Dark Light (The Dark Light Series)(13)

“Um, an ex of yours?” I ask once the waitress is out of earshot. I casually wave my hand in her direction. Dorian tears his eyes from mine and momentarily glances at her. She almost cringes under his gaze.

“No, I’ve never seen her before in my life,” he shrugs. I’m not going to argue with him. He has no reason to tell me anything; we’re practically strangers. I let the subject drop to avoid humiliation.

“So, Dorian, what is it that you want to know about me?” I ask, and then take a long sip from my beer. Ah! Refreshing.

“Everything,” he replies in a feathery breath. Then he smirks with nonchalance, no doubt toying with me by ignoring my earlier demand. “But I’ll start with your hobbies.”

“Ummm. I actually don’t have any, really.” It’s the truth, sadly.

“No hobbies? So there’s nothing you enjoy doing?” Dorian seems intrigued. He tilts his head to one side as if he’s trying to figure out the secrets hiding behind my hazel eyes.

“Well, when the weather is nice, I like to be outdoors. You know, just soakin’ up the rays. I like to hike I guess, though I’m no hardcore hiker with gear and stuff. Other than that, there’s just not much to me,” I chuckle, nervously. I know how unintelligent I must sound but being this close to Dorian, close enough to smell the captivating scent of his cologne, makes me anxious to say the least. “What about you?” Anything to steer the conversation from me.

“Oh, you know, the usual. Reading, sports, movies, music,” he prattles. “So when you aren’t out hiking, what are you usually doing?” He's really not going to let me off the hook.

“I’m a college sophomore by day and a lowly, underpaid retail clerk by night,” I joke. “And when you aren’t seducing young women in clubs and hanging out in coffee shops all day, what do you do?” I hope he’s not put off by my playfulness.

“Seducing young women in clubs? Who are these women you speak of?” he grins back at me. Whew. Intimidatingly gorgeous and a sense of humor? Pinch me.

“Oh, you haven’t counted all those pairs of panties that every chick in that club was throwing at you last night? Or did you lose count?” I snicker. Dorian returns my crass remark with a bemused expression, his brow furrowing for just a moment. “I’m kidding! Really. What do you do?” Maybe I shouldn’t scare him off with my vulgar behavior just yet.

“Hmmm,” he smiles slyly. “I’m in Law. But I’m taking a little break. Thinking about a career change.”

“Law, huh? So like a lawyer? Impressive.” Let’s just add brilliant to his list of attributes. “How old are you anyway?”

Dorian looks deep into my eyes with such intensity I can feel the electricity radiating from them. The sparks sizzle through my veins, making a direct path to the pit of my stomach. It feels as if I’ve swallowed a handful of Pop Rocks. Then the sensation sinks down South, turning from a fizzle to an aching throb. I catch myself before I reflexively put my hands between my legs to coax my raging desire. I squeeze my thighs together alternatively.

“Twenty five,” Dorian says. His lips twitch before spreading into a cunning smile.

“Huh?” I’m dumbfounded.

“You asked my age. I am 25,” he replies. Snap out of it, Gabs! My face is red hot with shame. Somehow I think he knows my dirty little secret.

“Oh yeah,” I recover. “That’s really young to be so accomplished.” I take a long swig of beer. “So tell me, Dorian, what brings you to Colorado Springs? Business or pleasure?”

Dorian licks his succulent lips and the dam breaks in my Victoria Secrets. “A little bit of both.”

For the next hour, we engage in easy conversation, offering everything from our favorite movies to our favorite books. It’s seamless, though I find myself getting lost in his eyes every few minutes. He acts as if he doesn’t notice and we press on about childhood memories and first crushes. I am just thankful he’s eased up on torturing me with his sex-drenched gaze. Maybe he noticed that I was turning into a pile of unintelligible mush and grew tired of trying to decipher my confused ramblings. Dorian is oddly… normal, despite his extraordinary good looks.

We skim through our family life vaguely, neither one of us wanting to give too much away about our personal lives. He has one brother and I simply tell him I was adopted with no other siblings. I’ve been so caught up in our relaxed exchange that I totally forgot to check in. Crap, Chris and Donna will be worried since I didn’t come home right after work and didn’t call to inform them otherwise. They probably think I went off the deep end with the sudden turn of events in the past 24 hours.