A. Arthur - Hunger for You

Id say she was like a breath of fresh air, but I dont talk like that. I dont think along those frilly little lines. Still, I was too observant to miss the fact that she was different, that my reaction to her was different.

For the six weeks Id been in D.C. Id been coming to this little bar just about every night of the week. Five of those nights, six if I was really lucky, she was here. The tight miniskirt and even tighter T-shirt that was the waitress uniform didnt really go with her quiet smile and soft brown eyes. The black hair that fell in wavy strands down to the center of her back, elegantly arched eyebrows, and pouty mouth, did in fact match the sultry ambiance the bar reeked of. Contradictionsthere were so many of them where she was concerned. Id begun keeping a mental list.

For instance, she served everything from domestic beer to top-shelf liquor eight to ten hours a day and yet Id never seen her put a glass to her lips. On her breaks she had water or soda, never liquor. Sure, that could be because she wasnt allowed to drink on the job, but that wasnt it. She wasnt a drinker, I was sure of it.

Another one was that I knew she made good tips. Hell, I gave her at least twenty to thirty dollars a night when I was here, but she drove a beat-up old car and lived in a shabby room she rented from an old drunken man who was probably charging her much more than the shack was worth. Yeah, Id followed her home a time or two, on those nights when shed closed up the bar and was driving home alone at three in the morning. I just figured it was safer that way, figured if anything happened Id be there to protect her I guess.

All those years of training that Id detested so much didnt seem to go away, no matter how far Id run.

Two weeks ago Id landed a job at a warehouse, filling orders of computer equipment for what seemed like long hours on top of hours. It wasnt a career, it was a paycheck, and a damned good one at that. I had an apartment, my truck, and I came to the bar at night for hot wings and cold beers. Life was good.

Except she was too damned pretty, too damned innocent-looking for me to ignore. I craved the sight of her more than the beer and wings I always ordered. Needed to see her, be near her, more than I needed to breathe on most nights.

Another Blue Moon for you? she asked in that low, sweet voice she had.

I did a double-take because for the last hour or so another waitress, the hot-and-I-know-it one with the blond braids, had been waiting on me. Her short skirt, fishnet stockings, and tits falling over the rim of her low-cut T-shirt definitely fit her whatever-you-want-Ill-provide attitude. I didnt care for her much, but that didnt matter. She wasnt the one Id come to see.

Sure, I said, instantly happier now that the pretty one, the one I couldnt get out of my mind no matter how much I drank or how hard I tried, was waiting on me. I mean, yes, thank you.

I thought I should smile but I didnt do that often. Then again, I didnt feel this way often. She had that effect on me. She made me want to do things I didnt usually do, didnt usually even think about doing. Although I was taught proper etiquette for the human world, I didnt use please and thank you much. Hadnt met many humans that actually deserved good manners in my travels. As for the females, well, there wasnt a lot I tended to say to them beyond, Yeah, I got a condom, and No, Im probably not gonna call you. I did, however, believe in honesty. Id much rather hear the truth, good or bad, right up front, than be hand-fed one lie after another. But with this female, I was always clearing my throat to make sure my voice was steady and concentrating so that my accent didnt make it hard for her to understand whatever I was saying.

I made eye contact with her, listened intently to whatever it was she was saying, even if I didnt need her to run down the nightly specials, since they were always the same.

Are you finished with that plate? I can get it out of your way if you are, she offered, nodding her head in the direction of the half-eaten plate of hot wings sitting in front of me.

Id been starving when I got off work two and a half hours ago, couldnt wait to get here and get the piping hot and heavily seasoned wings that Id come to favor. But after eating only half, Id lost my appetite. Or rather I realized my appetite had actually been centered on seeing her again, being close to her providing a different type of sustenance than the food had.

Yes, Im finished. Except for the beer, I added because I didnt want her to forget to come back.

No problem, she said, giving me a half smile. She leaned over the table a bit to pick up the plate.

I could see down the V of her blouse, the swell of her breasts that looked soft and creamy. Her complexion was almost as dark as mine, but everything about her skin looked smoother and much more enticing than my own. As if that werent enough to jump-start an erection, the fresh and store-bought vanilla scent of her wafted into my nostrils and I had to grit my teeth. My hands fell to my lap as I moved a little to make the appropriate comfort adjustments.

Id like some nachos and cheese too, I said impulsively.

When she looked at me this time her forehead had the cutest wrinkle and she leaned back a bit before asking, Are you sure? Because you didnt finish your wings.

I was sure that ordering more items would ensure her return to my table at least two more times tonight. That meant this insane urge I had to be close to her would be sated, sort of.

I nodded. Im positive.

She shrugged, but didnt offer me the smile again. When she walked away, even though the view of her tight little ass in that too little skirt was more than arousing, I found that I really wanted to see that smile again.

I liked the way it made me feel inside, the swirl and plummet effect it had on the pit of my stomach, the spreading heat it solicited between my legs. She was definitely hot and I definitely wanted to taste her, what I wasnt so sure of was if one taste would be enough.

This time Id managed only a third of the nachos and half the beer in forty minutes. I couldnt stop staring at her, couldnt wrap my mind around anything else but the way she moved, the way she flipped her hair back behind her shoulders whenever she approached a table, and the adorable way she bit her bottom lip as she wrote the larger orders in her notepad. Each time she walked past me and I caught a whiff of her scent I thought I was going to jump up out of that chair and grab her. My palms itched with the desire to touch her, my mouth watered with the thought of tasting her.

I wanted this female with everything I was, everything I never wanted to be, and I didnt even know her name.

Pathetic. I know. And Id just reached into my back pocket for my wallet so I could pay and take my pitiful self home when he came through the front door and headed right for her. A growl rumbled deep in my chest and it was all I could do to keep my bodyand the cat raging with jealousy includedin the chair.

He was about six feet tall, long arms on a mildly built frame. He wore faded jeans, steel-toed boots, and a long-sleeved thermal shirt. His hair was cut really short, almost bald but not quite and he had a straight, sharp jawline that ended with a goatee. Id never wanted to be like anyone else in my life. In fact, due to circumstances beyond my control, I knew that was impossible. Still, I admit to having considered cutting my light beard and mustache into a goatee, thinking maybe thats what she liked. Thankfully, Id changed my mind. I liked the completed look better and before now hadnt thought twice about my facial hair or how anyone else would react to it. The inconsistencies about her had spilled over to me. That made me uncomfortable, really, damned uncomfortable.