Jimmy walked into the hotel bar alone. It was late and he was tired but he couldn't help scanning the bar for interesting company. Female company.
The place was pretty much deserted. There were two very beautiful women perched up by the bar in very short evening dresses. Jimmy took a moment to admire them and then continued to look round the room. He wasn't looking for paid for company.
Eventually though, he saw a conservatively dressed woman with long red hair sitting alone in a booth reading a book. A Martini glass, complete with red lipstick imprint, sat half drunk in front of her.
Jimmy ordered himself a drink, checking her out as he did, not bothering to be surreptitious. The two call girls shifted in their seats trying to grab his attention but he ignored him. Whether the woman herself noticed was impossible to say. She just kept reading.
She was late forties, early fifties. Soft pale skin under her soft auburn curls. Her beautifully cut business suit wasn't giving much away but she still gave the impression of billowing curves beneath. She exuded sensuality and sophistication.
Jimmy paid the barman and took a sip of his drink. He swallowed hard and, gathering up his courage, walked towards the booth.
"Do you mind if I join you?"
The woman looked up. Curt dismissal was already forming on her lips but as she took Jimmy properly in, she hesitated, then suddenly softened. A wary smile formed on her lips.
"Sure. Sit down. But if you think I'm going to sleep with you, you've got another thing coming."
"Anything you say," he replied, taking the seat opposite her.
She carefully marked her place in her book with a leather bookmark and placed it in her bag. Anna Kerinna. She ignored Jimmy entirely until she had finished the operation. Then she looked him dead in the eye, as she took hold of her glass, little finger extended, and raised it to her lips.
Jimmy couldn't help noticing how soft and wet her mouth looked.
"So?" she asked.
"So," he replied.
She laughed lightly at his response, took another tiny sip and placed her glass back down in front of her, her movements dainty and precise.
"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?"
"Well, I, err ..."
"I'm sure you must have something to say to me. I mean, how long has it been, Jimmy?"
"I don't know, Rebecca, five years, maybe six."
"Try seven. And you've got a lot of nerve approaching me at all. After Singapore."
"And yet, you didn't just tell me where to go."
Rebecca laughed and took another drink, cooly and silently appraising him as she did so. She didn't speak again until she had placed the glass down carefully in front of her again. The amount of liquid didn't seem to have gone down at all.
"No," she said at last. "I haven't. But I can't think why."
"Because deep down, you like me. You know you do."
"Oh no, Jimmy. I really don't like you at all. But I can't deny a certain surface level of attraction that I find hard to resist."
She let her eyes drift down over his body. He couldn't help feeling turned on by the way she brazenly objectified him.
"Well, you know the feelings mutual."
She laughed.
"Clearly. You've always made it pretty clear you find me irresistible. It's one of the few things, the very few, that I like about you.
Well, at least until you lose interest."
"Come on. I've never made you any promises and you can't deny you've had your fun too."
"Oh yes," she smiled, more warmly than before, her eyes sparkling. "Lots of fun."
Jimmy had the distinct feeling she was remembering something in particular. He wondered which of their encounters it was.
"And anyway," he retorted, "You were the one who broke my heart first."
She snorted, losing just a little of her composure in her derision.
"Twenty five years ago. And you hardly behaved like an angel yourself. How is Jeff by the way?"
"He's fine. He's a partner at Towey Dewer now."
She raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Yes," he replied, "We're still friends. We keep in touch."
"I take it, he still doesn't know ...?"
"What that I was fucking his girlfriend behind his back? No, he has no idea."
"I should imagine not."
She leaned back in the booth. Even under her blouse, he could make out the fullness of her figure. A sudden memory of taking her breasts in his mouth stirred within him. He could feel himself getting hard.
She looked at him sardonically, as if she could read his mind. She lifted her martini glass, raised it to him and said, "Cheers."
After he responded in kind, she drained her glass and leaned back further, tilting her head back to expose her smooth creamy, kissable neck.
He felt like she was inviting him to admire her and, he had to admit, she still very much had it.
She lowered her head again to look him straight in the eye.
"I think I'd like another drink, Jimmy. Be an angel and get me one. Something with a cherry in it."
He left to order the drinks. As he was talking to the barman, he looked back at the booth. It was empty.
Jimmy smiled to himself. He could hardly blame her, but he couldn't help being disappointed. It was amazing how worked up she got him, even now.
He caught the eye of one of the working girls, who could see he'd been stood up. She beckoned for him to join her.
Jimmy just smiled his head sadly. He'd already ordered the drinks, so he paid and took them both over to the booth to sit alone.
He just taken his first mouthful of scotch when he looked up. Rebecca was walking towards him, looking as sexy as hell. Her bright red lipstick was freshly reapplied and she had undone a couple of the buttons on her blouse.
She sat down opposite him and picked up her drink.
"So where were we?" she asked.
"Talking about old times."
"Enough of that, tell me what you're doing now. I don't mean the boring stuff, career and all that. Tell me about your life."
He laughed. "Well," he said, "the career is the only good bit. Everything else is a bit of a disaster."
"So, you're single then?"
She leaned in to suck on the straw protruding from her drink.
"Yes. Divorced. Only recently."
"I noticed the wedding ring."
He looked puzzled. "What do you mean? I'm not wearing one."
"No, but there is a tan line. I half suspected you just slipped it off while you came down here, looking to score."
He laughed, somewhat uncomfortably.
"No, it's off permanently. But only recently."
"How long were you married?
"Just over six years."
She did a quick mental calculation. "So, just after Singapore?"
"We were already engaged."
