Alex
“These are the pink melodies, you can see the color is most vibrant around the tips here,” the saleswoman said, gesturing to the edge of the calla lily.
The soft pink color was beautiful, it blended with the natural white of the lily. Chloe would like it, that much I was certain of. I handed the bouquet back to the older woman.
“Those are lovely, thank you.”
She smiled and took the flowers with her back to the tables. I shoved my hands into my pockets while I watched her tie the flowers with the matching pink ribbon. My palms felt cold but the rest of me was vibrating with excitement knowing that in the next hour Chloe would be standing in front of me.
It was always like this at first; this incurable, bubbly excitement to be together, the thrill of being with someone new, and getting to know each other. But no matter how I tried to frame it to myself, I knew that buying her flowers and already giving her expensive gifts this soon was more than I had done for my other girls. Romancing them with nice dinners and jewellery was one thing, flowers and calling them in the middle of the night to say I missed them was another.
“Here you go, honey,” the woman said chipperly. “I’m sure she’ll love them.”
I smiled back at her warmly. “Thank you.”
I waved to her as I left and got back into the car. The driver had the partition down when I got in and was watching me from the rear-view mirror.
“The airport next, sir?”
“Yes. Please keep the partition up when we pick up my guest.”
He nodded and the glass slid back into place. I fiddled with the ribbon on the bouquet on the drive to LAX, feeling underdressed and embarrassed over our late-night phone call. It had been a moment of weakness; being overtired after my flight, feeling alone and isolated in my hotel room, and Chloe had only been a text message away. And the phone call… Jazmin would have hung up on me if I called that late. I grinned to myself as I gazed out the window, hopefully she would be just as happy to see me today as she was last night.
The radio played through the car on the way to the airport, warning listeners about the rain that was supposed to come tonight but it didn’t bring me down, neither did the gloomy gray skies and thick crowds as I wove my way to the base of the stairs. When we knew each other better I would send drivers to pick her up, but right now, when this was really only our second outing, I wanted to personally make sure she was comfortable.
People came and went, happy couples that cried when they saw each other and bickering siblings jostled one another. My chest ached as I watched a man pull his sister in for a hug, jerking her hat down over her face as she struggled to get out of his hold. Daphne, I miss you. I wondered if she missed me too, if she remembered what that was like to be together.
I tried to brush it off, forcing myself to stare straight ahead at the escalator while I waited there, bouquet in hand.
I heard the lilt of her laughter before I saw her. She carted a small pink hard-shell suitcase behind her as she rode the escalator down. Chloe. Her hair was straightened today, making look it longer than before, and she was wearing leggings with a cropped sweatshirt. She might have dressed for comfort, but I certainly enjoyed the thin strip of skin that was visible between the hem of her shirt and the waistband of her pants.
She glanced through the crowd, her eyes flicking over everyone wildly until her gaze met mine and she beamed excitedly. All at once she was at the base of the stairs and standing in front of me, blushing profusely as she took the flowers I offered.
“Here, let me take that for you,” I said, reaching for her bag.
“Thanks, careful though, it’s a little heavy.”
I smirked and lifted it easily. We stood there awkwardly for a moment, unsure where to look or what exactly to say before I finally gestured back to the doors and told her I had a car waiting for us. She fell instep beside me and fawned over the flowers, twisting the bow around her finger and back again. I noticed the smile that tugged at the corners of her soft mouth and the peeking glances she stole my way that made my heart beat just little bit faster.
We made it back out to the car where the driver was waiting and took her bag from me, I opened the door and let her in first before sliding in beside her. The SUV had more than enough room to spread out but I took the seat next to her and let my hand brush against her side as I did up the seat belt. Chloe didn’t say anything but I could see the way her hand trembled slightly as she rubbed it back and forth over her thigh.
“Thank you for the flowers,” she said suddenly. “They’re beautiful.”
I reached for them and gently ran a finger over the silky petal. “I thought you might like these, a little less traditional than roses but gorgeous all the same.”
She smiled back at me but was quick to look away again as we sat there. Once again I would have to work to get her out of that shell but I had faith that she would become more comfortable in time as she adjusted to this type of relationship.
I didn’t reach for her hand, I didn’t know whether it was space she needed or not but I figured that letting her come to me would be the better choice. It was easier to be open when it was through a screen, it felt less real, now all I could feel was acute embarrassment for calling her up the way I did.
I turned to her, prepared to apologize when she turned as well and suddenly leaned over to kiss me. Shock paralyzed me for only a second before my arms came around her waist and I pulled her closer. She tasted like coffee and sugar, her finger tightened in my hair, and I was lost in her. She was soft and bold all at once and I wanted so much more than she was willing to give me yet.
My hand slid up her back to her exposed skin, just slowly rubbing over it again and again, inching the hem of her shirt higher. She pulled away all too soon with flushed cheeks and bright eyes as she searched my face and sat back in her seat, a mischievous smile tugging at her lips.
“I didn’t want to kiss you in the airport,” she admitted sheepishly. “Not in front of a crowd, it’s a little awkward, you know?”
She didn’t want to kiss a man twice her age in front of hundreds of people. I didn’t blame her, I knew there were much ruder things to be said about her in this type of situation than about me. Marie didn’t like kissing in public either, I thought sadly. I accepted that with Marie, I had no choice. But still, I hoped that with some patience Chloe might open up to being affectionate openly so that I wouldn’t have to second guess her or myself. And I had to make a conscious effort not to compare them either.
“That’s alright,” I assured her. “But I wasn’t finished.”
She laughed as I pulled her back over to me, eager to touch her after what felt like an eternity away. I didn’t have much business in California, but I knew I was going to be spending a lot of time here if it meant I could see her more often. Definitely more than once a week, that wasn’t nearly enough time, and if she was sending those pictures then I would go crazy. As it was the one she sent me that seen more than it’s fair share of use already. I couldn’t admit that to her, however.
By the time I realized that the car had stopped I nearly had her in my lap completely and her shirt was exposing the underside of her breasts. She seemed to realize that she was showing me more than she wanted to and quickly pulled the hem back down with a breathy laugh. I would have that damn thing on the floor at some point this evening, I was determined to.
For now, I played the part of the ever-patient man and got out of the car, holding open the door for her and letting her take my hand before stepping down. Rain was coming down harder now, pounding at the canopy above us and soaking into puddles on the sidewalk as I grabbed her bag. Vaguely in the distance I was certain I could hear thunder rumbling. Chloe paused as we reached the doors and looked back out into the parking lot.
“Glad it wasn’t like that on the flight,” she said with a look of relief.
“Was the flight okay at least? I forgot to ask you in the car.”
She shrugged. “Yeah, I get nervous on planes but it wasn’t too bad, slept for most of it.” She smirked and bumped her shoulder against me. “Now you get to see me make an ass of myself while I’m wide awake.”
I chuckled and pulled the keycard out of my pocket as we made our way to the elevator. “You’ll be fine, it’s just a grand opening party for an old friend.”
“A grand opening?”
I nodded and let her go in ahead of me. “Amelia Capaldi, she’s an architect here that designed and spear headed the construction of a new art gallery. All we need to do is show up, greet her, and enjoy the entertainment.” I hit the button to bring us to the top floor and smiled at her as I leaned back against the mirrored wall. “But that’s all later, tell me about your week.”
“Oh, um…” Chloe fiddled with her hair for a second and watched the numbers on the display go up. “I guess I didn’t really do anything. I went shopping, saw Jazmin yesterday, and I was talking to my cousin a lot – she wants me to come visit her in Athens this summer.”
Gone already? Summer was around the corner, I didn’t want her to leave me so soon. “How do you feel about that?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I like Greece, and Lena is great, but I just don’t want to get stuck with my mom’s family for the summer. Even for a few weeks that feels like too much.”
The elevator dinged and the doors slowly slid open, letting us out into the hallway. I led her on towards the door, lost in thought. I didn’t want her to go to Greece, not when it meant we would be apart for so long and I had barely gotten to know her. I already knew that I wouldn’t be flying back to Greece anytime soon, not when it was more than a twelve hour flight back.
“Remember that I can always bring you back,” I reminded with a wink. “I did promise you that, after all.”
Chloe laughed and waited while I got the door open, fighting with the key card for a second. The double doors opened up to the expansive living room with the bedroom door to one side, the kitchenette to the other, and across from us was the balcony doors. Chloe was quick to admire the view of downtown Beverley Hills. She was silhouetted against the dying light, the curve of her waist accented perfectly. Her mouth was parted as she stared out onto the stunning display down below and I wondered what she was thinking.
The neighbourhood I had dropped her off in was affluent, but she didn’t dress in a flashy way and seemed a bit at a loss for the way I spent my money, maybe she was in awe of the obvious wealth Beverley Hills stood for. Perhaps she was just excited to be here. I knew that when I was her age I couldn’t have fathomed this type of life, this view, or even paying for company. But that was so long ago now that this was all I could imagine for myself now. And I wanted to share it with people, with women who appreciated it, with friends that didn’t want it to go to waste. With other people that knew what it was like to start with nothing.
I approached her slowly, not wanting to startle her, and reached out to touch her hips. She jumped at my touch but instantly relaxed when I didn’t move my hands. She pressed herself back on me after a moment and laid her hands over mine, guiding them around to her stomach.
I didn’t know why I felt so calm with her, less guarded, but it was nice.
“You didn’t tell me about your day,” she murmured, tilting her head back to look up at me. “How was it?”
It was my turn to shrug. I wasn’t about to tell her that I had jerked off twice while looking at the picture she sent. “I went shopping for flowers and slept, nothing really exciting unfortunately.”
She turned in my arms and I noticed her grin as she stood up on her toes to lean in closer. “That’s it, really?”
I smirked back and nodded. “Are you disappointed?”
“I would have thought my pic got some more attention.”
I bent down and tightened my embrace as I kissed her next and small bit of exposed shoulder from where her shirt had slipped down. “Well that just doesn’t seem proper to talk about in front of a lady.”
Her giggle was infectious and kept bubbling up as she repeatedly tried to get a straight answer out of me, but I wasn’t caving. Slowly, we detached ourselves and I watched her take her suitcase to the bathroom to get ready. I sat on the bed, admiring the lilies that she had taken the curtesy to put in a vase, the small Tiffany’s box in hand. It was early for a gift, Zamir had been horrified when I told him about it, but I wanted her to like me and this always seemed like the best path to take.
I listened to the sound of her singing along to her music, trying not to laugh when I peeked in and saw her bouncing from foot to foot while she curled her hair. She was a lot like Jazmin, in fact there was nothing fundamentally different other than Chloe just having a different sort of presence about her. A confidence that lurked beneath her shy demeanour that made her approachable. I’d seen it on our first date, and then I saw it earlier in the car. I wanted to see it again, I wanted to see her let her guard down for good.
I got dressed while I waited for her to come back and slipped the box into my pocket. Tonight would be good fun, even if I didn’t get her naked in bed, I would still give her the bracelet and we would spend the evening together. I couldn’t wait to show her off to my friends, but honestly, I was more excited to get her back here and have nowhere else we needed to go for the night.