Fight-or-Flight

Chapter 5

"I heard that you had company tonight," he walks through the bar at slow pace.

He's not in the same uniform as last night, and that Phoenix and Payback was wearing tonight too. Instead, he's wearing a pair of denim jeans and a casual white t-shirt. Simple, but very attractive. Also unlike this morning, his hair is now styled perfectly.

"I did. Two incredibly nice pilots kept me entertained on an otherwise slow night. What's that to you?" I lean back into the wall next to the cue rack, as he stops by the pool table and leans on it with both hands.

"Not much, but I couldn't let you see more of them than me and have them steal my spot as your favourite fighter pilot," there's that cocky smile again. "So when I was just passing by on my way home now and still saw the light on, I thought I'd grab a beer to end the night on."

"Sorry Hangman, but the bar is closed. We're not serving anymore tonight," I point out, as I had actually let him know when he just walked through the door.

"Aw, beautiful Agnes. They've already left their mark on you - please don't start calling me Hangman. I like you calling me by my name, it's like sweet music to my ears," he lets out a soft laughter. "Just one beer, one round for the two of us - please?" his green eyes sparkle and the smile is back again. It's annoying that somehow, I'm already getting used to it and sort of starting to find it really attractive on him.

"The late-night beer is then also just an excuse to come here and what? Sweet talk me? I got plenty of that from Payback, and I must say - I quite liked it," I move around the table and stop a few feet away from him. He is not going to get to win at his own game, I'm not going to let him - he thinks that is all that, and that he can get everything he sets his sight on, but that's about to stop. As attractive as that cocky smile is, it won't get to me - or at least that's what I'm trying to tell myself.

He straightens up and turns so that we are facing each other. It feels like his green eyes are looking right into my soul, but I don't falter. I don't look away.

"When are you going to get it in that beautiful head of yours Agnes? They're not me," he boasts. "You think you're being all discreet, and that I don't notice the way that your eyes seem to linger," he takes a step closer to me. "You think that you're all cool and that I can't tell how I affect you." Another step. "But you're wrong babe. I see straight through you. I see that fire in your eyes. I see how you keep lightly tapping your finger - you can't keep still. I see how your chest rises as you inhale just a little bit deeper."

By now we're almost chest to chest. I look up at him. I try to think of how Phoenix was so excited that I hadn't fallen for his charm yet, but it's not enough. My breath hitches as we stand closely. His eyes dart down to my lips and by pure accident it's right when I lick my lips.

"You've got me too though Agnes," he says as he leans his forehead against mine.

My breath is slow. I almost forget to even breathe. I put my hands to his chest to push him away from me. I don't need this happening. I don't need to get involved with anybody right now. When my hands touch his chest, I don't have the necessary force to really attempt to push him away from me, so my hands end up just resting there - against his rock-hard chest. He twists his neck slightly at the touch making our foreheads move against each other, and I feel how he holds his breath for a second. It's so close. His hands reach out for my hips and hold me on each side, and his thumbs start rubbing in circular motions. The heat is running through my body, and we stand there for what seems to be an eternity, neither making any move to close the distance between our lips. He moves one of his hands further up slowly and squeezes my waist slightly. I look back up into his eyes - forgetting when I had moved my gaze down. The desire is burning hot in his eyes. It's one of the hottest things I have ever seen. It is also what snaps me out of it, and I put pressure into my arms and push him away from me while taking my own step back.