The Introduction

 I ended up at the Valley, a mall that was somewhat close to my place and housed all my favorite haunts. I didn’t know why but I still shopped at Victoria’s Secret, and sadly my husband was not around to undress me. I guess I just kept hoping that he would stop cheating on me with his restaurants. As I walked from store to store I began to get hungry. A slice or two of pizza sounded great. I made my way to the food court and ordered my food. I left the counter and searched for a seat, the damn food court was packed. I sighed with frustration because it looked like I was going to be eating standing up when this delicious looking specimen began walking towards me, or at least I thought he was walking towards me.  I noticed that he was very well put together. The stranger had on a navy blue suit, with a chestnut color tie, and the shoes matched the tie. I inhaled deeply because he was indeed headed in my direction. I stopped staring at him and pretended I just received a text, but really I was looking in my camera to make sure I looked ok. . I was satisfied with what I saw, my hair r looked great, and since I hadn’t taken a bite out of my pizza I knew my teeth were straight as well. He was definitely walking towards me, in two steps he was standing in my path. “Hello Emma” How did this man know my name? “Uh, hello? Do I know you? I thought he might have known me from a fundraiser or something, but damn I would remember him - shit I wouldn’t have forgotten him. He smiled at the confusion on my face. “No, not quite. I was just looking on your website, inquiring about your services. I am looking for a publisher.” I smiled and extended my hand for him to shake mine. “So you are?” 

“ I’m Liam, I write erotic poetry books.” My mouth fell open as the words registered in my brain. I instantly had naughty thoughts about this man. It had been so long since the word erotic was mentioned before me. “ I came over to ask you if you wanted to join me for lunch? I’m sitting right over there. He pointed in the direction that he came from. Seeing as how I didn’t have anywhere to sit and this pizza was getting cold I took him up on his offer. We walked over to his table and sat down. I thought I should end the silence and ask him about the services he was requiring.“ So, what did you need exactly?” Finally, I took a bite out of the first slice. My stomach grumbled in response as a thank you. “Sorry, I was hungrier than I thought I was.” Liam smiled before he spoke. 

“As I mentioned before I write erotic poetry and I do my own illustrations. I need some models for this new book called Sex & Seduction. Do you model Emma?” He then gave me the sexiest grin ever. I licked my lips out of habit, I felt like he was trying to seduce me with talks of publishing his work. “ No, I don’t but I can recommend some ladies and men. Liam looked at me and gave me that sexy smile and said “ I only need women for this particular book”. I finished chewing my pizza so I could figure out what to say to that while all the time I was thinking what kind of pictures he was going to use. Enough time had passed and I spoke up “ No problem, I know about six women that you may like. I can give you their contact information. He pulled  his laptop out of a bag that matched his suit. He switched it on and I watched while I ate my pizza. He began typing away, I presumed he was putting in his passcode and logging into whatever app he wanted to show me. I was deep in thought conjuring thoughts about what he was doing that I didn’t even realize he was calling my name until he tapped me on my shoulder. “Yes, I’m sorry, did you say something?” He chuckled and smiled that beautiful smile again. 

“I was trying to show you the layout of the book and a few of the poems that I have in the book”. I moved the laptop in front of me and immediately checked the word count, and to see if there were any grammatical errors that jumped out. I didn’t bother reading the material at that moment, I looked up at him “ Would you be needing editing as well or just the publishing? He shook his head no. While he was shaking his head no, my phone rang, my preset alarm alerting me that I had a Zoom meeting coming up with my staff and a potential client about a project that they were working on. “Well, I unfortunately have to go, I have a meeting to attend but if you would like to give me a call or email me we can definitely finish this up and I can get you in touch with those ladies I know. How soon do you need them?" I began to stand up and clean up my mess, while gathering my belongings. “ I would need the models ready by the end of the month. The clothing, makeup, and hair stylist  is provided and they just need to show up. I request that you be present as well.” My face must have been very puzzled because he laughed again and said “ It is just to make sure the ladies are comfortable around me, I am also the photographer”. 

“ I had no idea you were a photographer as well, a man of many talents I see. I don’t see the ladies being uncomfortable around a handsome man but I will be there. You have my information, send me the details and I will put it on my books. If you have any questions before then, you know how to reach me. Have a good day, and it was a pleasure to meet you.”

“The pleasure was all mine, Emma.”