.

The soft fullmoon’s glow highlighted his greying hair.

How many time had she imagined running her delicate fingers through it? How many times had she thought about telling him? Now standing together in the darkness, her feelings were a pure paradox. She just couldn’t tell what she wanted… Else than for him to break the silence.

But he just leaned against the bricked wall and repressed a sigh, and something in his eyes changed. She had never seen that particular gaze before.

For a second, she wondered if she had really asked the question. Had she made it sound rhetorical? Maybe it was all for the best, and with a little chance, she could pull herself out of the uncomfortable situation the next day by playing the ”joke” and ”drunk” card.

She rearranged her purse strap on her shoulder, put out her cigarette and threw the butt in a trashcan nearby.

Maybe we should…

She vaguely pointed towards the bar entrance. That finally put an end to his mutism.

Wait, wait! There’s no rush… So… – he cleared his throat – Maybe it could change something, and I might have tried to kiss you here and there,  but… -there was always a but – the smoking really turns me off!

Aouch! Talk about a slap in the face. Now she needed another drink. But not before saving her face. Faking a wide Cheshire Cat smile, she replied.

Nice! That’s quite the incentive… to keep smoking. I really would have hated to come between you and your better half.

And to back what she had just said, she pulled her pack from her bag, intending to light herself one. But before she noticed, he walked the two or three steps that separated them, and snatched the cigarettes from her hand.

He stood so close to her that she could feel the fabric of his shirt gently rubbing against her bare shoulder, and she caught a drift of his musky perfume. Her head spun a little. Bending over her, he whispered to her ear,

Where are these mints you always carry with you?

A trembling hand searched her pocket, slipping the tiny metal box in his. Not backing out an inch, he popped the box open, took a mint for himself, and served her another, that she accepted like an offering.

She thought about trying to stop him. But she just couldn’t. It was hard enough just not to initiate any forward step into this terrible, terrible mistake. The feeling of his breath on her cheek was so much more inibriating than any of the alcohol they had drunk during the evening…  Kiss me, God damn it! – she thought.

As if he was reading her mind, one of his hands plunged down to her lower-back while the other ran up the back of her neck, and pulling her a little closer, he pressed his lips against hers.

OMG – she thought. Was this really happening?

He was SO going to regret this later.

Or would he?

.

Catch up with Part 1…