Burning Desire

Chapter 5

I was going to be late to meet Alvaro and I knew it. How a person could be late to a date that wasn't officially a date was a universal joke with me as the punchline.

I vowed to never let myself be distracted by a dessert again, a vow that would most likely be broken if they served berry tarts regularly. A good ten minutes had been spent savoring the sweet custard on my tongue much to Ruby's eye rolls. A denizen of Hell was ruled by their baser desires and mine demanded sex and sugar. Since I had been feeding off of no one and ignoring the former, I didn't bother to resist giving in to the latter when it reared its sweet head.

Ruby had tagged along to lunch with me in the hopes of snooping on my meetup with man meat as she called him. It made no difference to her that I'd told her his name was Alvaro, multiple times.

Man meat had stuck.

Head down, muttering about self-discipline in the dining hall, there was no chance to avoid knocking into the very firm chest ahead of me. Blinking slowly, I gave my body a quick rundown while simultaneously wishing Hell would swallow me whole.

Just a small crack, let me just slip in.

Sore bottom from falling, bruised ego, and most likely pink cheeks to match the spot on my forehead which had bounced right off him like an old cartoon. At least my toffee colored skin didn't show the true extent of my embarrassment; I'd have looked like an overripe tomato otherwise.

"Kill me now," I muttered under my breath.

"That'd be a shame. I thought we were diving headfirst into getting to know each other," the firm chest laughed.

Clearly hadn't been as quiet as I hoped.

The chest was attached to a thin set of shoulders, elegant neck, and held a face sculpted by the gods. High cheekbones, angular jawline, a dimple on the left side of a wide inviting smile, and a pair of slate blue eyes bright with amusement. His blonde hair was shaved close on the sides with his longer lengths on top styled in that way guys did that everyone knew took ten minutes to do, but gave them that sexy look that made you think of boardroom rather than back alley. A guy with hair like that could sign a million-dollar deal while bending you over his desk, ruining you in the best way possible, all without getting a single wrinkle in his suit.

He looked expensive.

He looked delicious.

Silence must've lasted longer than I thought as he shifted from foot to foot. "Clearly a bad joke. Any chance that bolt of lightning you're waiting on could strike us both? We can claim memory loss and try this again," he added hopefully.

That pulled an honest laugh from my chest. "I'm Soria. I'm also already late, so what's another five minutes?" I asked, more to myself than anything.

"Asher. I'm usually so chronically late, you would think it was my job."

"Are they hiring," I giggled. Asher felt familiar and comforting like a warm hug. Easy, unlike how things had been for the past few weeks what with the transition to campus and another bad breakup to add to the long list.

"Always. By the way, the dining hall tends to make the berry tarts on the first and third Tuesdays of the month," he replied.

How did he know they were my favorite? Today must've been a test batch.

"You have a bit of custard on your shirt," he explained, pointing out the small spot I had missed in my rush.

Occam's Razor strikes again.

"I should let you go. You can't be late if you never arrive," he added

"True. I hope to see you around Asher," I smiled.

"I'm sure we'll run into each other again," he said with a quick wink before heading off in the opposite direction.