by Donna Alam
So I smile back, though mine is more bemused, eyes drawing away to the dance floor. The place is buzzing and the floor packed, a sea of swaying humanity moving to the rhythms of some global beat.
Hmm. Beer philosophy. Maybe I have had too much to drink.
‘There’s something so appropriately inappropriate about a man in mascara,’ I yell, standing on my tiptoes to better be heard. I have a major crush on the singer, even if he is gay. I quickly realise my mistake, not the crush, but the leaning, as Matt places both hands on my hips.
‘You’re full of surprises, pocket-rocket. What other freaky shit you into?’
His words are slurred, his glassy gaze sliding over my skin. Something flickers in the depths of that gaze—a bad idea, by the looks of things—as he lunges forward, face looming over mine.
‘Blokes who keep their grubby mitts to themselves,’ I call, placing flat palms against his chest and pushing him away.
‘Aw, come on, Katie,’ he shouts as I leave. ‘I’ll let you paint my face!’
‘It’s Kate, arsewipe!’ I call back, grabbing a surprised Niamh as she pushes her way through the crowd.
Face flushed with dancing and drink, she begins, ‘But I’ve just—’
I don’t give her a chance to answer, finally able to laugh as I drag her away by the hand. She casts a last lingering glance at Rob as we disappear into the writhing mass.
Squeezing through the crowd, I’m sober enough to be grateful that it’s busy. Bodies jammed tightly together means there’s less chance I’ll end up looking a bit unco . . . uncord . . . a bit of a klutz. Closing my eyes, I let the music wash over me, seductive words about dirty minds, persuasion and letting go.
‘Hey.’ Niamh pulls my arm. ‘I’m done in. I need to go home.’
‘Home-home or, you know,’ I shout, gesturing back at the bar. She’s been all over Rob like a rash. I doubt she’s even noticed her friends have drifted off over the last hour or so.
Pulling a face, she gestures to her ear as her free hand grasps mine. ‘I can’t feckin’ hear!’
So I reluctantly follow her.
There are a couple of stools at the quiet end of the bar, but we don’t take them as Niamh turns. ‘We’re sharing a cab home, drop you on the way?’
‘We’re grabbing a cab? Niamh and Rob sittin’ in a tree, gettin’ it on in a t-ax-i!’
‘Not likely.’ She snorts. ‘Taxi nasty earns you time out here. How much have you had to drink, by the way?’
I giggle and begin a splendidly cheesy version of the Spice Girls Two Become One, ignoring both question and death stare. ‘Is this like a regular thing?’ I ask, halting my rendition mid-line. ‘Are you friends who . . . you know, do that?
‘Not yet,’ she answers. ‘And not if I’ve anything to do with it. This has been a long time in coming, let’s just hope the same can be said of him!’ Her raucous laugh halts, her face taking on a sudden pensive look. ‘We’ve been dancing around this thing for a while now. I like him. Really like him.’
‘Hooley-dooley. Serious, huh?’
Her mouth purses at my daggy expression, but she doesn’t comment. ‘I hope so. Either way, grab a cab home with us.’
‘Nah, I’ll be fine.’ Though I don’t feel fine, I think I feel . . . sad. Maybe lonely, though that’s a cliché, right there, being sad in a crowd. Wistful, maybe? I want to go home with someone, cuddle, climb into bed with a man. But not with Matt. ‘I’m a big girl,’ I add. ‘Besides, I don’t fancy travelling home as your spare wheel. Or a prop for the drunken roommate.’
‘Matt’s harmless.’
‘Matt’s off his face.’
‘Yeah,’ she agrees, laughing. ‘You’re probably right, but don’t stay here alone. Come with us. I promise he won’t yak on your shoes.’
‘Can you guarantee it?’ I glance down at my new, favourite heels.
‘Totally. I’ve never seen him part with his booze yet.
As is often the way with the intoxicated, Matt is obstreperously loud and refuses to leave . . . until he realises I’m coming along, too. And that’s how I find myself outside, with a beer-fumed Matt draped around my shoulder while we wait for a taxi willing to accept our fare.
Matt’s hand inches its way down my back for the third time in as many minutes and I yank it away by his wrist. ‘I swear, if you plant your hand on my arse once more, I’m going to snap it off!’
I don’t want to go home with a man now. I just want to get rid of this one.
Unfolding his arm from my shoulder, I push him hard—harder than I’d intended but, Christ, he’s heavy! He does a sort of exaggerated wheeling motion with his arms, teetering on his heels before landing slumped against the wall of a low garden bed. He grumbles incoherently, as is the prerogative of a drunk.
Hot, bothered and breathing like a rodeo bull, I grab the waist of my dress, twisting it straight with a savage tug.
‘Kate?’
My heart stalls. I turn with the waist of my dress still in my hands, his voice stirring my insides and shimmering across my skin. Sure enough, Kai stands behind me looking like he’s just stepped from the pages of a glossy magazine: a midnight coloured suit, white shirt—sans tie—oxfords, and does he have . . . wet hair? My mind flickers unnecessarily with the possibilities of this man and a shower.
Studiously halting that line of thought, my voice raises several octaves above its normal register as I exclaim, ‘What are you doing here?’ Oddly, my hands also seem to take on a life of their own, making an involuntary jazz-hands sort of welcome before I even realise they’re in the air.
‘The same thing as you, I should imagine.’ He leans in for what I think is my European hello, when simultaneously, we speak.
‘Avoiding grabby drunks?’
‘Waiting for a car.’
His body freezes, arm falling away from my shoulder as he slowly pulls back. My eyes follow his to the now muttering form of Matt.
‘A friend of yours?’ His words are clipped and cold as he eyes Matt like he’s something he’d actively avoid having on the sole of his shoe.
‘Nooo-no-no-no. Nothing like that.’ Just a no, then? ‘We’re on our way home.’ I recognise immediately how that sounds, never mind that we might look like some kind of couple, but Kai’s stony expression is a frighteningly good indicator, too. ‘I’m just drunk sitting. For a friend.’ I point my thumb in Rob and Niamh’s direction and their version of Love’s Young Dream as they wait for a cab.
Kai’s expression relaxes, his gaze distracted by the path of a huge SUV as it draws to a stop in front. The heap of drunk on the ground behind me stops muttering, instead beginning a loud and tuneless rendition of All My Exes live in Texas. I’m not sure this moment could get any more surreal.
Stopping mid-chorus, Matt slurs, ‘Katie, you wanna be one of my exes? You’re real cute.’
I smile weakly and shrug. ‘What an offer. And they say chivalry is dead.’
‘Is that where I’m going wrong? You want coats over puddles and gents making a leg?’ To finish, he flourishes a small bow, albeit mockingly.
‘Who doesn’t like a bit of man-leg?’ I retort, managing to fill my mouth with dumb again as he glances down at his pant covered limbs. Is there some kind of exponential relationship between this man and my IQ?
‘So that’s it?’ His expression is stern but for the twinkle in his eyes. ‘I prevent you from falling, save life and limb, yet I can’t even convince you to have a coffee with me? What must I do?’
‘Offer to sleep in the wet-spot.’
‘Niamh!’ I almost swallow my tongue, shock quickly giving way to laughter at her loudly whispered interjection.
‘What? That’s a bit of gallantry right there, if you ask me. Did you say you were taking Kate for coffee? Might be an idea to sober her up.’
‘I’ll have you drunk I’m not, I mean—’
With a raised brow, Kai folds his arms across his broad chest. ‘I don’t think I’ll have much luck with either.’
He sighs for further effect. ‘I’m beginning to think she doesn’t like me.’
‘Nah, she’s just a scaredy cat.’ Niamh turns her attention to a now groaning Matt. ‘Muntered,’ she mutters, walking away. ‘He’ll have a savage bad head tomorrow.’
‘That’s not true,’ I say quietly. ‘And I’m not drunk.’
‘No, not drunk, but are you scared, little cat?’ His eyes glint in the ambient light, warming my insides like a good glug of red. Not that I need another. But, seriously, I’m not drunk. Or a cat, but I don’t feel the need to point that out to him right now.
‘Look,’ he continues, ‘my car is here. Why don’t your friends take it? It can come back for you afterwards, give us a chance to have a drink? A coffee? Just a chat?’
‘It’s very late.’ Even I can hear the distinct lack of resolve in my words. I bite the inside of my cheeks to stop my embryonic smile. Not drunk, but still, as my nan used to say, drink in, wits out.
Unfolding his arms, he slides them into his pant pockets with a sly smile. ‘Was that your resolve I just heard cracking?’
‘Probably just my artificial knee.’ He laughs loudly at this, which is startling but I end up laughing myself. ‘What, you don’t believe me?’
‘You forget, we’ve been up close and personal.’ My smile falters. Surely I would’ve remembered something like that? ‘Some memories aren’t easily forgotten. That ladder and, if you don’t mind me saying so, your exquisite behind.’
‘Stop!’ And by my tone I surely mean please, do go on.
He shrugs indolently but doesn’t answer, at least not verbally. He just stares intently, like he’s assessing, or imagining doing . . . things.
‘Who’s got a dodgy knee?’
A curious mixture of relief and disappointment takes over as Niamh joins us, arm through Rob’s for an introduction. Talk turns to various plans for the weekend as I zone out, unable to stop myself from surreptitiously studying Kai. The man is seriously hot. Sex on legs. So lean and large. Masculine. But it’s more than that, he has a presence, the kind I imagine holds a room. The kind I imagine demands dirty, raspy things in the bedroom, things I, I mean, a girl, would immediately do. My eyes are drawn to his strong shoulders and down his arms, one elegant hand still concealed in the depths of a pocket, so close to his—
Minutely shaking my head, I refocus on the conversation, becoming aware that things have moved on.
‘Grand, so the car will come back for Kate.’ Niamh opens the SUV’s passenger door as both the driver and hotel doorman bundle Matt in through the other side. ‘Call you tomorrow,’ she says over her shoulder, turning back to peer into the cavernous interior.
‘Hang on, what?’
‘Your man has sorted it.’ She draws me into her arms. ‘And you can thank me later,’ then she whispers-sings, ‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!’
Potentially, this leaves a whole world of stuff I can do but probably wouldn’t even consider, not that I get a chance to point this out as she releases me and quickly clambers in. I don’t have the power of speech for a reply, as it turns out, or wit, as I find myself on the pavement, the presence of Kai burning by my side as the car’s rear lights fade into the night.
‘Coffee?’ The word sounds low and suggestive.
‘Caffeine keeps me awake.’ His response is non-verbal and as subtle as a confetti canon. ‘If I didn’t know better, I’d say the two of you planned this.’
Laughing, he takes my reluctant hand into his as he slips the doorman a folded monetary note of thanks, almost by sleight of hand. ‘Anyone ever tell you you’re cute when you scowl?’
‘I’m so pleased you’re entertained.’
‘Funnily enough, like a cat with a pretty toy.’
I shiver quite suddenly even though I’m the opposite of cold in the heavy evening air.
In the lobby’s cool expanse, Kai pauses at the bank of shining elevators.
‘Upstairs, I think. Do you mind?’ His face is open and earnest. A little too earnest, I think. Shock must register on my own as he begins to smile. ‘Of course, if you’re uncomfortable, we could just have a drink in the bar.’
‘Of course not, upstairs is fine,’ I reply, trying for nonchalance and falling short. But I have my big-girl knickers on. Not literally, thankfully, just . . . mentally, and not that I plan on taking them off. No, definitely keeping them on. I think. Maybe. Probably. ‘You don’t look like you bite,’ I continue flippantly.
‘No,’ he answers as the doors chime. ‘Not unless you ask. Very nicely.’
Sobriety falls like a veil, my stomach clenching somewhere between eagerness and, I think, fright. But there’s little opportunity to over-think or analyse.
He wants me.
I want him.
And I’m going to his room.
Chapter Nine
There should be a moment right about now where recognition truly sinks in. Apart from this being illegal in the UAE, or at least immoral, I don’t go into hotel rooms with guys I barely know.
My fingers get that static-jump thing brushing against Kai’s as we step into the empty elevator. He swipes a card against the panel and it begins to rise. I’d say I’m numb, but that’s not strictly true as my heart thumps loudly in the pit of my stomach. At least I think it’s my heart. Anyway, something’s definitely thrumming away down there.
The journey upward is almost a prelude, the air electrified with an anticipation so thick I think it almost visible, curling around the small space. As the doors chime open, we’re almost immediately in a room. On second glance, it’s a suite and a pretty swanky one at that. Tasteful in understated creams and bronzes, it’s a very modern interpretation of Arabesque, dotted with plush fabrics, teakwood and cushions of gold. At least it’s not a room where I’m immediately greeted by the bed. I think.
But it’s okay. I’m calmer, as Niamh’s words float into my head. Be who I want to be. I pause, still at the threshold. Do what—or who—I want to do.
Kai turns as I hesitate.
‘Wait.’ I hold up my hand at an additional, risen thought. ‘What is it you actually do?’ His brows pull together, his eyes intent on mine, slipping to my mouth and back again super quick. ‘For work, I mean. Are you . . . do you work at the school?’
His eyes light with understanding. ‘I’m a lawyer,’ he answers without missing a beat. ‘Corporate. I didn’t like to correct you in front of your friend the other day.’
Breathing again, I follow him in.
He drops the key-card to a nearby table, shrugging off his jacket as I wander into the room. I wonder if there’s a protocol I should be following, rather than feeling like the late-comer to an aerobics class, a beat behind where I should be and blundering through the steps. I’m drawn to the doors leading to a terrace, the expanse of glass framing a view of the Burj al Arab as it shines in the distance like a garish sail in the night sky.
I wrap my arms around my torso for support, or maybe to stop myself from reaching out.
‘It’s lovely,’ I say over my shoulder. ‘The view, I mean.’
‘Yes, it is,’ he agrees lowering himself into a chair. ‘Stunning.’ But it’s me he’s staring at, eyes burning with an intensity that somehow echoes my dream. I touch my lip, recalling how I’d bitten it and wonder if he can hear the beat of my heart. God, I want him. Want to throw myself at him, kiss his pillow-soft lips. Instead, I force myself to turn back to the view.
‘Is there something wrong?’
‘Just a touch of déjà vu.’ I address the pane of glass, afraid he might see the erotic slideshow playing in my head. With a deep inhale, I turn to face him, smiling in what I hope is an enigmatic way. Who am I kidding? I’m probably drooling like a loon.
‘I’m sure I would have remembered if you’d been here before.’ His words are low and loaded as he almost lounges in the chair. One foot propped on the opposite knee, he radiates a kind of dark-eyed confidence. With a sudden disconcertion, I begin to wonder at which point
I became an obvious lay. In the classroom? Outside just now? I can’t imagine he gets many rejections.
He stands with a languid sort of grace, holding out his hand. ‘Shall we?’
A tiny jolt of panic bursts in my chest and I begin to stammer some kind of justification for no.
‘You really don’t think much of me, do you?’ Amusement colours his face as surely as embarrassment shades mine. ‘Shall we . . . have that drink?’ He laughs quietly, indicating an oriental looking chest set against the wall, cluttered with bottles.
‘Yeah, sure,’ I say with a casual shrug, though I’m kidding no one. Skin burning, I push my hair behind my ears and follow behind, glad that the soft lighting will hide the depth of my blush.
‘You’re sure you wouldn’t prefer coffee? You know, you’re no good to me absolutely drunk.’
I stop in my tracks, hand suspended mid-air.
‘I’m joking,’ he says with a soft chuckle, his hands now warm on my shoulders. He stares down at me, eyes twinkling with mirth, even as his mouth maintains a serious line. ‘Wine, definitely. Drink certainly makes you more . . . cooperative.’
‘Is that your seduction plan?’ My voice sounds quite strangled as his hands burn my shoulders. Maybe he’s going to kiss me. Instead, his hands slide away as he turns to the chest holding the drinks.
‘Do you think I need one?’ His tone is even as he lifts a wine bottle in question.
I nod my head to the drink. The first question goes unanswered, but I think we both know. Any more questions like these and I’ll snap the bottle from his hand and chug it from the neck.
‘Well?’
‘Sorry?’ I counter, playing dumb.
‘Do you need seducing?’
‘Are you always this direct?’ I use my serious teacher’s voice, not that it seems to have any effect as he addresses the bottles.
‘Usually. And in the quest for full disclosure, I have a confession to make.’ He pours the blood red liquid into the bowl of a glass. ‘I am a lawyer, but it’s not quite that simple.’ His face is unreadable as he places the glass in my hand.
‘Oh,’ I reply, disconcerted for the second time in as many minutes. I’m an assuming ass. Awesome. Of course, I have an idea where this is leading and my stomach tightens unpleasantly.
