Page 38 of The Woman in 3B
“I hope the wine wasn’t presumptuous,” she remarked.
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” I observed coyly.
“Touché.”
“Your house is really amazing,” I repeated my earlier appraisal. “How long have you lived here?”
“In Dearborn—all my life,” she told me. “In this house—about three years. I had a condo downtown before, but logistically it didn’t make a lot of sense to live so far from the airport. I’m only about fifteen minutes away now.”
“I’ve got you beat,” I said. “I live in Romulus.”
Anissa laughed. “Geez. You’re not kidding. You might as well liveinthe airport.”
“It’s convenient,” I shrugged. “I’m on call a lot, so it’s helpful to be able to get to the airport if I’m called in unexpectedly.”
“Could they still call you in tonight?” she asked.
“Last flight out leaves for Madison at 10:45p.m.”
Anissa glanced at the digital clock on her gas range. “Two more hours until you’re in the clear.”
“I don’t have to go in if they call me,” I noted. “There’s a whole group of flight attendants with less seniority who are permanently on reserve. They’ll even fly someone in from a different airport if they can’t find someone close to Detroit to take the flight.”
Anissa smiled around the rim of her wine glass. “So you’re not going to run out on me tonight?”
Her question and the low burn of her voice produced an involuntary reaction in me.
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
I was thankful I had the oversized wine glass to clasp between my hands. Without the task, I worried my hands might shake.
I toyed with the rim of my wine glass. “I still can’t believe you live here all by yourself.”
“I promise I’m not hiding a secret family in the attic.”
“I know. It’s just so much space.” My apartment was a shoebox compared to her square footage.
“I’m gone too much for a pet,” she told me. “I thought about getting a roommate, just so I wouldn’t come home to an empty house, but I realized I’m not very good at sharing.”
“You really buy the seat next to you on all your flights?” I asked. “How does your boss allow that? I thought you had layovers because your company was so stingy.”
“It’s free,” she said. “I do so much flying, the airline gave me a companion pass. And since I don’t have an actual companion, I use it to keep the seat next to me open. You meet a lot of weirdos while traveling. I like to have a barrier between the weirdos and myself.”
“Too bad it does nothing to protect you from weirdo flight attendants,” I nervously joked.
Anissa cleared her throat. “I would like to address the elephant in the room.” She set her wine glass on the kitchen island. “I would like to have sex with you tonight.”
“R-really?” I managed to choke out.
“Really,” she confirmed with a nod. “But not if it’s going to make you anxious until we actually do it. I’d like to enjoy some time with you before we actuallyenjoyourselves,” she emphasized. “Will you calm down if you know that, yes, we are having sex—but notright now?”
I paused to consider her question. “I think—yeah. That actually might work.” It was actually a brilliant proposal. I wet my dry lips. “There’s just one thing I need to do first.”
She arched an eyebrow, but I didn’t elaborate or expand on my explanation. The quizzical expression on her face remained even as I rounded the kitchen island. I leaned closer, eliminating the space left between us. I took a quick breath; she smelled like the same soap that had been in her guest bathroom—light and flowery.
I licked my lips once more before pressing my mouth against hers. My body seized the moment our lips connected. Anissa made a quick sound of surprise before I felt her kissing me back. Any kind of fantasies or daydreams I’d had about what her mouth might feel like paled in comparison to the real thing.
Her lips were soft, yet firm. I loved the gentle press of the side of her nose against mine and the scent of her skin. I could taste the slightest hint of the white wine we’d been drinking. I was tempted to deepen the kiss or at least to brush my fingers against her chiseled cheekbones, but I didn’t think I’d be able to stop at a simple kiss if I’d done that.
