"Do you like that one?" I asked her quietly as she fingered something black and lacy.
I startled her because she jumped a little and then moved away from the aisle. "I was just looking," she mumbled before walking away quickly.
Shit. I'd embarrassed her. Probably come off as some sort of creep. I stood there and closed my eyes, wishing this whole trying to get older women to notice me as a man thing wasn't so difficult. I didn't want to force myself on her and make her uncomfortable.
I heard someone clearing her throat beside me and opened my eyes to find a petite, brunette sales assistant smiling at me.
"I know," she said to me as if she understood. "It can be a little confusing. Would you like some help?"
I nodded mutely and she moved forward with a pleasant demeanour. "Something in her size?" she asked me, nodding towards Sierra who was a few aisles away, talking to her assistant animatedly.
I looked back at the girl and shook my head. "No." Then I jerked my chin in the opposite direction towards Iris who wasn't even paying attention to us. "Hers."
To her credit, the girl didn't even blink or falter as she studied Iris briefly and then turned to the lingerie to help me pick something out.
****
Chapter 23
Iris
He'd bought me lingerie. What had this boy been thinking? He couldn't just go around buying me underwear at his age. What would his parents say? And they were expensive. The tags were off but I'd already seen the prices at the store. The kind of store I would never have dreamed of setting foot in had my niece not begged me to do so because he'd wanted to buy her stuff as well and she was totally fine with it. Why wouldn't she be? She had a crush on him, after all.
And he didn't even bother to return her affections. Instead, he stared at me all the time. He said things that were not exactly inappropriate but the way he said them was. In that deep voice of his. He was just a kid though. What did he even know about women? And here he was trying to buy me something because he thought that might get me to cave and lose all my good sense with him.
It made me angry. And it wasn't just lingerie. He'd even bought expensive perfumes and makeup sets along with a white cashmere sweater that probably cost more than I made in a week at the pâtisserie. All of it was packed so nicely in perfumed wrapping paper and navy blue boxes topped with orchids. Fresh, white ones.
Nobody had ever treated me like this in my entire thirty years of existence. It threw me off. I'd been nice to him because he'd been nothing but nice to us but this was going too far. What would people think if they found out? Nobody would point fingers at him. I'd be labelled as some kind of thirsty, gold-digging cougar preying off a teenage boy.
"Isn't he great, Aunt Iris?" Sierra said from behind me as she approached me in our hotel room later. Again, I hadn't wanted to stay here but she'd told me it was a chance for her to be close to Ziad and I'd caved.
She had a wide smile on her face but I watched it fade quickly when her gaze fell on the items lying on my bed. She grew pale while staring at the display and what it signified. She had probably assumed that he'd bought me ‘sophisticated’ granny clothes just out of politeness or something.
"Oh my God," my niece breathed out in shock. "What? How? Er...wha-?" She was definitely at a loss for words.
I felt really sorry for her but at the same time, I didn't want to hide things from her. I was going to return all of it, anyway.
She looked up at me and this time, her expression was outraged. "You're thirty years old," she burst out in shock. "I don't-"
"Sierra, I didn't do anything," I interrupted her quickly. "I'm going to give it back, okay. He's clearly got the wrong idea."
She let out a scoff and stared at me some more in shock before casting a bitter gaze over the ridiculously costly but beautiful items he had bought for me. "This is unbelievable," she mumbled. "He's in high school, Aunt Iris. He's the same age as me. A kid."
I nodded at her and gulped at the slight trace of disgust in her tone. What must she be thinking of me? I couldn't believe Ziad had put me in this position with someone I cared for like a daughter.
"I'm sorry," I told her softly. "I didn't do anything to encourage him, I swear. I'll set him straight."
She just shook her head at me, looked at the things again with indignation burning in her pale eyes and then stalked off.
....
"Why would you do this?" I hissed at him the minute I found him alone in the corridor in front of his suite. Taking his arm, I led him beside a huge flower pot so that nobody would see us and then thrust the bag full of those stupid items into his hands. "Do you realise what you've done, Ziad? My niece hates me now. She thinks I'm disgusting."
He frowned at me and then glanced down at the bag. "I thought you'd like these," he said in a confused tone.
I exhaled loudly and folded my arms before shooting him a glare. "I didn't like any of it. It was very inappropriate of you. You had no right. I didn't even want to be in that store. Is this what boys with rich parents do these days? Try to buy their way into the beds of older women just for the heck of it?" I demanded angrily.
Ziad opened his mouth to say something but then he closed it again and just blinked at me as though he had no idea how to respond. I glared at him some more because that puppy dog look on his face was not something I was going to find adorable. No way. He deserved to be told off for crossing a line.
"I'm really sorry," he said at last and there was sadness in his eyes, brokenness in his tone. "I didn't do it to make you feel bad, Iris. I wouldn't have done it if I'd thought you'd feel insulted. I saw you admiring the lingerie and I just wanted to buy something nice for you."
Damn it, I was not going to feel bad. This was probably another technique of his, to get me to melt or something. "Well, I'm not interested," I told him through gritted teeth. "I'm not going to tell you this again, Ziad. You need to back off because I don’t date kids."
He looked up at the ceiling when I finished talking and his jaw clenched as he said, in an irritated voice, "Why do people keep calling me that?"
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Because it's what you are. Being eighteen doesn't suddenly, magically turn you into an adult. There are things about life that you're still unaware of, things that you still need to learn."
He reached for me out of nowhere and twisted us so that I was pressed against the wall, the bag lying somewhere at our feet, discarded and forgotten. I stared up at him and opened my mouth to protest but he spoke before I did.
"What things, Iris?" he murmured to me, his hands on my arms and his breath whispering against my skin. "What are these things that you think I'm not aware of and need to learn?"
I could barely breathe as he shifted even closer to me and lowered his head. "Be really, really specific because I swear I have no idea what you're talking about," he said in a husky voice and began to nuzzle my neck. "By the way, you smell really nice."
So do you, I wanted to say because it was true. What cologne was that?
"Ziad. Please."
"Do you even realise what you do to me?" he asked and there was just the slightest touch of his lips on my sensitive skin. My eyes closed against my will as he pressed into me, so warm and hard.
It had been years since I'd allowed a man to touch me this way. But this wasn't right. He wasn't a man.
"Do you think a kid would know how to do these things?" he questioned in a seductive voice and roamed his hands slowly, sensuously over my back.
I shivered at the touch and his voice, which was now in my ear. My own fists were clenched by my sides to prevent myself from doing something stupid, like touching him back.
"I love your body," he told me. "So sexy and curvy. I want to do a lot more to you, Iris. It could be so good." His mouth hovered over mine, making my own lips tingle in anticipation. "Please let me," he said gently.
He didn't try to kiss me and I thought it was so devious of him. That after all the touching, he was now asking
for permission when it was quite clear from the look in his eyes that he wanted to attack my mouth really badly. His breaths...mine as well, were fast and uneven. A lazy, aching sensation began to spread across my body and that place between my legs that had been lying dormant for years began to stir. Would it really be so bad? Then I gasped a little at the direction of my thoughts and though it took some effort, I shoved him away from me before stepping out of the spot he had cornered me in.
"You have absolutely no shame whatsoever," I snapped at him because I didn't know what else to say.
Then I turned around and stalked off towards my room, feeling all shaken up inside. I’d been mistaken. He wasn't a kid at all. He was dangerous and I had to stay away from him.
~~~
Ziad
I'd heard Jacob use the term 'blue balls' a lot of times during our friendship (before he lost his virginity and started to screw every girl in sight) but for the first time ever, I could actually relate. That encounter with Iris had been incredibly hot. I'd wanted to go right ahead and kiss her without even caring about the consequences.
But she'd been so upset. I thought women found that sort of thing flattering or something. I thought she'd be impressed or at the very least thank me for the gifts. Sierra had been so excited over hers although I hadn't bought her any lingerie so maybe that was what had triggered Iris' anger.
Why did it hurt so much when someone rejected me this way? After Skye, it was like my heart couldn't handle it anymore. Iris found me attractive and I wanted her too so I'd just decided to go for it. This age thing was so inconvenient. Why couldn't she see past that one stupid factor?
.....
Dinner that evening turned out to be unexpectedly fun. We'd gone down to one of the hotel restaurants which was set outdoors and surrounded by these torches that made the atmosphere romantic and light-hearted and we joined tables so all of us could sit together. Annoyingly, I was directed to the kid's section with my sister and my friends while the adults took up the other half of the tables and chatted about work and family life.
Sierra's adoptive dad, Logan, joined us halfway through, made his apologies and then introduced himself. The strangest thing happened when he smiled and extended his hand towards Mr. Sawyer after already having spoken to my dad. Mr. Sawyer just glanced at the offered hand with a cool expression before quietly excusing himself from the table. Everybody was a little disconcerted to witness somebody like Cole Sawyer acting so rude but Sierra's dad laughed it off and started a conversation with aunt Jasmine instead. Even more strange was the fact that they sounded like they'd been friends forever.
I tried to eat through the awkwardness hanging in the air because now that Mr. Sawyer had left, the seat beside me was empty and Skye had been seated on the other side of him. I kept my eyes averted the entire time we ate and joined in the laughter and conversation from time to time.
My father surprised us all by taking us to a club later. Yup. Even the kids. He knew the owner and we didn't even have to wait in line. We got a VIP section too along with the service. I hardly ever cared about things like money or power but I had to admit that it did make certain life experiences more enjoyable.
Except when you decided to buy lingerie for older women who took it as an insult. It wasn't as if I had wanted her to wear it for me. It was just to make her happy. Although I wouldn't have objected.
"I'm going to go dance," I announced to nobody in particular and strolled over to the dance floor where Aali and Jacob were already having a good time.
"Hey, do you think Abbu will let me do some shots since he's in such a good mood tonight?" Aali called out as I passed them and I rolled my eyes. Yeah, right.
If there's one indulgence my dad didn't believe in, it was alcohol. He didn't want it in the house and never wanted us to drink either. But he didn't care if other people drank to their heart's content. He was happy to buy several rounds for his companions tonight.
The crowd of bodies was pressed so close together that finding someone to dance with wasn't even that hard. And music had always been therapeutic for me. I didn't want to sit there with blue balls for one woman and a broken heart for another while everybody else around me had fun. The club was quite upscale with great beats and an exclusive clientele. I liked the lighting because it wasn't blinding or anything but contained enough effects to qualify as both cool and classy.
Somehow, in the middle of my dancing, I came face to face with Iris. I stopped for a minute and gazed at her flushed expression, her short and sexy purple dress, the way her hair curled sensuously around her pretty face and I instantly wanted to pull her into my arms. Iris was dancing away but as the song changed, she bumped into me and I caught her by the elbow.
"Sorry," she giggled at me, her eyes bright and happy. "I'm so sorry."
She was tipsy. After adjusting her stance, she started to dance again in wild abandon while looking over at me from time to time with equal amounts of uncertainty and desire in her eyes. I stood there watching her as the music surrounded us, not even caring when other people bumped into me as they moved around.
I wanted her to come to me. I was not going to go all crazy and creep her out again. After several seconds, she did move a little closer to me. Then she swayed to the music some more and touched my arms, trailing her hands along them till they were resting on my shoulders.
"Why do you have to be so cute?" she asked me in my ear and hiccupped.
Cute. Okay. Taking her hands, I removed them from my shoulders, causing her to regard me in surprise but then I smirked at her and gently pushed her away from me while our hands were still joined together, our arms stretched between us. Her eyes widened a little and her lips curved when I pulled her back in, wrapping one arm around her waist and dipping her upper body back while keeping our legs pressed together.
Iris let out another giggle and shrieked a little when I tugged her up in time to the music and then twirled her around a few times. We started to have fun. She laughed at my extravagant dance moves but she seemed to love the song and allowed me to lead her through the steps I made up along the way.
I felt happy for the first time in weeks. God. I'd missed being happy. Just laughing away and being silly over nothing. And Iris was happy too as she moved with me and laughed from time to time. It was beautiful. The most beautiful non-date I'd ever had. And all we did was dance.
The song ended and a few people around us actually applauded. It broke the spell we seemed to have been under and we stepped away from each other. It was too late to be careful though. The space around us had cleared up while we'd been dancing and we were directly in line with the place where our families were seated.
They were all staring at us. All of them. As if they knew exactly what was going on in my mind at that moment. Of course they knew. I hadn't been trying to hide my attraction to her at all the entire time I'd been dancing with her.
And now we were the recipients of shocked gazes while Iris lowered her eyes, looking ashamed. I wasn't ashamed though. I thought they were all being dramatic and I hated it, hated that she felt that way because of them. Why was being a teenager so fucking complicated?
****
Chapter 24
Iris
"We should head back. I have some plans for the evening."
I studied his profile while he dressed quickly without even looking at me as if he couldn't wait to leave. But then, it wasn't all that surprising since that had been our modus operandi every day for the past week.
I'd given in. Just a few hours after stating that he had no shame and berating him for being inappropriate with me, I'd ended up sleeping with him. Despite all my good intentions and efforts to maintain some semblance of control, his attentiveness and single-minded pursuit had won me over in the end.
That night at the club, I hadn't even been able to face anyone afterwards and Logan had dropped me off at the hotel. Sierra had refused to stay with me so I'd ended up in the awkward position of spending the night in th
e hotel room paid for by Ziad's dad. I hadn't known where to go or what else to do. In all my life, I'd never felt as alone as I had done that night while crying in bed.
I shouldn't have opened the door when he came looking for me in the middle of the night but the comfort he offered had been difficult to resist. How could someone so young be that sensitive and that understanding of a woman's feelings? He hadn't even tried to seduce me and that had been the sweetest part. He'd just held me and apologised for being the reason I was upset and wiped my tears. I'd been around grown men who didn't even bother being that considerate. It had been me who had kissed him, just suddenly in the middle of his attempts to comfort me and he'd obviously responded.
I was only human. To be touched in that way after years of abstinence had felt incredibly wonderful. I didn't have much to compare it with but his lovemaking had exceeded my expectations. I'd thought he'd be fumbling around with regards to clothes and movements but he'd known exactly what to do and had ended up giving me two orgasms before he found his own release.
It felt unbelievable. There was no way an eighteen year old could behave that maturely whether in or out of the bedroom but Ziad Qureshi was a living example.
It had been a few days since that night but he met me every day after school and helped me in the shop for an hour or two because Sierra refused to do so. She was still angry with me and ignored my attempts to make peace.
It made me sad to know that she had the advantage of youth on her side and could have boys by the dozen but the one person who noticed me and showed a genuine interest in me after the loneliness that had been my life, was someone she herself wanted. Ziad told me he wasn't interested in her and she was only a friend so I wasn't really standing in the way.
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