Voyeur Extraordinaire (9 page)

I lowered my eyes, feeling stupid. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I need to get laid.” I snorted at how absurd that sounded. I didn’t just want to have sex. I wanted love and a fairy tale happy ending,
but that’s not how life worked.

Suddenly, Amy narrowed her eyes at me, her hold on my hand tightening. “You're not planning on going on a date with him, are you?”

“Of course not!” I said indignantly, though a small part of me was considering it. And I had a feeling that this part would win in the long run.

Amy leaned back, releasing me.
“So you said no?”

“Yes, I said no, Amy. I'm not stupid.” Or maybe I was.

Amy let out a sigh and shook her head with a disbelieving expression. “You're considering it.”

I averted my eyes and stared at the
table top, fidgeting with the hem of my shirt. “And what if I'm considering it? I'm old enough to go out with a guy, ain't I?” I muttered.

“I'm not saying you're not, and if sex was all you wanted out of it, I'd say go get it, because I'm sure that Adrian would do the job just fine. But I know that there's more to it for you, Nora.” She rose from her chair and turned on the fancy coffee maker that took up half of their narrow kitchen counter. “Cappuccino, espresso, latte?

“Double espresso,” I said.

“Okay.” Amy drew the word out,
then began preparing my espresso and her latte in silence. I guessed she was trying to come up with a way to talk me out of my obsession with Adrian. I really hoped she would. She handed me the cute espresso cup with a drawing of the Colosseum on the front and I brought it to my lips. The strong liquid slid down my throat and I felt immediately better.

With her cup in hand, she perched on the edge of her seat, elbows propped up on the table. “You want more than sex, right?”

I could have told her that I wanted what she and Jared had, but I kept my mouth shut. Even I knew it was ridiculous to hope for something like that.

“Oh Nora, you're hoping that he might change his ways for you, don't you?”

I shrugged. Maybe deep down I did think that I could change him and that was definitely very stupid of me but I couldn't help it. I wanted him. I wanted to change him.

“So you want to lose your virginity to a guy who doesn't give a damn about you? He will forget you as soon as you're out of his sight.”

I let out a little sigh. “I didn't say anything about sleeping with him. He just asked me on a date.”

Amy looked a bit exasperated. She put her latte down. “You know what you get if you engage yourself with the likes of Adrian. He wants your body, not more and not less. If you can accept that, then go out with him. I personally wouldn't.”

“A date can't hurt,” I whispered.

Amy took my hands in hers and squeezed gently. “No, a date can't hurt, but promise me that you won't sleep with him, Nora, unless it's only sex for you. Then it's fine, but if
you're feeling something for him and are hoping for more, then don't let him get close to you. You will only get hurt if you do.”

“I promise,” I said softly. “I don't even know if he'll ask me again and maybe I won't say yes if he does.”

Amy gave me a small smile, clearly not believing me. We both knew that I'd say yes.

D
ragging Bruno behind me, I was shuffling towards my scooter, yawning constantly. I hadn't gotten much sleep those last two days. Why was I kidding? Ever since the thing with Adrian started weeks ago, I’d barely slept more than a few hours at night. My mind was on constant overdrive.

I pulled my keys from the pocket in my jeans when my heart nearly stopped. Adrian was waiting beside my scooter, his arms crossed over his chest and an arrogant smirk curling his lips. Usually the sight would have made me wet my panties, but right now seeing him like that made my blood boil. I resisted the urge to stomp towards him and make a scene. Instead I strode toward my scooter and only glared at him.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded.

His smirk faltered ever so slightly but he didn't move from his spot. He lowered his gaze slowly and I felt bad instantly, worried that I'd hurt his feelings. Any feeling of compassion for this man left me however when I heard his next words.

“Why is it that you're always having this ugly dog in tow?” He hadn’t averted his eyes in shame. He’d been checking out poor Bruno.

What?
I stiffened and my hands balled to fists at my sides as I stared down at Bruno who was watching me with his beady little eyes. I was glad that he wasn't able to understand what this bastard had said.

It wasn’t worth it. I was tired and shouldn’t be standing here talking to Adrian. My resolve to leave without a comment went out the window when I saw his face. He was smiling his stupid grin again, as if he thought his comment had been funny. I wanted to wipe the smile off his face. Amy would probably say anger and sex were inevitably interwoven.

Don’t think about sex, I chided myself. “What did you just call my dog?”

The smile fell and he frowned, looking at me as if I'd just spoken a foreign language. “I was just...” he began but then shook his head. “Never mind.”

I narrowed my eyes.

“There's a nice Italian restaurant you should try. I have nothing planned tomorrow evening, so we can go together.”

I was rendered speechless by his audacity. He'd done it again. I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from lunging at him and ripping his beautiful hair out. Amy was right. He didn't deserve to go out with me. Arrogant bastard.

“Listen. I don't know what's wrong with you, but there's definitely something wrong, so maybe you should get some help. You can't tell me to go out with you and just assume I
would agree. I've never met such an arrogant, self-absorbed bastard like you before and I hope I'll never see you again!”

When I was done with my rant, I was out of breath and my face was glowing with a deep blush. I grabbed Bruno, walked past Adrian and put Bruno into his basket. Adrian didn’t take his eyes off me and it was starting to seriously unnerve me, and yet I couldn’t stop myself from wondering if he liked what he saw. Of course, my coat covered up most of my
body, so there wasn’t much too see unless he had a foot fetish. I mounted my scooter and my coat parted, revealing my upper thighs. Adrian’s eyes slowly traveled up my legs. I could practically feel his gaze like a butterfly’s touch on my skin. Heat gathered in my stomach at the look on his face. “Stop staring!” I snapped. I quickly started the engine and hit the gas, shooting out of my narrow parking slot.  Adrian took a few steps back so I wouldn’t hit him. I sped off before I could do something I would regret. Like kiss him. Or kill him. Both were possible.

He was infuriating.

I'd never been so rude to someone before, not even to Chris.

On my way to the bar I stopped at a store to provide myself with some stress-relieving food.
Cookies.
I had a short six-hour shift to look forward to, and I knew Adrian’s expression as he stared at my legs would haunt me the entire time. Nobody had ever looked at me like that. It made me feel powerful and desirable.

When I pulled up in front of the bar, one packet of cookies was already gone, thanks to Bruno and myself. My beloved dog was as much of a cookie addict as I. If the police caught me eating cookies while meandering through traffic with my scooter, I’d probably lose my license. But it was either that, or drive back home, find Adrian and
do something very regrettable.

I stuffed another cookie into my mouth as I hurried into the building, Bruno walking beside me like the well-mannered, cute pug that he was. I waved at Mona and she smiled at me but there was still a hint of worry in her eyes. I tried to ignore it, since I wasn't in the mood to talk about my life, especially Adrian. This man was so infuriating. Sadly he was also infuriatingly sexy.

I stifled a groan and another cookie disappeared in my mouth.

At the end of my
work day, not a single cookie was left. In my frustration about Adrian, I'd eaten three packets of cookies. Now I wasn't only angry and frustrated, but I was also feeling sick.

It was really time for the day to be finally over.

Bruno pressed against my chest, I hurried up the stairs toward my apartment, almost bumping into Jared in my haste. He steadied me with his hands on my shoulders, preventing me from tumbling down the steps and probably breaking my neck.

“Careful,” he said with a grin as I regained my balance.

I gave him a grateful smile, feeling myself blush. “Thanks. You just saved Bruno's life, I would have probably crushed him if I'd fallen down the stairs.”

Jared chuckled, shaking his head. “You're thanking me for saving your dog? What about yourself?”

I smiled sheepishly and shrugged. I really hadn't thought about it.

His eyes darted to my black high heels. “How can you even walk in these things?”

“Desperation. My tips would probably drop by half if I wore flats, or anything but a miniskirt.” But now that he’d mentioned my shoes, the pain in my ankles and toes returned with full force.

He stared at his watch and his eyes widened a fraction. “I'm running late,” he said more to himself than to me before he gave me an apologetic smile. “Amy should be home any minute now. I’m sure she’d love to have some female company. I’ll be gone until the morning.”

I smiled and waved him good-bye as he hurried down the steps, his dark locks disappearing from my view. Maybe I'd pay Amy a visit later. She would certainly want to know about my encounter with Adrian this morning. On the other hand, I should probably go to bed early. It didn’t happen very often that I had an early shift in the bar and was home before ten. I wasn’t sure how much long I could bear working at Jack’s.

I ascended the remaining steps and crossed the corridor before unlocking my door. Bruno wiggled in my arms and I set him down. He ran toward the kitchen as if the devil was after him
; expecting to be fed as usual. For a moment, I stood in the doorframe, the yellowish light from the corridors spilling into my small apartment. I considered turning around and leaving New York for good. Maybe I could be happy somewhere else, find a nice guy, get a college degree, become a vet like my dad. I shook my head, pushed the switch and stepped inside. I followed Bruno into the kitchen and gave him some dog food before preparing myself a salad. I'd eaten so many cookies today, more than a salad was out of the question for dinner. If I kept eating dinner so late, I’d probably start gaining weight soon.

The silence in my apartment was starting to weigh down on me and I knew I had to do something about it. I grabbed my mobile and dialed my parents’ number, hoping they weren’t already in bed. After a moment my father picked up and his deep voice rang out, sounding drowsy. “Clark.”

Guilt shot through me. “Hello dad, did I wake you?” I was happy to hear his voice again. I hadn’t called in too long, from fear of the questions that always came. Do you have a boyfriend? Have you sold a book? A short story? Why don’t you come home?

“Nora! And don’t worry, I fell asleep in front of the TV again, so it’s a good thing you woke me. Your mom hates it if I don’t come to bed.” He sounded happy and relieved, and my smile widened. “Has anything happened?” His tone turned worried.

“I'm fine, dad. I just wanted to hear your voice,” I said softly, realizing how pathetic that sounded. “So how's it going? Is mom already asleep?”

“Yes, she went to bed a couple of hours ago. She had a glass of red wine with her dinner, and you know it always makes her tired.”

I leaned back in the kitchen chair and listened to Dad's story about his fishing trip. Apparently he'd been quite successful and our freezer was stored to the brim with fish.

Dad paused and cleared his throat nervously and I knew he had something to say that I wouldn't like. “Chris asked me to send you his greetings and he said...” Dad hesitated and I dreaded what else he had to say. “Well, he said he's missing you.”

I groaned and closed my eyes, shaking my head. Why couldn't Chris leave me alone? We'd gone out twice and I was still haunted by nightmares because of it. “I hope you didn't tell him that I miss him, too.”

Dad laughed. “No, no. I didn't really know what to say to him. The boy is odd.”

I grinned. “He is.”

“He isn't bothering you anymore, is he?”

“No, dad. You don't need to run him over with your car or anything.”

“Tell me if you change your mind.”

My grin widened even more and I relaxed further. I told Dad about my newest manuscript and about Amy. I knew better than to mention the bar. It would only lead to an argument and I simply couldn’t stomach that right now.

I also chose to leave out my encounters with Adrian and my habit of spying on him, since I didn't want Dad to freak out. He'd probably suffer from a cardiac arrest if I told him about it, and then Mom would tell me that her worst fears about the 'dangerous' city had come true. Mom and Dad had never been fond of New York and would probably try to talk me into returning home if they found out how bad my situation really was at the moment.