Choice

by Jean Booth

  I made it to Miami without incident, called home, and decided to get a drink before leaving the airport to check into the hotel.

  “You are like a red, red rose, and I’m a little thorny.” The familiar words were whispered against my cheek and I was overwhelmed with the smell of mint gum and spicy aftershave. I’d know that scent anywhere. Couple it with the husky timbre of his voice, and my stomach was somewhere in the vicinity of my shoes.

  “Keith! Oh my gosh! What’re you doing here?” I felt my cheeks redden as I slid off the stool to give him a hug. I inhaled his scent as I was pressed against his chest, and frowned. After everything, I still felt a rush of attraction every time I saw him. Hormones are nasty, deceitful things.

  “Hey, babe. Been a long time. I thought I saw you walking in here. Of all the places we could run into each other—crazy.” He grinned at me mischievously as he shook his head in disbelief. “The guys dragged me here to pick up chicks.” He gestured out the tall windows at the palm trees waving in the breeze. “I got divorced again last year, and haven’t really been out since. The boys were kind enough to force me to go on vacation.” His face scrunched up, revealing that he didn’t really see their actions as a kindness.

  “Really? I think you were getting divorced the last time I heard about you. You’ve got to quit picking the wrong ones.” I smiled and shook my head. My heart was resuming its normal cadence in my chest.

  “I should’ve never let you get away.” He looked at me with his dark blue eyes and the past eight years disappeared. I was in trouble. I must have blushed, gaped, or drooled, because he started laughing. “Oh, Tasha, you should see your face! I was just teasing, babe. Kind of. What’ve you been up to?” He asked, flashing his trademark dimples.

  I melted, silently vowing to find a way to eliminate the emotional response hormones brought about in the body as my next project.

  “Oh, you know, a little of this, a little of that. Katie’s daughter is eight, and I get to spoil her every chance I get. I’m a Biomedical Engineer at Double Helix now, so I finally get to play with DNA and mess with the primates.” I grinned at him, easily reverting to our old, comfortable conversations. “I’m here celebrating my birthday. I’ve always wanted to see Bermuda, and this was as good an excuse as any.”

  “Of course, I almost forgot it was your birthday.” He lied easily, but I still caught it. “You’re going on that cruise too? We’ll have to have dinner tomorrow. We should be in Bimini by then, and I’ve been told that they have great clubs. You still dance?” His eyes sparkled with the same mischief I remembered from years ago, causing my heart to do another rebellious flip.

  “Sure. I could use the distraction. It was so good to see you. Hopefully we’ll get to hang out after dinner, too.” I cringed inwardly. Did I really just say that out loud? Way to go Tash, show him how desperate you are for his attention.

  “God, I’ve missed you.” He put his hand on my arm and I shivered. “Shit, my friends are looking for me. I’ll see you tomorrow for dinner, then maybe we can get drinks and hang by the pool. I am so glad I ran into you.” Before I could reply, he leaned in, gave my cheek a quick kiss, and ran off. I finally realized why I’d had an uneasy feeling about this trip.

  I couldn’t believe he was here. Despite my best efforts to resist my initial reaction to him, I couldn’t help but feel more relaxed with him around. That had been the whole reason we’d been attracted to each other to begin with, I provided him with stability, and he encouraged me to relax. He had been in the middle of a very messy divorce and neither one of us was prepared for the onslaught of emotions that had slammed into us.

  We dated for a year before he proposed, and things went downhill from there. His divorce had lagged on due to custody disagreements and he finally agreed to a paternity test so that he could get custody of their son. It came back that he wasn’t the father, and it broke something in him. That was the beginning of the end of us. He loved his son more than anything, and was crushed to find out that he wasn’t biologically his. He turned to the bottle for comfort. We were working things out, and I tried to give him space to deal with what his ex-wife had done to him. It was never really the same after that, though. The writing had been on the wall for a while, but it still crushed me.

  A part of me was glad to have escaped the noose of marriage, though a larger part was heartbroken. He was the first man I’d ever pictured myself creating a family with. I sat nursing my drink, attempting to find meaning in our sudden encounter. I thought of the conversation I’d had with Katie just last night, and suppressed a snort. Of course I’d run into him and have my entire world shift again. Slamming the remainder of my drink, I decided to ignore the whole occurrence and enjoy my first experience of Miami. I wasn’t going to let the ex-love of my life ruin my vacation. This trip was all about me, not about rekindling a lost love.

  My hotel was a few blocks from the pier that I was departing from, but close enough to downtown Miami that I’d be able to enjoy the nightlife before departing on the ship tomorrow. I managed to book the same corner-room for tonight as I would have for the two nights after we returned. It had an amazing view of the Miami city strip along one wall, and along the adjoining wall the curtains were open, revealing the dark Atlantic Ocean. The vast blackness after nothing but lights was eerie.

  I quickly changed into comfortable jeans and a deep red halter-top. I checked out the results in the oversized bathroom mirror, making sure that I looked presentable. I had been dying my hair a dark auburn for a while now, and the ends curled up just above my elbows. My dark brown eyes looked black against my pale skin. My breasts poured out of the halter, displaying my cleavage in the best light.

  Katie had always been athletic and toned, while I was referred to as healthy. Whatever people meant by ‘healthy’ I didn’t really care—I took it as a compliment. I turned side-on to the mirror, examining my protruding breasts. Sometimes I wondered if I would be considered athletic, too, without such a large chest. Alas, the boobs blocked the rest of me. I quickly touched up my make-up, and walked out the door with my head held high.

  I had always thought of my hometown as being a haven for someone single, but I’d never been to Miami. The strip was lit up with signs advertising bars and clubs, all offering girls free drinks until various times. I assumed this was an unspoken way of encouraging men to gather for the promise of drunken sex. I could already tell this was my kind of town. I took a few minutes to enjoy the scenery before I chose my destination.

  Krypt Keeper sounded like a fun club to go to, and my curiosity got the best of me. Stepping around a group of people who were stumbling down the sidewalk, I made my way in the direction the sign pointed. Sure enough, when I finally got past the ID check, there were goths and vamps flooding the place. A Zombie, B-Positive, and Bloody Mary’s were the obvious drink options, but the most intriguing to me was a drink called Dracula’s Vein; it had vodka, cranberry, and a secret mix that infused a spice I’d never tasted before to the alcohol.

  The music was loud; dance with a techno under-beat. I was in my own personal heaven. I was sitting at the bar enjoying my second drink when I saw Keith walk through the door. My pulse quickened and I had to close my eyes to bring it back under control. He was with all his old friends and was the most breathtaking of them all. He was six foot two with short dark brown hair, deep blue eyes, and a body that was honed to perfection from working construction. He was, unfortunately, still able to make my body melt and burn all at once.

  “Vaht is a luvley voman like you doing here unaccompanied?” A perfect Dracula wannabe had found his way to me. Great.

  I thought I was playing unapproachable bitch better than that, but unfortunately not. I was also hoping that Keith wouldn’t see me getting hit on by a dork. I had to have more appeal than that.

  “Look, Vlad, is it? I’m flattered that you decided to come over and talk to me, but I’m just not interested in anything right now. Thanks, though.” I gave him my best toothy smi
le that could never be mistaken for anything more than a grimace, and turned away, barely giving him a cursory glance.

  “You wound me, darling.” He’d dropped the accent. “It’s Stephan, not Vlad, and you were starting to look rather lonely sitting here all by yourself. I thought I would buy you another drink or see if you would like to dance.” He had silver eyes, and they were fixed intently on my own. I found myself unable to look away. His eyes were mesmerizing, as though someone had poured magnesium into his irises.

  He was about a foot taller than my five-foot-five frame, thin but not anorexic looking, with the paleness of a Spaniard who avoided the sun. He wore a deep burgundy shirt tucked into black slacks. His shirt was rolled up to perfectly display toned forearms. I found myself surprisingly attracted to him, although he was paler than I was used to. I looked back up to his face and he was smiling. Definitely a vamp wannabe with his fake incisors, but what a smile.

  “My dear, I don’t think I have ever been so thoroughly checked out before.” He was holding back the laughter that danced in his silver eyes.

  “You have amazing eyes,” I blurted, my cheeks flushing instantly. “I’m sure you get that a lot, sorry. I don’t usually dance; I tend to flail about a bit too much. If you’re willing to risk it, I’ll take you up on your offer, though.” I felt butterflies in my stomach as he grabbed my hand and led me to the floor.

  Part of the reason I’d agreed to dance with him was because he appeared to be the sort of guy who was used to tripping over his own large feet. Much to my surprise, we glided to the center of the dance floor without a hitch. People parted very subtly for him without a word between them. We started dancing, moving together as if we’d been doing so our entire lives.

  I was never given the opportunity to get nervous. Making eye contact with him, I sashayed to the bass. His hands slipped slowly against my hips—a firm, but gentle touch edging me on. A touch of pressure against my hip, and I spun in his arms. He pulled me close, my back against his chest. He mimicked my hip rolling, and my heart raced. He clutched my hand and I dipped down to the floor before writhing slowly up his body until I was in his arms again.

  The music changed and I was an instrument to be strummed. He spun me around, caressing my lower back, grazing the area just above my ass. Shivers spiraled down my body. He tipped me back, bending me almost in half as I rode his thigh. I was on a high I’d never felt, my inhibitions were falling away and I was completely in the moment with this man, this stranger. The hand he used to tip me trailed a path of flames down my arm. He laced his fingers with mine and abruptly brought me up so we were once again staring into each other’s eyes.

  The beat shifted again, and I lit up as I recognized it. I wriggled out of his grasp so I could jump up and down, thrashing my hair between raised arms. He laughed at me, and we began to do the robot, oblivious to our surroundings. We danced to four more songs before I practically collapsed in his arms.

  “I have to get some water, join me?”

  “Of course,” he said. He led me to a small table in a room adjoining the dance floor. It was dark, and the music was a muffled beat in here. The table had a little reserved sign on it.

  “I don’t think we can sit here,” I objected as I collapsed into the booth.

  He smiled and slid in next to me. Without needing to be summoned, a waiter appeared at my elbow.

  “What can I get you two?” He asked. I was too busy trying to catch my breath to take proper notice of him.

  “A tall glass of water for the lady and the usual for me. Thank you, George.”

  “Come here often, I see.”

  His mouth turned up at the corners. “I’m here every night to make sure my patrons have a nice time.”

  “Your patrons? You mean you own this place?” I blushed as I heard what I’d said, humiliated that I could be so rude. “I mean, you just don’t seem the type to be a club owner. You look like you would fit in better in the lab. As a worker, I mean, not…not that you look like a lab geek…I mean guy. I work in a lab, and I’m so going to shut up now. Great club, by the way.” My cheeks were on fire.

  “No, you are absolutely correct. I am not at all the typical bar owner, but I must tell you it is so much more fun than sitting behind a desk all day. It is rewarding to be able to help people relax, unwind, and enjoy themselves after a difficult day. I am able to sit back and enjoy the scenery while people do what it is that makes them happy. This bar was created to be non-threatening, and violence is not tolerated. I have yet to have the police visit my establishment, and I’ve been open fifteen years,” he explained with an air of pride.

  “Wow. That’s very impressive. They’re thinking of passing a new law back home that after a certain number of visits from the cops, bar owners have to pay a huge fine every time the police are called.” I was taken aback that he had owned this place for so long, he didn’t seem any older than me. We sipped our drinks for a few minutes, enjoying each other’s company. Before too long, he was called away to help at the bar. His drink was a very deep red color, he drained it before standing up to leave, and took the glass away with him. I stayed for a few more songs, and then made my way over to the bar to say goodbye to Stephan.

  “You are leaving so soon?” Although he’d dropped the Dracula act, he did still have an accent I couldn’t quite place, and a glint of mischief in his eyes. I couldn’t help but smile back at him.

  “Yeah, I have an early departure tomorrow. I’m going to Bermuda, but will stop by and say hi when I get back. It should be in about a week. I had loads of fun tonight, and am glad that I was able to meet you.”

  “As am I. Allow me to escort you to your hotel. The Miami streets can be unpleasant at times, and I would feel poorly if something were to happen to you.”

  His hand was entwined in mine before I had a chance to accept or deny his offer. We walked the block back to my hotel hand-in-hand. I was uncharacteristically nervous with Stephan, yet at the same time I felt very safe.

  “Thanks for walking with me. You really don’t have to; my hotel is just down the street. Maybe we could get together when I get back, if you aren’t too busy with your club?” I asked, more nervous than I’d been in years. It was as if all my experience with casual flings flew out the window. For some reason, I didn’t want a fling with Stephan; at least, not just that.

  “That would be fun. You can reach me there, I have an apartment above the club and am either there or down below.”

  “That’s convenient. We’re here. I told you it wouldn’t be far.” I paused, not wanting to say goodbye to him. “I had fun tonight, it was great meeting you.” I wanted to kiss him, but didn’t want to seem like a tramp. It was stupid really, as I’d probably never see him again, and I was accustomed to just taking what I wanted from men.

  “Natasha, I hope we do meet again, but if my instincts are correct and you are given a choice, I do not think we shall ever see one another. I do so hope to be wrong about this.” He leaned down and kissed me. It was startling and tentative at first, but as he started to pull away I held him closer. The kiss deepened and quickly became impassioned. His hands slid up my back, one pulling me closer, and the other fisting in my hair. I could feel his reaction to me pressing tightly to my belly, and felt my knees go weak. He nibbled my ear and then began kissing lower down my neck. I could hear myself moaning and only vaguely wished we weren’t on the streets of downtown Miami.

  The hand in my hair tipped my head back, and I realized that the hand on my back had slid forward to find my breast. I was whimpering now, a molten body of need when I felt him bite my neck. It was a normal bite that would leave a hickey, but I exploded. It was over in seconds, and I could feel him trembling with need.

  “Forgive me; I have taken liberties without your consent. You are an amazing woman, and I do hope to see more of you. Goodnight, Lady Natasha. May the gods bless you with clear skies and strong winds at your back.”

  I blinked and he was gone. I don’t know how I mad
e it to my room, but I was in bed within minutes. It took me until I was almost asleep to realize that I’d never told Stephan what my name was.

  I took a cab to the ship and arrived just as people were starting to board. Considering I’d only had a few hours of sleep, I felt oddly refreshed. I was also profoundly relieved to discover that Stephan hadn’t left a mark on my neck. The ship came into view and I squealed as the cab driver slowed, honking and yelling at the people milling about. Bouncing in my seat, I leaned my head out the window to get a better look at the first ship I would ever be on. It was so big; it was hard to believe it could float. My cab driver was forced to interrupt my excitement at seeing the boat to remind me to pay him.

  I boarded and found my room with little difficulty and again was glad that I spent the extra for the suite. It had a window that overlooked the ocean and was toward the bow of the ship, no looking back for me. The towel on my bed was folded to look like a pair of bears. For a moment I missed Ash so much it hurt—she would’ve loved them. I took a picture for her and reminded myself to get a picture of Stephan when I got back to Miami so I could show Katie. I hurried up to the main deck and waved to the strangers on the pier, pretending they were all here to see me off.

  I hadn’t realized how high the ship was off the water until I stood at the railing, looking down at the waves lapping against the side. It was unnerving. Once we were well on our way, I wandered around the different decks. The chlorinated pools on two different levels seemed insignificant with the ocean surrounding us. There was a 24-hour workout room with instructors for the day classes. That was probably the most pointless room on this ship—this was a vacation, right? The kitchen, main dining room, and one ballroom were close together, and there were other places to eat on two levels of the ship interspersed with clubs and fitness centers. I made a mental note every time I saw somewhere serving food, or a place providing entertainment.