A Touch of Cinnamon

Sunday had arrived and Erich impatiently pounded on the door to Dawn's apartment. "Dawn, hurry up!" He called through the door.

"Hold on, I'm coming." She replied as she opened the door. "Just let me get my purse." Dawn turned back into her apartment and picked up a small satchel sitting on the chair. She then continued out the door, locked up her apartment, and started heading to the elevator. Only then did she realize Erich still standing there in a daze. "Erich! Weren't you the one yelling at me to hurry up? Let's go!"

Erich finally snapped out of his stupor. "R-Right," he said. Dawn was always pretty but tonight she looked absolutely stunning. She wore a black cocktail dress, that revealed everything and yet nothing at the same time. The neckline wasn't plunging but it showed just a touch of cleavage revealing the shape of her breasts. The back of the dress was left somewhat open so that her shoulders and upper back were left bare. The skirt wasn't too short but it was just short enough to reveal her long, pretty legs. Her brown hair, which was left down for once, framed her face. This was the first time Erich had ever seen her without her hair pulled back and he couldn't help but to wish to see her like this more often. His initial shock at her beauty gave way to fantasies of making love to her playing in his head. These fantasies continued as he got in the car, went on autopilot, and drove them to the restaurant. His thoughts were finally interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Erich. We're here. Why are you still sitting in the car? What on earth is wrong with you today?! You hardly even said a word the whole way over here and normally you won't stop talking even to take a breath. At this rate you'll expose the fact that we aren't actually dating in two minutes flat." Dawn said.

"S-sorry. My mind is just wandering. You know, the nerves." Erich partially lied. "Anyways, we should be getting inside." He ushered her into the restaurant and spotted a middle age woman waving at him. He walked towards her and Dawn followed behind.

"Hi Mom, how was the flight? You look great by the way. And this is Dawn, my girlfriend." He fired off, hugging his mom.

"Hi Dawn. It's great to meet you." She politely said holding her hand out.

Dawn shook her hand and cordially replied: "It's great to meet you too. I was wondering when Erich would finally introduce me to his family."

"Hiding her from us Erich? You know this boy didn't even tell me he was dating you until a few days ago. Can you believe that? And you two have been dating for a year and a half now already! Well I can't wait to hear how you two met but first you need to excuse me. I need to wash my hands. I'll let you take a seat and order your drinks."

"Psst... Erich! A year and a half?! Are you kidding me? She's going to expect a long history between us. I could easily pretend we'd been dating for five months but I can't come up with 18 months worth of relationship material on the spot." Dawn whispered to him as his mother left the table.

"Look, she put me on the spot. So I just said the first thing I could think of. Besides Dawn, I did meet you a year and a half ago." Erich responded. It was true though. Erich had moved into her apartment a year and a half ago. At that time Dawn was still a law student and had little interest in speaking to anyone who wouldn't further her career. Erich, however, was determined to be friends with her. To be honest, it was more like he was determined to eat her food and have her do his household chores. "Anyways, I'll handle most of the talking."

Dawn and Erich stopped talking and smiled awkwardly as they noticed Erich's mom walking back to the table. She sat down and the waitress stopped by to take their orders. When the waitress left, Erich's mom started: "So where were we? Oh yes. You were about to tell me how you met."

"Well, when I moved into the apartment I went to all my neighbors' apartments to introduce myself. Dawn happens to have the apartment across from mine, you see. So after I made her acquaintance we ended having a romantic candle lit dinner and she struck me with her charm. We've been seeing each other ever since." Erich said casually. Dawn choked at Erich's answer. A romantic candle lit dinner? Struck with charm? Ha.

Erich had gone over to Dawn's apartment to introduce himself all right. At the time she had wished that he would just leave. She was hard at work in her studies and in the middle of cooking dinner. She almost shoved him out the door because he would not stop speaking. He eventually left telling her to let him know if she ever needed anything. She had hoped to never have to deal with him again. Fate, it seems, had another plan. A city wide power outage occurred thirty minutes after Erich had left. Dawn had candles and matches but somehow couldn't seem to light the candles no matter how hard she tried. Giving up she eventually went over to Erich's apartment to ask if he had any more luck with matches than she did. He lit the candles but anytime Dawn moved them, the flame burned out. Erich had to relight the candles after they moved the candles back inside Dawn's apartment. Out of politeness, Dawn then offered to do Erich a favor in return for helping her. To her surprise, Erich pointed to the pasta she had cooked right before the power outage. Erich couldn't cook without power and all the restaurants were closed. There wasn't any way Dawn could refuse at that point. So the night ended with the pair of them eating dinner in the dark with one candle between them. 'Great first date, huh?' Erich had jokingly said then. His remark was met with a swift kick in the leg. Struck with charm? Struck with a foot maybe.

"How nice." Erich's mom replied. "It must have been love at first sight. So Dawn, what did you think of my son when you met him?"

'I thought he was a hyper golden retriever that wouldn't stop yipping' Dawn thought to herself but instead responded: "He was so handsome there was no way I couldn't fall in love with him upon first seeing him."

Erich's mom asked one or two other relationship questions but nothing that Dawn couldn't answer. The rest of the dinner was spent talking about their careers, the weather, the upcoming holiday, and oh yes, of course, how many children they should have in the future. When they finished their meals it was about 10:00.

"Well, why don't we chit-chat more at the hotel?" Erich's mom said as they stood up to leave.

"Oh, I would love to but I still have more work to finish for tomorrow." Dawn declined. "I hate to be rude but you know how it can be at work sometimes."

"That's too bad. It was good to meet you though. I guess Erich will have to drive you back then."

"No, don't worry about it. I'll take a taxi home; the taxi stand is right outside. Erich should take you back to the hotel, I'm sure you have more things to talk about."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She smiled and looked at Erich awkwardly. Hesitantly, she pecked Erich on the cheek. "Goodnight. I'll see you later Erich." She walked out to the taxi dispatcher and stood waiting for the next available taxi. Erich and his mom had walked out towards his car. Except Erich sprinted back towards her as his mom lingered by the parking spaces.

"Yes?" Dawn asked looking confused.

"I don't think my mom quite believed that last kiss." He whispered into her ear. Erich proceeded to encircle her with his arms and leaned over to press his lips onto hers. Ahh... they were soft and warm. It was heaven. Then he slid his tongue inside her mouth. It was a gentle kiss at first, but it gradually became more intense. His tongue massaging against hers demanded her to respond to his touch. The kiss deepened and she felt her knees go weak, melting into his arms. About twenty seconds later, Erich pulled away ending the kiss. "I think that was more convincing." Erich grinned and left her standing at the taxi stand in a daze.

"Miss, your taxi has arrived." Dawn heard a far off voice say. Not registering what the words that had been said or what was happening around her, she climbed in and the taxi drove off.

* * * *

Erich bounded into the apartment complex after he had dropped off his mom at the hotel. He was just about to unlock his apartment when he had a change of mind. He turned around and tapped on Dawn's door instead. Opening the door, Dawn was met by a surge of energy. Erich picked her up by her waist and twirled her around.

"Dawn, she loves you!" He said putting her back on the ground and kissing her once again on her lips.

"Huh? Oh, good for you. Now, we just need to make it through the rest of the week and you won't have to go on any bind dates." Wait. What was happening? They had known each other for a while but he never made any advances on her. Now, he had kissed her twice in the same night. He danced around her apartment until he collapsed into a chair. He glanced upwards and realized she must have just gotten out of the shower. Her hair was wet and she was wrapped in a bathrobe. She walked towards him and paused as she stood next to the chair he was sitting in.

"Um, Erich. What happened between the two of us tonight..."She said unsure of how to conclude the sentence. "I mean the kisses—"

"The kisses? You mean these kisses?" He asked as he pulled her onto his lap and initiated another lingering kiss. Their lips locked and she vanished into his hold. The kiss seemed endless. Momentarily Dawn thought that she never wanted to part with those lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him closer. They continued kissing and all sense of time flew out the window. His hand drew up from her waist and slipped beneath her bathrobe. He traced a single finger along the bounds of her breasts, slowly moving inwards. His hand brushed past her nipple and she responded with a soft moan. Her nipple hardened into a small pebble and he flicked it teasingly. He moved his kisses from her lips to her neck. His hand drew away from her breast with the intention of undoing the knot of her bathrobe. To his mistake, he had allowed Dawn to look up and her eye caught the time.

"Oh no! I still have to finish that memo for tomorrow. It can't already be one!" She jumped out of his lap and began running towards her writing materials. Erich stared at her with disbelief. This wasn't really happening right? His desires stemming from a year and a half ago were finally being fulfilled and now this?

Erich had left halfway between laughing and crying. Only Dawn would be able to worry about work at a time like that. He went between their apartments hoping that no one would pass by. He was hard, huge, and bulging. Even in the constraints of his slacks, it was obvious to the naked eye what condition Dawn had left him in.