Fated Mate

The corner of his lips rose in half a smile. He was glad she was unwinding, enough to slap at him.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

She stared at him, dazed by his beautiful smile. She even stopped moving around on the stool. Someone bumped her clicking her mind into gear again.

“I’m going to teach you a lot today. Lesson number two, never ask a lady her age,” she said flushing.

“I know that one, but it only applies to ladies over forty, so you don’t apply to the rule.” Ash flashed a smile. She gasped before she took another swig of her beer.

“That is true.” Lee looked away from him, she was a bad liar and it was usually very evident when she was trying to lie, especially now that his smile kept numbing her into a mindless drone. “I’m twenty. How old are you?” she answered quickly, looking back at him.

“Twenty-five.”

She smiled. “You were right the first time. You are too old for me.”

Ash had a crooked grin on. “I think a five year difference is the best. There’ll be one adult in the relationship.”

“I am not a child! Twenty is grown in a woman’s world.” Lee’s face dropped, she looked down at her bottle. “It would be a relief not being the adult for a change, to be able to enjoy life like a kid.”

Ash saw the change in her mood. He didn’t like it. “Ann is going to scold me for not doing my job.”

“She might do more than just scold you, she’s crazy, a complete loveable lunatic.”

“She said something about you being in a bad mood. Would you mind telling me why?”

Lee felt uncomfortable talking about her personal life with him. She might be warming up to him, but she still didn’t know him well enough to be completely free with him.

“I wasn’t the only one in a bad mood, what’s your story?”

“That’s a tale for another day.”

A guard went up, it was written all over his face, and she could see it. “How about we just drink then when we are too drunk to keep our guards up, we’ll talk.”

Ash laughed, it was going to take him longer than her to get drunk, but he had to admit he liked her more with each minute that went by.

“Can’t hold your liquor, huh?”

Lee smiled at him. His laugh had warmed her up. “Guilty. But you have to promise you won’t reveal anything I say, that information is top secret.”

Ash raised his hand as if he was about to take an oath. “I’ll keep my ears open and my mouth shut. I give you my word.”

“Wow, slow down big guy! What’s that, your seventh, eighth bottle? How is it you are not swaying?”

“Unlike you, I can hold my liquor,” he took her half empty bottle from her.

Lee was a little tipsy and all she had were three bottles. When Lee got tipsy, she got a little chatty.

“I just broke up with my boyfriend, a month ago. He was my first, in everything. He was such an ass, and I miss him. I can’t understand exactly what I saw in him, and why the hell do I miss him so much!”

“Do you know the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else!” She snorted a laugh. “Who comes up with corny stuff like that?” She was silent for a while, deliberating the phrase in her head. Then she spoke, slow. “When you think about it, it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.”

Lee went quiet; she turned and looked at Ash, tracing out every curve in his face. The pause-and-think button had been muted by the beers she’d drunk. He wasn’t only beautiful he had this trusting look that drew her to him, making the attraction even more fatal.

“You are so hot! It’s like you walked out of a romance novel. Did anyone ever tell you, you have beautiful hands? And your smile, it should be labeled a national treasure or a national weapon.”

* * * *

This made Ash even more rigid. His desire for her had intensified. He was about to yank her off the stool when Ann came out of nowhere.

“Lee, come on let’s dance! You too!” She pulled Ash and Lee off their stools and dragged them to the dance floor where the others were.

The girls jumped up and down to Flo Rida’s Club Can’t Handle Me; they held hands as they danced together. Ash saw a spark light in all of them, something he hadn’t seen since they met. He saw how close they were, like parts of a bigger thing and they needed each other for it to work.

Lee looked even happier than she did a few minutes ago. She wasn’t closed off anymore, and dancing seemed to set her free from whatever hold her mind had on her. Ash watched her closely, not blinking, his gaze following her as she moved around the small space. Her childish joy, for some reason made him happy, a feeling that had eluded him for decades.

The guys weren’t dancing; they stood close to their dates and had unconsciously formed a secure triangle around them. They gave them enough space to dance inside it without getting bumped by other people. Other dancers rammed into them but they didn’t move; it was like running into a brick wall.

When the song was over and Katy Perry’s Teenage dream started, they paired up. The others danced around, enjoying themselves, Ash however was finding it hard to concentrated on anything else but Lee. She had her back to him, and then she took his arms and wrapped them around herself and began dancing slowly and intimately. Ash was slowly losing control. All he wanted was to keep her close to him. He tightened his arms around her, moving in tune with her. He didn’t like dancing but tonight, he would make an exception.

He bent down and placed his face in the nap of her neck, and breathed her scent in. It felt familiar to him but he didn’t bother to try and remember why or where. It was the thirsty sting in his throat that was beginning to worry him. But he knew himself, he could control his thirst, it’s just that…this girl was desirable…in more than one meaning. She raised her hand and placed it at the back of his head, caressing his neck as she twisted her fingers in his long hair. This made him hold her even tighter, the thoughts of feeding on her replaced by another.

She fitted in his embrace comfortably. She spread her finger over his thick shoulder, keeping her other hand in his hair. Ash was imaging them together, naked, and kissing and making love. Without thinking, he put that exact thought in her mind. When he realized what he was doing, it was already too late. He loosened his grip and was about to take a step back when she turned around. She wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted herself high enough to reach his lips and kissed him. His arms automatically reached up and held her tight against him, kissing her back intensely.

She pulled back and whispered in his ear, “I have an idea, let’s get out of here.”