by Sarah Silver
I got up off of my bed and went over to my luggage filled with clothes. I would have to wash soon because I was running out of clean clothes to wear. I pulled out a red wine colored sheath dress because I really loved how the dress looked on me. Many of my shoes were stolen at the shelter, but I did have a pair of black heels that would look nice with the dress. My stomach growled as I put my clothes on a nearby chair. I walked over to my wallet and looked inside of it. I had enough to get a sandwich from the receptionist downstairs so that’s what I decided to do. I put on some jogging pants and a tank top and walked out of my room feeling more confident then how I felt last night.
Chapter Two
I arrived at the restaurant earlier than expected so I decided to go to the Barnes and Nobles that was conveniently located across the street from La Belle’s Italian restaurant. I was happy that Eric had chosen this place because it was one of my favorites. I skimmed through a few books making it appear that I was going to buy one, but when eight o’clock came around, I walked out of Barnes and Nobles. When I made it into La Belle’s I saw Eric speaking to the host. He looked a little bit different then the picture that was on his profile. He was handsomer than what I initially thought. He was around six feet with broad shoulders. His hair was wavy and slicked straight to the back and he had light facial hair. His eyes were the same enchanting black that they were in his picture. He looked more put together, almost similar to a male model who was just starting out in the business.
“Eric?” I said walking over to the two men. Eric turned around and looked at me with his eyes widening in appreciation.
“Maria?” my name rolled off of his tongue like fine wine. I shivered at the intensity at how he was looking at me. “It’s nice to meet you. Wow you look gorgeous if you don’t mind me saying.” He walked over to me then and stared at me awkwardly. “I don’t really believe in shaking hands with a woman. May I hug you?” I blushed and nodded my head. His strong arms wrapped around me and I almost drooled by how delicious his cologne smelled. I guess his picture really didn’t do him justice. I didn’t think he was bad looking to begin with, but he didn’t look this hot in his photo.
“It’s nice to meet you too.” I said and he smiled and looked at the host again. I pulled my dress down because I could feel it rising every time I walked.
“I’ve made a reservation for Eric Lowe.” The man scanned through his list and then showed us to our seats. I sat down with ease even though I was really nervous. I looked at Eric then and he was grinning from ear to ear and I blushed.
“Sorry if I’m a little awkward. I’ve never done this type of thing before.” Even though I was confident with the way that I looked, talking was a whole different story. I’m a pretty outgoing person, but I didn’t do things like blind dates or even considered being a mail order bride before. Then again I was with a man that I thought loved me and wouldn’t do anything to hurt me.
“That’s alright.” Eric said and smiled at the waiter who placed our menus on the table. “Do you prefer red or white wine?” Eric asked and I thought about it for a moment. I was a fan of both, but I was in the mood for white wine.
“White,” he said to the waiter and the waiter told us that he’d be back with our bottle soon. “Forgive me if I stare at you too much, you’re incredibly beautiful.” I blushed again and shifted in my seat. I wanted to make a good impression, but the way that he was looking at me made me a little antsy. “I’ll try to tone it down a little bit for you though.” Eric said and I laughed. I could tell that he was trying to get me to relax.
“You’re very attractive too, better than your picture.” He grinned revealing a perfect row of white teeth.
“I don’t know why I used that picture of me honestly. It was the only picture that I had.” I nodded my head and listened to him intently. “So tell me about yourself.” Eric said and I inwardly sighed. I knew this question was coming, but I still wasn’t ready for it. I told Eric all of the good things about me leaving out the bad break-up and the fact that I was practically homeless. I didn’t want him to think that I was some sort of nut case trying to bum a free room from him. I was the latter though, I needed that room.
Eric told me about himself and he was really interesting. He left out a lot of things on his profile that would have drawn me to him instantly. Not only did he enjoy going to concerts hosted by people that I actually listened to, he also enjoyed going to arcades.
“I didn’t really have a chance to do things like that when I was growing up,” he said slightly embarrassed. “It’ll shock you to believe that my parents were strict.” He told me more about his life and I told him more about the finer aspects of mine and I was impressed by him. Even though he was older than me by a decade, I felt at ease with him and I couldn’t even tell our age difference as we spoke with each other. I liked the fact that he was able to turn on being professional and then turn on be casual when it was needed.
“The food was really good, thank you for inviting me here.” I said as I ran my hands through my hair. He gave me another one of his warm smiles.
“The pleasure is mine Maria. I really had a good time tonight.” Eric looked up and motioned the waiter over to us. “We’ll take the bill now.” Once the waiter walked away Eric turned to me again. “I’d love to see you again if you don’t mind.” I smiled brightly as I thought that I’d probably win him over. The waiter brought over our bill then and he gave the man his credit card without looking at the bill.
“I don’t mind at all. I’d love to see you again as well.” I said as I tried to fight down the urge to scream “yes!” I was getting ahead of myself, it’s possible that he’s taken the other women that he interviewed on a second meeting as well. The waiter came back over with Eric’s credit card and thanked us for coming. Eric pulled out some bills from his wallet and placed it on the table.
“Come on.” He said and I hustled out of my seat. We walked out of La Belle and he looked around. “Where’s your car at?” He asked and I looked at him dumbfounded.
“Oh, I didn’t drive here.” I said trying to sound as normal as possible. “I took a cab and I’ll catch a cab to get back as well.” Eric shook his head.
“I feel bad that you took a cab here.” He said looking at me with concern. “You don’t have to worry about catching a cab, I’ll take you home.” My face heated up then. I couldn’t let him do that.
“You don’t have too.” I said quickly and readjusted my dress. “I don’t want you to go through all of that trouble. Please don’t worry about me.” He looked at me long and hard then he sighed.
“I get it you’re uncomfortable with me taking you home. Let me at least call you a cab and give you the money for it.” I wanted to refuse his offer, but when he pulled out several twenty dollar bills, my words stopped in my throat. I needed the money bad and if he decided to choose another woman, I’d at least have money for food and a few more nights at the motel. He took my hand gently in his and placed the money in it.
“Thank you.” I said softly. I was incredibly embarrassed but thankful as well. He smiled again and hustled towards the curb when he saw a taxi about to pass us by. The taxi pulled over to us and Eric opened the door for me.
“What’s your phone number by the way? I’d like to call you tomorrow.” I couldn’t tell him that my phone was cut off so I did the next best thing and lied.
“Sorry, I broke my phone recently and I’m waiting for my company to send me the new one.” He frowned but nodded his head.
“Alright I’ll just email you then. Have a good night Maria.”
“Same to you” I said and he closed the door. When Eric was out of sight I told the driver that he could drop me off around the corner because I didn’t live that far. The man looked at me in confusion in his rearview mirror, but he didn’t say anything. Thankfully I had three dollars on me so I had given it to the driver. I didn’t wait for my change I just exited his vehicle with a smile on my face. I walked down the still semi-light str
eet and I knew that I had to hustle because it’ll be getting dark soon. I didn’t want to be out at night walking out of fear someone would think that I was a prostitute because of the way that I was dressed. I might have been wearing some five inch heels, but I was walking like I was wearing sneakers.
“Hey baby, you working?” A man who smelled strong of weed asked when I walked passed him. This was exactly why I wanted to hurry and get to the motel because the men around these parts were on the prowl. I said nothing as I quickened my steps and I cursed myself for not taking the cab. When I got back to the motel and went into my room, I slumped onto the bed. I was still not over what John did to me, but even though this would be more like a business proposition, I felt that Eric could take my mind off of John. I pulled my phone out of my purse and I was shocked that I had an email from Eric already.
I hope you made it home safely. I had a really good time with you this evening and I hope that I can see you again soon. Tell me your availability so that we can make it happen.
Eric.
I smiled as I read the message thinking that there was no way that he’d pick anyone but me as his bride. I was pretty much free all day every day when I wasn’t out looking for a job. I didn’t want to tell him that though and thankfully he didn’t ask me anything about what I did for work. It would have been embarrassing to tell him that I never really had a job before.
I’m free tomorrow if you can squeeze some time in your schedule for me? I wrote and hit send. Instead of waiting for him to message me back like an over-enthusiastic child, I decided to take off my clothes and jump in the shower. I made a bad choice when I decided to walk home in the hot Montana air. As I showered, I thought of Eric, John, and where I was doing with my life.
Chapter Three
I woke up in a good mood for the first time in a whole month. The room was small and dingy, but I felt like a million bucks. When I opened my email first thing after I woke up, I was surprised to see that Eric wanted me to come see his place. If this wasn’t an indicator that he was considering me, then I didn’t know what else this could have meant. So now the main question was do I still go and apply to jobs today? I hated that I was the type of woman that depended on a man, but that’s how I’ve been living these past few years. While I went to school, John worked and provided me with whatever I needed.
“I did this to myself.” I said and bit down on my lip. If I would have been a little more independent then I wouldn’t have been trying to fly to another man to help me with my financial problems. I was slowly learning that I was the type of woman that I never wanted to grow up to be. “Maybe he wouldn’t mind it if I got at least a part-time job.” I said to myself. I wanted some type of work experience and to have some money of my own. With my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Business Management, I was sure that it looked good on paper until potential employers saw that I didn’t have any work experience.
“Eric does seem like an understanding man. If I told him he’d probably help me out.” I knew that the fact that I’ve never had a job before would eventually come up in conversation. If I could show him that I tried, then he probably wouldn’t think that I was pathetic. I was so deep into thought that I jumped when I heard someone banging on my door. I walked over to the door and looked out of the peephole and saw that it was the receptionist of the motel. “Can I help you?” I asked opening up the door.
“You didn’t pay for your room last night.” He said without an ounce of sympathy in his voice. I blushed when I realized that I hadn’t paid him.
“Hold on one second, I’ll pay you now.” I said but I knew that since he was standing outside my door he wasn’t going to give me a second option. It was probably pay now or get out. I grabbed forty of the dollars that Eric gave me last night and thrusted it into the man’s greedy hands. “Sorry about that.” I said and he grunted.
“I’ll bring you your change shortly.” He said and walked away from me. I closed my door and went into the bathroom to freshen up. When I came out of the bathroom I wasn’t surprised to see that he had just shoved my change under the door.
“This place is horrible.” I said. He was the type of person that did not care about anyone else. The receptionist didn’t care that I was so down on my luck, the only thing that interested him was my money. “I can’t wait to leave this place.” I said with venom in my voice. So I was really hoping that Eric would consider me. I sat on my bed and thought about what I’d do while I wait for Eric to get off of work.
****
I decided to apply for some jobs at the mall. Eric agreed to pick me up from here and I was happy for that. When I was done filling out applications I sat in the food court and waited for Eric to email me. I still felt a little bad that the man had to email me just because I couldn’t pay my cell phone bill. Eric asked me how I was using my phone if it was broke but I had a good answer for that. I told him that the earpiece and the mouthpiece didn’t work on my phone anymore so that’s why I had to get another one. I kept refreshing my email to make sure that I didn’t miss his email. I finally got an email from him the tenth time that I refreshed it.
Hey, I’m outside. It read and I messaged him that I’d be out shortly. I maneuvered my body through the teenagers who were all wandering in the mall and I was happy when I made it outside away from the rowdy crowd. When I looked in the parking lot I saw Eric standing outside of his car with the door held wide for me. I smiled and walked over to him.
“You look beautiful today as well.” Eric said and embraced me. He helped me into his car and closed the door for me like the perfect gentleman that he was. When he got into the car we spoke about nothing in particular until we arrived at his house. Eric’s house wasn’t the nicest house that I’d ever seen but it was still amazing.
“Your house is beautiful.” I said as he led me through each room of his house. Once he had given me the full tour, we stopped in the kitchen and he pulled out two glasses from the cupboard.
“Thanks I actually hired an interior designer to decorate the place.” I looked at him surprised and he just gave me another one of his beautiful smiles. “Every time my mother came over she used to talk about how plain my house was so I did it to shut her up.” I laughed at this but I could understand how people decided to do things just to shut a nagging parent up.
“Well the interior designer did a great job. I’m sure your mother is happy about the change.” He nodded his head and pulled some rum out of a cabinet and some coke out of the refrigerator.
“I hope you like rum and coke because I don’t have any wine or champagne here.”
“Rum and coke is fine.” It’s been a long while since I had rum and coke so it was a welcomed drink to me. He poured our glasses and led us to his living room and it seemed like we’d talked and drunk from ages. I was having a good time and I had a really nice buzz going.
“So I was thinking,” Eric started and I could tell that he was tipsy as well. “I really think that you and I get along pretty well and I’d love it if you’d consider doing something like a trial run for me? You’ll live here with me for a week and if we’re feeling each other at the end of the week, you’re more than welcomed to stay with me.” I had to agree with Eric. Eric and I hit it off so well that I almost stopped thinking about John and with time I knew that I’d be able to forget what he done to me.
“I think that’s a great idea.” I said and my words slurred. “I am definitely the type of woman that you need in your life.” I was a bold woman but I never said anything like that which was proof that the liquor had gotten to me.
“I bet.” Eric said and smiled at me sweetly. I looked into his dark eyes and I saw a longing in them that I hadn’t seen in a month and I realized then that I wanted him too. It might have been the booze in my system or the fact that I hadn’t gotten any in a while, but I wanted to feel his warm hands all over my body. I wanted him to hold me, to stroke me, and I wanted to feel protected in his arms. The way that Eric looked at me I knew that
he appreciated me and that’s what I needed most. I wanted him to take away all of the pain that John made me feel and to replace them with pleasure. I couldn’t resist him any longer so I leaned in close to him and kissed him on the lips.
“Mm…” I moaned as his tongue explored the inside of my mouth. He sucked on my tongue and nibbled on my bottom lip gently. Growing hot all over my body I reached my hands out to him and stroked his biceps. His muscles tensed as I rubbed his arms. He reached his hands to my breasts and cupped them and I shivered when his palms brushed over my hard nipples. After a while of rubbing them through my dress, he pulled the front of it down exposing them. I was happy that I decided to go braless. He took his lips from mine and licked and sucked gently on my nipple. “Ah” I moaned again as the sensations ran through my entire body. His movements started to become more hurried so I was able to tell that he wanted to do much more than what we were already doing.
“Can I take your dress all the way off?” he asked. I looked at him with a ‘did you really have to ask me?’ expression on my face and I nodded my head. He pulled the dress down my curvaceous frame and I lifted my hips so that he could pull it completely off. He discarded it on the floor. “You’re stunning.” He said and I blushed. Even though I’ve had several drinks, it’s seems like my drunken high was coming down, but I still enjoyed myself immensely.