DARK SECRETS

32. The Effect She Had On Him

Yasmine was shocked when she saw Erick. Her eyes widened and she was rooted to a spot for minutes.
When did he come in? How did she get so carried away that she didn't know she was being watched?
And by Erick at that!
But when her earpod fell to the floor, cutting the silence, she was able to regain her composure and she stood up quickly and looked to the ground before picking the pods up.
The song didn't allow her to hear him come in, she realized.

Erick was surprised when he caught her in his arms. She looked really surprised and taken off guard. After staring at each other for some seconds, something fell on the floor, and like a pin drop in a deep silence, the noise got Yasmin distracted, and she quickly stood up, bent down to pick her pods up, and took a few steps back away from him.
“Uhh…” he trailed off, no words coming to his mind.
“I didn't know when you came in,” Yasmine said as she tucked a strand of her still wet hair behind her ears. “I got distracted.”
Then he smiled.
“I saw.” He said, with a small smile around his lips. He wanted to say she was an amazing dancer, but he held back.
He didn't know how she'd react to it when she knew that he already knew that she was a strip dancer at Là Calantro.
To him, it wasn't a good idea to bring it up.
Then all of a sudden, his eyes trailed down to her body and he saw what she was wearing.

Yasmine noticed that Erick's eyes trailed off from hers and she followed his eyes to check what he was staring at.
Her clothes. She was wearing a short gowns with spaghetti sleeves and worse, she wasn't wearing any bra, so her nipples were very visible.
Yasmine's face immediately turned red in embarrassment as she was very flustered. She immediately turned her back at Erick, unable to look him in the eye.

Erick's eyes trailed off down to her body and he saw what she was wearing. A short light pink gown with tiny, long sleeves and it had a small picture of a strawberry in front.
Not only was her hair wet, but her nipples were so visible in the dress she was wearing that it got him excited and turned on.

Erick cursed under his breath when he realized how he was suddenly feeling, seeing Yasmine in her bare state. And too make matters worse, she turned her back at him, showing her extremely nice backside, and her pantlines were so visible, it showed the whole size of her backside and her curves!

“Fuck, this is bad,” Erick muttered under his breath as he turned his face away for a minute, when he realized that she was feeling embarrassed.

“Can you go outside please?” He suddenly heard her plead. “I need to change quickly.”

“Ah….right,” he said, flustered as well.  “I'm sorry. I'll take my leave. Meet me outside when you're done.”

And he left the room.

Immediately she heard his footsteps retreat and the door closing gently behind him, Yasmine slumped to the floor, her eyes wide in horror and embarrassment.

What was that?

What just happened?

Why did this have to happen to her? Why did she even wear this in the first place when she knew she was sharing a room with a man?

Yasmine facepalm herself. How was she even going to go out and face him now? She was so embarrassed, she wished the floor could just open and swallow her. Or better still, she should just turn to a pile of dust and the breeze should blow her remains away. She suddenly yelled so loud in frustration and fell to the floor, kicking her feets! She couldn't be more embarrassed than this! She wasn't even this embarrassed when she was working in the club!

After Erick came out of the room, he let out a deep sigh of relief. If he hadn't ran out of the room like that, he would probably have pulled Yasmine to himself and kissed her senseless.

He signed and put his hands on his face. Why was he lusting for a woman he barely met? Why did he want her so bad? Why was he noticing every little detail about her and why was she making him smile without even trying to?

But more importantly, why was he caring about her feelings?

Erick had never thought of the feelings of other women and cared about their thoughts on him before, no matter who they were, how successful they were, or what family they were from?

But here he was, thinking about how she would have thought of him to be a pervert.

And then the screaming came.

It was so loud and took Erick off guard that he was very startled and almost fell to the floor. And he turned his face to the door of the closet.
Why was she screaming? Was she okay?
Quickly, he headed to the closet and stood outside.

“Yasmine? Are you okay?” He called.

Yasmine gasped when she heard Erick’s voice, asking her if she was alright.
No, she wasn't alright. She was embarrassed!!

“Yeah, I'm fine,” she called back dryly. “I'll be out in a minute.”

“Okay,” Erick said gently as well, and backed away from the closet. Did he make a mistake by saying they should stay in the same room? He wondered.

Yasmine had to choice but to accept her fate. Erick already saw her. There was no need to be overly dramatic. This wasn't her house. Why did she have to scream that loud? She scolded herself. Sighing, she stood up from the floor and dusted herself. She looked at herself in the mirror.

She really didn't do anything wrong. She just wanted to unwind and wear this while drying out her hair, instead of having drops of water trickle down her body. She was going to change after. Why did he even had to walk in at that moment? She sighed sadly.  She blew out the dirt and dust in her hair and after it was dried, she went to her closet to pick something else to wear. She chose a demim trouser and a shirt crop top to go. She wasn't going anywhere anyway. After combing out her hair and arranging it, she stepped out of the room and went to wear her flip-flops at the foot of the bed.

Then she looked around. Erick was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he left the room already. Then she decided to step outside the room to go downstairs.

Erick stood outside of the room, pacing. He needed to get his head right. He needed to understand what was going on with him, but he needed to get things ready before he took a step towards Yasmine. Today, they have to go sign their marriage certificate, to officially get the contract going. While he was still thinking, he heard the door open and Yasmine came out of the room. His heartbeat skipped twice on seeing her, and his eyes widened. She totally caught him unawares. And he wasn't supposed to be standing outside the door. She might get the wrong idea. Erick slapped himself inwardly.

“Is something wrong?” She asked quietly. She looked up at him.
Erick shook his head before answering.
“No, nothing's wrong,” he said, trying to act calmly like always. “I was just about to come in.” He lied.
Yasmine nodded her head, not saying anything.
“Would you like to eat something?” She suddenly asked him and Erick was surprised, but tried not to show it.
“You want to cook?” He asked.
“I already told you I like to prepare my food myself,” she said smiling. “Or is it going to be a problem?”
Erick immediately shook his head. “No, it's not,” he immediately replied, and regretted it. It made him look desperate.

He sighed in annoyance.

Get it together, Erick! He scolded himself.

“You can go downstairs and cook,” he said. “You can ask anyone in the house for directions to the kitchen, and you can also ask Rachel for things you might need in the kitchen. She's the head maid in this house.”

“Okay,” Yasmine nodded.

Yasmine tried waiting for his reply on the question she asked him. She decided to put the incident that happened in the closet behind her and try to be more comfortable, making her smile when she answered his question. But she realized if she wasn't flustered, Erick was, and he was trying his best to hide it, though it wasn't working.
She smiled inwardly, seeing that the scary Erick Dunn she met could also act innocent and also be flustered like every other human. It gave her some sort of courage.

Why should she be scared of him? If she guessed right, she realized she had an effect on him. How she did it, she didn't understand yet. But she told herself that she would make the most of that effect on her own side.

It was time for her to be free and make her own rules in Erick Dunn's house.