by Sin
“Hi, can I get you tonight? Err … I mean, what can I get for you tonight?”
He glanced at my nametag and then, to my surprise, didn’t linger long over my breasts, which was a favorite thing of mine for men to do. “Rayme, that’s a lovely name. I haven’t run across that one before.” A polished British accent formed every word with the utmost care.
I’d never really gotten how some women could be on the verge of an orgasm based solely off of their proximity to a gorgeous man, but was beginning to understand it as his voice wrapped around me. Sure, I’d been around men from other countries before, I wasn’t that sheltered, but this one was different.
“I say … you are a quiet one … hmm.” The words rolled of his tongue.
I had to fight back from letting out a sigh and going weak in the knees. Repeating the words, I am not twelve in my head did seem to help a little--not much, but a little. “Sorry … umm … Mr....”
“Most address me as Jovan. I would like very much to have you do the same.”
“Alrighty then, Jovan. What will you be having this evening?”
He began to answer me, but a loud noise from behind me sounded him out. I spun around to find the dirty pile of rags with his nasty hands on Angie’s breasts. The scattered mess of broken glass and the smell of beer told me that she’d dropped her tray because of this, and the look on her face said that she was scared. She attempted to push dirty-boy away with little to no success. I turned to excuse myself from Jovan, but he was gone. I dropped my notepad and ran to help Angie.
“Get your hands off her!”
Dirty-boy kept his paws on Angie, but turned his head towards me. “You gonna step in and take her place?”
“No, but I am going to give you a head start before I....” My threat went unnoticed. His hands dropped away from Angie, and he lunged at me with a speed I’d never seen before.
I dropped low to the ground and swung my foot around, effectively sweeping his legs out from under him. He sprang up and off the floor with such agility that he seemed to be part tiger. His hand came out and he tried to grab my throat. I brought my hand down, knocked his arm away, and made sure to bring my foot up fast and hard into his pelvic region. Pain radiated through my leg, but I didn’t waver. He clutched himself and lurched backwards, letting out a growl that sounded so much like a dog that for a moment I was sure a pack of strays had wondered in.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and the room suddenly felt several degrees cooler. A cross between whispers and chants flew at me from every direction. The sound faded in and out. Was it my imagination?
I wanted to run, but I wanted to hit rag-boy one more time, so I gave in and did it. I kicked up fast and hard and managed to catch the edge of his jaw. This sent him tumbling back and over an empty table. I had about three seconds to pat myself on the back before something seized hold of my hair. The terror of my ordeal in the alley came flooding back long enough to cause me to freeze.
Bad mistake.
“Ray-mee … now why’d you go and do that? Spoilin’ a boy’s fun … that’s a bad girl, you should be punished now,” Dag said, his voice low, almost a whisper.
A cold wind blew past me and the bizarre chants began again. “What?” I did my best to make out what they were saying. All I got out of it was creeped out.
Dag didn’t seem to notice the strange sounds, that or he just didn’t care. Clueless or careless, hmm, neither one would surprise me out of him.
A rough tongue that felt like sandpaper licked my cheek. “Mmm…. I can taste your fear, and I like it.” Dag’s breath was hot and putrid.
“I wouldn’t do that if I was you,” the dirty man said to Angie as she went for the phone. Angie knew the drill--if you had a problem you called the police, period. I scanned the room hoping to find a Good Samaritan, but found no one, and I do mean no one. The bar was deserted except for the five of us. Last I recalled, we’d had a decent crowd, something was off, very, very off.
“Sir, leave her. She is nothing to you. Why risk the wrath of human law for one such as her?” Vince, the smooth talker appeared behind the dirty-man.
Dag let out a growl. “Never question me again or it will be your end. Do you understand me?”
Vince nodded then turned to Angie. “Put the phone down.” She did as she was told.
“Where the fuck did everyone go?” Dirty-boy asked, sounding as confused about the bar being empty as I was. That was both good and bad. If the bad guys didn’t know what happened, then we were all screwed.
Vince looked at Dag and in turn, Dag tightened his grip on my neck. His hot breath pushed out and over my ear. “What’d you do? Where are the rest of the people?”
As much as I would have loved to take credit for running off our only prospects for help, I couldn’t. I stood silent, unwilling to provoke Dag any further. He apparently didn’t like my lack of response, because he yanked my body around and glared at me.
“Answer me, bitch.”
“Now, Dag I do not think that calling such a lovely creature of beauty names is very polite. I think you will agree with me on this matter. Will you not?” I’d only met him briefly, but that clean, clear accent could only belong to one man, Jovan.
Dag’s eyes widened and he released the death grip he had on my hair. I fell backwards and a cool hand grabbed my arm. Regaining my balance, I turned to look at the person who helped me. Deep blue eyes locked on me and my insides tightened with a combination of fear and lust. Jovan stood there steadying me with one hand and had the most amazingly calm look I’d ever seen on a man. A grin spilled across his face that said more of what he was thinking than words ever could. It was the look of a man who was used to getting what he wanted, and heaven help me, I wanted to give him whatever he asked for.
“Jovan … I, umm … err … what brings you to town?” Dag stumbled over every word. It was clear that he was afraid of Jovan, why, I wasn’t sure. He and his posse had Jovan grossly out numbered. Perhaps Brits had gotten a bad rap over the ages. Maybe they were really vicious killers--nah.
I expected Jovan to let go of my arm and address Dag. He didn’t, instead he pulled me closer to him and lifted my hair back, inspecting my neck with a pair of ultra-cool hands. His fingers danced over my skin, near my collarbone, and stopped. He turned and looked at Dag. “You’ve marred her beautiful skin. She now wears your handprint. That is not acceptable behavior.”
“Humph,” Dag said.
“Care to share something with the rest of the group?” Jovan had an interesting way of making his question into a demand without raising his voice. I was impressed.
Dag shuffled and shifted his weight to his other foot. If I didn’t know any better I’d have sworn that he looked like he was about to wet his pants. “No … Jovan it’s just that I … ahh....”
“What he’s failing to tell you is that he put enough pressure on her neck to snap it, yet it did not break,” Vince said. Dag let out a growl, but Vince didn’t waver.
Jovan turned and looked at me. “Really? This is most curious. What are you?”
“Umm, I’m a Rayme?”
He smiled and took a step closer to me. “Curious.”
“Not really, but you keep saying that, maybe Brits have lower standards for excitement. You all do get into dog shows, don’t you?”
This left Jovan laughing. He had a laugh like none I’d ever heard before. It had a life of its own. I could have sworn that it wrapped around me and even managed to move my hair. Angie let out a sigh and I looked over to find her staring dreamily at Jovan. Her eyes looked glassy and her movements seemed odd. She reminded me of old sci-fi movies where the victim is under the influence of a trance. Maybe she found Jovan even more attractive then I did. I wasn’t sure how that was possible, but something was up, that was for sure.
“Leave now, and forget that any of this has occurred. You will go home, soak in a warm bath, and wake tomorrow, refreshed and believing that you had an ordinary night at work,�
�� Jovan said to us.
I was about to laugh in his face when Angie nodded and headed towards the door. “Ang?”
Everyone but Angie turned to look at me. “Ha … looks like your mojo didn’t cut it with this one. Can I have another go at snapping her neck?” Dag’s creepy little voice chimed in from the sidelines.
Jovan turned and glared at him. Dag shrank back against the bar and remained silent. Wish I had that power over him. Jovan glided towards me and put his hand out to touch my face. I jerked back from him. Something wasn’t sitting well with me. Sure, he’d scared the goons off me, but how the hell did he manage to do that little parlor trick with Angie?
“I mean you no harm,” he said. I let out a nervous laugh. He frowned a bit. “Trust me Rayme--had I intended to hurt you, you would not be standing here now.”
“I’m sorry, but was that supposed to reassure me? Because if it was, I think you need to work on your delivery a bit more.”
Vince’s eyes almost popped out of his head. He looked like he was waiting for Jovan to blow. Jovan looked at me and laughed from the gut again. “Oh, I am growing very found of you little one. It has been some time since I’ve laughed this much.” He now stood directly in front of me. If either of us took another step, we’d bump into each other. He had me by at least a foot. He wasn’t an extremely bulky man, but you could tell that he was very toned under all that Armani. “You are something Rayme. I would like to get to know you better.”
He leaned down and brushed his lips over my cheek. I inhaled, took in the scent of expensive cologne and let out an audible sigh. He laughed softly in my ear as he planted a kiss on it. “Would you be so kind as to accept an invitation to dine with me tomorrow evening?”
“You’re trying to pick me up while we’re in the middle of … this.” I motioned around the room. I wasn’t even sure what to call what was going on with Dag and the other men.
Jovan turned his face from me and looked at the other men. “Leave now and never set foot in this establishment again. Am I clear?”
I heard a collective “yes,” and then the bell for the door. Jovan turned back to me. “Now, that is settled, they are gone. Where were we?”
I tried to peer over his shoulder, but the difference in height prevented me from seeing anything but him, not that I was complaining any. “I remember now, I was requesting the honor of your company,” he said, smiling at me.
Oh, he definitely had mastered the art of sweet-talking. “I would, but.… I’m heading out to see my family for a couple of nights.”
“I see.” He didn’t pull back from me. “Promise that you will call when you are ready to see me again.”
“Yeah, I guess I could do that.”
He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a business card. He artfully held it pinched between his first two fingers. “I look forward to hearing from you.”
I took it from him and glanced at it. It only had his name printed on it, Jovan Shepard. “Is this a joke? How am I supposed to reach you without a phone number?”
His lips curved into a devilish smile. “Say my name and I shall come.”
Great, a rich nut-job, just what I always wanted. “Yeah, I’ll be sure to do that.”
He pulled back from me and walked towards the door. I thought that would be the end of our strange meeting, but he turned to me before he left. “Sweet dreams, Rayme.”
Chapter Seven
I heard something moving off to my left and spun around in the darkened room. It was familiar yet foreign all at the same time. As far as I could tell, I was alone, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching me, waiting in the shadows for me.
“Hello?” I heard the echo of my voice bouncing back at me. That was never a good sign.
Something brushed past my arm and sent chills up my spine. I screamed out and spun around, ready to fight if need be. The darkness that surrounded me was so great that I was unable to make out my hand in front of my face let alone whatever else was there with me. Something touched my back, and then my shoulder.
Hot breath blew onto my neck and my body reacted with a full body shiver. A cold hand touched my cheek and I jerked back into what I thought was a brick wall. I screamed out, I didn’t care how much like a typical damsel in distress I sounded. I’d rather be one of those than dead.
“My dear Rayme, why do you run from me?”
I knew that voice. “Jovan?”
I heard his sexy laugh and knew that it was him. Somehow, this information did little in the way of calming my nerves. I felt his hand on my face again and tried to back away. Light came from all around us. It wasn’t bright, but it was enough to finally see. There before me was Jovan. He was out of the Armani suit I’d seen him in earlier and in a pair of black slacks, and a white shirt. If that wasn’t enough, he was also sporting a rather large top hat. I wasn’t sure if he was going for an eighteenth century look or if he was trying to look like a cake topper, either way, he looked stunning.
I drew back from him as he extended his arm out to me. I looked around to get a better idea of where I was. The last thing I had remembered doing was climbing into my bed exhausted. Somehow I’d ended up here.
“Not somehow … it is a dream, your dream to be exact,” Jovan said, as he stepped closer to me.
It seemed so real. I began to protest, and then thought about the fact that he’d just answered a question that I’d never asked aloud. It made sense that I was dreaming. I had to be dreaming, if not, that meant that I’d gone crazy and that was something I didn’t want or need. I had enough issues to date, I sure didn’t need any more.
Jovan’s smile widened. It wasn’t friendly so much as it was sensual. He was one of those men who could make your knees weak with just the slightest glance on his part. He was strikingly beautiful. I had to give him that, but maybe a little too pretty. His moisturized skin and manicured nails said that he spent more time pampering himself than I did and that could be bad.
It was my turn to smile. “I think I recreated you a little too well, I’m impressed with myself.”
His eyes shone with a deeper knowledge. “Would you rather I wear flannel and abstain from grooming myself? I could try to look like Morton, Dag’s friend from the bar. The dirty one you disliked so very much.” His long fingers moved towards my face. “Is that the type of man that you prefer?”
His hands were so cold, yet smooth, that I found myself standing before him with my head tipped to the side and my eyes slightly closed. I thought about what my kind of man was. I wanted someone who was strong, both physically and mentally, caring, easy to talk to, fun to be around, and of course--toss your legs in the air at the drop of a hat for em’ sexy. I thought of Maxim, and how he seemed to fit all of those things. Why wasn’t I dreaming about him?
Jovan’s hand pulled away from my face. “You think of another.”
It was a statement and a question wrapped all in one. I’m not sure why I felt the need explain myself to a man I’d recreated in my dreams, but I did. “Yeah, I’m thinking of someone else. I thought that we might have had something, but he just sort of walked out on me. It never really got off the ground.”
Jovan circled me slowly. Once he’d completed one full rotation, the temperature around me dropped. He reached his hand out to me and I took it out of both fear and desire. He brought my hand to his cool lips and peered over the top of it at me. His blue eyes grabbed my attention and demanded that I stay focused on him, as if I could think of anything else with a hot stud like him on my arm.
“I want you, Rayme.”
I let out a giggle, it was immature and entirely inappropriate, but it was all I could come up with at the moment. His lips moved up to my wrist. He kissed it gently, and then moved to my elbow, upper arm, neck, before stopping at my ear to nibble on it. I melted under his cool touch. He blew across my cheek and my legs gave out. I grabbed his shoulders to keep from falling, and his hands wrapped around my waist. He held me to him and looked do
wn at me with a gaze so penetrating that he should have been able to see right through me, maybe he could.
“Remove your clothes, and let me see your glorious body before I claim it as my own.” He pulled back from me slightly and seemed to be waiting for me to follow his command.
“Great, just my luck, I dream of a sexy guy, ready and willing to please me, and then go and turn him into a control freak.”
His right eyebrow rose. “How is it that you are able to resist me?”
I let out another small laugh. “Trust me buddy, it isn’t easy.”
He brushed his hand through the air before my face. The already cool room dropped to freezing. “Disrobe and accept me.” His tone was stern, and his voice deeper.
I took a step back from him. “My, they do have a funny way of raising boys in England. They must have left out that oh, so important part about foreplay and being … I don’t know … cordial to a potential lover.”
Jovan seized hold of my arm and pulled me to him. His lips pressed against mine quickly. His tongue forced its way into my mouth. I wanted to object, but my tongue answered his every move, leaving my body reacting to his. My hands moved under his jacket, and I made an attempt to get his shirt untucked. He had snaps and buttons everywhere. I’d put him in clothes that were very authentic, and I was anything but a history buff. Sure, I wanted a handsome well-versed lover from the past as much as the next gal, but wow, this was even too much for me.
“You still want me even though I have no power over you?”
I really did have to fight the urge to yell, “well duh?” I nodded at him. What would it hurt, it was only a dream. He pulled my hand to his lips. “Would you want me if this was real, or would you seek the hand of your other suitor?”
Other suitor, that meant two--right? Hell, I didn’t even know that I had one, let alone two. “What, you mean Max?” As soon as his name fell from my lips, the whispers and chants I’d heard in the bar returned. Jovan looked around and pulled me closer to him. I let out a small cry of fright and he stroked my hair.
