He shrugged. “Well, my kind like to invest in women. It... makes the
chase
more fun.”
“Your kind.” She smiled at the weird phrasing, then raised her glass.
“Here’s to guys.”
He smiled back, amused, and took a sip of his own drink. Then he reached
out
to support her hand. Looking at it, she realized it was slightly shaking
and
the champagne was about to spill. “Oops.. seems like I’m getting a
little
tipsy.” She shifted her gaze from her glass, now safely set on the
bar, to
him. “You, on the other hand, don’t seem at all affected.”
“I don’t get drunk easily.”
She smiled again and regarded her glass, considering stopping before
she got
really drunk, and deciding it was a bit too late for that. Then she
wondered
if he would buy her another drink after that one ended. He had so far.
He reached out his hand again, this time to move a strand of hair from
her
face with his finger, then used the finger to trace her neck lightly.
“You
’re very beautiful.”
“Thanks.”
He took a sip of his drink. “You look a lot like a girl I used to love
very
long ago.”
“Very long ago?” She leaned towards him, trying not to fall from her
chair, and looked at his handsome face curiously. “You don’t seem older
than...?”
He didn’t back away, totally calm. “I don’t seem older than
twenty-four.”
She smiled. “You have a weird way of saying things.” He didn’t have
a bad
breath, unlike many of the guys she had dated lately. That was good
. She
couldn’t feel any breath, actually, though her face was now only a
few
inches from his. Definitely too late to stop before drunkenness...
He smiled back, again tracing her neck lightly with one finger.
“So what happened to her?” She asked, cooperating by caressing his hair.
“That girl you loved?”
He seemed slightly amused again. “Things happened. We didn’t get along
anymore. You could say I was... too much for her.” She could almost
swear
his eyes flashed golden for a second. Maybe it was time to stop drinking
after all.
She tried to think of something else to say. “So... are you from around
here?”
“Moving around. Not really settling in one place.”
So much for getting to know you... the guy was really Mr. Cryptic. But
he
was totally cute, in a dark handsome way, and he did buy her... some
number
of which she didn’t keep track of drinks.
Cutting off her reverie, he leaned a bit closer - as much as it was
possible - and said, “Feel like going somewhere more private? Say...”
his
smile became impish - though in a bit of a threatening way. Well, a
bit of
danger was probably good, too. “...The alley behind this pub?”
“Ooh, kinky.”
He helped her up and held her coat to her. While she was with her back
to
him, trying to get into it, she sent over her shoulder a smile that
was -
she hoped - not too drunk to be intimate and sexy. “Since it seems
we’re
going to be very close friends... Your name seems so -- formal. Don’t
you
have a nickname? Something shorter?”
He smiled, twirling a strand of her hair around his finger as though
fascinated by its auburn color. “Nope. Just Alexander.”