The First Touch (4 page)

As usual, she averted them quickly and replied, “Let me guess you’re an actor?”

He frowned
,
slightly alarmed
,
though he hid it well, “No.”

She fr
owned mumbling to herself, “Interesting
.” She looked
down at her pants one last time, before adding
, “Well then since you are alright
,”
she gestured to his standing figure, “I won’t take any more of your time.”

She turned on her heel
s
and without a moment’s hesitation she headed down the sidewalk. He smiled and nodded his head politely, but instantly realized that he had just severed their connection. His calm demeanor quickly turned to desperation, as he darted after her.

Follow me

The stutter step that followed her as she made her way down the
sidewalk
,
was a little encouraging and unnerving. Her head was still swimming from the clos
e proximity to the most gorgeous
man she had ever seen in real life
…
and now
…
he was following her
. He spoke softly
,
sounding as if he were right in her ear, “I am sorry, I didn’t get your name.” She slowed her pace and slowly turned expecting to find him right next to
her. Only to find that he was no
t as close as she had first thought, her momentum sendi
ng her into a full turn. H
e closed the distance between them
eagerly
enough though
.

He asked again, “So, what is your name?” She shook her head and looked back at him and then answered distracted by her train of though, “
Autumn
, my name is
Autumn
.
” She turned away from him and began walking again a little more slowly now
,
her heart s
till pitter-pattering
.

He grinned,
not seeming to notice her preoccupation and matched her pace, fallin
g in step instantly, repeating
, “
Autumn
,
that is a
lovely name.” His charm returning
as his mind struggled to get into the game.

She frowned
,
returning to the present
, and
reciprocated absent mindedly, “What’s your name?”

He replied, “Ivan
,”
and
she stopped short
,
suddenly wide-
eyed.

He swallowed h
ard at her sudden change
, his heart pounding now at the constant readjustments that he was
having
to respond to, “Ivan?” He nodded his head and she continued breaking into a wide smile, “Ivan, perfect
,”
though she made i
t sound anything but that. S
he
finally
caught his expression of confusion, and she added disbelievingly, “
I have always liked that name.
It’s Russian right?”

He nodded, wondering if he should have given her anot
her name as his appeared to dis
agree with her somehow.
She let the name roll around in her mouth as she mumbled, “Ivan
,
Ivan,
” as
he watched ever so closely. If she had had enough courage to look at him again she would have seen that his intensity was beginning to show. His eyes began dilating waiting for any encouraging sign from her.

When she realized that the eyes that she felt were from him, she glanced over at him and mi
sunderstanding his intensity,
her blush deepened. “You’re staring
,
”
and she shot him a look of disapproval,
although she was secretly thrilled.

He promptly dropped his gaze an
d stared at his dusty shoes, wishing that her hair was
not hanging in such a way
to obstruct
his view of her face. His anxiety level was through the roof, and her discomfort was only making it worse. He knew what he must accomplish in the next twenty-four hours, but his frustration with the obvious non-compatibility of the two of them
,
made him struggle against it
, in spite
of
the evidence to the contrary
.

He looked up again and realized that the silence was beginning to stretch and a
lump formed in his throat
as he feared
that she might
try to
flee again
,
so he spoke hastily
his voice catching as he offered
, “Well Autumn
…
I
…
think we passed a coffee shop about a block ago would you like to get a cup of coffee?” She smiled awkwardly at him and looked up at his face for a sign of his intention
s
.

He tried to look sincere but he
felt awkward instead,
exposed, t
hough he guessed that it did not sh
ow on his face because,
she smiled b
rightly and replied sweetly
, “Yeah sure why not.” She
smirked at him, offering
, “But I know a better one a few blocks up.”

He smiled
back;
unnaturally chipper
as he tried to keep the conversation light in hopes of keeping her comfortable
, “Excellent.” He gestured for her to lead the way, and they walked in silence for a few blocks until she pointed at a smaller coffee shop across the street.

They crosse
d at the corner and he opened the door
for her smiling politely, and she mumbled
a, “T
hank you
,
” brushing
past him
, giving him his first treat. A whiff of her scent, which he made a mental note of in case they were separated, this needed to go off without a hitch. His life depended upon the decisions of a fickle female tonight and he would take no chances
.

She headed straight for the back corner of the
dimly lit
coffee shop and sat at
one of
table
s
that had small tea candles
glowing on it.
He followed her without hesitation, smiling happily with every blush and coy smile, feeling slightly more confident
, with his task
. As he sat, the waitress walked u
p eyeing Ivan and
Autumn
searching
for the connection between the odd pair
, as Autumn seconded her look of confusion as she took off her coat
.
H
e answered
swiftly
,
hopi
ng to be left alone with his newest
dilemma
,
“Two black coffees please.”

He watched her in the dim light of the coffee shop, and realized that her posture had changed entirely.
She was now more comfortable, h
er eyes were keenly aware of her surrounding
s
, and she definitely did not like who ever was
walking up behind him
.

He turned to see
the waitress returning with their drinks
, eyeing
Autumn
curiously
again
as she did
, and she shrugged
.
While
Ivan slid the sugar over to her, in hope of regaining her attention
,
as the coffe
es
steamed sent the aromas of the roast seeds wafting up into the air
. Au
tumn did not meet his gaze though; busing
herse
lf by taking off her
hat
and scarf
instead.

Then ta
k
ing a hair tie from her pocket, she
pulled her hair up
out of her face
. He watched her g
raceful well-practiced moves
pulling each strand into a perfect twist and tucking it up on to the top of her head
,
pinning it down
perfectly. Ivan absently stirred his cup,
waiting for the reveal. The change was instantaneous and Ivan gasped involuntarily, realizing just how much he had missed.
Autumn asked, half joking
, “That bad, huh?”

He stared at her unflinching for a few moments, before replying, “No.” He hoped that his intention was not lost on her. He g
uessed that it was not
,
as s
he began to blush
once more. She stared
at the dri
nk in front of her
, awkwardly waiting for him to begin conversing
. G
rasp
ing
at straws
, he asked benignantly,
“So what do you do for a living?”

She looked up at him and replied, “I’m a blood Tech.” Ivan smiled at the irony, but did not comment. Autumn added
hopefully
, “How about you? What do you do?
” Adding a bit quieter,
“
Modeling of some sort I am guessing.”

“No
,
I am an antiquities dealer.” He lied.

“Really that sounds like an interesting job
,”
she replied brightening.

He shrugged and replied
with disinterest in hopes of steering the conversation back towards her life
, “It is not.”

She took it in stride though her mood remaining cheerful, “Well then what should we talk about?”

He stared at her for a moment before asking, “Where were you born?”

“Down south
, though I have lived
in the city
for most of my life
, my family
moved here when I was a little girl
.”

He replied sounding interested, “Oh really, where at down south?” She stared at the candle lit in the center of the table and answered his question absentmindedly and then she began rambling on about her life
, as she poured sugar into her drink
.

He swallowed hard and tried not to believe his eyes, how had he missed that. Her skin was soft porcelain, with olive eyes and dark brown hair. He noticed now, when the candle light hit her hair
,
hints of auburn shown in her hair and eyes. His fingers stretched involuntarily as he thought of what it would b
e like to touch her
. Her heart shaped lips were full and deep and realized then that he was longing to kiss her
though the longer he stared the less he
cared if she was the one from his dream or not, he simply wanted to taste her
. A
hidden beauty
, h
e smiled at that thought. A
question flew from his lips before he could stop himself, cutting
Autumn
off abruptly, “Why do you cover your face up?”

She stopped talking and picked up her drink, sipping her drink uncomfortably and looked at him puzzled. He clarified suddenly feeling strangely awkward, “Your hair when we first met you had it half covering your face. It suites you better to wear it how it is now.”

She blushed at his remark and then replied, “We live in a city full of bad people
,”
she shrugged, “If they don’t see you then they don’t harass you as much.”

“If you do not like it
then why do you live here
?”

She smiled and stared at her coffee, then returned, “I like the convenience of living in the city, the theaters, the museums, and the combination of cultures.” Just then an Indian couple passed by, as she looked lost in thought for a moment before continuing, “Well it is worth the headache for now anyways.”
She smiled mumbled to herself, “
I imagine after a few more years, a smaller town might seem more appealing. Maybe even living abroad...” She let her words fade off as she smiled a little smile to herself into her cup as she stirred it absent-mindedly.

Then she shifted her weight, grabbed a pencil from the pocket of her coat, and pulled a napkin from the pile on the table. She did not even look up while she scribbled something onto it and hastily shoved them both back into her jacket pocket. He leaned forward and smiled his eyes looking at her with renewed interest. She shifted in her seat obviously uncomfortable
with his sudden apparent interest in her scribbling, while
he continued to stare at h
er unblinking. A
utumn aske
d, adding creamer to her coffee finally,
“How about you?”