Aurora Whitewood meets an unexpected Dominik Sokolov at a Halloween party, discovering he is her childhood best friend's friend. Dominik offers Aurora a deal for a casual, strictly no-strings-attached relationship. Once Aurora finds a lover she call...
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Halloween. The one night of the year where you could be anyone and no one would know who you truly were. Whether you were being the real you and impersonating who you wanted to be, no one would know.
Aurora knew exactly who she was and who she wanted to be. She was a scholar student in her third year of college. She had to know who she was. what she wanted, and the result of her current poor life decisions led her to where she was at that exact moment.
At her regular quiet bar with a martini, sugar around the rim, and a lemon peel sunken to the bottom. If Aurora was going to be sitting in a bar, dressed in clothes that equated to that of her undergarments, she might as well make it look like she was indulging past her life choices.
"Drink too much and you'll end up sick, *milaya*." [darling]
Aurora's head whipped around, finding a man sitting next to her, inked fingers swirling around what she presumed to be bourbon
*A very attractive man at that.*
Aurora's eyes trailed over the ebony button up, folded at the top of his forearms, covering what she assumed to be a numerous amount of tattoos. Dark slacks covering his strong thighs as his body was turned her own.
A dark eyebrow quirked up. "Who's to say this isn't my first drink?"
"Considering you've been sitting here for the past hour and had called the bartender over four times, now correct me if I'm wrong, I'd assume it's your fourth drink." *Rats.*
"You're wrong." Aurora huffed. She did wonder though, *how long has this man been watching me?*
"Fine, I'll admit it. It's my fourth drink. But that doesn't give you the right to keep tabs on me," She retorted, crossing her arms defensively.
The man chuckled, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Apologies if I came off as creepy. I couldn't help but notice that you seem out of place here. Care to share why you're sitting in an almost empty bar at 1 am on Halloween night?"
"Possibly the same reason you're sitting here at 1 am on Halloween night." Aurora stirred the lemon slice around the bottom of her cup, absentmindedly running her fingers along the sugared rim of her glass.
The man smirked, taking a sip of his drink before answering. "Touché. I guess we both have our reasons." He leaned back in his chair, his gaze never leaving Aurora's face. "But if I had to take a wild guess, I'd say you're avoiding something. Or someone."
Aurora's eyes widened slightly, caught off guard by his astute observation. She hesitated for a moment before deciding to play along. "Alright, Sherlock, what makes you think that?"
The man chuckled again, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "Call it a hunch. Plus, the way you've been glancing over your shoulder every few minutes tells me you're waiting for someone, or maybe trying to escape from someone."
Aurora's heart skipped a beat as the man's words hit a little too close to home. She hadn't realized how obvious she was being, constantly looking over her shoulder, hoping to avoid any unwanted encounters. She took a deep breath, trying to compose herself before responding. "Let's just say I'm here to escape from a complicated situation. And it seems like you have a knack for reading people, Mr...?" She trailed off, waiting for him to fill in the blank.
"Sokolov, Dominik Sokolov." Dominik flashed her a boyish grin, taking a sip of his drink, his rings glinting under the low lights of the bar.
Aurora couldn't help but feel a strange sense of familiarity when she heard Dominik's name. It echoed in her mind as if she'd heard it mentioned two or three times. but she quickly dismissed it as a coincidence.
"So, Dominik Sokolov," she said, testing the name on her tongue. "What brings you to this quiet little bar on Halloween night?"
Dominik leaned back in his chair, a playful smirk dancing on his lips. "It's been a long day for me, *milaya*." [darling]
"If I were to guess, I'd say," Aurora pretended to think, her finger tapping her plush lips in a thinking manner. "Business owner decides to have a few drinks to take a load off after a rough day at the office."
A cheeky grin spread across her face, "Was I right or was I right?"
Dominik let out a rough chuckle that warmed its way through Aurora's system, "Not too far off, Ms..."
"Whitewood, Aurora Whitewood." She stuck out her hand towards his own, copying his style of introductory.
A rough, tattooed hand gripped hers before releasing it with light hesitation.
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lol new book pls let me know what you guys think!! this one came to me a in messed up dream but I kinda liked the plot so I thought i'd share it with you guys :3 also if you keep getting notifs its bc ive redone this chapter like 4 times in the past 48 hours 😭😭
