From, A Little Mysterious
Chapter One
She’d seen him for the first time about eight weeks ago when he strolled
into the bar, an hour or so after dark. Every night since, he’d come in and sit
on a stool where he could talk with her as she served customers. Every night,
she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
The bar was on the high street and attracted an eclectic mix of
clientele because of what was on offer there. Alcohol was served, as well as
coffee and tea from a range of exotic sounding blends that appealed to the
people who worked in the offices around that part of town. Food was available,
cold, well-filled sandwiches on various breads, or hot bistro meals. Both
excellent, and the place did a great trade at lunchtime as well as in the
evening. The bar hummed with happy, satisfied people.
None of the staff minded that Daisy occasionally stopped to talk with
the man, even though he occupied a central stool, never bought anything except
a cup of coffee when he first arrived, and a Vodka cocktail about half an hour
before he left.
Her boss, Ivor, joked. “Daisy, the guy obviously likes you, although,
he’s a little mysterious. But hey, those two items he always buys add up, in
the long run.”
Ivor knew Daisy worked hard, and now she had no family left, he looked
upon her kindly, as if she was his own daughter.
It took four weeks for the customer to speak to Daisy, apart from giving
his two orders. During those weeks, as usual, he watched her serve at the bar.
She felt his eyes on her. When she was out at the tables clearing the used
dishes, she would secretly look at him. She found him so attractive her
heartbeat would speed up whenever she saw him push the smoked glass door open,
and enter the bar.
He was unusually pale. His short, spiked, hair was blond and his eyes a
shade of ice blue so that the overall impression of him was ethereal. When he
first walked in eight weeks ago, he wore square, black sunglasses. His overcoat
was heavy, and also black. His collar was turned up and the sleeves were so
long they almost covered his hands. The weather had warmed considerably since
then. He kept the sunglasses, but now wore a black jacket over his black jeans.
Daisy liked the way his eyes were fringed with long dark eyelashes. She
thought he wore kohl until she was close to him, talking, when she saw his
eyelash line was naturally dark. He was very good looking. His mouth was
enticing. Daisy longed to run her fingertip over those perfectly shaped lips.
He was tall and muscled. He wore a gray marl T-shirt under the jacket. He never
wore anything different. Daisy wondered if it was a uniform of some kind.
In the past two weeks, she’d learned that his name was Dhruv. It added
to his strangeness. Daisy had never heard the name before and found it
exciting. He told her he was just passing through town, and she laughed, saying
he’d been around a fair few weeks to be “passing through.” They hadn’t
exchanged other personal information and only made small talk.
Tonight, it was past nine when he walked in.
Copyright Elodie Parkes,
Evernight Publishing
"A Little Mysterious is a steamy love story guaranteed
to burn up the sheets and the story of how Dhruv came to find Daisy was
fantastic. Although this is a short story, Parks packs it with all the right
details to make us not only care about the characters, but about how their
story turns out."
