Cocoa Remix

Chapter Seven: Shirley Temple Black

It had been quite some time since Avery last invited a man up to her place for a drink, and despite being a seasoned veteran of the Darcingtowne dating scene, she still got a bit jittery as the elevator ascended to her floor. Though, that may also have been the coffee. It probably wasn’t the best idea to try and gulp down the scalding liquid all at once, a lesson that she had yet to learn despite having been a coffee addict for the better part of two decades. She’d even gotten some coffee on her shirt when she started sputtering. Her only saving grace was that she’d be able to change once they got upstairs.

James tsked at her, chuckling softly at her unfortunate eating habits. First the banana incident this morning, now the coffee. Avery would have thought she had bad karma if she hadn’t been actively on a date that was only possible because of an inexplicably lucky twist of fate. It was hard to argue being cursed when the truth was simpler - she was just a messy eater. She really ought to stop trying to eat and drink while walking; apparently her brain wasn’t capable of executing both actions at once.

“Oh, shush.” Avery grumbled. “Like you’ve never gotten coffee on your shirt before. Don’t you keep two extra shirts and ties at the office just in case?”

“Those have served me well over the years. I seem to recall lending one to you, as well.” James said, looking up and away from her, so she could freely glare at him.

Avery stepped off the elevator with a huff, and fumbled in her purse for her keys, only finding them as she reached her front door.

The inside of Avery’s apartment was just as orderly as James had imagined it - with lots of calm, neutral colors and clean lines. It also felt a bit like a hotel; like it wasn’t quite lived in, though he supposed his own apartment wasn’t much different. Work had become more like a home to them than the places they paid to sleep in. Since that was what allowed them to become close, and he had willingly worked all that overtime to wrangle his debts, James didn’t have much room to complain about it.

That said, even though they spent a majority of their time together, they hadn’t become close enough to visit each other’s homes. He wasn’t quite sure why. Perhaps they’d come to value privacy more having had to share a space, like their small office, for so long. Though, James also considered that subconsciously, they both realized their workplace flirtations would go further if they ended up in one another’s private space...like what was happening presently.

“Er, feel free to have a seat, or poke around if you like. There’s nothing in my medicine cabinets, though.” Avery said, setting her purse down on the bench by the front door as she slipped her shoes off.

James reached up to loosen his tie a bit, feeling a heat creep up his neck as Avery bent down in front of him to slide her shoes under the entryway bench. What she lacked up top, she made up for with long shapely legs, and a round heart-shaped ass that worked every aspect of the high waisted pencil skirt she was wearing. Not that he was against her small, perky breasts in any case. On the contrary, the few times he’d seen the outline of them under a rain soaked shirt, or got a hint of them under a low cut top, he found himself wanting to see more.

“I think I’d rather poke around your liquor cabinet.” James said, though he was thinking he’d like to poke around somewhere else with something else. He forced himself to look elsewhere before he got too carried away, his eyes shifting to an unoccupied section of bland beige wall as he started going through the digits of pi in his mind.

Cold hard math, what could be less of a turn on. He wasn’t sure if Avery had noticed him checking her out, but he’d rather not get caught at it. It’s not like she was bending over right in front of him to catch his eye...unless she was? It was probably better not to assume.

“It’s unfortunately rather empty. There’s a bottle of champagne in the fridge, though. Help yourself. The flutes are over there.” Avery said, motioning to where wine glasses and longer, thin champagne flutes were hanging upside down above a long sideboard that also housed a lonely, mostly empty bottle of whiskey and a set of whiskey tumblers on a silver tray.

Once inside her bedroom with the door safely shut, Avery smirked to herself and made a little fist pump in the air. James had definitely been checking her out when she bent over just then. It was nice to know that she still had it. Whatever ‘it’ was, anyway.

Avery went to her closet and struggled for a few minutes to decide what to wear. It made her feel a bit like a highschooler again, the momentary nervousness - wanting to impress someone for their first date. Then, she remembered that James had already seen her both at her best, all dolled up for company events, and at her worst - so sloppy drunk that he nearly had to pour her into a cab. Hey may even have seen both her best and once all at the same event, though he’d been kind enough not to comment on it.

She also still had no idea where they were going for dinner. In the end, she decided to go with the universally beloved classic black cocktail dress; it would work whether they were going somewhere high end or not. She paired the dress with a pair of low heels, as James was not that much taller than she was. He may not have minded, but Avery never liked towering over her dates; part of her had always wanted to be smaller and cuter, so that a guy could easily sweep her off her feet. That was never going to happen, of course, but she could at least try not dwarf every man she went out with.

When she exited her room, James let out a low whistle. Avery’s face lit up at the compliment, and she laughed as she took a fizzing champagne flute that he offered to her. 

“Why, thank you.” Avery said, smiling warmly over as she clinked her champagne glass against his. “You know, you don’t look too bad yourself.”

She said, giving him an obvious once-over with, letting him see her keen interest. If he could get an eyeful, so could she. The first thing she noticed was that he’d taken off his tie and undone the top two buttons of his shirt. His jacket was neatly folded over the back of her sofa, and he’d rolled up his sleeves to the elbow. She’d seen them before, but she always thought that his forearms should come with an explicit content warning. There was just something about a straight laced guy gone casual that did it for her, and the exposed forearms were like the cherry in a shirley temple black - arguably the best part.

“Though, your hair…” she said, letting her voice trail off as she brought her brown back up to his face, which was finely crafted with a square jaw and deep set eyes under long, pale lashes.

“What about my hair?” James said, quirking an eyebrow at her as he sipped the delicate bubbly. His pale blue eyes reflected a bit of the gold from the champagne, and from his neatly parted and style sandy blonde hair.

“It’s just too neat.” She said, reaching out her free hand to ruffle his hair, mussing it up just enough to give him a more laid back, off-duty vibe. Luckily, he hadn’t gelled his hair back, and had used something with a lighter hold. Probably a touch of styling wax, if she had to guess. He was nearly as particular as she was, but only when it came to his appearance. That was all part of being a salesperson; you weren’t just selling a product, but yourself as well.

He didn’t protest in the slightest, and instead seemed to enjoy the intimacy of this interaction. He closed his eyes, making a rather tantalizing humming sound as she ran her fingers back through his hair. When he opened them again, Avery saw red hot sparks flash briefly between them, and could briefly hear her own pulse quicken as her heart began beating faster.

His eyes locked on to hers, and he looked hungry. Not hungry for dinner or the chocolates she’d just bought, which were sitting on the kitchen island completely forgotten, but hungry for her. She blushed as he reached up to put his hand over hers, and brought her palm to his soft, sweet lips. She shivered at the feeling of his lips pressing a tender kiss to the center of her palm.

Before things could go any further, James’ phone began ringing.

James cursed softly as their eyes parted ways, the moment dissipating like the bubbles in their champagne.

At least she could now be pretty sure that he wanted her just as much as she wanted him. It still felt surreal how just a few days earlier she had only dreamed of things going as well as they were going now. 

Outwardly, she was playing it cool, but inwardly, she was grinning like a schoolgirl.