“Really. I've been so committed to work, so focused, I just… hadn't met the right girl yet, I guess.”
“That's amazing,” she breathes.
“Are you sure?” I ask her, smirking. “Not a lot of people would think that that was such a great thing, you know.”
“No, no, I think it's wonderful,” she says earnestly, squeezing my forearm again. I don't usually drink, and these two glasses of wine are making my head a little light. But I get that feeling again, as though there are literal electric sparks between us when we touch.
“How could that be wonderful?”
“Well, I guess it’s just that there's not some other person, you know, some other ghost looking around. It's nice.”
I nod thoughtfully. “Okay… that makes sense. I understand that.”
Suddenly she crouches down and draws her wrist up to her mouth. After a moment of confusion I realize she's trying to stifle a giggle.
“I thought you said that was not a problem for you? Why are you laughing?”
“Oh! I'm sorry!” She meets my eyes again, dazzling me again by the brightness of the crackling connection between us. “It's just that… I don't have any ghosts at all...”
“I am not sure I understand what you mean…”
She blushes so deeply she's practically infrared. “I mean… I don't have… I've never —”
It strikes me all of a sudden. “Are you saying that you've never —”
She shakes her head triumphantly, eyes defiantly proud. “Nope! Not even once.”
She's a virgin?
“Not even…”
My thoughts begin to tremble, like an earthquake shaking me from underneath. Everything starts to tumble down all at once.
It makes sense… her shyness, her pliability. The way she stares at me so eagerly, as though all she wants to do in the world is please me. The way she gazes at me like I’m the only man she has ever seen.
That can’t be possible, can it?
“Kita…”
“Yes, Daddy?”
She leans forward, slipping her hand behind my neck and drawing me to her. My hands find both of her shoulders and crush her forward. I'm suddenly overwhelmed with hunger for her, and kissing her is not nearly enough.
“We need to leave. Now,” I whisper hoarsely against her ear.
/> She nods, understanding completely and rises from the table as I drop a couple hundred dollar bills in the middle of the tablecloth and we rush back toward the entrance like we are on fire.
Chapter 18
Kita
I feel like a princess.
All night, every eye in the place has been on us. I've never experienced this sort of thing before, being scrutinized in public. It's a very strange feeling, and something I thought I would have hated. As an only child, I'm accustomed to privacy. When I went into foster care, keeping to myself was a good defense when the world got so strange.
But here, under the shelter of this enormous, handsome, overbearing man, I feel completely different.
When the hostess walks us to our table, I feel eyes turn toward us. Every gaze is like drops of water sizzling on a hot griddle. Turning into steam. It is electrifying.