Any guilt I had been feeling previously vanished when we walked inside. She stared open-mouthed at the opulent surroundings of the entrance to the hotel, and I couldn't help but gaze at her with a bemused smile. Even though her beautiful dress said otherwise, Carmen's expression stood out like a sore thumb: no one with wealth ever looked as nervous as she did currently. 

I guided her towards a suited, middle-aged man who stood over a desk with the reservations book laid across it. His black moustache twitched as a spark of recognition appeared on his face at our approach. "Mr Axon! How lovely to see you! Your reservation is ready and prepared to the best of our abilities...and the manager is available to talk about profits..."

I held up my hand. "Thank you, but that won't be necessary. I'm just here for a date."

"O...of course," he stuttered before regaining his composure. "It's right this way, Sir."

Carmen rolled her eyes at me as the server led us to a table next to the large, glass-paned wall which opened up to a balcony, holding stunning views of golden sand gently cascading down to crystal-clear ocean waters. The room itself was almost just as beautiful: it was only mildly busy, revealing a place dominated mostly by the vastness of white walls and pillars along with hanging lanterns, which flickered dimly against the dazzling sunlight. 

I pulled out Carmen's chair and after taking her seat and sending a polite smile my way; I took mine on the opposite side as the server left us in peace. The table was set out to top standards with menus, napkins and cutlery and I was impressed, so far. As an investor, it was always wise to analyse the thing you were investing into, and currently I was happy with my choice. 

"So, Mr Axon," she started, emphasising my name with sarcastic mischief. "I didn't realise you were such a familiar customer."

I chuckled. "I have a substantial amount of shares in this company. They don't want to risk my disapproval."

"Oh," she fluttered her eyelashes for a second, looking slightly shocked. "I didn't...what do you actually do? I mean...you're so wealthy."

I tried not to tense up at her question, attempting to busy myself by taking off my blazer and wrapping it around the back of my chair. "I've had many jobs before. Do you have any business knowledge?"

"No, not really."

I smiled to hide my relief. "Then you won't understand what I do. What would you like to drink?"

"Umm...I don't mind," she was nervously scanning the beverage menu, looking anywhere but at me.

"They do very good wine here."

"Oh," her voice was breathy at first, but she injected some confidence into it seconds after. "I'll have a glass of white wine, please."

I made eye-contact with a waiter, who came barrelling down towards us at the sight of my minimal impatience. "Can I get you something to drink, Sir and Madam?"

"Your finest glass of white, and your finest glass of red," I ordered, my gaze never wavering from Carmen.

He nodded and left, and I grasped the opportunity to take her hand into mine.

"You never told me your last name," I said quietly, as I started to stroke the palm of her hand with my finger.

"It's Summer. Carmen Summer." 

I couldn't help the smile that suddenly took over my face: it was a gorgeous name and it suited her perfectly. 

When our drinks arrived we'd already decided what we wanted for food. I'd gone for my typical medium rare steak, whilst she'd went for some fancy pasta stuff that was a lot cheaper than my meal. She already looked guilty enough when she told the waiter what she was ordering, so I hoped my steak would solidify the fact that she didn't need to feel bad. I could easily afford it. 

After the waiter took our order, I started up another inquiry. "So what do you do for a job then?" 

She peaked up at me and blushed. "I'm a social worker. But I don't really want to talk about work: it's too stressful at the moment." 

"Are they overworking you?" 

She bit her bottom lip and shrugged. "I dunno really. Work is just work." 

I was eager to find out more, her evasiveness was irritating and made me feel slightly concerned, but she changed the conversation before I could get anything out of her. "I presume you must like music a lot, considering how you tested me in the car earlier." 

She gave me another cheeky smile and, amused, I slouched back in my chair slightly, assessing her shrewdly. "I like lots of different genres, but there are just certain types of music I don't listen to." 

"What like?" 

"Rap, heavy metal..." I paused, scowling at the thought of that kind of dysfunctional noise. "I'm not a massive fan of modern pop music. There are a few artists I like, but not too many." 

She nodded, seemingly in agreement. "Yeah some stuff they put out now is awful, makes my ears bleed." 

I smiled widely. "I must reluctantly admit that I'm in agreement with you." 

"Hey!" She put on a face of mock-outrage, which made me chuckle. "What happened to the gentleman who was pulling out my chair ten minutes ago?" 

I paused for a moment, my finger scratching my stubbly chin, as I thought about my answer. "One must decide when to be a gentlemen and when not to be." 

"How do you know when not to be one?"  

"Well," I started, meeting her gaze directly. "For example, if I was to be a gentlemen now, I would be feeling guilty." 

"Why?" Her eyes were so large and earnest and beautiful. I was doomed and entranced at the same time. 

"Because I can't control where my thoughts are going when you look like you do now." 

A strong flush appeared on her pale cheeks at my words, and unconsciously she bit her bottom lip, making my gaze darken. We stared at each other for a moment longer, although it felt like so much longer, before we were suddenly interrupted by a waiter with our food. I thanked him as he put our plates down, and as he left, my gaze returned back to Carmen who was digging into her pasta, our moment forgotten. 

"This is really nice!" She exclaimed after her first mouthful, beaming from ear-to-ear. 

I chuckled. "I'm glad you like it." 

"Thank you." 

We ate our meals in relative silence. I was enjoying my nicely cooked steak too much to hold a conversation, and therefore we finished pretty quickly. 

"Do you want dessert?" I asked her, glancing at my watch and noting it was only one o'clock. 

"No thanks. I'm really full," she added, looking down at her stomach sheepishly. 

"Are you sure?" 

"Yeah. Positive," she reaffirmed, with a nervous laugh. 

"Okay. I'll ask for the bill," I got the attention of the waiter, and he passed me a bill of roughly $100. 

"How much is it?" She asked me with an anxious look on her face, as I paid the price with my debit card. 

"Stop worrying about it," I ordered sternly after the waiter left. "It was quite low for this place anyway." 

She gave me a sceptical look to which I rolled my eyes at. Standing up, I offered her my hand. "Are you ready?" 

"Yes."

She rose to her feet, and took my hand in hers. "I want to take you to the beach, but I need to get a mat out of my car first." 

"You're spoiling me," she said in delight, smiling at me once again. I had to admit, the more I discovered about her, the more I felt glad to have met her. She was one of those rare human beings who had a massively infectious positive attitude, making a grumpy bastard like me smile despite of myself, and it was nice for once to be in the presence of someone who brought light to my life instead of darkness. 

As we got to the car, I threw my blazer inside and swapped it for a blue beach blanket. I shut the door and locked it, wrapping a possessive arm around Carmen as I led her towards the beach. 

The sun was beginning to set when we finally decided that we needed to pack up and go. I was bare-chested and nicely warm and sated, the sun bathing my naked torso in soothing light that was partially blocked by the nice set of shades I had on. Carmen had swapped her dress for my shirt, that, to be honest, was the more conservative option, again showing the height difference between us. She was snuggled up close to me and we had been talking and napping for hours on end. It had been one of the nicest days out I had been on in a while, and it didn't even include alcohol or drugs. 

I'd been a captive audience to any details Carmen decided to share. She loved dogs and animals in general (apart from spiders); she had two younger siblings and had been constantly on the move growing up because of her father's string of temporary jobs; and she had never actually left the mainland USA. I had dodged a lot of her questions, answering when appropriate, but to my relief she didn't seem particularly suspicious.

"Do you want your shirt back?" She asked me, the sunlight catching the ends of her eyelashes beautifully as she looked up at me, her face on my chest, her hand on my shoulder. She didn't allow me to help her get changed into my shirt when she asked for it hours ago, and had gone off in search of a changing room, returning about half an hour later. I didn't want her to leave again so my answer was not a yes. 

"Keep it," I told her, my voice husky. "You look much better in it than I do." 

She blushed again, but she didn't draw away. She was getting a lot more comfortable with me after our time together. 

"Thank you...for today," she said, a blissful smile gracing her expression. "I've really enjoyed myself." 

"Me too," we stared at each other and I found that I was slowly losing myself in her emerald gaze once again, already in too deep.

It was at that moment that I lost all my self-restraint, and leaned down to kiss her. Her plump lips were soft and feminine and tasted of cherry, and were far too tempting to be considered fair. 

She was stunned for a second or two, before she started to kiss me back. I kissed her softly at first, scared that my usual roughness would break her, but as she tempted me and lured me into her spell even more, I started to pour my possessiveness into the kiss. 

When we finally broke away, we were both breathless and she had an adorable, doe-eyed expression on her face. She rested her head once again on my chest, and we stayed in that position for about ten minutes or so, slowly watching the sun go down in blissful silence, disrupted only by the occasional kiss. 

Knowing that I couldn't risk my demonic half coming out right now, I got us both up and guided her back towards the car, racing the setting sun. And as I drove her back to the cafe from whence we met, (for some reason she wanted to get dropped off there instead of her home) my mood became slightly despondent. I knew that this innocent bliss couldn't last forever: she would have to meet my demonic half someday, and it would be better doing it sooner rather than later. But I just knew he would ruin it all. 

Demons were destructive. And that was all we would ever be. 

But as we said our goodbyes, I knew simply that I really didn't want to lose Carmen: she represented a hope that I couldn't afford to have; and a hope that my demonic half would never allow to materialise. But he wasn't there this afternoon, and I wanted it to stay like that forever.