“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.” I try to back track.

She shakes her head. “No, you have every right to ask. It’s just…” Another deep sigh forms in her chest and exits through her nostrils, “She’s been gone for quite sometime.”

For some strange reason, I feel like I’m going to cry. It’s, what I’m sure, a moving story. This woman has a past- one I’m intrigued by. “I’m sorry for your loss.” I say genuinely. 

She shakes her and smiles. “It’s okay. I just take life day by day- but hey. I came over here to ask you if you’d like a glass of wine?” I smile and nod my head. Man, she likes to drink. Almost as much as me. “Okay why don’t you go to the kitchen and grab a couple glasses and I’ll go get us a bottle.” She closes her eyes and concentrates for a second. “It’s the open cupboard.” She winks.

I walk into kitchen. More vases, but with just the tuberose and xeranthemum. No more tulips. That’s strange. At least I think so. I pinch my eye brows together and cock my left one, but walk to the open cupboard and grab the only two wine glasses in the cupboard. Something sticks out on them though. They both have a very elegant text bubbled in them with the letters C and E connected. I shake my head. Coincidence. I grab the glasses and walk back out to the living room where she is already sitting on the couch with her legs crossed and the bottle opened. “That was quick.” I say as I enter the room.

She giggles and pats the cushion beside her. I graciously take the seat and set the glasses on the table. She fills them up and hands it to me. “To life.” She toasts. I nod my head in confusion. She is so strange, so cryptic. I feel like there’s something she isn’t telling me. It’s like waking up after passing out from being so drunk that you can’t remember a thing from the night before. And trust me I know that feeling, I’ve been there many of times. But with her it’s different. It’s like we shared a past. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s just a feeling. 

I’m shocked out of my thoughts when she clears her throat. “Bette, did you hear me?”

I shake my head. I was too lost in my thoughts, I totally tuned her out, trying to make sense of everything. “I’m sorry no. What did you say?”

She giggles. “I asked you what you do?”

“I am the director of the C.A.C.- California Arts Center. It’s a small gallery on 12th.” I fill her in, but something’s in her eyes- uh! 

“Typical.” she mumbles under her breath as she turns her head to get her glass.

“Excuse me?” I asked flabbergasted by what she just said; she doesn’t know me.

“I didn’t say anything.” She lies. Being a seerer, or whatever she called me; well, reading minds comes with an acute sense of hearing- busted!

She takes the wine glass out of my hand and sets it on the table and move closer. So much for getting to know each other. She lays a hand on my thigh and strokes it. My eye lids have become heavy with lust. She moves closer to my lips, her breath tantalizes my lips. I lean forward, trying to connect our lips- but she pulls back. This happens a couple of times before we engage in a heated kiss. Our lips melt together, perfectly. She runs her tongue across my bottom lips asking for permission, but when I grant it- she pulls away again! Damn it. 

She leans forward to my ear. She pulls on my earlobe. Licks underneath my ear, a place no one has found that just, obviously, drives me crazy because my toes curl against my heels as soon as she makes the contact. It elicits a moan from my lips that surprised even me. She pulls away and whispers in my ear. “Stay tonight.” It’s not even a question, it’s a demand. One I’m more than willing to fulfill.