After making sure that the drinks are handed out and everyone is taken care of, I walk over to Mike to tell him I'm going to take a short break. Maybe that will help me get the restart I need to to get work done without being distracted. No matter how yummy that distraction might be.
"Mike, I'm going to take 5 during the countdown and get some fresh air." I tell him as he is rinsing glasses. We already have plenty of clean ones ready to use, so he must be getting a headstart before closing.
"Sure thing, Meridian. You've been working pretty hard and should take what you need," he says while standing up from where he was washing the glasses. He flicks his head to get the blond hair that fell onto his brow and his warm hazel eyes connect with my gaze. "You know, I'm going to miss working with you. Usually holidays are hell to get through, but it hasn't been as bad as it usually is."
A broad smile touches my lips. "Aw that's sweet," I say while I squeeze his shoulder before pulling back. "I know I'm leaving tomorrow, but I might just come right back to see your handsome face if you keep saying nice things to me like that. You'll never get rid of me then," I say while teasing him. His friendly eyes shine with amusement and a hint of a smile appears before he purses his lips and holds in something that he was going to say.
"Alright, I'll be back," I tell him and give him a wink. Without waiting for him to say anything else, I pass by him and walk down the corridor to the staff's break room and lockers that hold our belongings while we are working a shift. I grab my coat and put it on before walking out the back door and into the frigid, dark night.
I let out a long breath and it turns to a cloud of mist in front of me. I look up into the night sky and see that the moon is full and bright, overpowering the light of the stars around it. There is so much light that it has formed a ring around the moon. The moon is at its peak phase, which many believe symbolizes a reckoning, or a moment of truth, before you begin anew. It is said to be a time where you manifest your desires, emotions are heightened and dreams can become a reality.
It's all a load of shit, if you ask me.
But it is fitting since the new year is only minutes away.
I stay out in the cold for only a few more moments, soaking in the quietness and energy of the night before walking back inside. I quickly pull the door open to the break room to return my coat, but I stop suddenly when I see that I am not alone in the room.
"You shouldn't be back here," I tell him with a frown on my face. I hang up my coat before crossing my arms across my chest, He moves from his seated position on the couch before standing and looking at me.
"I was looking far de bathroom," he says while slowly walking towards me with a precise gait. "I must've taken a wrong turn." His looks may affect me in unexpected ways, but luckily it hasn't made me stupid enough to buy into that drivel.
"Well I hope you didn't use the couch you were sitting on as your bathroom instead," I volley, and his lips turn into a smirk at my response.
Before when I looked at him, he was seated at the bar and I could mostly only see his profile... but looking at him in front of me now I see that my future expectations for men will not be up to my standards anymore. He has obliterated all of them.
There is no humanely way someone can be this tall, this handsome and this heartbreaking all at once. I have to bend my neck slightly to be able to trace his features with my gaze and look him in the eyes.
His hauntingly beautiful emerald eyes.
He continues to approach and the tension rises with every silent step he takes. When he is just one step away and moves to take another, I take a step back to maintain some distance between us and to retain my grip on the sliver of sanity I have left from his unsettling presence.
My back hits a hard surface and my eyes widen when I see that he continues to move closer to me. His arm reaches out and his head slowly inches towards mine while my breath is caught in my throat and my eyes close in anticipation.
When I hear a quiet click, I open my eyes again and his smirk grows when I realize that he has locked the door behind me.
After that realization, logic becomes fleeting and any semblance of a thought turns to ash as my world alights in color and becomes devoured by flames.
My lips crash against his in a bruising kiss that keeps me breathless, but I don't mind the burn in my lungs since all I can feel is the fireworks that ignite where our lips collide.
We both pull back for a moment and I take a sharp inhale of breath in shock and try to tame my rapidly beating heart. The man is not faring any better as his eyes flick to the side and he runs his fingers through his hair in uneasiness. As he does so, a hint of his ear peaks through, and I think for a moment about how odd it was before my mind goes unwillingly back to our kiss.
When his eyes meet mine again, the heat that is banked in his gaze makes my knees go weak. And before I know it, I am the one taking a step forward this time. We kiss again, and I let everything go as a groan is pulled from his throat.
The back of his legs hit the couch and we both go down in a frenzy of movements and race for skin to meet skin.
A flicker of light in my peripheral vision grabs my attention and my eyes shift to see what it is, and my eyes widen at what my sex-crazed brain manifests. It looks like a glowing ball of light that is flitting about before landing on a nearby shelf. The glow of light recedes and I see what looks like an arm and a wing behind it before he moves to run his lips across my jaw, blocking my sight for a moment before moving down my neck. When I look back at the shelf, I see that my apparition has disappeared.
Each time his lips brush my skin, a fever of ecstasy and need hits me so deeply, shocking me with its intensity.
I didn't exactly expect to meet someone here tonight and want to sleep with him, without even knowing his name. I certainly wasn't looking to hookup, but the attraction between was too powerful to deny. We both want this...and by now, I wouldn't be able to stop it.
I pull his head back to me to kiss him again, deepening the kiss and inviting his tongue to play with my own. He meets my desire with his own and takes control of our embrace. It's a demanding, brutal kind of kiss that has me admitting defeat.
He is kissing me like we are going to war, and I love every second of it.
We shed the last remaining pieces of clothing and I only pause to take in the sight of all of his hard muscles before giving in to temptation and worshiping the planes of his abs with my tongue.
I would have liked to taste every inch of him, and it was clear he wanted to do the same, but right now we both wanted to do something more in this brief stolen moment.
A current passes between us, and we are so connected in this moment that it feels as though I can hear his thoughts and know his desires. With our bodies bare and our skin no longer inhibited, a sense of completeness overtakes me when our bodies align. And when he enters me, it's as though the universe itself tilts on its axis and I feel something inside of me shift.
Perhaps there was some truth to the meaning behind a full moon after all, because unbeknownst to me, after this night everything changed.