks, somewhat puzzled.

“Yes. I just moved here
about a week ago. You seem surprised.”

“No, it's not that. I
just thought maybe you already knew who I was and that's why you kept looking
at me.”

I ponder that for a
millisecond, then blow it off. He could just have alcohol-induced arrogance.
The fire in me is still burning, but it's morphed into something else now.

I snatch my hand out of
his without even realizing it. “Why would you assume I knew who you were? You
know what they say about assuming.”