Burning Desire (Completed)

chapter 45

As they ate breakfast in the kitchen, Raymond's house keeper came in by 7:30am, using her own keys.
His house keeper was a married woman and in her late forties.

When the house keeper saw Raymond and Jasmine together, a confused look appeared on her face. She knew every lady Raymond had brought to his house but she had never seen Jasmine. It surprised her even more to see them having a conversation while they ate their breakfast; pancakes that was topped with strawberry syrup, fresh berries and banana slices.

Raymond had never had breakfast with the women he slept with in his house. He would instrust his house keeper to prepare breakfast for them and he would only have a cup of coffee and leave for work. Having breakfast with them felt intimate to him and he wouldn't want to leave the women thinking that he was liking them.

Still surprised by what she saw, a small smile formed on his house keepers' face and she hoped that maybe, Raymond was changing and was drawn by the beautiful stranger sitting next to him.

Raymond instructed his house keeper to take Jasmine's wet clothes to the laundry. He then told her to use his credit card and get Jasmine some new clothes when she was done with her chores.

After breakfast, he took Jasmine back to his studio and began telling her stories behind his precious paintings but never mentioned anything about Ella or his nightmares.
He didn't know what it was but he felt so comfortable having Jasmine beside him. Her aura was intoxicating and it baffled him that he started having these strange feeling towards her eversince he woke up in the morning.

He had always admired Jasmine since he first saw her at the gallery but staring at her as she walked over to the next painting, stirred something inside him. He didn't know what it was, but he prayed silently that whatever it was would fade away quickly as it came.

They sat down on the floor in his studio as they kept on talking about their love for art. This was the longest they had spent together alone and they realized they had few things in common. They both loved black coffee, their favorite breakfast was pancakes with strawberry syrup, they loved rap music and their favorite art work was water colour and pastel paintings.

By 9:40am, Raymond insisted on driving Jasmine back to her apartment. His house keeper had returned back Jasmine's clothes that were now washed and ironed. She had bought a black cardigan, yellow top and blue jeans for Jasmine to wear.

Raymond parked his car in front of her apartment as he turned off the engine.
"Nice place you got," he said to her, looking over the building.

"Thanks." she smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her left ear. "Do you wanna come in for a drink or coffee?" she asked as she looked at him.

"Ohh."

She Chuckled. "You don't have to. I'm probably sure you have somewhere else to be."

He rubbed the back of his neck with his palm as he let out a chuckle. "Thanks for the offer but I'll have to decline."

A slight frown appeared on her face as she gave him a short nod. "It's okay."

'What were you thinking trying to invite him over?'

She thought to herself and fumbled with the hem of her cardigan. She would have loved to continue from where they'd stopped off in their conversation.

He noticed what she was doing with her fingers and a smile crossed his face. He placed a hand softly over hers and she looked at him. "I'm sorry but I need to head back now and prepare for my flight," he explained to her.

"I understand." She gave him a warm smile.

"Good." He smiled. "Maybe we could go out for a drink when I'm back."
It took 2 seconds before what he said replayed back in his mind.

'Holy shit!
Did I just ask her out?
What the fuck was I thinking?'

He thought, pulling his hand away from her slowly, realizing it was too late to take back his statement.

"Sure, that would be nice," she said with a wide smile on her face.
She wouldn't mind going out for a drink with him. Yes, it wasn't really a date but she was happy that he still wanted to spend time with her.

He gave her a nod and said nothing, still questioning himself in his mind for asking her out.

'It's not a date Raymond.
It's just a drink... just a drink.'

He kept playing the words in his head as he stared at her.

She took off her seatbelt and grabbed her clothes in the laundry bag that was in the back seat and held it gently in her arms. "I'm going in now," she told him.

He cleared his throat lightly and shook off the thoughts in his head. "Alright, I'll see you when I get back." He smiled.

"Okay. Have a nice trip." She grinned and unlocked the door, stepping out.

"Thanks."

"Byeee." She waved at him with a smile, shutting the door and walked inside her apartment.

"Bye," he said in a low tone, watching her with a smile on his face. He looked away from her, letting out a long sigh, turned on the ignition and drove off.