The man let the mask snap back on his face as two girls came laughing out of the coffee shop. He watched them go, then turned back to me.
“What’s your name?” he asked. There was an urgency in his voice that hadn’t been there before. His nervousness was contagious. I hitched my purse up higher on my shoulder. What was I doing here, kissing a complete stranger? It was insane.
“What’s yours? Zorro?”
“I’m not telling you,” he said flatly.
“Fine,” I said. “Then you can hardly expect me to tell you—”
“What’s your name?” His mouth was a hard line on his face and his hand pressed against my hip.
“Look, I have to go. Really. Thank—thank you for the kiss.” My whole body was hot and flushing, and I couldn’t believe what I’d done. I pushed lightly at his arm. He seemed to realize that he was still holding me and let go abruptly.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just—never mind.” He ran a hand through his dark hair. “Never mind. It’s nothing. Have a good night, okay?”
I stepped away from him. The air was suddenly cold on my skin.
Crazy. This whole night had been crazy. I needed to get home. I turned to leave. Where was the nearest metro station?
“This was just a kiss,” he called out after me. I turned to see him standing in the middle of the sidewalk, watching me walk away. Black suit, black mask, black hair. And eyes like the sky.
“Right,” I said, and a strange feeling went through my chest, pressing down on my heart. “Just a kiss.”
Just a kiss.
It doesn’t mean anything.
Chapter Three
I trudged back up the stairs to the apartment and pushed the door open. Mac darted across the room and wound himself around my ankles, purring. I reached down to pet him and only touched the tip of his bushy gray tail before he darted away again.
“Thanks, Mac,” I muttered. “Guess I can’t keep any guy interested in me.”
I bit my lip as my thoughts drifted back to the guy in the mask. I hadn’t stopped thinking about that kiss the whole way back.
“Lah!” Arlen cried, waving a fist in the air.
“Good to see you, too, Princess Arlen,” I said, smiling as she toppled backwards into Emma’s lap in a fit of coughing.
“Hey, lamebutt,” Emma said, kicking me lightly in the ass as I walked by the reclined couch. She had a jar of applesauce open, and half of it was already on her blouse.
“Hey, dorkface. What are you two doing up?”
“Arlen woke me up and insisted that we watch a Project Runway marathon. Didn’t you, baby?”
“LAH!”
The TV blared about dresses and models and which super gorgeous woman looked best in their super gorgeous outfits. I wondered idly if I could ever judge a fashion show without going on a murder spree.
“There’s mac and cheese in the microwave for you.” Emma lay back on the cushions and tried to interest Arlen in a spoonful of applesauce. Arlen swatted it away.
“You are a blessing in a world filled of cruelty, my dear sister,” I said, heading over to punch a minute into the microwave. I dumped a can of catfood into Mac’s dish and he came running.
“Bad date?” my sister asked.
I sank back onto the countertop that separated the kitchen from the rest of the apartment.
“It was… rough.”
“Not Mr. Right?”
Instantly I pictured his face in my head. Not Daniel’s. The man in the mask. When he’d pulled up the mask, I’d seen his eyes searching mine for something. An answer to a question he hadn’t asked.
I wondered what he was looking for.
“Hello? Lisa?”
“Lah!”
Arlen’s voice snapped me back to reality.
“Huh? Yeah. I mean no, he wasn’t Mr. Right. He was Mr. Very, Very Wrong.”
“Then why were you twirling your hair just now?”
“What?”
“Whenever you’re thinking about a guy you like, you futz with your hair.”
I flushed. My fingers flew back down to the countertop and gripped the fork for my mac and cheese.
“I just need to trim my bangs, that’s all.”
“Oh my gosh! You did like that guy!” Emma sat up, suddenly alert. “Tell me about it! What happened?”
“No, no, no. It wasn’t my date,” I said, embarrassed to talk about it.
“Then who?”
“There was this guy performing, and I saw him after the show…”
The memory of the man’s hot kiss burned on my lips. The way his hands had come around my waist, drawing me close. Like he wanted to pull us together completely. Like he needed the same thing I did.
I shook my head, getting rid of the thought.
“It was nothing,” I said.
“Don’t you lie to me,” she said, and waved the applesauce spoon in my direction. “Little sisters know when you’re lying. Who is this guy?”
“He’s a nut,” I said. “A handsome nut, but definitely a nut.”
“And why are you blushing?”
I stuck a fork of mac and cheese into my mouth so that I wouldn’t have to answer, but Emma was already hot on the trail.
“He kissed me.”
“He what?!”
“It was just a kiss,” I said, echoing the guy’s last words to me. “He was attractive and that was it.”
“Lisa, you haven’t kissed a guy in forever!”
“It hasn’t been forever!” I protested.
“It’s been like, six months.”
“That’s not forever.”
“It’s almost forever,” she amended. “Okay, so spill. What did he look like?”
I thought of how he’d stepped up on stage. So perfectly confident in front of a roomful of people. The way his strong arms had strained his suit when he leaned against the wall. How could I describe the way he’d made me feel when he looked down at me from the stage?
“Um, he was tall. And, like, muscle-y.”
“Muscle-y?” My sister raised her eyebrows.
“And he had really nice eyes,” I said. “Light blue-green eyes.”
“What about his hair?”
“Uh, dark hair. Dark brown, almost black.” I thought of the dark stubble on his chin and how it had rasped against my skin when he kissed me harder. Heat pulsed through my body. I knew exactly who I would be thinking about tonight when I touched myself in the bathtub.
It was harmless, I told myself. Just a mini-crush on a guy I’d never meet again in my life. One kiss, that was all.
One unforgettable kiss.
Emma snapped her fingers at me.
“Yeah? What?”
“I said, what does he do for work? What’s his name?”
I blushed even harder. Emma dropped the applesauce spoon into her lap.
“Oh my GOD! You don’t even know his name? Lisa, you slut!” She burst into laughter.
“It was just a kiss!” I said.
“That is amazing!”
“Amazing? Really?” I put my hands on my hips.
“This is so totally unlike you!” She was nearly hysterical with laughter, and I couldn’t help smiling a bit. “Oh man, Lisa, you just made my day!”