The woman straightened, her hand flying to her mouth as she gazed at him in surprise.

"Jeez, I'm so slow. I can't believe I didn't recognize you. Of course, you are Adam Garcia, the great sports extremist and also a photographer."

It's not her.

Adam would never have thought that three words could make him experience such a conflicting mix of relief and regret.

Damn, he'd gotten his hopes up again, just like he'd done last night, surveying the women around him at the masquerade party in search of the mystery woman behind the riveting mask.

Tonight, it'd been the scent that'd assailed him right when he'd crossed over to her, that utterly unique fragrance that'd been lingering at the back of his sense for the past four months, never overpowering, just there.

Not to mention the pair of peculiar amber eyes that'd arrested him the moment he'd gazed into them.

What would he have done if she'd turned out to be that woman, anyways? Do what only a stupid man would do and tell her just how crazy she'd driven him throughout the four months without even meaning to?

"Hey, are you okay?" The woman he was with now questioned, her smile dimming a little.

"So you are a fan of mine?" He asked her, pulling on a smile and hoping it looked as flirtatious as possible.

"No." Her answer came too quickly. "Yes. Well, maybe, I guess. I found you on YouTube last night and have become fascinated so..."

She trailed off, eyes widening as if she'd realized a blunder. Adam leaned over, propping his arm on the rail, deciding he was going to press his advantage here.

He'd gone without sex for almost two weeks and for a man who loved sex and all the pleasures to be found in a woman's body so much, two weeks was quite some time.

If the vibes of attraction he was picking up from this woman were anything to go by, then he wasn't going to have a tough time convincing her to help him get the release he was craving.

"Hmm, tell me. In what ways do I fascinate you, sweetheart?"

She rolled her eyes and looked away, her obvious way of playing off his question. "You wish, huh? It's not about fascination. I just think you are weird, you and all the other people who do extreme sports."

"Hmm," He quirked his brows and twisted his lips in a perverse smile. "Well, that's new. People have called me many things from suicidal to psycho, never weird. Why do you think we are weird?"

"Oh come on, do I need to spell it out?" She said in a 'duh' manner, gesticulating wildly with her hands and facial expression as she continued.

"I've watched videos where people do rock climbing or stand at insane heights to bungee jump or skydive and they always look so creeped out like they could puke at any moment and yet still they jump."

The incredulous look on her face made him chuckle softly. "And what's usually their reaction once they're in the air."

She shrugged, snorting. "They go like 'hooo' and 'hi-ha' but I think that's only for the camera so they won't look like cowards."

"Wow, that's some wild speculation." He said, unable to resist the smile that tugged at his lips. "What about me though? Why do you think I'm weird?"

"I watched four fricking videos of your adventures. The bungee jumping in Zimbabwe, a Mount biking video, and what the hell the ice skating on that steep slope in New Zealand. And you showed no fear. Not even a hint of it. Do you never fear or do you just put on a bold facade?"

"What's there to fear?"

"What's there to fear?" She was looking at him as if he'd asked her to give him her panties. "People die you know? I watched this documentary on how twenty people have died from bungee jumping."

"Bungee jumping started way back in the 1900 and only twenty people have died so far." He reasoned. "The fear is all in your mind."

"Well, even though I know luck loves me a lot, I'd rather not test its patience, thank you very much." She drawled wryly.

Adam caught himself smiling genuinely for the second time that night, and it suddenly occurred to him that he'd never had a long conversation with any of the women he was sexually attracted to that wasn't inherently sexual or flirtatious.

Most of the women who knew him for who he was before he took them to bed only fretted about how incredible it would be to jump the bones of such a rugged, outdoor man.

"How long have you been wishing you could be doing extreme sports?"

He could sense that thing about her. The need to reach out and live dangerous adventures, only encumbered by the world's judgment and fear of the consequences.

She lifted a brow his way as if caught off guard by his question, and possibly, his insight. "What makes you think I want to do any of that crazy stuff?" She seemed to shudder at the very thought.

"You spend your time watching people doing that crazy stuff. Don't tell me you only do that to awe at the extent people will go for a thrill." He mused.

"That's exactly why I do it."

"What if I became your tutor?" He asked her on a spur of spontaneity.

"What?" She asked, turning her gaze back to him.

He looked away, stunned that he'd made that offer. "You know, help you to overcome that fear you have in you."

"Oh you mean teach me how best I can break my own bones."

He groaned lightly at her adamancy. "You make extreme sports sound like it's the country's capital punishment. Really, it's not all that its definition is cut out to be. There's nothing like the feel of the frictionless ice while you glide on an ice skate down the steep slopes, or the freefall of gravity when you jump from a plane thousands of feet high and soar through the air."

"Believe me, nothing you are saying is helping things here." She mused, horror characterizing her expression, which made Adam chuckle.

"Seriously, I could help you."

She was about to say something when her phone dinged with a notification. "Sorry." She said as she took her phone from the pocket of her dress.

"It's my mum. God, I can't believe it's midnight already. I'm making a freaking presentation tomorrow. Damn you, Victoria." She muttered under her breath. "I'm sorry I need to go."

Disappointment washed over him as she slewed to walk off, but as if on second thoughts, turned to look at him. "I had a...nice conversation."

"You'd better take my number in case you change your mind on the tutoring." He winked at her. "Or the no-strings-attached thingy."

She threw her head back and laughed, and it did things to his insides that he found all too alarming. "Sorry, playboy. Not up for any of those offers."

"I have a feeling you are going to change your mind so just so you can save us time because I don't like reading fan emails, you better take my number."

"You are a tenacious one, aren't you?"

He shrugged, and she handed him her phone, a sleek Samsung of the latest version. Launching the phone app, he entered his digits and saved them before handing her phone back to her.

She glanced at the screen briefly, then turned her look to him. "Wild One, huh?"

"Don't you forget that, sweetheart." He waggled his brows at her. She turned to go, and he caught her arm before she could take two steps. "Hey, I didn't get a goodbye kiss."

"Haha, very funny." She tilted to him and flashed him that look.

He didn't know if she wasn't aware of what that look could do, but it sure was enough to have his groin tightening even further.

She pulled her arm from his light grip, and without looking back, began sauntering away. Adam watched her go, and he was just about to turn and admire the city view when a sense of déjà vu swept over him.

The same feeling he'd had when the masked woman from last year's New Year's Eve party had run off after the kiss they'd shared.

"Hey!" He called out to the woman walking away from him, and she rotated to face him in the middle of the party guests, an impatient look on her face. "I forgot your name." He said louder just in case the forte music made it difficult for her to hear him.

"That's because I didn't tell you, duh."

"What's it then?"

"I'll tell you later." She started to hurry off again.

"Which means you are going to change your mind?" He shouted. "I'll be expecting your call."

"Don't count on it." She shot back just before she rounded a group of dancers.

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

"Who does that bitch think she is to kick me out of her party? I was the fucking star there." Raul droned in his slurry, alcohol-induced voice.

"You'd better shut your trap, Raul." Lucas, who was driving and in whose car they were riding, demanded, his voice vibrating with mirth. "If I were in your shoes, I would've buried myself right there in the bedroom."

Apparently, while Adam had been on the terrace chatting away with the no-name woman, Raul had gone up to a bedroom with the party host-or was it her friend?- to screw their brains out. Only to end up puking on her dress when he'd made to strip her out of it.

"Fuck off, Lucas. It was just a little puke. Don't do shit."

"Haha, I bet you will be saying the same thing tomorrow morning when you wake." Lucas said wryly, absently scrubbing a hand along his jaw.

"Lucky he had been planning to suck her tits and not kiss her when the shit happened." Adam added, cringing at the image had it been the other way round.

Lucas pulled the car to a skidding stop, his patent way of announcing that they'd reached their destination.

"Now you better get your ass out before you make a mess here too." He shot at Raul.

"Fuck you!" Raul issued him the middle finger with a wobbly hand, then turned to his stepbrother who'd comfortably passed out right after he'd slumped into the car.

"Alfredo, get up." When Alfred didn't stir, Raul reached over and shook him violently.

"What the heck?" Alfredo muttered once he shot awake.

"We're here. Let's go." Raul slurred. Once they were out and the drunken goodbyes had been said, Lucas zoomed off the car.

"I bet Raul's going to cringe when he's sober every time he remembers puking on the girl." Lucas chuckled softly.

"You bet!" Adam said, but his mind was far away.

He was thinking of the girl he'd just met at the party and had to suppress a smile. There was something about the woman that drew him in. Not just her witty replies and comebacks, but the peculiar similarities between her and the mystery woman from New Year's Eve.

And wasn't it such a coincidence that they'd both left without telling him their names?

≿━━━━༺❀༻━━━━≾

The next day, Adam groaned to a text message notification on his phone. Stretching and yawning, now fully awake, he grabbed his phone off the nightstand and had to smile when he read the text.

Where can we meet later?
-Eva(Partygirl)