Chapter 5
Sylas and I talked and talked and talked some more. Before we knew it, the server came to tell us the restaurant was closing. I looked at the time on my phone, and it was indeed ten o’clock. I couldn’t believe how quickly the past three hours had passed.
We talked about everything under the sun and learned quite a bit about each other.
His love for flying was palpable, and I could’ve listened to him talk about it all day.
As he talked about his first time in the air, his eyes were bright, and his smile was wide.
It was the purest thing I’d seen in years.
His family dynamic reminded me so much of my own. He was an overprotective big brother and a mama’s boy, just like Blaine. His sister was spoiled and a daddy’s girl, just like me. Our upbringings were similar, and we valued the same things. I’d never had such a refreshing conversation with a man.
“The Sky Lounge is open until midnight if you’re not ready to call it a night,” Sylas said, taking my hand.
I didn’t need to think about my response, because I definitely wasn’t ready to call it a night.
“Let’s go.”
A few minutes later, we entered the Sky Lounge and sat at the bar. After telling the bartender our drink orders, I turned my seat toward him.
“Have you heard anything about us flying out tomorrow?”
He nodded toward the windows.
“I haven’t heard anything, but from the looks of it, we’ll be here at least one more night.”
I looked toward the windows and sighed. It was a flurry, white mess, and the snow was coming down hard as hell. I’d experienced a lot of snowstorms in my life, being from the Midwest, but nothing ever looked this bad.
“This looks a lot worse than any snowstorm we’ve had at home,” I said.
“There’s a big difference between snow from the lake and snow from the mountains, but they’re equally brutal.”
“I’m glad we landed before it got this bad. I’m sure you are too.”
“Definitely.”
“This is the only outfit I packed, so if you see me in this tomorrow, please know that I’ve bathed, and my underwear are clean.”
He chuckled. “I won’t judge you, but the shops in the airport are accessible if needed.”
The bartender brought our drinks, and we took our first sip at the same time.
“I can’t wait to mention you to my brother. His reaction will tell me all I need to know.”
“I’ve given you my whole life story. Blaine can’t tell you anything about me that you don’t already know.”
“He’s an overprotective big brother, just like you. If you’re really an asshole, he’ll tell me to stay as far away from you as possible.”
“You know I’m not an asshole, beautiful. Have I been anything less than a gentleman tonight?”
“You’ve been very much a gentleman, but how do I know this isn’t a front just to get me to have sex?”
“Is that what you think?” he asked, seemingly offended.
“Isn’t that what this is?”
“Sex would be an added bonus to getting to know you, but it’s not the reason I invited you to dinner.”
The look in his eyes matched the sincerity in his tone, and I believed he was genuine.
“I’m not sure why, but I believe you.”
“You believe me because you’re as drawn to me as I am to you, and you know as well as I do that what’s happening here is more than sexual attraction.”
He looked at me the same way he did when our eyes locked for the first time on the elevator. The intensity of his gaze made my body temperature rise.
“I think it’s time for another drink,” I said, drinking the last of what was in my glass.
He got the bartender’s attention, and we ordered another round of the same drinks. Our conversation continued while we waited.
“We’ve discussed our exes, our families, our childhoods, our education, and our jobs. I want to discuss us,” Sylas said.
“At the moment, there is no us to discuss.”
“I’d like to change that. I don’t want this to end when we leave Denver. It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed being in the company of a woman this long, and sex wasn’t involved. I want to spend some real time with you.”
“Okay.”
He asked what I liked to do in my free time, and I was almost embarrassed to tell him. If I wasn’t hanging with my family or Mena, I usually had my face in a book. Sometimes I binge-watched popular shows people talked about on social media, but reading Black romance and erotica was my happy place.
“I’m a homebody. Mena is my only friend. If I’m not with her or my family, I’m at home reading.”
“What do you like to read?”
Again, I was almost embarrassed to tell him I lived out my fantasies through the female characters crafted by Black independent authors.
“Mostly Black romance.”
He chuckled. “You and my sister would get along well. She’s always talking about book baes and what they did for their women. Maison has to remind her all the time that those niggas ain’t real.”
“They may not be real, but it would do most men some good to take notes from them, that’s all I’m saying.”
“All right, Ms. Homebody Bookworm. If I look up your Flikstagram, I won’t see any pics or videos of you with your ass in the camera, twerking and shit.”
I gasped. “First of all, ain’t nothing wrong with a little twerking every now and then, but no, you won’t find any pics or videos. If you looked through me or Mena’s camera roll, that’s a different story.”
“Oh, so you’re a closet ratchet girl?”
“Only people I know well are privileged enough to see certain sides of me. I typically keep my guard up around strangers.”
“Really? Has your guard been up tonight?”
Initially, I was a little guarded, but it didn’t take long for Sylas to break through the small barrier I'd put up. With his genuine interest, the cute banter between us, and the flirtatious one-liners he kept dropping, there was no way I could stay guarded.
“It feels like I’ve known you much longer than a few hours, so I haven’t been as guarded as I typically would with someone I just met.”
“I wonder why that is.”
Yeah, me too, I thought, but something else came out of my mouth.
“What do you do in your free time?”
“I’m not saying this to make it seem like we have so much in common, but I’m kind of a homebody.”
I rolled my eyes and sipped my drink in response, and he continued.
“No, seriously, I am, but I haven’t always been. Up until about three years ago, my life was work, rest, kick it, and repeat.”
“What changed?”
“I got bored with it all, I guess. It ain’t like it was ten years ago. Now, I work, rest, hang with my family, and repeat. I might try a new restaurant, hit up one of my trusted favorites, or check out a lounge every so often, but nothing like I used to.”
“So, if I look up your Flikstagram, I’ll see you in a section, with a bunch of thirsty bitches, popping bottles?”
He got a good laugh out of that before responding.
“I see what you did there. I should probably make my page private because if you scroll down far enough, that’s exactly what you’d see.”
It was my turn to laugh. I swear, this man made me laugh more than Harlan did during our entire relationship. I didn’t realize until tonight that having a sense of humor made a man a hundred times more attractive, and Sylas was already fine as fuck.
Harlan’s ass was too serious and all about business ninety-five percent of the time. It annoyed me, but he had other qualities I thought were more important at the time, so I didn’t make a big deal out of it.
“I can’t imagine you being anything but mellow, but we all have a past,” I said, trying to stifle a yawn.
“Uh oh. Are you getting tired of me?”
“No. I’m not tired of you, but it’s been a long, eventful day. Remember, today was my first day.”
He signaled to the bartender that we were ready for our bill.
“We’ve been talking all this time, and I just realized I didn’t ask you how your first day was.”
“You did, and we established that I had one helluva first day.”
“True, but we didn’t talk details. Was it overwhelming? Did you enjoy it? Was it anything like you thought it would be? Is this something you think you want to do for years?”
He paid the bill, stood, and offered his hand to help me from the stool. We remained hand in hand as we left the lounge.
“It was overwhelming, but I enjoyed it up until the heavy turbulence and bumpy landing. It wasn’t much different than being a regular passenger.”
“The storm and turbulence didn’t scare you enough to quit, did it?”
“No. I think I can handle it.”
“Good. New hires have a high turnover ratio. Hopefully you’ll stick it out long enough to enjoy some of the benefits. It’s really not a bad career choice.”
“I’m hopeful and plan to give it an honest try. I know the newbies don’t get the best routes and schedules, but I honestly don’t have much else going on in my life.”
“Maybe I can change that,” he said as we stepped onto the elevator.
I turned around and leaned against the wall while he pushed the button for our floor. I expected him to stand next to me afterward, but instead, he stood in front of me, resting his forearm on the wall above my head, leaving barely an inch of space between us.
I inhaled the sweet, yet woodsy scent of his cologne before looking up at him. He took a moment to let his eyes roam over my face, stopping at my lips. I swallowed slowly as I watched the tip of his tongue brush across his bottom lip.
I could have sworn his face was getting closer to mine, but unfortunately, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened before I could find out if he was about to kiss me.
“Umm, I think this is our floor,” I said when Sylas didn’t move.
“Yeah.”
He pushed himself off the wall and offered his hand. I took it, and we entered the hallway and headed toward our rooms. Neither of us spoke until we stopped in front of my door.”
“I really had—”
“Thank you for—”
We spoke simultaneously, which caused us to laugh.
“Ladies first,” he said, still grinning.
“I was just going to say, I really had a good time. Thank you for inviting me.”
“You’re welcome. I was going to say, thank you for spending your evening with me. I enjoyed your company and could talk to you all night.”
I leaned against my door, hoping this time, nothing would interfere with our lips connecting. When he closed the space between us, my heart began to race.
“Can I kiss you?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Please.”
He cupped my face in his hands and pressed his lips against mine. A shockwave zipped through my body, starting at the point of contact and going straight down to my toes. When I felt his tongue gently ask for permission to enter my mouth, I willingly allowed entrance.
His hands moved to my waist, and he pulled me closer as our tongues slow danced to a beat that only we could hear. I hadn’t been touched by a man, let alone kissed by one, in months, and it felt good, . . . too good. Suddenly, I pushed him away.
“We should stop,” I said, gasping for air.
“My bad, baby. It felt so good, I got carried away. I hope I didn’t—”
“You didn’t. Umm, thank you again for dinner. I really enjoyed myself.”
“No thanks needed. Can I treat you to breakfast tomorrow?”
I’d rather be your breakfast, I thought.
“That can be arranged,” Sylas said, smirking confidently.
“Huh? What can be arranged?”
“You said you’d rather be my breakfast.”
“I said that out loud?” He nodded. “Oh my God.”
“Don’t be embarrassed, baby. If I could, I’d have pussy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but unfortunately, you can’t eat from everyone’s kitchen, if you know what I mean.”
Our conversation had gone somewhere I wasn’t expecting, and if I didn’t get away from this man, he’d be eating my pussy for a midnight snack.
“I need to go.”
I quickly turned around and let myself into my room, pushing the door closed before turning and leaning against it.
Seconds later, I heard Sylas’s door close, and I released the breath I was holding.
I was turned on in the worst way, and had I waited five seconds longer to remove myself from his presence, I would’ve invited him inside.
After slipping out of my shoes and putting my phone and purse on the dresser, I sat on the edge of the bed and sighed. It was deathly quiet, but my mind and my pussy were screaming contradicting thoughts.
While my mind told me it wasn’t a good idea to fuck a captain on my first day on the job, my pussy reminded me that it had been several months since she’d received any attention from a man.
I was torn because while Sylas didn’t seem like the kiss-and-tell type, it wouldn’t be a good look to fuck that man within hours of meeting him.
I was no saint and had more than a few one-night stands and short-lived situationships that started with sex very quickly, but I’d never even flirted with someone I worked with, let alone had sex.
Yes, we work for the same company, but Sable Airlines is huge, and we aren’t on the same crew. So, technically, I don’t work with him. Right?
All the back-and-forth in my head was annoying, so I decided to take a cool shower to clear my mind and calm my libido. Unfortunately, ten minutes later, nothing had changed except that I was clean. I was still horny, and the person I wanted to fix that was next door.
I pulled on the short nightgown I’d packed and put on my bonnet, then returned to the bathroom to wash my face and brush my teeth, praying that by the time I was done, Sylas would no longer be invading my mind.
When I finally crawled into bed, I thought I heard taps on the adjoining door.
I sat up and waited to hear the sound again.
Tap, tap, tap. Slowly, I got out of bed and went to the door, pressing my ear against it.
Tap, tap, tap. Without turning on the light, I unlocked the only barrier that stood between me and the man I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about.