Chapter 5
She tried to keep her legs from shaking as he went behind the counter and crouched down to look for some keys. She felt quite special because of what he was doing, offering a necklace that wasn’t available to anyone else, all because he found her attractive, and he had made that clear.
She looked into the mirror in front of her, trying to spot what it was that he saw, and she was lost. Meanwhile, he was sitting there running the necklace chain through his fingers, remembering all the times he had seen it on Tania. He could never understand why she gave that necklace to him.
Tania had gotten that necklace from one of her clients, in her private call girl business. Since college, Tania had been using drugs and sex to make a living, having lost both her parents at an early age. After their affair went on for a while, the two had to go to different countries, and as a parting gift Tania gave him the necklace she used to wear.
Apparently, the necklace had been passed down several generations, having started from a woman who became a prostitute after her husband left her. She had received the necklace from one of her high-profile customers, and wore it as a badge of honor for the rest of her life, even the day of her second marriage.
It was rather ironic, that after having been passed down many hands, Tania was living a similar life to her ancestor, wearing the same necklace.
He walked over to the sofa, and opened the black soft case, revealing a magnificent blood gem with the finest gold. He could see the awe and wonder on Roxanne’s face, how her eyes were gleaming looking at it. Though the necklace had a dark tinge to it, the thought of it being around Roxanne’s neck was a dirty one.
She took it in her hands, and placed it around her neck, waiting for him to put it on.
He stood behind her again, this time taking Tania’s necklace in his hands, resisting the urge to pull on it. Once it was on, he looked at it through the mirror, and the way it lay between her small breasts made him want to kiss that area, lick it, play with it.
“Um, what do you think?” she asked nervously, her eyes darting between him and the necklace.
He found her self-consciousness cute and adorable, and wanted to take her into his arms and crush her with love. It had been a long time since Chris had felt something like that.
“It looks stunning. I think I was right about it looking perfect on you.” he whispered, unable to believe that it looked even better than how it looked on Tania.
“God, you flatter me. Thanks though, I really like this one too.” she replied with difficulty in meeting his eyes.
“You do?”
“Yeah. I really do. Why wouldn’t I?”
“I don’t know, took you for a simpler girl.”
“Well I suppose you don’t know what’s inside.” she said teasingly, surprising even herself, smiling irresistibly.
He chuckled hearing this, realizing that this was leading somewhere.
After a moment of silence in which both smiled at each other profusely, she asked him the price of the necklace.
“As I said, it’s not for sale.” he replied.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Thanks for showing it to me though, it’s really….” she was saying, starting to take it off immediately, thinking she might have overstepped boundaries.
He raised a hand hurriedly, gesturing her to stop, and cut her off, “Are you kidding me? Please keep it on, it looks lovely.”
“But then….” she struggled to find words, both nervous and confused.
“But then, I want you to keep it.” he said, and looked away towards the door, pleased to see no threat or suspicious activity outside.
Roxanne’s eyes were stuck on his after he said this, never before had anyone done something so sweet for her. She had no idea where the necklace was from, or who it belonged to, but could tell that it was special, and him gifting it to her was special.
“Thank you. Very much. It means a lot. I’m very glad I came back, but please take something in return, I won’t feel good taking it for free.” she replied with insistence on wanting to pay for it.
“I can’t put a price on it.” he replied plainly.
“And I can’t take it for free.” she retorted, making it clear that she wasn’t one to abandon her principles.
“Well….” he replied with a teasing smile, enjoying her persistence.
“Well?”
“You could give me something else in return.” he said flirtingly.
Roxanne’s face became blank, not knowing what exactly he meant, or if he meant what she was hoping for.
“What?” she asked.
“Get coffee with me, there’s this cozy café only a minute’s walk away.”
She covered her mouth with her hand and laughed, surprised that instead of acting like the boys she had heard of, who’d ask for a kiss or sexual favors, Chris was a man who wanted to spend time with her, get to know her more, or at least she hoped. At this point, she could not have possibly imagined all the ways in which he wanted to get to know her.
*****
“And you, madam?” the waiter asked politely, waiting with paper and an open pen to write down the next few words she would utter from her mouth.
“A Cappuccino please, two tablespoons of sugar.” she replied.
“Alright sir, madam, your order will be here in ten minutes.” the waiter said with nods addressing them respectively, and then walked away toward the kitchen.
After sharing a pleasant walk to the café, they were now seated in the outdoors seating area, and Chris was smoking a cigarette.
“You’re a man of particular tastes, I see.” she said, not meaning it in the way that he took it.
“Many. You’d run away at the mention of half of them.” he replied jokingly, not wanting to pursue this conversation further, something about her innocence holding him back.
“Try me.” she replied, looking into his eyes curiously.
“Why don’t you tell me some of your tastes?”
“Books, art, writing. I’ve told you. I don’t know anything about you except that you run a jewelry store.” she said, leaving him no option to chicken out.
“Fair enough.” he said, and for a moment considered how much he could reveal.
So far their conversation had been running smoothly, be it intrusion by a creep or gifting the necklace with great sentimental value, nothing had managed to create any awkwardness between them. But just to be safe, he wanted to give the lead to her.
“Why don’t you ask me whatever you want to know?” he said calmly, as if he had nothing to hide.
“I don’t mind that at all. Why don’t you start with the necklace.” she replied boldly, with a guilty smile on her face.
Chris was impressed at how good she was at breaking past his barriers. Normally in conversations, Chris would withhold information based on his own criteria. As for Roxanne, she had an air of easiness about her, perhaps not in conversations regarding sex or love, but aside from that, she seemed to know how to get someone to open up.
“Alright then. What do you want to know about it?”
“Who’s is it” she asked quickly, in a manner suggesting she had a whole list of questions already prepared.
“Tania.”
“Who’s Tania?”
“A girl I was involved with.” he answered, trying to not give too much detail about this.
“What’s so special about the necklace? Why is it not for sale?” she asked, her arms crossed now, enjoying the conversation taking a test-like turn.
Chris appreciated this boldness in her, wasting no time beating around the bush, and going straight for the questions she had in mind.
“It was a family heirloom of hers’, before we parted she gave this to me. Whatever memories I have of her, she was wearing this in most of them.” he explained in reply to her question.
Roxanne took a few seconds to let his answer sink in, and too note her feeling of insecurity over him being with other girls. He did look so handsome and charming, there was no doubt he must have slept with some really attractive people, and Roxanne felt an utter lack of confidence comparing herself to these women she was imagining.
“Was she special?”
The question caught him off guard, and his tongue twisted in his first attempts to speak.
“I don’t know what that means. She wasn’t the love of my life or anything, she and I worked together for this company, hit it off for a bit and that’s about it.” he replied.
“Was she different from the others?” she asked, surprising herself by how curious she was about his intimate life.
“Well, I suppose you could say that.” Chris replied, quite intrigued by her questions.
“How so?” she asked for further detail.
Chris really had to take some time to consider his reply to this question. The one thing he thought was unique about Tania was how dirty she was, and how adventurous their sex life had been, but looking at Roxanne’s pale and pure face, Chris had no idea whether to answer or not.
“She had particular tastes, one could say.” he replied with as little emotion as possible, when internally, he was about to explode with horniness.
Roxanne became silent for a bit after his reply, as the waiter brought their order and she took the first sip of her coffee. It was in this moment that he noticed that her shirt had a deep neck, revealing quite a lot of her cleavage, and he was starting to imagine his dick where Tania’s necklace was.
“You and your tastes. I really wonder what these are.” she said in a taunting manner.
“You should be glad you don’t know.” he chuckled while replying.
“Again, as I said, try me.” she replied with a shrug, and continued to sip on her coffee.
Chris was quite impressed by the guts in this girl. As shy and reserved as she seemed in appearance, when it came to making conversation she was quite bold, and could maneuver her way to get what she wanted. But Chris could tell that there was lack of experience about one specific topic, sex. Yes, she was asking a lot of questions about it, but there was barely anything she had to tell.
The two carried on chatting back and forth, getting to know each other better, when at one point after they were done with their coffees, Chris spotted the same hooded figure in the background, mixing in with the crowd. Although Chris could see clearly that his gaze was stuck on the two of them, he made no show of having spotted him, and kept it hidden from Roxanne, not wanting her to freak out the same way she had back at his shop.
After enough laughs, jokes, and past experiences had been shared, the two called for the waiter. But while doing so, Chris could spot a reluctance in her, as if she didn’t want their meeting to end. This was in fact true for Roxanne.
She couldn’t understand why, but she felt very strongly attracted to him, and was hoping for something to happen between them. If their meeting was to end right now, she would have no reason to come back to him, but ending the meeting meant that there still was a slight chance of him making a move. Roxanne had never been with a man before, and despite recent developments in her life, for the first time, she found herself really wanting to kiss someone.
“Yes sir? Madam?” the waiter asked upon arrival.
“Get the bill, please.” Chris said in a pleasant tone.
Chris himself was also starting to get disappointed. His reluctance in making a move on her was still there, and he was incredibly confused as to whether her questions were genuine interest or if she was hinting toward something.
The waiter passed a nod, and went toward the kitchen to get the bill.
“So what’s your plan after this?” Chris asked her with a smirk, considering whether to go ahead with what he had in his mind.
“Going to head home I think, laze around, I don’t know. Don’t have any particular plans.” she replied, cursing herself for not being able to flirt better.
“Why, that sounds sorta boring.” he replied after realizing that she didn’t really want to go home.
“Hmm it is. How do you not get bored working? Like sure you have amazing items and lovely customers like me, but don’t you get bored doing the same thing every day?” she asked, trying hard not to sound snobbish.
“Well, I do. But I have my apartment upstairs, so I can take a break whenever I have free time. As for customers, all of them are different and unique.”
“Oh that’s nice! It must be quite convenient to have that.” she replied, feeling sort of jealous.
“Yeah it is. You can also come there in case you don’t want to go home.” he said, finally.
This was the make or break moment, either he had overstepped a boundary, or made the best decision of his life. Her expressions did go blank for a second, her eyes wide, as she allowed the question to sink in.
There was much that Roxanne’s rational mind wanted to consider, like going to a man’s apartment alone, not telling her family about it, the past. But despite all that, despite not knowing what it was that he was suggesting, her entire body replied in affirmative. She could feel a tingle down there, and felt more wanted than ever by the way he waited intently for her reply.
“Yes.” she replied in a soft voice, and looked down at her hands with a flushed red face.