Page 113 of Architecti
The searing heat in my chest eases, my breathing returning to normal.
“Professor Corvine,” she says, and I almost melt on the spot as I face her.
Her mouth parts, her fists clench and relax at her sides and a small smile kisses the corner of my mouth.
Her attention lingers on my dress, trailing from hem to collar.
It’s black, mostly, with a slit cut all the way to my upper thigh.A set of deep red rubies decorate one breast and climb into a peak on my décolletage.The dress cinches at the waist and trails behind me.It’s extravagant, elegant and deeply sexy.Not something I often feel in my forties, nor when I was in my thirties, come to think of it.
When did I stop dressing up to feel good?When did I stop going out and living life?When did work become my main focus instead of living?
Tonight is for living.And, apparently, for taking extreme risks.
I find myself gawping at her.She’s wearing an all-black suit, boots and a black shirt that’s only buttoned halfway.I am uncomfortably certain that she’s not wearing a bra.The bulge of her ample breasts teases the line of buttons.A long string necklace plunges into the gap between them.
I swallow, hard.
Her hair is freshly shaved on the sides, the impeccable neatness of a barber’s blade evident from the sharp lines sculpting her face.The rest of her hair is gelled into a wet look and slicked up and back.But it’s her bright blue eyes that undo me.That make me want to strip the skin from my bones and hand her my soul on a platter.
“You’re beautiful,” I say without meaning to.My fingertips brush my traitorous lips, surprised at their confession.
“Have you looked in the mirror?”
This.It’s these comments that ruin me, blast through all my barriers and fuck me up.How am I supposed to keep her at arm’s length?
The music kicks up a notch outside, the volume growing sufficiently loud enough that we can hear the thudding base beat through the turret windows and the melody lilting on top.
“I, umm,” Midnight starts, and pulls a hand through her hair.“Are you still pissed at me?”
I tear my gaze away from her.“I was never upset with you.I was trying to protect this…”
I point at my heart, and her jaw flexes, one curt nod.
“Figured.I can leave.”
She turns.
“No,” I shriek.Too fast, too desperate.I have to get a grip.
“No?”Her brow furrows.
“I’m sorry I ignored you.That was wrong of me.I just got up in my emotions, and I’m struggling to keep control of them.We have to ignore each other out there.But if you’re not mad, I’d like to have at least one dance with you in here?”I ask.
Every cell in my body pleads with her to say no, to push me away and tell me we can’t.But I’m the one holding back.I always have been.
“Or has fate decided I’m not to be so lucky this evening?”I say.
“I’d take your hand and dance with you till the coals of hell burned my heels and crumbled my bones to ash.”
Yeah, I am fucked.
Her eyes glimmer.“I thought you didn’t believe in fate,” she says.
“I don’t, but if it’s on my side, I’m not going to say no.”
Midnight holds out her hand and bows.I step forward and then continue pushing her all the way to the door and lock it behind us.
She walks me into the middle of the room and slides her hand around my waist and then leads me in slow circles around the room.I lower my head to her shoulder and just breathe.
