Love by the Book

She waited til the next evening to call the number he had left.

Her day had been rather productive. She did another short signing early that morning, followed by a lunch with her publicist about future projects. She settled down in her room with her notebook and began writing little blurbs of ideas for her next book. She began to get frustrated with that, so she updated her online journal on her website, re-capping the past few days events but only mentioning that she had a drink at a local club, omitting all details.

7 p.m. was creeping up on her. She didn't want to blow him off, but she didn't want to seem too eager to talk to him again.

"Johnny? It's Celeste..."


*******

The restaurant was quite posh and Celeste felt uncomfortable and out of place. Johnny seemed to sense this.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm not used to this. This fancy-schmancy...ordeal. I feel ridiculous,” she admitted.

"Hmm. Not to worry. You look the part of snobby rich bitch and that’s all that matters. No one will think differently. Only you and I know the truth.”

She smiled. "Yes. It's like some weird secret. I feel almost as if I'm in disguise. Spying on the fat cats of this town."

"There are plenty of those here."

She adjusted the hem of her skirt. Her mind was beginning to wonder again. She was staring at a giant aquarium filled with brightly colored fish that reminded her of “Finding Nemo”. Suddenly, she saw herself in that water. But the water had grown far beyond the tank. She was swimming in a deep blue sea, her ridiculously long lime green hair flowing almost to the tips of her fins. Her fins?

“Oh god, I’m a mermaid...”

“Sorry?” Johnny said.

Celeste slowly turned her head to him. “Huh?”

“Did you say were a mermaid?”

Celeste’s eyes grew big but her facial expression remained the same. This was a technique she learned in her teen years, something to keep anyone from knowing she was embarrassed or uncomfortable.

“I might have,” she smiled, trying to pull off a good cover-up.

Johnny just smiled a sort-of half-confused smile.

Their food arrived and they ate in silence. Celeste was picking at her salmon when she began to invision it morphing back into its alive state, swimming along side her “mermaid” self. She was sporting a green seashell bra to match her hair, looking like something straight out of “The Little Mermaid”. She was smiling and playing with her fishy friends when Johnny swam over. He was a merman, his long dark blue fins blending in with the dark water. His chest was bare and Celeste found herself swimming right up on him, caressing his chest, tiny bubbles escaping her mouth.

“Woah, woah, wait a minute,” Celeste thought to herself. “I draw the line at weird mer-person sex fantasies.”

They left the restaurant and headed the private booth the had the night before at the Viper Room. Celeste was feeling a tad adventurous, so she ordered a drink with actual alcohol.

“I don’t really like the taste,” she said. “It’s like drinking fucking hairspray or something. But this...this has enough sugar and fruity flavors to mask it.” She held up her Singapore Sling. “I could drink these like water.”

And she began to.

Yes, midnight was approaching fast and Celeste had downed 5 drinks. She was starting to feel hot and bothered and everything was funny to her.

“Celeste, you are drunk,” Johnny said. He had enjoyed some scotch on the rocks but wasn’t nearly as inebriated.

She stifled a laugh. “I know. This is the first time I’ve been drunk in a while. That last time I drank like this, I had just gotten word that I was going to be a published author.” She was staring at him with half-open eyes.
“Well, whenever you’re ready to go back to your hotel let me know. I’m gonna call a cab. I’m not gonna chance driving and I know you can’t...”

Celeste was starting to feel very sexually charged. She had already unbuttoned the top of her blouse claiming that she wanted “some more air” but her motive was completely different. She was trying to show off her goods, baiting the hook, hoping that the Johnny-Fish would bite. And he was about to.

“I don’t know if I told you tonight, but you look absolutely amazing,” Johnny said, shooting her a serious look.

She studied him, her mouth changing slowly into a sly smile. She put her cigarette out. “No. You hadn’t.”

“Well, I’ll say it now. You’re beautiful.”

She chuckled. Her face felt hot.

“You’re not to bad lookin’ yourself,’ she slurred. “What am I talkin’ about...you’re fuckin’ gorgeous. Best lookin’ man on the planet, I’ve always said.”

Johnny smiled and bit his bottom lip. “That’s very kind of you...”

He ran his ringed index finger along the edge of his glass. She was watching him intently. Without realizing it, her hand started to run across her breast bone. She cleared her throat. He scooted close to her, keeping eye contact. She swallowed hard.

“You have beautiful hands,” she said, taking his left hand in hers, examining it. He smiled as he moved his hand from hers up to her flushed face, caressing her left cheek. His deep brown eyes were burning a hole into her own and before she could think, she felt his lips on her cheek.

It was slow, soft kisses at first. He was kissing every inch of her cheek, moving dangerously close to her ear. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply, wishing with every part of her soul that he would brush against her lips. When he finally did, she inhaled sharply through her nose, taking in every sensation from the friction between their lips.

He pulled away from her for a split second to inhale deeply before raging back at her, mouth open and hungry. She felt his tongue run along side of hers and she had never been happier in her life. She kissed him back slowly, not wanting to speed up this moment. He ran his hand along her collar bone as he kissed her even deeper. His fingers ran along her neck slowly, and she felt her body shiver

She made her self pull away from him, panting.

“Would you like to come back to my hotel room?”