Angel

Adrian

“Anything else, sir?”

“That will be all, thank you,” I mutter before sipping my Scotch. I thumb through a few more pages of this report I’m reviewing. A headache is blooming behind my eyes, but I must continue.

I might put this off until tomorrow or the next day if I were any other man. But I am no ordinary man.

Something on the security screen monitor catches my attention. I look over, curiosity seeming to take precedence over anything else, and my heart seems to stall.

Sitting at my bar downstairs is the most beautiful woman I have had the pleasure of laying eyes on. Golden blonde hair cascades down her back in soft curls, swaying slightly as she leans over and says something to my bartender.

He nods his head, reaching above him for a stemmed wine glass. I watch as he finds a bottle of red wine, uncorks it, and pours a taste of the scarlet liquid into the glass. He slides it across the bar top to her, and she accepts it, lifting it to her lips and taking a sip. She nods at him and pushes the glass back to fill it the rest of the way.

Once she’s settled with her drink, she pulls out her phone, scrolling mindlessly through what I can only assume to be her social media profiles. I purse my lips, wondering what her name is. What do her profiles look like?

Finally, whoever she was planning to meet arrives. It’s a man dressed in dark-wash jeans and a polo shirt. He saunters up to her and rests his hand on her shoulder. I nearly scoff at his lack of effort in his appearance.

The beauty in front of him startles, but she softens when she realizes he is who she is meant to be meeting. She offers him a blinding smile, standing and wrapping her arms around him in a welcoming hug.

I grit my teeth and look away from the screen, choosing to go back to my work. I have no right feeling any sort of jealous feelings. Until a few minutes ago, I hardly knew this woman existed. I don’t even know her name.

Burying myself into my work, I only glance at the screen occasionally, breathing a sigh of relief when I finally see she has left. I take a deep, cleansing breath and feel the tension leave my body. How is it that the mere image of this woman has me so rattled?

I’m able to redirect my focus for the rest of the evening. The remainder of the following week passes uneventfully. There are a few minor fires to put out, but everything has been handled by the time Friday rolls around.

As I sit there the following week, I’m surprised that she is there again. I know its her because of the pale blonde hair, though this time, she has it pinned at the back of her head with a clip with a few unruly strands falling around the perimeter of her face. Following suit from last week, she sits at the bar, sipping on a glass of red wine. I rub my jaw with my fingers as, again, I am entranced by her very being.

Eventually, her date arrives, and they sit together at the bar, getting to know each other. I return to my work, glancing up every few minutes to take in her beauty—like a man addicted.

Every time I glance over, I find myself burning with desire to know precisely who she is, where she came from, and why she chose my bar, of all places in the city. And why she continues to do so. I couldn’t deny that I was fascinated by her, though I didn’t know a single thing about her.

I’ve been Boss for years and lived here much longer. Yet it was a mystery that this beautiful creature had evaded me for so long in my own city. I couldn’t deny that I was fascinated by her.

For the next few weeks, I watched as she brought someone new into my bar every Friday night. It would always go the same way. She would arrive early, get her red wine, and wait for him to arrive. They would talk for a few hours and then leave.

I was itching to go down one of those Fridays and introduce myself while she was waiting, yet I restrained myself.

She was an Angel, and I was—me. I had no business butting into her life.

But I grew antsier with every week that passed as I watched her. Eventually, I accepted that it would be inevitable. I would get the chance to talk to her. I just had to wait for the right moment.

And I was confident that that moment would come one of these days. I wasn’t normally a patient man, but when it came to this beauty, I had the suspicion that I would be willing to wait for however long it took.