He saw her across the room.
She was holding a drink delicately in one hand. She was smiling, a tight sly smile that said she was waiting for a chance to insult the speaker. Her eyes were dark and expressive and somehow soft, inviting.
She said her piece and he heard laughter. She didn't join in- just a momentary nod to acknowledge their appreciation, and then she moved away, her eyes flicking around the party, and finally- oddly- settling on him.
They made eye contact. He felt himself frozen, felt her eyes open him with a surgeon's precision, felt himself sinking.
He jerked away. Wow. That was unsettling. He took a long pull from his drink and resolved not to look back. No one who could do that with a look was worth messing with. Not safe at all.
Stick to brown liquor and blonde women, he thought, and finished his glass. As he lowered it, he noticed that there was another bourbon- neat- sitting in front of him.
"Bartender-"
"Lady at the end of the bar sent it. Said you should come by."
"Thanks Ed."
God dammit. Those eyes- but then, that body, those full red lips, the tight curve of dress, the delicate swish of her skirt as she turned-
He stood, preparing himself internally for the hunting dance of seduction. Metaphorically, this was the point where he decided to make toast in the bathtub.
"Been in the city long?" Her smile was broad and open, a hearty invitation with just enough challenge to keep him interested across the narrow table in the booth. He wondered, teasingly, what she'd feel like beneath him, what those pale full breasts would look like while he had her on all fours.
"No, just in town on business. Yourself?"
"Pleasure. I'm dreadfully bored with my new location, thought I'd come into the city and see what it had to offer." Or who.
"Where is it?"
"Uptown. I'm staying at a hotel while my..." her voice trailed off so he had to lean close- "hubby is away." He glanced down, to see her gently rolling a golden band between her fingers, back and forth, hypnotically.
"He's a very lucky man. Away on business, I imagine... much like myself."
Her eyes said everything that needed to be said. He pictured cold valleys between sleeping bodies, maybe some persistent trouble in the below the waist area. Marriage for money led to the most intriguing infidelities, and her look promised all of them.
Then she said, "Really? What kind of business are you in?" God, she was intoxicating. He made some sassy answer, and she laughed-
-Time passed-
She was smiling, laughing, looking away for an instant. He cast a nervous glance at his drink. How many had he had? Where had everyone gone?
The bartender was smiling at him. He stood up, and was shocked to find he was almost totally sober. He could remember the taste of bourbon- how long- where was everybody?
Well if there was no one around, there was no one to see, no one to tell her husband.
He leaned forward, his mouth fitting around the words, silver tongue and velvet voice, all his charm poured out before her intoxicating as wine. His words were prosaic but he knew his eyes, meeting hers- sky blue meeting the wide, seductive darkness- would say everything he wanted them to.
"It's getting a bit dead in here."
Her sly, conspiratorial smile. "I've noticed."