He took his dark sunglasses off and scanned the room to look for his friend. Instead, his eyes locked on a gorgeous woman who had just walked into the crowded bar. She wore a pink corset top and tight black leather pants that left almost nothing to the imagination. A pair of long black gloves encased her lower arms.
Abigail could feel someone watching her. No. That wasn�t right. No one wanted to watch her. Hesitantly, she turned around and scanned the bar until she found the man who watched her. His heated gaze made her blush, so she turned and shook her head. He couldn�t have been looking at her. She wasn�t something men like him wanted to look at. Wasn�t that what Jesse had told her earlier that night when he broke up with her?
She turned back around. She could see his bright blue eyes from here. Maybe he wasn�t looking at her. But she could dream, couldn�t she?
�Hello? Earth to Denizen.� Remy�s Cajun accent intruded on Denizen�s thoughts. Remy waved his hand in front of Denizen�s eyes. Denizen blinked and focused his eyes on his best friend. �I said I�m sorry I�m late.�
�Where were you?� Denizen asked as he turned and swung his legs to the floor. Remy coughed as his cheeks turned red and he looked away from Denizen�s piercing blue eyes. Denizen sighed in exasperation and leaned his head on the brick wall behind him. �One day, Remy, your hormones are going to get you into some serious trouble.�
�Yeah, yeah, yeah. I�ve heard this speech a million times before,� Remy said. �So,� he said, attempting to change the subject as he sat down, �what were you staring at?�
�Something I can�t have anyway.� Denizen sighed as he sat up and looked back at the woman, who was now idly twisting a piece of hot pink hair in her fingers. Denizen felt something stir inside as he fleetingly wished he could be the one playing with her hair.
Remy felt sorry for his friend. He knew how paranoid Denizen could be when it came to dating human women. �Just go up to her.� Denizen�s gaze snapped back to Remy.
�Not a snowball�s chance in hell,� he said quietly, remembering what had happened the last time he tried dating a human woman. Her name had been Anya, and he could still see the look of terror when he�d told her what he was. He winced at the memory and leaned back. He didn�t want to put another woman through that.
�Denizen, not every woman is like Anya,� Remy said softly as he leaned up and braced his arms on the table.
�Don�t you think I know that?� Denizen snapped.
�Then act like you know it, loup. Go up to her. Talk to her. Buy her a drink, ask her out, do something. Anything but sit there and stare at her,� Remy said. Denizen shook his head.
�I can�t,� he whispered. �I don�t want to put another woman through that. I don�t want to go through that again.�
Remy sat back. �Wow,� he said, �so the big, bad wolf is afraid of something after all.� Denizen glared at him. Why did Remy have to be so damn aggravating? He knew why Denizen was paranoid. Denizen growled low before getting up and walking towards the woman. Remy switched to the other side of the booth to see what his friend would do.
Denizen walked the length of the bar until he reached the booth the woman sat in. She was leaning on the table and had her head resting on her gloved hand. She hadn�t seen him come up; she was facing the opposite direction looking at a menu. He looked at her purse that was on the table: a square, black tote bag with pink cursive writing on it. Denizen smirked at the comment.
�Pink is the new black, huh?�
Abigail gasped and jumped when she heard a man�s voice right next to her.
�I�m sorry,� he said. His voice was deep and sexy. Something Abigail had never been able to resist. She turned to look at him slowly, and was startled to see that it was the man who had been looking in her direction earlier. �I didn�t mean to scare you.�
�No, no, that�s alright. I-I just wasn�t paying attention,� she managed somehow. Oh, my, she thought to herself, and I thought he was sexy from across the bar. Yum-my! She found herself captivated by his fiery blue gaze. �D-did you need something?� she asked him when he didn�t say anything.
�I was just wondering if this seat was taken,� he said with a smile that made Abigail want to melt. His teeth were white and perfectly straight. Why would a man like him want to sit with a girl like her?
�Um, no. N-no one�s sitting there. I�m all by myself tonight,� she said with a small smile.
�May I?� he asked as he gestured to the seat across from her. She nodded wordlessly. �How rude of me. I haven�t introduced myself. Denizen Zaljeda.� He held a hand out to her. She put her gloved hand in his and was surprised when he brought it to his lips and lightly kissed her knuckles.
�Abigail Duquesne, but please, call me Abby,� she said as he released her hand. She smiled as she looked into his blue eyes. His gaze became more heated as he watched her and to Abigail, it felt as if he could read her innermost thoughts. Even the ones that wondered if he had a nice ass.
�Abby,� he said, his voice sending chills up her spine. �That�s a beautiful name.� She smiled again and looked down at her hands, hating the fact that she had to wear gloves all the time. She put her hands in her lap and laughed nervously.
�Thanks.�
Denizen could tell she was nervous. It was obvious. He hadn�t meant to make her nervous.
�Why are you so nervous?� he asked her before he could stop himself. She looked at him in surprise and blushed furiously.
�I�m not used to this,� she said after a moment�s pause.
�What do you mean?� he pushed. She took a deep breath and stared at the black and white tile pattern on the table.
�Guys like you don�t talk to girls like me,� she said softly. What the hell? she thought. Just lay it all out on the table for once. What can it hurt?
�Well, glad to see that it�s not an irreversible process. Someone as beautiful as you shouldn�t be alone,� he smiled at her and delighted in the way she looked when she blushed. He wondered what she would look like after a night in his bed, but he quickly admonished himself. He shouldn�t be thinking thoughts like that. Thinking like that was what had led him to the fiasco with Anya. He didn�t want to go through that again.
�I should probably go,� he said as he moved to leave. He didn�t want to make her any more nervous than she already was.
�No,� Abigail said, surprising herself. �Just have a drink with me?� she asked before she lost her nerve.
Denizen studied her face and knew she felt she was going out on a limb to ask him that. He flashed her a reassuring smile and sat back down. �Sure,� he said.
�Great,� she breathed.
A few minutes later, a waiter came and took their drink orders, and not long after that, Abigail found herself wanting to go home with this man she barely knew. But she knew it was foolish.
�Oh, man,� she said as she looked at her watch a few hours later. �It�s almost midnight. I need to go home.� She started to slide out of her side of the booth before she realized something. She didn�t have anywhere to go. She had moved in with Jesse the month before and her place was being rented.