Page 3 of After Midnight

“No fucking way,” I said and shook my head. Twice now I looked like a moron in dealing with this man and it’s only been a couple of minutes. The city of Orias was north of here, and there was no way he was from there with the accent he had. Every word, every phrase he said made my body pulse. There’s no way he’s from there. “I’ve met men from Orias. You’re not from there, you’re just teasing.”

“Yes, fucking way,” he said and flashed his smile again. The more he smiled, the brighter the room grew, even as the sun moved further down its descent to the horizon. “But, I can see I can’t get anything past you,Dream.I was born in Orias, but grew up in Cedoria.”

The more he said my name, the wetter my panties became, but I was glad he’d given me something else to focus on. My guess wasn’t as rude as it first came off.Get it together, girl,I scolded myself internally and handed him his order. “See? Told you. I was partially right. No one from Orias speaks like that. Here’s your order.”

The corners of Sex-on-a-stick’s mouth curled up even higher than before, showing more of his white teeth. “That’s not what I ordered.”

“Huh?”

“It’s not what I ordered. I asked for the apple almond tart. That’s chocolate cake.”

Somewhere behind me, I heard Jeanette snicker, and my blood began to boil as heat rushed to my face.

“No sir, that’s not what you ordered. You ordered ‘a slice of chocolate layer cake,’ and that’s what you have right there.”

Sex-on-a-stick continued to smile and shook his head. “I’m sorry, Dream. You might’ve heard me say that, but I asked for an apple tart.”

“The hell you did,” I said, and in a huff, grabbed the cake from his hand and tossed in in the small trash can behind the counter next to my feet where I stood. “Sir, we thank you for your business, but you can leave now.”

“You know what? Perhaps Ididsay the cake. I’m sorry.”

“You can leave now,sir,” I said and stomped my foot. My face was on fire.

Sex-on-a-stick tilted his head, then nodded, and without saying another word, he spun around and departed my shop. Though a part of me wished he would have said at leastonemore thing before he did.

Jeanette shuffled beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “That man,” she breathed, “was thehottestman I’ve ever seen in my life! It’s no wonder you messed up his order.”

“Excuse me?” I said and ran my hand behind my neck. “I didn’t mess up his order.”

“I know,” Jeanette said and patted my shoulder with her hand. “I’m teasing. About the order, not how hot he was.”

“Girl, wipe the drool off your mouth. You owe me dinner.”

“Shit, dinner. You’re right, Idoowe you dinner,” she said and hurried to the back room. “You know who else I owe? My littles. Put it on my tab,” she said a moment later and dashed by me, through the café door to her car in the parking lot and was gone.

I looked in the mirror suspended high on the wall behind me, reflecting back the counter and front of the store. “It’s just you and me again,” I said to the girl looking back. “It’s just you and me.”

“Not quite,” came the sickening grate of a male voice behind me as he entered the café doors Jeanette had exited out of seconds before.

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