Page 5

Yes, I did mind. I couldn’t handle the smoke. The scent of cheap beer, the stench of smoke hovering in the room, the mocking laughter of his friends when they puffed it at me as if it was all fun and games.
I suppressed the urge to tell him to stop smoking and decided to leave. I didn’t want to bother him with tiny things that he wanted to do just because I hated it. He wouldn’t understand. He was already sulking around and smoking when I denied him little intimacy.
“I can drive you home after I finish,” he answered, already picking up his car keys.
I shuddered to think about being in the same car and the stench of smoke around me. “It’s okay, I will call my driver.”
“Oh…okay.” I could hear the disappointment and sadness in his voice. “Should I walk you down? Stay with you until—”
“It’s okay, Brandon. Thank you for taking me to the art show and the delicious meal. I will see you on Monday.” I rushed out of the door.
I sighed in the elevator, pressing the button of ground floor.
When will these fears go away?
Khalid
“Hello?” the soft voice asked curiously.
“I am sorry for calling you at this hour, Valeria. But I needed to talk to you,” I said, my knuckles turning white from where I was clutching the cold marble of the balcony, waiting for her response.
Why were my hands so clammy? Was I nervous?No, I couldn’t be. I could count the number of times I had ever been nervous in thirty-two years of my life in one hand.
Four times, if I remembered precisely.
First, when I held baby Zara for the first time, afraid I would drop her. Second, when I met and talked with the adorable little girl in the backyard of an orphanage and helped her draw. I was a teenager back then and utterly infatuated with her because she had amused me and that had made me nervous. Third, when I had sex at seventeen, afraid that I would hurt the woman. And the fourth time, when I murdered my father in front of my family, afraid they would see me as the monster I was.
But it would seem that I had to add number five to it. Calling Valeria Dunne late at night to hear her sweet voice.
I was aware of how close I was holding the phone to my ear, smiling, when I heard her take a slow, steady breath.Good. I wasn’t the only one who was nervous.
“I certainly wasn’t expecting a call from a handsome Prince such as you.” I could hear her smiling.
I grinned at the night sky. “How do you know I am handsome?”
“I have heard about you from other people.”
“They could all be lying and I could be ugly with rotted teeth for all you know.”
She giggled, the sound adorable. I rubbed my chest, confused to why I was feeling so warm in my chest.
This never happens.
“I don’t believe you are ugly,” she whispered. “I liked how you smell.”
“You liked how I smell?”
“Mhmm,” I heard the small shuffle, and I imagined her on her bed, laying down on the pillow as she talked with me.Hopefully naked. “And your voice.”
On instinct, my voice lowered to an octave. “You like my voice, dear Valeria?”
I heard her take a sharp intake of breath, and I knew I had her. So sweet and innocent.
“Why did you call me at this hour, Khalid?” Her voice was breathy.
I licked my lips, imaging her doing filthy things I tell her to do through the phone, her face flushed of embarrassment and lust.
“I want to meet you.”