Page 46 of Once Upon a Beast

“There is nothing I don’t want to do with you and to you. I have imagined what it would be like to have you in my arms and bed countless times and I have a very vivid imagination. I want us to be lovers and when we do, it will be epic.”

I knew I had said too much as soon as it was out of my mouth. I held my breath as I waited for Layla to say something, anything, but she didn’t. I longed to bring the words back, I longed to start the conversation, even the whole evening over.

“Layla, I’m-”

I didn’t get a chance to say anything more because Layla interrupted me. “It’s getting late. I should go. Talk to you later,” she said and hung up the phone.

With a frustrated groan, I dropped on my bed and closed my eyes. All I could think was that I had screwed everything up again and this time I had no idea if there was any coming back.

Chapter 24

Layla

There is nothing I don’t want to do with you and to you. I have imagined what it would be like to have you in my arms and bed countless times and I have a very vivid imagination.

Nic’s words and how they had made me feel ran through my mind all through the night and into the next day. I had called him to get clarity and hopefully ease my mind so I could sleep. I had needed answers and I didn’t want to wait to get them. I knew that Nic could be a bit of a night owl and hoped he would still be awake.

The conversation had started out so well. He was saying all the things I had wanted him to say. But then he went and said so much more. No man had ever talked to me like that. I was a woman who loved words, in books, in movies but it was so much more when they were the words Nic said. Having Nic speak to me that way had my mind going in ways that I didn’t even know were possible, and I liked it.

I hadn’t been able to articulate that to Nic. So, I did the only thing I could do, I hung up on him. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have and I regretted it as soon as I had. Any headway we had made in our relationship had been lost in that moment. I hated that he thought I didn’t like what he said, or that I didn’t want to find out first-hand what he was suggesting. If I had stayed on the phone with him, I could have told him all of that. But I hadn’t and I had no idea how I was going to be able to.

What he said and what I wanted to say to him kept me up all night. I was groggy and lethargic at work. I could have called out and seriously thought about it but the thought of staying home with my thoughts and nothing else all day motivated me to get to work. I hoped being there would give me a distraction enough to not think about Nic and what he had said.

It hadn’t worked.

By lunch time I hadn’t done anything productive and felt bad about even being in the office. I had a few coworkers comment on how tired I looked and a couple even suggested I just go home.

“I just need to take a walk and get some coffee,” I said to Sandy, my boss, as I headed out for lunch.

“Layla, you’re a good worker and I admire your resolve to be here. But if you aren’t feeling well or up to the job, take the afternoon off. It’s okay,” she said.

“Thanks. I’ll think about it.”

“If you don’t come back from lunch, I’ll know what happened. Personally, I hope I don’t see you, but it’s up to you.”

I laughed and nodded as I walked out of the office. No sooner had I got outside that my phone rang. I looked to see that Ara and Ella wanted to video chat with me.

“Do you two have GPS on me and know the moment I leave for lunch?” I asked.

“I really want to tell her we do and that we cyber stalk her all day,” Ara said.

“No, we don’t.” Ella said. “You always take lunch at noon. It’s 12:02, we figured you would be out of the office by now and we want to catch you. How was the date?”

“If possible, it was one of the best and worst nights of my life,” I said with a sigh.

“What? How?” Ara asked.

“Oh, honey. I’m so sorry. What happened?” Ella said.

I walked over to a park bench and sat down and proceeded to tell them all about the evening. How incredible having the Morgan Library to ourselves was. How magical it had all seemed, how wonderful Nic had been. I glossed over the end of the evening and the phone call but I was sure they got the gist.

“You got all upset at the man because he was a gentleman to you? I like this new side to you,” Ara said when I finished.

“I didn’t even know I felt that way,” I admitted.

“Why wouldn’t you? You’ve lusted after this man for years. You never thought you would get a chance to be with him. Now you might. Of course, you want him and you don’t want him to be all gentlemanly. You want him to be anything but,” Ara said with a laugh.

“It was a lot,” Ella chimed in. “I’m sure you were feeling a bunch of emotions.”

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