Chapter 3 Encounters in the Dark
Over the last few months, sleep hadn’t been the easiest thing to come by and tonight was no exception. The unfamiliar creaks coming from the walls in my new bedroom and the all-too-familiar anxiety nightmares I couldn’t seem to escape made sure of that.
Kicking the covers off of my feet in frustration, I made my way out of bed and towards the door. Maybe a glass of water would help ease sleep in.
I held my hands out in front of me, blindly searching down the dark hallway that I was pretty sure would lead me to the kitchen.
If anyone were to flash the light of the house on at that moment, I would look like one of those mimes pretending they were stuck in a box.
Hands out, feet wide set, and face overly animated with caution.
Any one of my next steps could be straight into a wall.
Thankfully, the soft glow of the microwave clock illuminated the rest of my path, and I safely found my way into the kitchen without any close calls with the walls.
Unsure of where the light switches were, I relied solely on the glare from the microwave clock to guide my way through the darkness all around me.
My eyes found the outline of cupboards just in front of me, and on wary feet, I walked towards them and opened the first cupboard cabinet on the right side.
Bowls. Plates. Is that the green M&M mug I got her for her birthday last year?
Appraising the items in the cupboard, my eyes rose all the way up until I finally spotted the cups.
On the very top shelf.
“Can nothing be easy in my life anymore?” I mumbled beneath my breath and heaved out a weighted sigh.
With determination and dehydration pumping through my body, I lifted myself up onto my tiptoes, nearly to the level of being in full pointe.
My arm stretched out above me until I could feel the stretch in my bicep from reaching so high.
My fingers elongated as much as possible until smooth plastic brushed past my fingertips.
So close…
The cup I had locked in my dimly lit sights teetered as I tipped it with my finger, inching it closer to the edge of the top shelf. A small smile twisted up the side of my mouth as the bottom half of the cup edged over the lip and went to fall straight into my awaiting hand.
“Need some help?”
A shriek ripped up through my body and out of my mouth, piercing the otherwise silent night. The shock of the unfamiliar voice traveled up through my arm and into my fingers as they fumbled with the cup falling into my hand, scrambling to grab it.
But it was too late.
Every muscle in my body clenched up with anticipation as my ears awaited the imminent clank of the cup hitting the floor.
My eyes caught a dark figure lurch forward in the barely lit kitchen, and what followed next…
Was silence.
No crashing of plastic meeting the hard-tiled floor. No yelling from Monica as to what the hell that noise was. Not a single sound was heard apart from my panicked breathing as the figure that had appeared out of freaking nowhere righted themselves in front of me.
They held something out to me in the near darkness, and I had to blink a few times to see that it was my fallen cup.
“Slippery little sucker, huh?”
The rich velvet that his voice was made up of zapped any rational thoughts from my brain.
In the poor lighting that outlined his silhouette, all I could make out was his towering size and the straight bridge of his nose.
With my mind split between taking in how broad his shoulders were and how curiously the deep notes in his voice burrowed themselves in between my ears, I ended up blurting out the first thing that came through my unfiltered mind.
“Did you just quote Pretty Woman to me?”
The stranger paused, the shadow of his face tilting downwards.
“Unintentionally, but yeah, I did.”
The first giggle to break past my lips wasn’t intended, and it surprised as equally as it embarrassed me.
The second quick burst of laughter bubbled up my throat and was out before I could catch that one either.
I wasn’t sure why I was laughing or what I particularly found funny about this situation, but the rest of my laughter released freely despite my attempt to swallow it back down.
In the dark kitchen, I wished I could tell if he was smiling or at least mildly humored by my nervous outbreak of laughter.
“How about some light? Unless you prefer roaming around in the dark?” A swell of relief rose in me as his voice came, and I heard the easiness in his tone.
Swallowing down the rest of my laughter, I smiled to myself.
“Light would be good.”
I braced my eyes for the onset of bright light, squeezing them shut.
The man took a few steps in what had to be heavy shoes just before brightness illuminated in front of my closed eyes.
Slowly, I blinked, testing the brilliance in the room.
Familiar surroundings came into view as I found myself facing the sink.
“Here you go,” the man called from behind, causing me to spin on my heel with apologies for my clumsiness prepped in the back of my throat.
Instead of a ‘sorry’ or anything even remotely close to it slipping from my tongue, I had to put all of my focus on not swallowing the darn thing whole as I saw him .
A breath of shock squeezed into my lungs as our eyes fell together.
Oh my god .
He was gorgeous.
He was some other word for an other-worldly handsome that didn’t exist yet. He was the kind of man that if you saw him walking down the street, you’d have to stop whatever you were doing just to watch him, just to be witness to his presence.
Enigmatic, crystal eyes jumped wider just a hair as he saw me too. His supple looking top lip parted from his perfectly full bottom lip slowly, like a deliberate, sensual dance being performed in sin. The way it made my heart race away from all logic was definitely sinful.
His beauty quite literally knocked all sense of what was an appropriate length of silence between two strangers from my brain as I soaked him in.
In the quiet that could have lasted two seconds or twenty, he reached his arm out further towards me, forcing me to drop my eyes from him—and thankfully so. In his notably masculine hand was my cup I forgot all about in the span of mere seconds.
Say something. Say something. Say something now.
“My hero,” I offered a chuckle.
Anything but that, idiot.
My cheeks flushed hot as I quickly snatched the cup from him, steering my gaze towards the ground.
“I don’t know about that. Just your everyday knight in shining armor will do just fine.” He just had to be funny and charming too, didn’t he? “I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that you’re either Alice or just a really awful burglar?”
He cocked one of his thick, umber-colored eyebrows up at me, and the small action vibrated through my entire body.
Clearing my throat of the awkward tension I let build there over the last ten seconds, I joked, “The latter actually. This is only my second house, so I’m still working out some of the kinks.”
He laughed, and I immediately hated him for it. Even his laugh was attractive.
“I guess that would make you Ethan, wouldn’t it?” And entirely off-limits.
“That it would.” He cracked a wide smile and stuck his hand back out to me. “Nice to meet you, Alice.”
Placing my hand in his, I fought off the urge to relish in the warmth his provided or from appreciating how small mine looked in his. We shook hands, and as soon as was acceptable, I yanked mine back to myself.
“Thanks for letting me stay here with you guys for a bit. I really appreciate it.”
Ethan stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his gray slacks. “No problem at all. Your sister’s usually the one who works late nights like I had to tonight, so it will be nice to have someone around.”
Using every bit of strength I had, I tore my eyes from his and spun back around to the sink, filling my cup full of water.
“That sounds like Monica. Always working every minute she can.”
“Mhm,” he hummed. “So, Monica tells me you’re a dancer?” I nodded.
“I was back in New York. Not quite sure what I am here, yet.” I tagged the end of my comment with a breath of a laugh, not wanting it to sound as sad as it was.
“You have any jobs lined up yet?”
“Not quite. Just still trying to get my footing here, you know?” I’d finished filling up my water but still hadn’t turned back to face Ethan. I found that talking to him without having to look directly at him was loads easier.
“I may know of something if you’re interested?” All right, now I just looked like a huge prick if I didn’t turn around.
“Really?” I spun to face him, seeing that he’d rolled up the sleeves of his white dress shirt, and his muscular forearms were now on display. I’d never wanted to yank a burlap sack over someone’s body so badly.
“Yeah, have you ever bartended?” he asked as he jerked the refrigerator door open, leaning down to look inside.
“Yeah, a few times.”
Pouring a glass of wine for myself every night for the last three months counts, right?
Ethan reached his arm into the fridge and pulled out a jug of milk. Unscrewing the cap, he tossed his gaze over his shoulder back at me. “I’ve got a buddy who just lost a bartender, and the bar’s not that far away from here. Want me to give him your number?”
Ethan placed his mouth against the opening of the milk jug and tilted it back, my stare entranced by the small show and every slight movement.
All he was doing was drinking milk and yet, no one had ever looked so sensual doing it.
I watched his Adam’s apple glide up and down and his upper lip wash with a small, white milk mustache.
He pulled the jug back down from his mouth and ran the pad of his thumb over his top lip, gathering the remnants of milk left there before dipping the tip of his thumb behind his lips to suck the rest off.
Woah.
“That would be great. Thanks.”
He stuck the milk back in the fridge and closed the door. “No problem. Just give me your number, and I’ll text you the address of the bar. Whenever you go by there, just ask for Patrick.”
Ethan fished out his phone from his pants pocket, and I rattled off my phone number to him, feeling anxiety plague through my stomach for no good reason at all.
“All right, sounds good.” Ethan dropped his phone back into his pocket and leaned his weight against the wall behind him with a polite curve to his lips as he looked to me.
“I’m gonna head to bed now. Don’t hesitate to let me or Monica know if you need or can’t find something in this house.
I’ve lived here for over a month now, and I still can’t find things sometimes. ”
Only a month?
“Thanks.” I returned his kind smile with my own. “Night.”
He held my stare to his, the smile on his lips reaching up into his eyes. Ethan blinked rather slowly before replying, “Goodnight, Alice.”
He turned on his shoulder and disappeared around the corner, the door to my sister’s room opening and shutting quietly a few seconds after.
With him out of sight, my shoulders sank in as I breathed out a sigh. Well, Monica’s taste in men has certainly improved.
I grabbed my glass of water and headed back to my own room, hoping to finally get a good night’s sleep.