I remember the exact moment I fell in love with Bastian Lee.

It was a warm summer’s night.

Not that he had been there or anything. But that’s beside the point.

We had been dating a single week. A short time, I know.

But when you know, you know.

Insert dreamy sigh here.

He had been working late at the bar, the one we met at. I was just getting in from a girls night out. Stacey drank three too many and blew pretty pink chunks all over my brand new Manolo Blahnik knockoffs.

And I gotta admit. I was cheesed.

I paid a fifty for those babies.

Never to be worn again.

So there I was, wasted, slightly pissed, and mourning the loss of my new pumps, when my phone chimes.

Bastian: Wish you were here, beautiful. Sleep good.

And that was that. The exact moment.

It shook me like a thunderbolt through the heart. Suddenly, my body felt squishy and pliable, like warm vanilla pudding. A huge smile hit me so hard, my cheeks had to stretch painfully to accommodate it.

When a guy is at work, and at that workplace he’s surrounded by a plethora of gorgeous women, most of them easy, and he texts you to let you know he’s thinking of you…

That right there, ladies, is a keeper.

Stumbling around my apartment, bumping into furniture, I attempted parking my ass on the edge of the sofa. And ended up using the arm of the chair as a slippery slide all the way down to the floor, landing with a hard thud.

Whee!

I meant to do that. The floor looked lonely.

Lazily blinking through furrowed brows, I used my Jedi mind powers to focus on the cell phone screen and write back something equally as sweet to my new beau.

Me: My butt hurts.

His immediate response cemented my already strong feelings for him.

Bastian: I’ll kiss it better tomorrow.

Smiling like a loon, I drifted into a peaceful sleep on my living room floor, mouth open, forehead planted firmly on the hardwood floor.

Somehow, I knew we’d be together forever.

Our story

A cool hand gently squeezing my hip roused me from my sleep.

My smile was small and sleepy. The moment that hand moved lower to slide up my nightgown and lips connected with my tush, I jumped and squeaked. But he held me firm. His rough rumbling chuckle hit me right in the solar plexus.

I was so in love.

“Bastien, get your lips away from that. You have no idea where it’s been,” I mumbled sleepily through a smile.

His slow kisses stirred something inside of me. It never took long for Bastien to set me alight.

We’d messed around a lot, but we’d never been there. Not just yet anyways.

Hey, I’m a lady.

It would take him at least another thre- Okay, another two weeks to get there.

If foreplay was anything to go by, Bastien was a very giving lover. I couldn’t wait to take it there. But the anticipation of waiting would make it all that much better.

He placed gentle kisses on my hip, trailing up further, kissing the side of my breast, then my shoulder, up my neck, along the underside of my jaw.

When I suddenly realised something.

Bastien didn’t have a key to my place.

My eyes snapped open. “How did you get in here?”

I wasn’t really pissed about it when I was being woken up the way I was, more curious, was all.

His breath caressed my skin as he spoke against my cheek. “Security in this place is shit, babe. Took me all of twenty seconds to work the lock.” Suddenly, his green eyes were all up in my biz. “You didn’t even attach the chain, Em.”

I blinked. Then pouted. Was I seriously getting a lecture at this time of the morning? “In my defence, I was hammered when I got home.”

His full lips curved into a soft smile as his eyes softened and searched mine. “What am I gonna do with you?”

My fingers touched his shirt-covered stomach and lingered there. My voice turned to a hoarse whisper, “I have a few ideas…” Lightning fast, I was on my back, arms pinned. I scowled, “Hey, I wasn’t ready!”

The tip of his nose touched mine. I felt his smile against my lips. “Never are, babe.”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not my fault you’re super fast, and quiet as a cat. You’re like a superhero or something.”

A choked sound escaped him. “Uh, no. Very no.”

I pulled away to get a good look at him. “Why no? Superheroes are awesome. They help people and make sure the bad guy always gets what’s coming to him. And you’re hot. And they’re always hot. It’s like a rule or something.”

Without asking, he lifted the covers and slid under, still holding himself above my body using his strong arms as leverage. “I never really liked superheroes. I always liked the villains.”

I made a face of mock disgust. “Seriously? We are so going to have issues over this.”

The moonlight struck his face and my stomach dipped.

I had never seen a man more handsome than Bastien Lee.

It was almost as though God ran out of ugly to give so he gave Bastien the whole package.

If I had to put together a list of the things that would make up my dream guy, Bastien would have fit the bill. With dark hair stylishly cut, bright green eyes, full lips, high cheekbones and a beaming, white smile, he was — without being able to find a better work — perfect. His tall, built body towers over mine. And I didn’t just like that. Oh no.

I loved it.

I kept asking myself how someone like me was able to land a man like this.

I was no Scar-Jo, that’s for sure.

Being average height and average weight (a little more in the boob area) with long average brown hair and average brown eyes to match, I was not lying when I said I thought I was punching above my weight. But he never made me feel that way.

To think we only met a week ago. It felt like a lifetime ago.

I thought back to last Saturday…

Stacey, Laura, Ally and I had been talking about going to Frost for months. The problem with this was that Frost was an extremely popular cocktail bar and rarely let in people off the street. You could wait in line all night long and get nowhere.

This just wasn’t a risk I — or any of the other girls — was willing to take.

So as a group, we decided if we ever got someone to vouch for us, we’d go together. We made a vow that neither of us would go without the other and we stuck to it.

Thursday night came along and just as I stepped out of my extremely glamorous workplace, my phone started buzzing in my pocket. I pulled it out and answered. “Yo, yo. What’s up?”

I smirked as I heard Stacey’s cringe. “Ugh. Must you talk like that? It’s gross, Em.”

Even though she couldn’t see me, I started nodding. “I must. I really must.”

“Whatever. How was work?”

I walked on to the bus stop, my shoulders slumped. “Awful. I swear, it’s like every time I ask my boss to stop doing something, he does it twice as much.”

Sounding none too impressed, she asked, “What was it this time?”

Last week, I had asked Mr. Vozzo to stop calling me sweetheart. The week before I asked him — ever so kindly — if he could please stop tapping me on the tush every time I walked passed him. Every time I bring something up, he has the same response. “I didn’t realise I was doing it… sweetheart.”