Lingering Kiss

Chapter 6

Mia turned in her bed, eyes open, she couldn't sleep. She'd been in bed for an hour pleading for sleep to take her but nothing. She threw her comforter off of her and sat up, sighing into the silence of her darkroom. She reached across and turned on her bedside lamp. She knew she wasn't going to sleep, she had a lot on her mind, so instead of wasting time staring at the ceiling; she'd get some work done. She had just the weekend to complete them cases before she had to bring in the case files to her boss.

She pushed her feet off the bed and went to the chair across the room where she usually placed her work bag. She rummaged through it for the last case file she was yet to complete. She pulled it out and went back to her bed sitting with her legs folded beneath her the Indian way, she opened the file and got right to it.

Two hours later, her third yawn forced her to check the time which made her cringe. She hadn't even known she had been awake that long. She set the file on her side table, laid in bed with her over her, and turned the light off. She sighed again into the darkness of her room. In her weak state, her mind decided to wander, she couldn't help thinking about him.

How had she ignored the fluttery feelings she got when he was around her? Her mind drifted to the first night she saw him.

She made her way from the bathroom to the dance floor through the crowd. Her gaze lifted from the bodies she had to avoid and went in search of the girls on the dance floor but frowned when she didn't see them. She immediately searched for the bar and sighed when she found them. She walked up to them and as she neared, she heard Izzy.

"Where's Mia?" She asked

"Right here," Mia said as she walked towards them. Josie, Izzy, and two other guys she hadn't noticed looked at her as she stopped in front of them "Sorry there was a queue, had to sneak in to use the gents."

"That's...brave."

Mia turned to the guy who had spoken and stopped short. He was looking at her like he wanted to ravish her right in front of her friends but the look was gone before she even had time to process it and it felt like she had imagined it. There was a twist in the pit of her stomach that made her balance on her other leg as she frowned and looked at Josie then at the other guy and back at the one sitting in front of her. Her frown turned into a smile as her brain processed who they were. They were likely to be Josie's friends, the ones they've been waiting for.

"You must be Josie's friends." She said, "I'm Mia." She said as she offered her hand to him. The second his large hand closed around her small ones, the feeling in her stomach started again as she stared at their hands joined, she looked up at him as she swallowed forcing a smile through her mixed-up emotions.

"Fred." He replied as he kept her hand in his.

She counted the number of drinks she had had tonight and it was just a few, so why in the world was she feeling this way. She frowned at herself.

"I'm André." The other guy cleared his throat which made Fred release her hand as Andre went in for a shake as well and her smile returned. "Sorry, he's a bit lost in thought right now because of a business deal."

Mia nodded as she tried to ignore the way her heart had plummeted when Fred shook her hand. She snuck a glance at him to find him on his phone.

She had imagined the look he had given her, he was thinking of a business deal, not about ravishing her in front of her friends.

She pushed the unexpected disappointment aside as she turned to her friends with a smile
"So, what now?" She asked

"Party." They said and went back on the dance floor leaving the guys behind.

Throughout the night, she had caught herself many times watching him from the dance floor. Her eyes were betraying her and every time she looked, she found talking with a girl or being the attention of a group of them. It made her insides churn and she had no idea why.

She forced her gaze away from him knowing that whatever it was that was going on with her wasn't what she thought it was. She just found him hot and...so damn hot. That was all it was, she hadn't been affected by a guy before, so it was definitely because he was good looking. It was just his looks.

She made sure to look everywhere but never at him, nothing good was going to come out of it.

But then she had met him again and decided on ignoring him but he had other things in mind as she started up a conversation with her in the café and she found how easy it was to talk to him. He had been a good listener and a gentleman. Then he had dropped her off at the library and she felt the familiar things in the pit of her stomach and she assumed it was because she had just had a nice conversation with someone of the opposite sex and it went without him trying to get to sleep with her or try something stupid. But oh, had she been wrong.

The night she just had with him confirmed that. Frederick Zahn was all man and he made her feel things that frightened her. Things that made her heart leap in her chest and her skin tingle with anticipation. All throughout college and after she graduated, she had dated so many guys and none of them came close to Fred. They were all boys who wanted a quick fuck and then off to the next one. All the dates she had been on came nothing close to the non-dates she had had with Fred. Being with him struck up more feelings in her than the next guy that wanted her. And Fred didn't look at her like that, he didn't look at her like she was a woman he wanted in his bed or his arms. He looked at her like he did every other person which only made her question whatever it is she was feeling for him.

He wasn't here to stay, there was no use starting something that would only end in pain and lots of tears. Besides, she needed to focus on studying for the bar exams. She just had to get through one more week at Cross & Cross then she would give studying her full, undivided attention.

The fourth yawn hit her as her eyes drooped shut and she was sucked into the darkness of sleep.

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Hey guys,

Just want to thank you all for voting again after the change.

I've got a lot going on with college but I promise to try and keep posting.

Have an amazing day.

J.L.