Elijah

“Jesus Christ!” The burning sensation came first, like being hit by an angry swarm of stinging wasps. I dropped the bouquet to cover my eyes, but the damage had already been done. “Fuck. Fucking Christ.”
I fell to my knees, squeezing my eyes shut to ward off the pain. Ava screamed profanities in my ear, the pepper spray still clutched in her hand and aimed in my direction. With as much energy as I could muster, I put one hand up to show her I meant no harm before getting to my feet, blinking furiously as the burning in my eyes intensified. My chest felt tight, my lungs constricting as they grappled for fresh air. Ava stumbled a few feet past me to turn on the light, still yelling, but I couldn’t comprehend what she was saying.
“It’s me,” I gasped, stumbling out of the line of fire as the light flickered on, pushing out the darkness. “It’s Elijah.”
“Elijah Trevino?” Ava roared, and for the first time in my adult life, I almost cringed away from the mere fury of a woman. It wasn’t exactly the greeting I’d hoped for, but at least she wasn’t still attacking me with pepper spray. She stood there now, her jaw hanging, pepper spray still clutched firmly in one hand. In the other hand, her purse was raised as though she had intended to beat the hell out of the perpetrator with it. “What in the hell are you doing in my house?”
“Surprising you.”
Ava stood back in the living room, looking shell-shocked as I rinsed the burn from my eyelids. She still held the pepper spray, but her purse dropped from her hand as she glared at me. Leaving the bouquet lying on the floor, I stumbled into the small kitchen and turned the faucet on before sticking my head under the running water.
“How did you get in?” she demanded. “Did you break into my house?”
“If by breaking in you mean I acquired a second key to your apartment, then yes, I broke in.” I swallowed some water and spat it out. It tasted like fucking sewer water.
“And how did you get a spare key? How did you even know where I lived?” I could tell she was getting worked up again, and my eyes were just barely coming back into focus. Shutting off the faucet, I stood up and dried my face with the back of my sleeve, turning to face Ava. Despite her reaction to my being there, I was still absolutely mesmerized by the woman standing in front of me. Curvy hips, pouty lips, and eyes that sparked fire. She was everything I remembered from that night and more.
“How?” I repeated. “I’m Elijah Trevino, Miss Harding. I can do anything I want.”
For a fleeting moment, I thought she was going to tackle me to the ground and start wailing on me, but the idea seemed to pass, if only just. Instead, I watched as Ava dropped her keys—including the pepper spray—onto her living room coffee table and tore her scowl away from me to look around. Hours ago, I had been proud of the flowers and candles and rose-petaled floor, but now I felt like an asshole.
“Let me get this straight,” she said, her lip curling into a sneer. “You send your butler—”
“Assistant.”
“—butler to my place of work to ask me out on a date, and when I politely turn him—or you—down, you resorted to breaking into my home like a psychotic sociopath?”
“I’m not sure calling me a snob was polite,” I said, feeling petty. “Malcolm said you were angry when he approached you, so I hoped this might sway your answer. I was only trying to be … decent.”
Ava’s eyes stayed on me, an expression of warning, daring me to try something that would resort to getting pepper sprayed again. I sensed she was looking for a reason, any reason at all, to go at me again.
“I called you a snob because that’s exactly what you are,” she seethed. Luckily, the pepper spray stayed away from her hands on the table. “I mean, for God’s sakes, Mr. Trevino, look at this place!”
“Please, call me Elijah.”
Still scowling, she paused her yelling momentarily to look once more around the room. Her chest heaved with each angry breath she breathed, and I longed to reach out and touch the gentle flush of her skin. At this point, however, I knew better.
“What kind of asshole sneaks into somebody’s home and sets up—rose petals—and chocolate—and lights candles?” Ava snapped, faltering a bit.
“Assholes like me,” I said pleasantly. “Though, this isn’t the norm. I believe you are the first woman I’ve ever tried to swoon. I apologize if I went, shall we say, overboard.”
I’m not sure, but I think Ava almost smiled. “This isn’t how you ask a woman on a date, Mr. Trevino.”
“Elijah.”
She ignored this. “I was expecting you to come to see me like the man you claim to be and ask me out like a normal person.”
“Oh, sweetheart,” I clicked my tongue and approached her, shaking my head. She stared at me with confusion in her eyes, conflicted, as I reached out and placed a hand on her arm, relishing in being so physically near her. Finally. “You will soon find out that I am anything but merely normal.”