Page 34 of Until You Came Along

I turned and headed toward our table to get my things. Hermes was following me just a few inches away.

“Can we leave now?”

I swear I wanted to be patient and not explode by telling him a string of nonsense about his arrogance and his stalker personality, but he was making it very difficult for me.

“I told you to keep quiet!”

And instead of looking at me seriously as he always did, he smiled. Yes, he smiled showing his perfect teeth. He smiled! And I was dazzled by that beautiful smile.

“Ugh, I can’t believe this. Are you mocking me?”

He didn’t respond.

“I asked you a question!”

“You told me to keep quiet, make up your mind,” he replied, still smiling.

“So now it turns out you have a sense of humor?” I said ironically.

I grabbed my clutch and headed toward the door as quickly as the crowd of people would allow. Suddenly I felt his hand taking mine and moving ahead to clear a path. I shuddered at that contact; holding his hand was a wonderful sensation, it felt too good. At one point he turned and for a few seconds we just looked at each other, then he continued walking. When we reached the street, he looked at me seriously.

“Let’s go somewhere quieter,” he stated.

“Fine, I’ll get my car and follow you.”

“We’ll go in mine.”

“No way, I came in my car and I’m not leaving it here,” I insisted.

“Leave it with your friend,” he suggested.

“Impossible because she doesn’t know how to drive.”

“Where’s your car?” he asked, rolling his eyes.

“In the parking lot at the corner,” I answered.

“Very well, I left mine there too. Let’s go,” he ordered, and took my hand again.

We walked there without talking. I noticed that, every so often, he would look at our joined hands and then look at me. I kept looking straight ahead as if I didn’t notice his glances.

“Mine is the gray Volkswagen T-Cross over there,” I informed him, pointing to it.

“Mine is the black Mercedes-Benz, follow me when I pull out.”

He let go of my hand and continued walking. I got into my car and started it, waiting for him to appear so I could follow him. After a few minutes, the spectacular car stopped in front ofmine and honked. He pulled out of the parking lot and I followed him.

God, what am I doing? I don’t even know where I’m going, I said to myself.

The strangest thing was that I wasn’t nervous, just anxious to talk to him. I realized we were heading toward his house, which surprised me greatly because I understood he never brought women there. A few blocks more and we were in front of his mansion, because that beautiful house was nothing less than a spectacular mansion. What I couldn’t understand was how a man could live in such an enormous house without feeling an immense loneliness. The gates opened automatically and we both drove into the gardens. He parked at the front door and I parked behind him. When he got out, he immediately came to my side and took my hand again.

“Why did we come to your house?” I asked.

“We won’t find a more peaceful place,” he answered as we climbed the steps to the door.

We entered and headed toward the enormous living room. I remembered it from Catalina’s birthday, though it looked different now.

“Would you like something to drink? Although you shouldn’t because I noticed you’ve had quite a bit to drink tonight,” he asked and answered for me.