ALYSSA {mature content}

I checked myself in the mirror, for some weird reason I actually wanted to make a lasting impression on the guy, and I quickly accepted that I wasn't going to look any better than I did right now. I didn't even own any dresses, other than the ones which Robert had picked out for me to wear to work, and I mentally reminded myself that I was going to have to pay a visit to Undertone when I received my first paycheque because I had spotted some rather hot dresses while I was in there. And you never know when you're going to need a hot dress, so it pays to be prepared for all occasions.

A gentle knock on the door finally forced me out of the bedroom and away from the mirror. I glanced through the peephole to see Darren on the other side, wearing a chalk grey suit with the top buttons of his shirt casually undone, and he looked rather dashing from this side of the door so I couldn't help but wonder if I was going to be able to keep my hands to myself for the entire evening—it may not have been a date, but that didn't mean I wasn't allowed to have some fun and get something more out of it in the end.

"Well, hello there Mr Brent," I chuckled. I wasn't even ashamed of the fact that I was obviously checking him out because he looked extremely attractive in the suit he was wearing, which were two of my weaknesses when it came to the male population, an attractive male and a male in a suit.

"Hello to you too, Miss Lopez. You look beautiful this evening," he offered me his arm with a smile on his face, and I willingly took it as he guided me away from my apartment, and towards the flight of stairs.

"And you don't look too bad yourself," I teased with ease.

"I happen to find that offensive," he put his hand over his heart as he feigned hurt from the words I had used, "I took three full hours to perfect this look."

I glanced at him for a moment and his face was void of anything which would be able to tell me whether he was being serious or not, but there was something about the words he had used and the way in which he had said them, that told me he had never been more serious about anything in his life.

"I want to believe you're joking," I paused for a second as he took hold of my hand and helped me down the final flight of stairs, "but your face tells me that you're being serious right now."

"Oh. I am being deadly serious. Being this good looking doesn't just happen," Darren replied with a shrug and I literally didn't know what to say. I knew women who took as long as five hours to get ready for a night out, such as my own mother and sister, but the men I knew were ready in a matter of minutes, especially those like my father who didn't give a damn about his appearance and have never given a damn about what people thought about him.

My parents were, quite possibly, one of the most mismatched couples out there. My mother was beautiful, even though she was nearing sixty, she was still gorgeous and had the younger man fawning over her, though she was wholly devoted to my father so they wouldn't stand a chance with her. My father, on the other hand, was average at best, the years showed on his face with each wrinkle and on his head with each grey hair—he often joked that it was down to Rebecca and I that he looked older than he actually was and, if he had had a son rather than two daughters, he would still be as good looking as he was back in the days when he first dating my mother.

My mother did love to talk. You could be in a room with her for two hours and still not have the chance to say anything because, the moment you thought she had finished speaking, she would think of something else she needed to tell you and you would just have to sit there and listen to her blabber on about anything—usually stories of when she first met my father and their life together since the day they finally tied the knot, against the wishes of both their families. My father, though, had always been a man of very few words and, even when I was younger, he would rarely speak because he would prefer to communicate his love through actions rather than words.

I really did miss my parents. I miss being able to walk into their house whenever I wanted and just being able to make myself at home all over again. I miss seeing my mother in the store as we both did our weekly shop. I miss spending time with my father as we went through his box of memories, the very same box of memories we had gone through every single weekend since I had been old enough to understand what my father was telling me.

Perhaps it was time that I phoned them and, if I was really lucky, Andrew may even give me some time off work so that I can visit them. I just wanted to go home for a couple of days, not the dingy apartment I had settled for calling home since the day Dean was sentenced to twenty years in prison, but to my actual home, the place where I am happiest and where everything seems to simple.

"Alyssa?" I caught sight of the hand which was now dangerously close to my face.

"Huh? Sorry? I got caught up in my thoughts," I sighed. I got into the car, not even bothering to look at what model it was, because I wasn't one for caring about cars. If they could drive safely, and they could get me from A to B, I didn't really give a damn about what sort of car it was.

"I only said that I was joking. It probably took me about half hour to get ready, if that," Darren repeated himself and I could feel my cheeks heating up from the embarrassment of having to be told twice what he had said. But, when you chose to be alone, your thoughts and memories become your only friend, and so it's easy to end up getting lost in them, even when you are in the company of other people because the loneliness is something you're so used it, that it's easy to become lost in the things which don't really matter.

"That's a relief. I would hate to think that you took longer than me to get ready," I looked out the window with interest as I took in the sights because I had never bothered to look before. Tall buildings took up the majority of the skyline, the lights illuminated the city from above, and couples walked the streets with their hands in each other's for warmth or they had their arms wrapped around each other in a loving embrace.

"So, Alyssa, tell me about yourself," Darren finally spoke after what felt like an eternity of silence.

"What do you want to know?" I smiled. I had never have someone want to know about me. The last person who had been interested in me, or least pretended to have some interest in me, was Dean and I told him everything he wanted to know, there wasn't anything I didn't tell him and there wasn't anything he didn't tell me in return. We knew everything about each other, except for the fact that he was willing to rape me, simply because I refused to sleep with him until I was ready and he assumed that meant I had never loved him.

"Anything. Everything."

"My name is Alyssa Rose Lopez and I am twenty-nine years old. I have a sister called Rebecca, she's a bitch and she hates me for some strange reason, and a niece called Ella, but my bitchass sister refuses to let me see her as some sort of revenge for the things I have supposedly done. Ella is one of the cutest people you will ever meet but, even though she is just about to turn four, she gets both her height and her attitude from her father, though I would like to think that she won't gain the urge to use the word fuck or fucking in every single sentence as he does," I said with amusement. Ella was definitely the shy and quiet type who didn't like it when people made a huge fuss over her, she hated any real form of attention, and she preferred it when people decided to ignore her—it actually hurt that my sister had forbidden me from seeing her because I did love her, she used to be the reason for my smile, and now she's the reason that I have ended up crying myself to sleep because of how much I miss her.

"Where are you originally from? Your accent tells me that you're not actually American," Darren smiled.

"España. Me mudé a Estados Unidos hace cuatro años," I loved the confused expression which now covered his face as he attempted to work out what I had just told him. I did enjoy speaking Spanish to those who didn't have a bloody clue about what I was saying to them, it was of some amusement to myself when they did their best to figure out what I had said to them.

"What? I got that you are from Spain but, past that, I haven't got a fucking clue what you just said," he laughed.

"I just said that I moved to America four years' ago," I grinned. Though, after living here for four years, it was hard to believe that I was originally from Spain because even I had lost sight of my own accent now. Spending as much time around Americans as I did in my previous two jobs meant that it had slowly disappeared over time and I had picked up a slight American one in its place, so I was impressed that Darren had been able to tell that I wasn't actually from America in the first place. "My sister was already living here with her fiancé, so my husband and I decided that it would be a good place to start our lives together. Turns out moving half way across the world can only bring out the absolute worst in people."

"You're married?"

"Was. Messy divorce two and a half years ago. He's serving time in prison now," I shrugged. I didn't need to go into detail about my relationship, it would ruin the mood and, given that Andrew already knew what happened and he had used it against me, I didn't need another person to know the truth about my fucked-up relationship past. I also didn't want to have the misfortune of pleasuring myself when I got home this evening, it was something which I was entirely fed up with having to do now.

"He must have been a real ass. If I was married to you, then I would never let you go," Darren smirked. I am now fairly certain that this night was only going to end one way and, if it was to end that way, I wouldn't complain because it was something which I really needed due to my inactive sex life since the night I spent with Dean. "We're here."

He stepped out of the car and, just as I went to open the door, he was already there and he was opening it for me before I even had a chance to put my hand on the handle. Sitting down, I was eye level with his hips as it leant against the door, so it was practically impossible not to allow my eyes to wander down his body. It was even harder not to imagine what the hell he looked like beneath the clothes he was wearing.

"Are you going to sit there eye fucking me all night, or can we get something to eat?" Darren laughed. I looked at the ground before awkwardly taking the hand which he had offered me and stepping out of the car but, the moment I was stood in front of him, that was when I realised just how tall he actually was in comparison to myself. I wasn't short, not when I stood at five foot eleven, but in six inch heels, I stood at practically the same height as Darren—I didn't mind that I was the same height as he was but, usually, I preferred it when they were a little taller than I was, but at least it would be easier for me to kiss him later on and he wouldn't have to bend down so that he could kiss me.

"What is this place?" I asked in awe. I was impressed by what the outside had to offer and I was, funnily enough, excited to see what the inside had to offer, which I am almost certain was going to be as impressive as the outside.

"Only the best restaurant in town. I come here most days of the week," he opened the door and held it for me so that I could walk in in front of him. I took one look at the place and I wondered how the hell someone could afford to eat here as many times of the week as he clearly did. But, then I quickly remembered that he was friends with Andrew, and that meant he must have been in charge of some company or companies somewhere in New York.

There were glass chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Each table was circular and the chairs worked around the tables so you couldn't see what was happening at each of the other tables around, unless you were the waiter or waitress who had the luck of attending the table. And every male was dressed in an expensive suit while every female was dressed in an evening gown, and I suddenly felt extremely underdressed as I looked down at the dress which barely reached my knees and had a slit in the side.

"Don't worry. You look amazing, Alyssa," Darren whispered. He wrapped his arm around my waist and walked us both over to where a short, blue haired waitress was waiting with a smile on her face.

"I'm sorry, but we have n—" she stopped when she looked up and saw who was standing in front of her. Her eyes widened in shock slightly and then a huge smile graced her lips as she settled on looking down the page to find somewhere for the two of us to sit, "I am sorry, Mr Brent and Miss—?"

"Lopez. Alyssa Lopez," I extended my hand to her own with a smile on my own lips and shook it out of politeness, and because Darren seemed to like the girl, so I didn't want to upset her in front of him, I at least wanted something good to come of this evening.

"Pleasure," she replied without too much expression. From the way she looked at Darren, and the way her eyes lit up when she realised it was him in front of her, it was obvious that she had one hell of a thing for the guy but he was type who wouldn't even look her way twice, he would only ever smile at her or speak to her when it was about business, but he wouldn't bother to look at her for any other reasons. "Your usual table, Mr Brent?"

"That would be wonderful, Alexis," Darren smiled once again. He followed behind her towards the back of the restaurant with his hand on the small of my back, and I couldn't help but smile to myself at the gesture, while I continued to take in the surroundings of the restaurant as we passed something more extravagant as we neared the place we were clearly going to be sitting for the evening.

"Alexis?" I whispered with curiosity.

"This restaurant, Alyssa," he smirked as he gestured to everything around the both of us, "is mine. I own it all."

And now I really was impressed. He was rich, he was attractive and he sure as hell knew how to treat a girl. I don't think there was much else to be said about him which meant that he was definitely the kind of man I wouldn't mind having a casual fling with, if only to sate my growing sexual desires. I may as well take advantage of being single when Darren Brent was practically offering it to me on a plate.

"Thank you, Alexis. I will have the usual, and you Alyssa?"

"What do you serve?" I replied shyly. I knew what they didn't have the food which I was so used to eating because this place was too upmarket to serve something as common as the food which I was accustomed to eating.

"What's your favourite meal?" he asked with amusement.

"Macaroni cheese, chips and green peppers," I shrugged. I wasn't normal when it came to what I ate and I liked to mix up bizarre things together on the same plate in the hope that they tasted good.

"And my friend here will have what she has just asked for," Darren said to Alexis and, for a moment, she was confused about what he was telling I wanted. She clearly knew that they didn't serve that here and I didn't want them to go to the extra effort of making it for me, just because I didn't want to look at the menu and decide there was nothing on there that I would eat anyway—probably part of the reason no one ever wanted to take me on a date, I was too much of a fussy eater to actually order anything which was listed on the menu as a meal.

"But, Mr Brent, we—"

"I am sure Antonio can sort something out. He is, after all, one of the best chefs in New York City, is he not?" Darren raised his eyebrow as he asked the question, as though he was daring her to challenge what he had just told her to do.

"Darren, I don't mind, I can just order something off the menu," I said with a slight smile. I didn't want to inconvenience Antonio by forcing him to make something which wasn't even served in the restaurant, and I sure as hell didn't want to start some argument with Alexis which would, inevitably, end with her getting the sack. I wasn't that much of a bitch to someone I didn't even know, I could be a bitch, just as much as the next person, but Alexis was just trying to do her job, so I wasn't going to go down that route; even if she couldn't keep her eyes off the man who had come here with me this evening.

"That would be—"

"Alexis, I had asked something, and I refuse to change my order, simply to make it easier for you. I am sure Antonio, the man to whom I pay ninety thousand dollars a year, is more than capable of making a dish as simple as macaroni cheese, chips and green peppers," Darren turned his attention back to me and complete ignored Alexis, who continued to mutter to herself beside the table, before she stormed off in the direction of the kitchen so that she could place our order.

"So? This restaurant?"

"Yeah. I bought it a couple of years ago. Back then, it was nothing more than a burnt out piece of crap, rubble all over the place and covered in the trash which people had been too lazy to put into the bin, and I turned it into this within six months," Darren said and I could hear the pride in his tone as he took a second to look around at everything else which was happening around us. "Granted, when it first opened, no one wanted to visit the place and everyone thought it should be condemned before it had the opportunity to become another piece of crap. But, when news spread that I had hired the great Antonio Delanco, it suddenly became one of the most spots in this city."

"You should have warned me that we would be coming somewhere like this, and I would have worn something more appropriate," my attention was, once again, on the women who were walking between the toilets and their tables, and vice versa, they were all wearing gorgeous evening gowns with amazing designs which appeared to cost a lot of money, while I was in a dress which was meant for work.

"I prefer this dress though. It means that I can do this," Darren smirked.

"Do wh—" I didn't get to the chance to finish my question before his hand was on my thigh and moving painfully slowly towards my underwear—I mentally applauded myself for wearing my favourite black lace thong this evening rather than my usual cotton underwear, to which I become accustomed to wearing whenever I went to work. I felt something building in the pit of my stomach and I could hear my own breathing hitch as he reached the top of my thigh, running his finger across the front of my thong, deliberately teasing me for his own amusement.

"I didn't know you wanted me that much," his voice was seductive and did nothing to quell the fire which was now burning within my groin, begging to extinguished by the man beside me, and it was like he heard my silent pleading as he pushed my thong to the side with ease and slipped one his calloused fingers inside my waiting body. I know that I should have pushed him away, reminded him that we were in a public place and anyone could catch us, instead I threw my head back slightly while biting my lip in an attempt to hide the moan which was building in the back of my throat. "I don't remember the last time a woman was this wet for me."

"Fuck," I hissed, my hands gripping painfully at the edge of the table, when he pushed another finger in and increased the pace to something which I had never even been able to achieve myself in all the times I had taken to pleasuring myself with own fingers. I quickly found myself imagining what it would be like if his tongue were to replace his fingers, and that definitely did nothing to calm the sexual desire which was rapidly consuming my body.

"I hope everything is to your liking, Mr Brent," Alexis voice temporarily brought me back to reality and I noticed that she had put the food down on the table in front of us and, had I not been breathless and about ready to come, I would have replied and thanked her for bringing the food to us as promptly as she had done—though I am sure that has something to do with Darren owning the place and Alexis being his employee.

"Oh, Alexis, I am looking forward to the dessert more than anything, and that's if I am being totally honest," I had to give it to him that he was one hell of an actor because, while I was struggling to keep it together and not give away what was happening under the table right now, he was calm as anything and just had that real smug look on his face, which only intensified when his thumb found my clit.

The way his fingers moved, it sent me to heights I had never before reached and showed me a pleasure I couldn't even dream of obtaining by my own hand, and it caused my vision to blur to the point that it was damn near impossible for me to see straight and it was damn near impossible to remain still, preventing myself from jolting forward in an attempt to have his fingers close to my core as he continued to pull them away teasingly.

"Lo—Looks wonder—erful," the end of my sentence rising when Darren, without warning, pinched at my clit in a painfully pleasing manner. I didn't even need to look at the man to know that he was smirking and he was proud of the effect he was having over both myself and my body.

"If there's anything else I can get for you, just let me know," Alexis smiled and then walked over to the table the other side of our booth.

"Just wait until I get you back home, Alyssa. I can't wait to fuck you," Darren's voice sent shivers down my spine and, just as I was about to reach my release and let myself go around his impressive fingers, he pulled them out and brought them to his own mouth with a knowing look. "Now, eat, because I want to get the hell out of here."

I was a quivering mess. I wanted nothing more than to take him right here, on our table, and I didn't even care who the hell was watching us. With just the use of his fingers, I had been reduced to a prepubescent teenager who thought sex was the answer to everything in life, and he didn't even allow me my release—I wanted to see all the other ways in which he could please a woman and I needed him right now, more than I had ever needed a male before.

"We're leaving," I stated confidently. I didn't care that we hadn't touched our food, or that he had gone to all that effort just to get me my favourite meal, we needed to get the hell out of here and it needed to happen now.

"And after I went to all that effort, just to make sure you had your favourite meal for dinner?"

"Either we leave now, you take me back to my place, and you fuck me until we pass out from the pleasure. Or, we stay here, and we fuck in front of all these people. The choice is down to you, Brent," I smirked, and I felt strangely proud of myself for being able to get the words out in such an outright manner, without a stutter in sight. I would have to thank Andrew for making me all the more bold and giving me the confidence to actually make the move in the first place, not giving him the chance to initiate anything.

"As tempting as fucking you here, in front of all these people, sounds right now, I don't fancy the idea of being closed down," Darren chuckled and allowed me to pull him from the seat, the both of practically running from the restaurant, with our hands linked and stupid smiles on our faces.

I had never been so desperate for a man before, much less a man I had only just met, but I was living for the moment and I was, for once, having a little fun and enjoying myself with a man who definitely knew what it was a woman wanted from a man in the bedroom.

© 2015 Emma Norman. All Rights Reserved.