Chapter 3
"What can I get for you?" She asked politely as she placed a napkin on the hardwood.
Layla broke the eye contact and dropped her gaze to his chest.
"I'll take a draft, please.
Anything you have on tap is fine." His voice rumbled through his chest, and Layla looked up when it had sounded as though he was still talking to her.
Her eyes met his once more and he graced her with a small smile, never breaking eye contact to look over at the woman behind the counter, even as he thanked her when she set down his drink.
It warmed Layla, and she relaxed beneath his stare.
"They seem to make you travel a lot for work." She said as she picked up her drink and took a small sip from it.
"Aren't there data analysts everywhere?" The cold drink slid down her throat, satisfied as it left a gentle burn in its place.
"There are, but I do both analysis and consulting on the data.
I'm an independent contractor with my company, so they send me all over the country.
I look everything over, consult with the client on their options, and then report back my findings.
Sometimes it takes days other times it can take months." The thought of him leaving for an extended period of time made her uneasy.
She had just met him, and she knew that they could just go back to texting and calling like before if needed.
It wasn't ideal, but it was possible.
"I actually just got back from a job this morning.
I wanted to try and meet with you earlier, but I fell asleep as soon as I got home." He let out a laugh, and Layla followed.
"It's okay.
I was writing an article today and had to stop by the new restaurant that just opened on Board Street to interview the owner.
It wouldn't have been much fun for you." She spoke nonchalantly, but in reality, she'd had a busy day today.
On the way to her interview, she got a flat tire.
It took her an embarrassing amount of time to replace it with the spare on her own, but she managed to get it done.
This was followed by an interview with the owner of the new restaurant who wanted to talk her ear off and answer questions that Layla never even asked her.
When she was finally done, she had driven straight to get a new tire, only for it to cause her to be late to her monthly dinner with her parents.
It had been an exhausting day, but it was all worth it now that she was finally meeting Leonardo.
The stress of her day had vanished, and all she could think about was his arm around her.
"I can't believe someone like you would be online.
You must have men lining up to take you out." His chuckle of amusement was met with a stare of disbelief.
Layla was average size and looking woman, but regardless of what anyone said, she did not consider herself attractive or beautiful.
Most of the time, people were more infatuated with her red hair than with her.
When they told her how pretty she was, it was always followed by 'you can't get that color out of a bottle'.As nice as it was, she was tired of hearing it.
She knew that if she didn't have the hair she did, she would just be another nobody in the background that got looked over as men made their way to the blonde bartenders of the world.
"I could say the same to you." She said as she twisted in her seat, her knees brushed against the inside of his thigh gently as she turned to face him without having to keep her neck twisted.
"I like to keep to myself.
Crowded places, and people I don't know, always make me uneasy.
What about you?
Surely you have a handful of women willing to wait for you when you have to leave town for work."
"Not the right girl." A gentle blush rose to his cheeks as the words left his lips.
"My job is very demanding, and one day I want to leave it and settle down.
For now, I just have to hope that the right girl would wait for me, whether I'm gone for three days or three months.
It can be hard, but everyone comes with baggage nowadays."
She could picture it; she has always been able to.
Sitting on a porch swing with a baby bump as she rocked back and forth.
Her hair blowing softly in the spring air as she rubbed her hand up and down on her rounded belly, watching her husband pull up to the house with a crib in the back seat, and a smile on his face.
She wanted that life one day but at twenty-seven, she knew that day would need to happen in the next few years, or it might not happen at all.
The prospect of having it was not worth settling for being with someone that she couldn't fully love.
She wanted to find her other half, her partner in crime, to settle down with and create a family of their own.
Looking up at Leonardo, she questioned her future with him.
Sure he was attractive, and they made each other laugh, but she really knew nothing about him in person.
Only what he wanted her to see through text messages.
Without being in person, one couldn't read facial expressions to look for lies in their words, nor can they truly see if both personalities would blend well together.
When everything is just the written word, she couldn't fully trust it no matter how much she wanted to.
She created short stories for a living and knew just how easy it was to dive into a false world with each stroke of her keyboard.
Some could refer to them as fictional creations; others may call them lies.
She wanted to believe that he was as good as his words and as honest as his laugh.
He was a beautiful creature, and Layla was sure that she would never meet anyone like him again.
They talked for hours, never moving away from each other, but stayed far enough away that their skin contact was limited to her knee against his thigh and his fingers that traced circles on her back.
He was respectful and checked in with her periodically to ask if he could get her anything to eat or if she was okay on her drink.
It wasn't until the bar started to empty that Layla felt the exhaustion seep back into her body as her adrenaline abandoned her.
She relaxed with him, and her body betrayed her as her eyelids started to feel heavy.
He stood from his chair, grabbed her purse from its hook under the counter in one hand, and held out his other palm toward her.
She timidly grabbed it as she stood from her stool, and he pulled her in close.
She placed her other hand around his bicep as they began to walk towards the exit.
The warmth radiated off of him, and she wrapped around his arm tighter as the chilled midnight air swirled around them.
She had expected for him to part with her at the doorway; for the two of them to walk to their respective vehicles separately, like so many dates she had before.
So, it was a nice surprise when his hand tightened around hers as she started to pull away, he brought her back to him.
The giddy feeling she had earlier in the evening came back, and she focused on keeping her breathing steady as she directed him to her car.
Unlocking her driver's side door, she pulled it open.
Blood was pumping loudly in her ears, and she turned around to meet his gaze.
He was no more than a foot away from her, and she watched as his Adam's apple bobbed before his hand moved forward to grab hers again, intertwining their fingers.
The warmth that ran up her arm from his touch made her forget about the chill of the night.
She had done the good-bye after several first dates before, but somehow with Leonardo, it felt different.
She wanted it to be different.
"Can I kiss you?" He asked, his right eyebrow moved slightly higher as he spoke tentatively.
The zoo stampeding in her stomach did nothing to help, as she reached for the one word she so desperately wanted to say.
Her mind betrayed her as she stared at his smooth pink lips at a loss for words.
Her lips parted, and her tongue swiftly slid out to wet her lips.
She could see that his eyes darkened slightly as his pupils grew.
His intense stare bounced between her mouth and her green eyes, waiting for confirmation.
The second her head started to bob up and down he pulled her into his chest.
Their bodies melded together as their mouths met.
Sparks erupted everywhere he touched, and as his hand wrapped around the back of her head to pull her in closer, she let out a small moan of appreciation.
It was gentle and sweet, but her body lit up like there was a fire rolling through it, and she pressed herself closer to him.
He was the first to pull away and while Layla appreciated how respectful he was being, she couldn't help the feeling of disappointment that flooded her when their lips parted.
She had never felt anything like it before.
It was thrilling and at the same time, terrifying.
Panic filled her at the new feeling brought on by the man before her.
She broke away from him, diving into her car and brought it to life.
She was halfway out of the empty parking lot before she looked in her rearview mirror and saw him standing in the same place, with his hands interlaced behind his head.
His eyebrows were raised in surprise, and she could see the whites of his teeth as he smiled at her retreating car.
Layla curled into bed that night with the smile never leaving her face.
He was more perfect than she could have ever imagined, and the feeling of his lips on hers sat heavy in the front of her mind.
Meeting you was the best decision I've ever made.
She didn't have to grab her phone to see the message when it came through as it was already in her hands as she stared down at his picture.
The evening had been the best first date she had ever had, and she knew that there was not another man in the world that would have given her a night like that one.
They were connected, not only emotionally but physically as well.
They didn't touch beyond his hand on her back as they sat together, but she could feel his fingertips as they drew intricate patterns on her back for hours.
When he kissed her though, her whole body lit up, and she had embraced the sparks that passed between every inch of their touching skin.