It was another freezing January evening in Manhattan and Camelia couldn't wait to get home. Clutching her Gucci handbag firmly and clicking her Prada stilettos maniacally against the concrete, she waited for the public bus to arrive. She normally took a cab, but, inexplicably, she wanted to take the public bus today. Perhaps her lapsed choice in public transportation was due to the difficult day she'd had today. She couldn't wait to get home and relax with a take-out meal and the remote control. Tonight was Chinese food night. She was grateful that she lived in the thirty-minutes-or-less restaurant emporium that is Manhattan. Who needs a kitchen and a stove nowadays when you have take-out?
"Hey," a messy-haired man in a sloppy white t-shirt and run-down jeans greeted.
Camelia nodded absently—hoping that he wouldn't talk to her further. She hated it when strangers initiated conversations. Didn't they know this was New York—a.k.a., the snob city capital of the world?
"Where you headed?" the man asked.
She tucked a strand of her straight raven hair behind her ear and huffed, "Downtown."
"Really? Me too! Gotta have a chat with my ex. She don't wanna return my stereo. Well, she gon' have to, that's all I know."
Camelia smiled politely and looked away. She'd had a lousy day at the office—a place she'd recently titled The Hell Hole for All Freelance Fashion Designers—and she wasn't in the mood to have a conversation with a man who obviously couldn't grasp the English grammar. She'd just about had it with her boss's tantrums. Camelia's latest creations had received a lousy review by Penelope Porizchova—the eccentric woman whose name was used for said garments. "Unique!" Penelope had shouted. "I want unique! Can't you grasp the meaning of the word
unique
? This"—she picked up a pile of Camelia's newest inventions and dumped them flat on the floor—"is rubbish. All of it! Rubbish! The same uninspiring crap you've designed for four bloody years. I want to see something so un-fucking-believable that the entire press would fall on their knees during Fashion Week. Have I made myself clear?" Camelia nodded meekly and scooted out of Penelope's office before she uttered another stinging retort.
Now all Camelia wanted was an uneventful commute to her apartment. Was that too much to ask?
Luckily, the bus finally arrived. Unfortunately, the messy-haired guy—whom she now inwardly referred to as Chatter Box—also got on it. Camelia hoped that he'd sit somewhere else—preferably forty-feet away—but Chatter Box sat on the empty seat next to Camelia, even though all of the other seats were empty. Chatter Box plopped on the seat and took a deep breath. "God, I'm tired," he said. "Can't wait to get my stuff and go home."
She shot him a sharp look and hoped that that would be shut him up. But Chatter Box did not take the hint. "You're very pretty, eh? Bet you got a boyfriend waiting for ya . . . 'cause a pretty girl like yourself gotta have one of them investment bankers eating out of your hand. Lucky dude, I'll tell ya that!"
Turning to him, she was about to tell him to piss off when she noticed something. Despite his unkempt exterior, Chatter Box was
gorgeous
! His greasy brown hair flopped around his chiseled face, adding a majestic air of enigma in his hazel eyes. His rampant chest was visible underneath his sweaty t-shirt and his jeans revealed what could only be described as a massive erection. Camelia gasped as she felt a surge of excitement swift through her loins. What was happening to her? How was it possible for a man to go from a sloppy pest to a sex god in a matter of seconds?
Dazed, Camelia shook her head and said, "I don't have a boyfriend."