by Erin Snihur
Shocked at how fast Khalid was receiving service, Amelia grew nervous with butterflies dancing around her stomach. They only grew worse when Khalid placed one warm hand at the small of her back and led her through the rows of tables and bustling waiters to a quieter corner of the hotel restaurant.
As Amelia slid into the booth, she was amazed to see Khalid’s friends seemingly disappear from sight and, before she knew it, they were alone.
How odd, Amelia inwardly murmured.
Laughing nervously, Amelia turned to face Khalid in confusion, “Don’t you want your friends to join us?”
Khalid shook his head and grinned over at her. “Not tonight.”
Shaking her head in confusion, Amelia listened with rapt attention as the waiter appeared once more with glasses of water and menus. When the waiter departed to allow them both time to select their meals, Amelia felt herself completely out of sorts.
This wasn’t her. She didn’t meet a complete stranger and wind up having dinner with him. Staring down at herself, all the while pretending to be enraptured by the menu, Amelia inwardly scoffed at herself. While her dress was pretty, Amelia couldn’t help feeling underdressed and cheap in front of this mysterious man. Khalid’s suit had felt like it had been made by the finest materials. When she had been in his arms, it had taken all of her resolve to stop herself from reaching out and stroking the soft material.
Peeking over the menu, Amelia blushed when she met Khalid’s green eyes and forced her gaze away to focus on the menu. It appeared Khalid knew what he wanted. He hadn’t even picked up the menu.
As she decided on what to have and the waiter came to take their orders, Amelia found her hands begin to fidget beneath the table. When the waiter left them with a bottle of chilling wine, Amelia felt her nerves calming slightly as she sipped her wine glass as delicately as possible. She had already had one glass at the bar while waiting for Adam, no need to overdo it in front of a handsome stranger.
Forcing a nervous smile on her face, Amelia stared across the table at Khalid. “I don’t normally do this.”
Inwardly, she was smacking herself for the double meaning as Khalid raised a dark eyebrow at her. “Do what? Eat dinner?”
Blushing, Amelia set her palms on the table and leaned in closer. “I’m not normally a go with the flow kind of person. I like routine, structure and rules. Having dinner with a complete stranger is sort of out of character for me.”
Khalid nodded and pursed his lips as he leaned forward over the table and with one hand lightly traced a soft design over the top of her hand. “Then it is a good thing I enjoy enforcing and imposing rules.”
Thinking he was joking, she laughed softly. Forcing herself to focus, Amelia noticed the tingles shooting up her arm were causing her panties to dampen. Gently pulling her hand away, Amelia breathed a sigh of relief when Khalid didn’t seem to take offense and whispered softly, “I don’t even know how I’m here right now.”
Khalid grinned at her as he took a sip from his wine glass. “Do you not remember the fall? Should I take you to a hospital?”
Shaking her head, Amelia sighed. “No, I’m fine and I’m so sorry about that, again. I’m never wearing heels again.”
Khalid murmured softly. “That would be a sin against nature, Amelia. You look lovely in heels. They make your legs look delicious.”
As if she had been lit ablaze, Amelia squirmed in her chair. She had never been called delicious before. Even though her prior boyfriends in university had called her pretty or beautiful, Amelia had never felt like she was. Under Khalid’s heated gaze, Amelia felt the shockwaves of desire pooling further between her legs and she knew he meant every word.
Out of reaction to the strange and arousing feelings flooding her, Amelia’s words burst forth from her mouth before she could stop them. “I’m a virgin.”
Silence.
Amelia dropped her head and she couldn’t bear to hear what this nice man had to say about her physical status that had plagued her for years. Grabbing her small, clutch purse, Amelia stood.
Before Khalid had a chance to stop her, Amelia was rushing out of the restaurant and out onto the street. As she made her way outside, Amelia only briefly looked back only to see one of Khalid’s friends standing at the hotel doors, watching her with his hawk like gaze.
Shivering, Amelia scrambled into the first cab she saw and slammed the door shut. Giving the driver her address, allowed Amelia to stop and think without the feeling of anxiety clawing at her throat.
As the cab pulled away from the restaurant, Amelia allowed the fresh tears to fall down her cheeks as she cried silently. If the driver noticed, he didn’t comment and instead willingly took her money when they reached her apartment and drove off.
Wiping her tears away, Amelia steeled her resolve and marched into her apartment building, intent on having the kind of night she had wanted in the first place. A good book, warm blanket and some soothing music. If it wasn’t for the deep, green eyes haunting her dreams, she might have succeeded.
2
After waking late the next morning with a pounding headache, Amelia rushed through her morning routine. She always liked to arrive a few minutes before the other teachers in the mornings. She enjoyed having the breakroom all to herself before the hustle and bustle of the morning took hold.
Grimacing at the thought of being late to work, Amelia tied her hair up in a tight ponytail instead of styling it and rushed out the door to catch the local bus. Everything seemed normal. Traffic was insane, people were yelling, catcalling at women and, in the distance, Amelia could hear the sound of emergency workers rushing about.
But there was something else that pricked Amelia’s inner alarm as she rushed down her street. She could feel eyes on her and when she turned to scan the busy morning area, she saw nothing amiss. Growing up in a big city, Amelia should be used to being around so many people and having eyes on her everywhere. Shrugging off the strange feeling, Amelia boarded the bus that would take her to the downtown middle school in Toronto.
As she hopped off the bus and waved to a few teachers who were just pulling into the school’s parking lot, she felt the strange feeling of being watched once more. Before she could investigate, the first school bus had arrived with chatty and wild children still feeling a high from the weekend.
Most of the kids that attended their run down school were from poorer neighborhoods that surrounded Toronto’s elite neighborhoods. No matter their backgrounds, Amelia loved her kids. They were angels in her eyes.
As she entered the school and greeted a few of her students by name, Amelia noticed a crowd of a few of the younger teachers all gathered around her classroom. Approaching the group from behind, Amelia cleared her throat, gaining her fellow coworkers’ attention.
“What’s going on?” Amelia asked, noting all of their excited expressions and curious eyes that darted from inside Amelia’s classroom and then back to her.
Meghan, the schools secretary and vice-principal, pushed in front of the group and giddley grinned up at Amelia. The woman was short, but her short stature never slowed her down. Especially not today as Meghan grasped Amelia by the hand and dragged her forcefully into the classroom.
“Look!” Meghan excitedly shrieked, practically jumping up and down.
Amelia stared in alarm at the sight before her. Every Friday she made sure to clean her desk and classroom so that when she came in on Monday, she would have a fresh start. This was not the case this morning. Instead of a clean, bare desk, a bouquet of bright and blooming flowers sat in the middle.
Stammering, Amelia exchanged confused glances with everyone as she slowly approached the bouquet, “What…I mean...who?”
Meghan, too excited to quiet her words, shrieked again, “There’s a card!”
As Amelia moved closer, she saw her name written in a masculine scrawl on a tiny envelope. As she picked it up, Amelia heard Meghan and her other coworkers crowd around behind her, all speculating on the sender of th
e flowers. With all eyes on the card, Amelia slowly opened it, as if expecting this whole thing to be a mocking charade.
Pulling the card out of the envelope, Amelia read, silently to herself, shocked to see that the flowers and note were from her mysterious rescuer, Khalid. The man who had haunted her dreams all weekend.
Dearest Amelia,
You owe me a dinner date. A car will be waiting to pick you up after school. Don’t keep me waiting.
K
Amelia stared, open mouthed at the card before her anger got the better of her and she crushed the card in the palm of her hand. Grumbling under her breath, Amelia grabbed the vase of beautiful flowers. Ignoring their intoxicating scent, she walked over to the garbage can, her intentions clear.
“What are you doing?” Meghan demanded and proceeded to stand in Amelia’s way.
Amelia didn’t know what to say. Everyone was staring at her. How could she explain to them that the man that had sent these flowers was so obviously interested in her for sexual purposes. She knew men were attracted to virgin women. All of her past boyfriends had tried to pressure her into sex. That must be it.
Amelia blushed as she recalled the way his heated gaze had roamed over her without a hint of regret. He must be used to getting his way with women. How did he even know how to find her? They’d hardly spoken and she knew he couldn’t be one of her students’ parents. She had never seen him before at any parent teacher conferences.
Huffing, Amelia glared at the gorgeous flowers. “I don’t want them.”
Meghan reached out and took the bouquet from her. “Just because you obviously don’t like the sender, doesn’t mean you need to throw them away. They’re so beautiful. I’ll put them in the front office. It will brighten everyone’s day.”
Amelia had just nodded to Meghan and ignored the curious gazes of the others as a few of her students began piling into the classroom. Some even took note of their teacher’s obviously stressed behaviour and were much quieter than usual for a Monday morning. Trying to relax and keep calm, Amelia smiled and welcomed each child to class as she had always done over the years.
It wasn’t until lunch that Amelia realized she would need to face her coworkers once again. Gritting her teeth, Amelia strode into the staff break room and pulled out her sandwich before claiming a seat at an empty table. There were only a few teachers in the staff room and none of them seemed to have anything to say about Amelia’s less than perky behaviour this morning. Not wanting to give anything away, Amelia scarfed down her sandwich and rushed back to her classroom. Better to throw herself into work than wandering thoughts about Khalid.
At three in the afternoon, Amelia stared out the front windows of the school. Sure enough, a black SUV waited. With dread filling her stomach, Amelia groaned at the realization that it was parked in the pick up lane. A familiar man in a suit with dark eyes stared straight ahead towards the school doors. Amelia had to wonder if the man could see her. The man looked familiar and Amelia recalled him as being one of Khalid’s friends at the restaurant.
Groaning in frustration at the sight of her bus leaving the bus stop up the street, Amelia shook her head to clear it of all negativity. So much for making the bus today. Holding her purse tightly in her hands, Amelia strode out of the school, forcing herself to smile and nod to a few lingering students. A few of her coworkers stood in a group making eyes at the SUV and the mysterious man before turning their eyes back on her approaching form.
Saying her goodbyes to her coworkers was quick and she was thankful they didn’t pressure her with questions. Marching with her head held up high past the mysterious man, Amelia ignored him when he called out for her.
“Ms. Jones! Ms. Jones, please wait,” the man called out and Amelia felt herself stopping at the urgency in his voice.
Turning to the man, Amelia gave him an exasperated look. “Listen, tell your friend, Khalid, that I’m not interested in someone only looking for a physical relationship. He can just forget it. Good day.”
With that, she turned around and began the long walk home. While her apartment was on the outskirts of downtown Toronto, it was still a long walk and gave her plenty of time to think. She’d done the right thing. Khalid could have any woman he wanted. He obviously had thought she would be a willing bed partner.
Wouldn’t you? A naughty voice whispered in the back of her mind and Amelia pushed it aside.
It wasn’t that her virginity was holding her back or that she was afraid of having sex. Amelia would have preferred being in a committed relationship before giving her virginity to someone. She wanted to ensure they held the same values and dreams before she took the great plunge. She couldn’t imagine Khalid sharing in her values or dreams. Especially since he was so obviously a playboy.
Admit it, you just can’t be bothered to trust him, or any man for that matter, a hissing voice in the back of her head whispered.
Shrugging aside her thoughts on Khalid, Amelia thought instead of the papers she had to grade tonight and the lesson plan for the next week she should get started on.
An hour later, as she approached her apartment, Amelia felt those eyes on her again and turned to stare around her surroundings. There were a few cars parked on the street, but none of them looked familiar or unfamiliar. She was just being silly.
Climbing the rickety steps to her apartment, Amelia had just stepped onto her floors landing when the apartment door opposite hers opened. The oldest tenant in the building, Mrs. Moody, opened the door and grumbled to her many cats to keep away from the door. When she finally exited the apartment, Amelia smiled politely at the woman before turning to her own apartment door in the hopes of avoiding a long-winded conversation with the older woman.
“You’ve been keeping secrets, Lia, dear,” Mrs. Moody rasped from behind Amelia.
Gazing at the old woman in confusion, Amelia asked, “Secrets, Mrs. Moody? From you? Never.”
The older woman was known for her gossiping ways and Amelia was certain the woman had never discovered anything in Amelia’s past gossip worthy. They rarely spoke and, for that, Amelia was grateful.
Although the woman was the nosiest person in the building, she ensured everyone knew what was going on in the building. In response, the woman cackled a laugh and coughed slightly, which caused her entire body to shake.
“You have! Why, you’ve got a secret admirer. He delivered them himself and asked me to open up your place so he could place them, pretty bouquets all over,” Mrs. Moody crooned and nodded towards Amelia’s door.
Gasping in shock, Amelia frowned at the older woman, “Why do you have a key to my apartment?”
Mrs. Moody shrugged, “The landlord gives me a discount on rent if I manage the tenants for him. The guy said he was your boyfriend or something. I wasn’t going to say no to a good looking guy like that and neither should you for that matter.”
Ignoring the old woman’s words, Amelia unlocked her door and flung it open. Turning on the lights, Amelia gasped at the sight of beautiful flowers abounding in vases all over her open concept kitchen, dining and living room. Every bare space was filled to the brim with flowers.
Mrs. Moody called out, “Enjoy him, honey. Men like that don’t last forever!”
Furious, Amelia slammed her door and made a mental note to have her locks changed and to have a word with the landlord before Mrs. Moody could let anyone else into her apartment. As she kicked off her shoes, Amelia scanned the flowers, knowing a man like Khalid would leave a note in the hopes that these flowers would tease her into submitting to his will.
“Not today, Mister Handsome, Egotistical Maniac!” Amelia groaned inwardly at her spoken words, Don’t think of him as handsome, Amelia!
Finding the note tucked onto a bouquet on her dining table, Amelia opened the note and glared down at the now familiar, masculine scrawl.
Dearest Amelia,
May these flowers surround you in a similar beauty that I too intend to view, on our date tonight.
; K
Shrieking in frustration, Amelia crushed the note and threw it across the room. This man knew nothing about privacy or boundaries. He certainly didn’t care about breaking any laws either. Rubbing her temple, Amelia stared around the room. Everything smelled so wonderful and floral. It only made her head hurt harder when she thought about who had given her these beautiful flowers.
Should I call the police? Amelia thought inwardly and then scoffed at how that conversation would go, Yeah, police, some man that wants to take me to dinner sent me a bunch of flowers. Lock him up!
Shaking her head, Amelia dumped her purse and jacket on her island chair. Not feeling a teensy bit hungry, Amelia decided a hot bath was in order. Marching into her bathroom, she changed into her fuzzy bathrobe and put her blonde hair up into a tight bun. Grabbing a bottle of wine and a few of the papers she was supposed to grade while the tub was filling with bubbles and warm water, Amelia leaned down to smell a few of the beautiful blooms.
She had to admit, the flowers were beautiful and colorful. She’d always enjoyed beautiful flowers with bright colors.
How had he known?
As she delivered the wine and papers onto her bath caddy, Amelia heard a knock at the door. Groaning in frustration, she shut off the water. It was probably Mrs. Moody again to get more information on Khalid. The woman was truly getting on her nerves today.
Opening the door slightly, Amelia rolled her eyes and didn’t even bother to look at Mrs. Moody, “I’m not interested in gossiping right now, Mrs. Moody. I have a bath waiting.”
“Would you like me to help you with that, ya amar?” the deep voice responded and Amelia froze in realization that it wasn’t Mrs. Moody standing before her. Dressed in an impeccable suit and dimpled grin on his face, Amelia felt her heart drop down to her toes at the sight of Khalid.
3
Gasping, Amelia pulled her robe tighter around her and grimaced at her appearance. While the robe covered her, it only ended around mid thigh and was not appropriate in public. Plus she didn’t have anything on underneath. Her nipples hardened under Khalid’s eyes and she ducked behind the door.
