A handsome man

She turned expecting the voice to belong to a smarmy, nasty dumb fuck like the bartender. Instead she found herself looking up at what she could only describe as one of the most handsome men she had ever seen. His dark hair and crystal blue eyes gave him an exotic look. He must have been at least 6 foot 4 inches tall with the lean muscular build of an athlete. He did not have the massive build of a steroid enhanced power lifter, but instead the whipcord strength that came from hard heavy work, of some kind. His body was a real man’s body and she like what she saw. His hair was short and well kept, and he had a small scar that ran through one of his black eyebrows. It looked like the kind of cut you get in a fight when someone breaks their hand on your head.

When she just looked at him he had a big smile on his face and then the man spoke again in his soft baritone voice, “You can’t leave yet. We have not had the chance to meet.”

She smiled just a little bit at him; he was so damned handsome that his looks awoke a hunger within her that she had not felt in a while. The other hunger was there too, it was always there, but suddenly she felt something she had not in a while, sexual attraction. “What makes you think that you are worth me waiting around?” she teased him back.

“Because I am the most interesting man you are going to meet in the next hour, and it would be a shame to waste it. Why don’t you come back over here and tell me your life story, or just lie to me, it doesn’t really matter which. We can have a few drinks and spend some time getting to know each other.”

“I don’t sleep with men I just met…” Then when he didn’t respond she felt compelled to add, “Just so you know. I don’t want you having some big expectations.”

“I have no expectations. I just did not want to let you leave before we had a chance to meet. You just never know until you get the chance to talk with someone if they might be someone who matters, some how, some when.”

She was curious how he put that as she asked him back, “Matters? Matters to whom, and in what way?”

He pointed her to a chair at the table he had been sitting at, she wonder idly why she had not noticed him before, he was so striking looking. He answered her as she sat down, “I mean matters in the sense of whether they might matter in your life. There are so many people you pass by everyday, don’t you ever wonder if one of them might be someone to you if some twist of fate prompted you to meet. I mean suppose I went to another bar tonight. I don’t come here often, once a month or so, we would have never met. This conversation would never be happening and you would not be wondering why you sat down with the poor excuse for a barroom philosopher.”

“My name is Daniel Herron.” He stuck out his hand as he said this and she could not help but smile back at him as he took her small, cool hand. They shook for a moment and then he sat staring at her, waiting.

She suddenly realized what he was waiting for. She sometimes forgot how it was with little human niceties. She said, “My name is Rose.”

“Just Rose?” He asked her back.

"Just Rose for now," she responded in what she hoped was a mysterious tone. She was not sure where she was going with this. It was never a good idea to get to close to mortals, kind of like talking to a steer, or a pig in some sick way. But she decided she would wait and talk with Daniel a while. Maybe Christopher would show up. If he didn’t she could always see where Daniel led her.