Page 15 of Someone Like You

Giselle

C asimir Perez was like a hawk, watching and waiting to strike and take his prey down at the first sign of weakness.

Almost three weeks had passed since I last saw him.

I had no idea that the next time I saw him, my guard would be completely down, and it would be in a social setting and not a professional one.

He would strike when I was at my most vulnerable.

“You look lovely tonight.” Lloyd Andrews, a fellow psychologist, complimented as he smiled at me.

Lloyd was a married man, but his wife was out of the country at a medical convention.

With her urging, he invited me to escort him to the gala tonight.

It was an annual fundraising ball for mental health professionals to come together and raise money for research and the support of mental health in the African American community.

Although it was geared toward mental health and mental health professionals, many others were invited, including wealthy entrepreneurs, philanthropists, celebrities, and government officials.

“Thank you, Lloyd. And thanks for inviting me.”

“I’m actually surprised that you accepted my invitation,” he admitted as he looked around the room.

I took a sip of my wine before I asked, “Why is that?”

“You haven’t attended a single event professional since Elijah passed.”

I sighed.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring the mood down.”

I smiled politely at him. Lloyd was someone who I trusted and could be honest with.

“You didn’t bring the mood down. I was just thinking that it was time for me to come out into the world again. It’s time for me to live.”

“I’m glad you’re starting to see that on your own. May I have this dance?” Lloyd asked.

“I would be glad to.”

We walked to the floor and danced as the hired band played a classical song.

“For a long time, I felt that Elijah’s suicide was a reflection of my role in his life.”

“You know that’s not true. I told you that back then.”

“I know that, Lloyd. It was difficult for me to comprehend, though. I understood it on a professional level, but I couldn’t get it on an emotional level.

Here I was, a mental health professional, and I couldn’t even help my husband.

In my mind, it said that I was a failure as a wife and a professional.

I was embarrassed, and I felt like people were looking at me and judging me.

He didn’t love me enough. I wasn’t woman enough.

Why would anyone go to her for services when she couldn’t help the man she pledged her life to? ”

Lloyd looked down at me with compassion-filled eyes. “I’m sorry that you went through all of that. Despite your constituents telling you the truth about everything else, it obviously was something you needed to go through on your own.”

I nodded and smiled. Finding myself getting choked up, I changed the subject. “So, Marilyn . . . how is she feeling about the twins going off to high school this year?”

He laughed. “I think my wife is on the verge of a mid-life crisis. She’s talking about it’s time to travel the world, and when the kids graduate high school, she wants to sell our home and buy an RV.”

He shook his head and laughed again.

“It sounds like she’s trying to prepare herself for a life without her kids. It has to be difficult for a mother watching her kids grow up and needing her less and less.”

“I would agree with that, Giselle, but Marilyn isn’t a woman whose identity was steeped in her role as a wife and mother. She took those roles seriously, but she’s also made a name for herself in the medical community.”

“She has. Give her time. She’ll be fine.”

“Did I tell you that she dyed her hair red last week?”

My mouth dropped open, and I laughed just as I felt a hand touch my shoulder lightly.

“May I have this dance?”

My heart stopped in my chest because, what in the hell was he doing here?

“Of course,” Lloyd stated before he turned to whisper to me.

“Be careful. Casimir Perez is not a man a vulnerable lady like you needs to be alone with. He’s a charmer, and word has it that he’s on the market,” Lloyd warned.

Aloud, he continued, “Giselle, I am going over there to speak with Claire Yancy about a donation.” He bobbed his head across the room to where a local cable network owner stood chatting with someone else.

“Okay, Lloyd. I’ll see you soon,” I replied as Casimir stepped in front of me and took Lloyd’s place.

“What are you doing here?” I hissed.

“Good evening, Giselle. It’s lovely to see you again too,” Casimir replied coolly.

His eyes slowly drank me in from head to toe, and I saw the look of desire and appreciation in his eyes. “You look lovely tonight.”

I felt exposed in my daring, strapless, bold red gown with its plunging neckline. The large, sweeping skirt had made me feel like an elegant belle, but the way that Casimir’s eyes devoured my cleavage made me feel sexy and sensual.

“Thank you. You clean up very well yourself,” I remarked as Casimir held me close. Through the swath of silk fabric, I could feel his heated touch. His warm breath caressed my cheek as he held me close, and my thighs clenched.

The man was deliciously intoxicating in the sharp tuxedo he wore tonight.

“Thank you.”

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

“I was invited as a donor.”

“But of course, you are. Is . . .”

“No. She’s not with me. I came alone.”

“Oh.”

I hadn’t realized that I had breathed a sigh of relief until he chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”

“You. You’re so transparent, though you try to hide it.”

“Hide what?”

“Your attraction to me,” he stated.

I stopped moving and stared up at him. Casimir still held my waist with one arm, and my other hand was still clasped to his. People moved all around us, and though I saw them in my peripheral vision, at that moment, no one mattered except for him.

I licked my lips as I stared at his, wishing they would move closer and devour mine.

He smelled so good. I wanted to lick my tongue along the pulse at the base of his neck and see if he tasted as good as he smelled.

My hands wanted to run down the planes of his chest, underneath the white shirt he wore, and I wanted to rip him out of that tuxedo. I felt myself leaning closer to him.

“You might want to keep moving before people start to talk,” he whispered with a wink and a smirk.

I looked around and released a huff of breath. In that moment, I had been lost in my attraction and desire for a man who I knew was off-limits. I had wanted to kiss him so badly that I almost had.

If he had not spoken, I would have made a grave mistake right here in front of other people that I could not take back.

“Uhm, I need something to drink,” I replied and pulled my hand free of his.

I toyed nervously with the diamond choker at my neck, and he nodded. But he didn’t let go.

“Please,” I stated.

Casimir moved his hand from around my waist and took my free hand in his. He led me off the dance floor and to a table at the rear of the room. No one was sitting there, but there were place cards at the table, letting me know that the table was assigned to someone.

“I think we’re sitting at someone’s table, Casimir.”

“We are. Mine.”

“What about your guests?”

He smirked.

“Casimir?”

“I purchased this table tonight for you and me.”

“What do you mean? How did you know that I would be here?”

“My mother is on the committee that puts this gala together each year. When she invited me, I was at her house and happened to see the guest list.”

“Oh, you just happened to see it?”

“Let’s just say that she left her computer unlocked, and while she went to the kitchen, I checked her computer for bugs.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You knew I was coming,” I accused.

“I had a feeling you might attend. I wasn’t sure, but I decided to check. I saw your name there, and I took the chance you might actually show up. So, I purchased a table for eight.”

“Where are your other six guests if I’m one?”

“In my imagination, I guess.”

“These aren’t real people?” I asked, waving my hand at the place cards around the table.

“No.”

“Why?”

“I wanted to have a place where you and I could talk and be alone.”

“Don’t you think that would be so obvious, and people will start talking?”

He shrugged. “I don’t really care. No one pays attention to what happens at these things. Everyone’s too busy getting drunk and sneaking around with such and such’s husband or wife.”

He said that so nonchalantly, and I wondered how much experience he had with affairs like this one. I used to attend this ball all the time with Elijah, but I was so wrapped up in my husband that I didn’t pay anything else much attention.

“Okay, I’ll bite.”

“Please don’t,” he replied with a smirk.

I realized my snafu instantly, and I blushed. “Why did you want my attention?”

“Why else would a man want a woman’s attention, Giselle?”

“There are many reasons, Casimir. He wants to tell her that he likes her perfume and wants to buy a bottle for his wife. He wants her opinion on a piece of lingerie he’s buying for his girlfriend. He wants to ask her the best recipe for pound cake. Or maybe he just wants to have sex with her.”

Casimir narrowed his gaze, and the heat that emanated from it caused my body to erupt with desire. I crossed my legs and uncrossed them repeatedly before I calmed down.

“I’m not a man who’s into playing games, so let me make it plain for you.

I want your attention because I want you, Giselle.

All of you. I want to inhale your scent and have it coat every part of my being.

I want to see you in the most beautiful piece of lingerie ever made by a man.

I want to feed you from my fingers until you’re sucking them clean, and my dick aches from the feel of your tongue on my fingers.

And after all that’s done, then I want you in my bed, crying out underneath me, calling my name, and begging me for more.

Does that fit your theory of perfume, lingerie, recipes, and sex? ”

I literally held my breath. I couldn’t believe that Casimir had said those things to me.

Sure, he kissed me at the nightclub. Yes, I knew he was attracted to me, as was I to him.

But the words he had just spoken to me left me wanting to rush to the bathroom to check to see if my panties had disintegrated.

Every inch of my body was on fire with need for this man.

A waiter passed by at that moment, and Casimir reached out and grabbed a drink from his tray. He handed it to me, and our fingers touched as I took the drink from his hand.

“Did I make it plain enough for you?”

I gulped the wine just as he stated, “Slow down.”

I set the wine aside, rested my elbow on the table, and propped my head against the tips of my fingers. I ran my finger around the rim of my glass and replied, “Yes. You most certainly made your intentions known.”

“Good,” he replied.

Casimir reached across the table and grabbed my fingers.

They were still wet with wine, and I briefly wondered if he were about to suck the droplets of wine from my finger pads.

Sensing what I must have been thinking, Casimir chuckled and then further explained.

“But that’s not all that I want from you. ”

I lifted my gaze to him, and my eyebrows dipped in confusion.

“I want to see you blush and get embarrassed at my words a thousand more times like you did just then. I want to see you walk through the door at the end of the workday after you’ve helped someone put their life in order, and you’re wearing that triumphant boss bitch smile.

I want to see you on your knees in prayer.

I want to see your hair tied up in a scarf, and you’re makeup free while you’re singing and dancing as you clean the house.

I want to see you asleep at night with your face resting on my chest and your hands resting underneath your face.

I want to see you let down every guard and every defense in my presence because you trust me to be everything that you need and then some. ”

“Wow. You’ve thought about this a lot, huh?” I asked as I laughed nervously.

“Almost from the day that we met.”

I lifted my gaze to his.

“Don’t pretend that we haven’t been attracted from the rip.”

“Oh, I’m sure of that. You’re a handsome man, and I’m not arrogant, but I know that I’m an attractive woman.”

“Beautiful. Gorgeous. Stunning. But it’s not just that. It’s the way your mind works, how you challenge me, and the beauty and endless possibilities that you see in others. That’s what attracts me to you, Giselle.”

I looked up and spotted someone walking in our direction.

“I think we should bring a halt to this conversation.”

“For now, but it’s not over,” he stated.

The man walked up to him and greeted Casimir heartily. Although Casimir introduced the man, I didn’t remember his name after it left Casimir’s lips. The two men talked about something related to the ball, but my thoughts were tied up.

I found myself thinking about all those things that Casimir had mentioned.

I knew that I had no right to even fantasize about them, but how attractive and how enticing the most mundane things sounded when he described him.

I wanted him to see me do all those things too.

I also wanted to see him with his shirt off, sweat coating his body, and his muscles rippling underneath the noonday sun as he cut the grass.

And then smell his musky scent when he walked into the kitchen to get a glass of iced tea after he’d finished the job.

I wanted to see his Adam’s apple bobbing as he gulped the tea down for refreshment.

I wanted to see him lost in thought as he pondered a particularly challenging business dilemma that he needed to resolve.

And that was when I realized that no matter how much I tried to deny him, no matter how far and fast I ran, I would eventually allow him to catch up to me because I wanted him as desperately as he wanted me.