“Please take your hand off of me,” she statedless than convincingly.

The man flashed a devilish grin and lickedhis upper lip as if he could sense her doubt. “Is that what youreally want?”

Without answering, Elsa snatched her wristout of his grip and stepped back.

“Please, Elsa. I have a proposition for you.Sit,” he ordered and just like that, she knew his commandingpresence wasn’t something to be taken lightly.

Slowly, she sat back down. Turned on by theway his mouth formed her name, she never once took her eyes off ofhim, but despite her attraction to him, she had presence of mind tokeep her fingers firmly wrapped around her canister of mace. So Mr.Beautifully Creepy had a proposition, did he? Her curiosity waspiqued.

Easing back into the vinyl, her eyes widened.“Go on.”

Running his index finger across his bottomlip, an expression of casual irony flowed over the stranger’s face.“Don’t you want to know my name first?”

She pondered a moment before responding. “No.I’d rather hear your proposition before I become invested in you,”she answered with a facile tongue.

“Touché, Ms. Cassidy. I’ll get right to thepoint then,” he countered with a bitter edge of cynicism in hisvoice. “I seek a physical association with you.”

She sat quietly for several long, seeminglynever-ending seconds trying to put into logical sense what hisstatement meant. “Are you asking me out on a date?” she finallyresponded

“I don’t date.” His throaty voice and tonerevealed nothing and his eyes remained cool when he answered her,leaving her perplexed yet again.

“Then, what?”

With no emotion but an undeniable sparkle inhis eyes, he answered, “A physical association is all that I seekfrom you. Sex to be exact.”

She didn’t know whether to be offended orangry from his bluntness, but in all honesty, she was neither.Undoubtedly she was freaked out, but more overwhelmingly, she washot and bothered. This was the thing she needed and even prayedfor; a no-strings-attached, no-sentimental-BS kind of relationship.Just sex. Plain and simple.

Bringing out a folded piece of paper from hisinner jacket pocket, he pushed it across the table to Elsa. “I’mclean. I brought my papers along with me to prove that.”

She almost laughed out loud. ‘His papers,’made it sound as though he were a kenneled animal up for adoption.Had he been neutered and did he have his shots, too?

Moving right along, he continued, “I have aplace picked out where we can meet…”

She suddenly felt panicked. She hadn’t evenagreed to anything.

“Aren’t you even curious as to whether or notI’m clean?”

Looking past her and out the window, hereplied, “I already know everything I need to know about you atthis point to move forward with this arrangement.”

“And how is that?” she asked, but she alreadyknew the answer. She knew the answer as soon as she smelled hiscologne. He had been the one following her that evening and parkedout in front of her apartment for at least a week. Maybe longer.Her inner self-preservation was screaming at her to run the otherway, but that other part of her – the one that liked thingsnaughty, was keeping her ass firmly planted in the seat.

“I always do my homework before I make anoffer like this,” he simply stated without elaborating.

Elsa couldn’t help but wonder just how manyoffers like this had he made in the past. Tens? Hundreds?Thousands? Eyeing the piece of paper on the table, she picked it upand opened it to see the name of the man in front of her. VictorLaurenzo.

“Victor,” she whispered.

“I expect you to call me Mr. Black,” hestated tersely.

Glancing up at him, she knitted her eyebrowsand questioned him in a low and troubled voice, “How do I know youare who you say you are? If you’re telling me to call you Mr.Black, then who is Victor Laurenzo?”

Victor sighed loudly and pulled out hiswallet and quickly flashed his driver’s license in front of herface. He was, indeed, Victor Laurenzo. Why then did he want to becalled Mr. Black? Perhaps he was into role playing. So be it. Mr.Black it was. She had already entertained this conversation muchlonger than what would seem appropriate. She knew she shouldn't bequestioning him as much as she should herself for still sittinghere, yet she couldn’t stop from wanting to hear him out.

As he pushed his ID back into his wallet, theoverhead light glinted off a brass badge, but Victor’s movementswere too swift for her to make out what the ID hidden in theleather folds was. Was he a police officer? An FBI agent? Some kindof foreign dignitary? Wonderment surged through her but only for abrief moment. The reality of her luck would probably reveal him tobe just some paper pusher for the Food and Drug Administration.

“Are you married, Mr. Laure… Mr. Black?” shecorrected herself.

He leaned forward and let out a long, audiblebreath before answering in a hushed voice, “I don’t answer personalquestions about my life outside our arrangement, but if it will putyour mind at ease, just this once I’ll divulge. No, I’m notmarried.”

His voice, though quiet, had an ominousquality, just as everything about him did and Elsa couldn’t be surehe was being honest.

“All the paperwork on our meeting place willbe finalized within the next few days.” Reaching into a differentpocket, he pulled out a small slip of paper with an address writtenon it and held it out to her. “Our first liaison will be thisSaturday at 10:00 a.m. We can go over the particulars that day. Beprompt and ready to begin when you arrive, Ms. Cassidy.”

Shaking her head and trying to clear herthoughts, she responded, “I haven’t agreed to anything yet.Something about you frightens me. You’ve been following me andsnooping around my private affairs, which, by the way, isdisgusting. I need time to think this over.”

Victor smiled smoothly, betraying nothing.“Define disgusting.”

Unflinching, she answered, “Horrible,repellent, repulsive.”

“It would’ve been more repulsive if I hadmade an offer such as this without proving my sexual cleanliness,no? Disgusting is subjective, Ms. Cassidy, and it’s a fact thatwhen a person is aroused, they’re less likely to think something isdisgusting.”

Her brows knitted together. A fact accordingto whom? This guy was something else. “It just so happens that I’mnot aroused.”

One side of his mouth lifted in a crookedhalf-smile and his eyes lit up. “Not yet.” When she opened hermouth in rebuttal, he cut in. “Everything I’ve done has been donewith forethought to your and my needs. What you think is repellent,others might find necessary,” his voice resonated with depth andauthority.

Necessary? This man knew nothing of herneeds. “Following me around reveals nothing about me.” The sound ofhis voice affected her deeply and when she responded, her voice wasshakier than she would have liked.

With a hard, cold-eyed smile, the linesaround his eyes tightened. “You couldn’t be more wrong. I’velearned a great deal about your habits and schedule, and even someof your personal preferences by following you. Everything else Iplan to learn about you will come with time; something I’m willingto invest in you. Time and attention is the greatest gift anotherperson can bestow on someone. Consider yourself fortunate, Ms.Cassidy, because neither of those things is something I share withjust anyone.”

The tensing of Victor’s jaw let on to hisdeep frustration, but he remained eerily calm. Sipping on her dietCoke, she became entranced with the way he was casually circlinghis index finger on the table. Lascivious thoughts filled her mindas she envisioned him tracing the fullness of her breast with thatsame digit. Abruptly interrupting her fantasy, he rose from thebooth and stood at the side of the table leaving her reeling fromhis statement and her arousal. Gliding the back of his fingers downher cheek, she shivered and his sureness melted her resolve. Maybeshe was the fortunate one.