Dessert

The whole time Dean was in the restaurant, he plotted the right moment to leave. The more he watched Mia, the more he remembered his dream about her. He caught her gazing at him from time to time and wondered whether his glances made her uncomfortable.

Earlier in the restaurant, Ana had whispered in his ear, "I could be your dessert," which prompted him to vacate.

Now, Ana slipped inside his Xanthus orange Huracan Evo with him, ready for anything.

This beautiful woman sat next to him. Yet replaying in Dean's mind was Mia in her silver chunky chain collar, grey t-shirt, long black hair, and long legs crossed in her tight skinny jeans. He thought to himself, “I bet her ass looks good in them."

"Dean, what are you think about?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing. Just work."

Dean sped through the traffic in silence, remembering how Mia's translucent pale cheeks progressively turned red from the wine. "So kissable," he reflected. He recalled her rosy scent when she hugged him back. He did not want to let go. He gripped his steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. He knew he needed her out of his brain. He reminded himself over and over again, "Asian girls don't like me."

Ana's voice interrupted his thoughts, "You've been busy, huh? You haven't called me for a while? Or are you seeing someone hotter than me?"

Happy to be distracted, Dean smirked, giving her a quick glance away from the traffic. "Ana..." he answered defensively.

"But no one as naughty as me, I hope." Ana leaned in to give his neck a kiss and a lick. Dean swerved his car and groaned. She giggled and sat back in her seat, satisfied with his reaction.

"Don't be dangerous."

"I like being dangerous."

"I know you do."

Halted by a red light, Dean pulled Ana's collar with one hand, tongue parting her lips. She wrapped his neck between her arms, crushing him against her bosom. A car behind them honked. They untangled from each other, huffing. Dean stepped hard on the pedal, engine humming loudly. He was impatient to take Ana home.

---***---

In a compact modern one-bedroom apartment in Xinyi, Dean laid there with Ana in his arms. Both of them damp from each other's sweat. He checked his phone on her bedside table: 11:13pm. They had been hard at it since eight.

Ana was one person that he could rely on who had the same stamina and craving for sex as he did. He needed it bad today. The stress from work had built up inside of him since the start of the week. Or was it just because of Mia? Maybe a little...

Dean closed his eyes and imagined Mia bending down to pick up her skinny jeans with only her black lacy underwear on. He groaned out loud at the thought. He glanced down at Ana to check whether she heard him. She was fast asleep, making soft breathing noises as her chest heaved.

Slowly, Dean unwound Ana's arms from his torso to slip away. She woke slightly from the movement, "Dean?" she murmured. He kissed her on her hairline and whispered, "I'm gonna go. I have a boxing session tomorrow morning, so I need to get some sleep."

Ana caressed his back as he sat up and muttered, "You can sleep here." He gave her a smirk as he began to dress. "You know I won't get any sleep."

"Don't go..." she pleaded with longing as she looked up at him with her enormous dark eyes.

Unaffected, he replied, "I will see you soon..."

Ana frowned, "You always say that..."

Giving her another kiss on her forehead, he reasoned, "And I always call you..."

Sitting up in her bed now, Ana suggested, "You are welcome here anytime, you know. I can give you a key."

"It's ok. I don't really want to be responsible for a key." Dean gave her a crooked smile. He was almost done dressing, ready to leave. "Let's go watch a movie next time. The Taipei Film Festival is coming up and there are a few movies that I want to watch..."

Ana rolled her eyes, "Why don't we go to a normal movie, like a romantic comedy?"

He lifted his eyes upwards and scoffed, "Romantic comedy? No thanks. You can watch them on TV when they come out."

Ana clasped her hands together and sighed, "Oh! But it's so much more romantic when it's on a big screen and dim lights." Dean snickered at her expression, "You're too cute. Let me buy you a big ass TV screen so you can watch them at home."

He leaned in to kiss Ana's cheeks and said softly, "And I'll come over." She pouted her full lips at him in response.

Standing at the bedroom door, Dean arched an eyebrow and grinned, "I will see you, ok. Maybe there is a romantic comedy at the Taipei Film Festival. But I doubt it very much. Bye." Ana grunted and threw a pillow at him.

---***---

The next morning, Dean arrived at his boxing gym, barely on time to catch the sparing warmups. Unfortunately, he didn't go unnoticed by his personal boxing instructor, Eric, "You're late, Dean, that's unlike you?" Dean only grunted a response. Eric chuckled and returned to speaking with one of his other clients while waiting for Dean to get ready for his private session.

Half-awake, Dean sat on the spectator bench quickly but carefully wounding the white wrap around his left then his right hand.

All night and morning, Dean wondered about his current "obsession" with Mia. Was it because she looked like Samantha, his ex-girlfriend? "No, it was not that." They did not look alike at all, nor did they have the same personality. "Was it lust or something more?" He shook his head to displace the notion of something more. "It would not end well if it was something more," he thought. "It had to be lust."

These questions and more ran through his head.

"What will happen if I sleep with Mia?"

"What is the worse that David could do to me?"

"What about Beverley?"

"It wouldn't be so bad?"

"But what happens if she says no?"

"That would be a dumb move, Dean...You are her architect."

Dean grumbled as he concluded, "Yeah, it's not a good idea." He just needed to dial the charm down and let their encounters be completely professional. "Heck, I'll throw in my Project Managers in these conversations if I have to, to keep me in check."

Dean then planned to stay out of any discussions he was not essential for with Mia. He had done so, so far, because he wanted to understand her vision and her as his client. Not because he liked to be around her. "Definitely not. That wasn't the case at all," he tried to reason.

Dean pushed his wrapped hands through his messy dark blond hair and let out a long breath. He would have to work hard to keep his distance from Mia. Because right now all he wanted to do was...

Make the wet dream a reality...

---***---

"I shouldn't have eaten all that," Mia said as she puffed her cheeks out at Beverley. "You shouldn't have forced me to eat so much," Beverley replied.

"What? I forced you? I am sure you were going at the aiyubing with lightning speed before I could even push the plate over to you!" Mia protested. Ping. "Hang on, I got a message from Kai-Lin."

Kai Lin: Hi Mia, I'm at this new bar with a few of my friends. I think you will like the interior of this place. Come and join us. I've been telling them about you too!

"What does he want?" Beverley asked casually. Mia replied, looking up at her, "Oh. He's at a new bar with his friends and just wants to know if we want to join them..."

"Us? How does he know I'm with you?"

"No. He doesn't know that. But in any case, we are together. Why don't we go? Look at the photo of this bar!" Mia raised her phone to Beverley's face so that she could see the photo that Kai-Lin sent her.

"No. You go ahead. I'm off to Hong Kong tomorrow. I am speaking at a weekend conference on Women Leadership. So I have an early start. I only came out tonight because of you," Beverley winked at Mia.

"Are you sure? I don't know who Kai-Lin is with? He didn't say... Nah, I won't go," Mia decided as she placed her phone into her clutch bag.

Beverley shrugged, "Suit yourself. Let's get the bill and go then."

After bidding good-bye to Beverley, Mia ordered a black hired-car to take her home. Inside her car, she called Kai-Lin.

"Hi, Mia? Are you here?" Mia could hear Kai-Lin's faint voice framed by noisy chatter and footsteps.

"Ah Kai-Lin, I think I will give tonight a miss. Although the place looks really good. Who are you with anyways?"

"Ha-ha. No one, don't worry. I'm with my interior designer friends here from Taichung and just showing them around some new places that they haven't been to before." Mia had to concentrate to hear what Kai-Lin was saying. "I wanted to try this bar out before bringing you here to make sure it's worthy of your appreciation. Ha-ha-ha."

Mia giggled, "Oh thanks. I trust your taste, you know that. But we can go next time, ok?"

Kai-Lin replied, "Of course. Mia. However, they have a wonderful pannacotta here which I know you like so much!"

Mia sucked in a breath, "Oh tempting. But I better not. I've already had a few to drink and dessert with Beverley. I am falling asleep as it is..."

"Oh. Alright. I will bring you here myself next time."

Mia does not have a car and does not know how to drive, so she felt that Kai-Lin was so thoughtful, always offering to drive her everywhere. "Oh, that's so kind of you. Sure. Next time. Good-night."

"Good-night, Mia."

After Kai-Lin hung up, he walked through the crowded bar back to the secluded VIP booth where his friends were. On the way there, a trio of twenty-something ladies clad in glittering dresses batted their lashes at him as he passed. Kai-Lin gracefully returned an appreciative smile. Whilst Kai-Lin, at five feet five inches, was not tall, he emitted a friendly creative vibe from his always smiling face and a well-groomed short goatee. In addition, his tailor-made fitted suit and branded white sneakers would no doubt make any young ambitious lady's eyes sparkling.

When he arrived at the booth, one of his friends asked in Mandarin, "So is your girlfriend coming out for dessert?"

"No, not tonight..." Kai-Lin sat down on the plush royal blue velvet couch with a pretend sad face as a friend padded him hardily on his shoulder. A melancholy smile began to form on his lips. He was thinking about Mia as he swirled the tumber of whiskey and ice in his hand.