A hush had fallen across the room; Aidan could hear the held breaths. He could hear Alicia's heart beating to the same rhythm of his own. Her scent intoxicated him.

"Kiss the girl!" came a voice from the back of the bar followed by cheers of encouragement. 

♥ ♥ ♥

His face loomed close to hers, too close... Her last thought before his lips touched hers was, I could drown in those eyes... His lips were soft, touching hers tentatively, his thumb caressing her palm, his other hand resting lightly against the small of her back. Everything around them faded away in that moment, the soft buzz of the crowd, the people jostling about, even the lights dimmed, a soft glow surrounding him just before her eyes closed and she surrendered herself to his kiss. The kiss ended as abruptly as it had started.

He was still holding her hand, looking into her eyes, intoxicating her. He lifted the rose from the table and held it up to her. "Now that I've found you..."

The crowd murmured their approval, some even applauding. It was all too much for Alicia to absorb; it felt like the walls were closing in around her. She couldn't think clearly with him standing that close to her. She couldn't breathe.

She did the only thing she had ever been good at. She turned and ran from the bar.

♥ ♥ ♥

"She will be fine." The man built like a brick wall who had been sitting with her, the one they called Jacques, was standing in front of Aidan. He looked apologetic. "I will go check on her."

All Aidan could do was nod dumbly.

"You have a really nice voice. And this place is great." The olive-skinned beauty looked apologetic too. Was he really that pathetic that everyone took pity on him?

Jacques added, "I... we need to go check up on her. Oh, but don't worry, she is fine."

"You need better taste in women." Her blonde bombshell friend with the caustic tongue winked at him as she passed him on the way to the door. Halfway there, she turned back, grabbed his arm and scribbled on it. "Her number. Her name's Alicia." She winked at him again.

The crowd was still hushed. Aidan felt like he was in a fishbowl. He turned and marched toward his office. He had just made the biggest fool of himself in his own bar, and in front of his staff. More importantly, he had just embarrassed the only woman he had felt anything more than lust for in the past four years.

♥ ♥ ♥

Alicia struggled to balance the bag of groceries and her handbag while trying to unlock the door to her apartment. The key slipped into its slot, but refused to turn; she gripped it tightly and twisted hard, cursing softly as she felt the key turn a split second after hearing the metal snap. She stood there for close to a minute just staring dumbly down at the silver head still clasped between her fingers.

"Great! Good to know your own strength, Ali," she whispered to herself as her eyes travelled from the useless lock to the even more useless half key in her hand.

Her bag buzzing against her hip broke her stupor, so she deposited the sliver of silver between her lips to free her hand so she could dig through her bag to find her phone. The ever-elusive phone continued to buzz angrily as she dug through wallets and tissues and old bills and make-up bags and myriad useless paraphernalia that had no place being inside a woman's bag but somehow had found their way into hers.

She pulled her hand back as a sharp pain ripped through her finger, droplets of blood oozing slowly from her throbbing digit. "Argh! Ffffuck!" she mumbled, with the broken key still between her lips.

She grabbed the offensive sewing kit; a fresh droplet of blood still clung to the tip of the needle as she threw the half-open box to the ground. She watched as a crimson bead pooled around the tiny hole before running down her finger and dropping onto her brand new Carducci shoes.

"Nooooo..." she moaned as she bent to wipe it before it dried, gripping the grocery bag tighter to keep it from falling.

Still, the phone continued to buzz.

"Not the shoes... Not the shoes... Ohhhh God! Please not the shoes!" she chanted as she dabbed the spot with her fingers, cringing as she realised too late that she was rubbing the blood from her pierced finger onto the cream suede as well.

"Half my salary down the drain!" she babbled almost tearfully as she straightened up.

The brown paper bag split along the side as she hugged it tightly to her chest; the French loaf broke and half of it dangled awkwardly from its brown paper sheath, and the salami spilt from the side and rolled across the hall, followed closely by two onions.

She heard a crunch underfoot as she stepped on the discarded sewing kit, the grocery bag tearing further as she instinctively clutched it harder. She gulped hard as a can of tomatoes dropped onto her foot, then grabbed for her throat, her eyes popping comically as her mouth formed a huge 'O' as the chunk of silver she had dangling from her lips slipped into her throat, making her gag and let go of the bag. She coughed and spluttered, hardly noticing the pain of the heavy bag dropping onto her foot, bottles and cans rolling in all directions, the bottle of olive oil popping its top from the impact and spilling over her other shoe.

Still, the phone continued to buzz.

She grabbed for the door handle as she lost her balance. The impact of her weight made the door swing inward, causing her to rock unsteadily before tumbling belly down into the apartment, the contents of her bag spilling everywhere. The force of the fall dislodged the stuck object from her throat and she felt it slide down her oesophagus, swallowing hard before gasping for air. She lay panting on the wooden floor, trying to catch her breath.

She reached for the phone that had landed half an arm's length from her, but, just as her fingers slipped around it, it stopped buzzing. She looked at the screen; the missed call was from an unknown number. She dialled her voicemail, then listened intently as her anxious heart thumped loudly.

She smiled as she recognised the deep male voice with the Irish lilt on the recording, "Hi... I mean hello. I don't know if you remember me; it's Aidan. Strike that... Of course, you remember me... I'm the one who made a complete arse of myself last night. I... I erm... I was hoping to buy you a drink or maybe dinner. If you agree, I promise not to sing or do any other asinine thing. I promise. Call me? Or I could call back? I... erm... yes, I will call back. Bye. Did I mention that it's Aidan?"