Free My Destiny by Adrianne Byrd

key?”
    Puzzled, Destiny shook her head. “It has to be inside, but I didn’t lock the door when I left.”
    “Okay.”
    She caught the note of disbelief in his voice. “I know that sounds strange, but I didn’t lock it. I rushed out here trying to catch up with Jefferson.”
    “Why? Did you scare him away with your new ’do?”
    She slammed her hands into her hips. “Very funny. You’re just as good a comedian as you are a lawyer.”
    “Ooh, Scary Spice has claws.”
    Despite everything, she smiled. “May I use your phone to call Wendell downstairs? I need for him to let me in.” When Miles didn’t immediately reply, Destiny had a sneaking suspicion that he was laughing at her.
    “Say, please,” he said.
    “No.”
    “Well, it was worth a try. Come on in.”
    Destiny smiled in the darkness as she crossed over to his apartment, but stopped at the door. Thin stripes of moonlight filtered through the small slits of the Venetian blinds and made it easier for Destiny to see around the apartment.
    Miles stopped and looked back at her. “Aren’t you going to come in?”
    “I’m thinking.”
    Crossing his arms, he stared at her from across the room. “You’re the one that wanted to use the phone. It’s not like I’m twisting your arm.”
    “You have a cordless?”
    “Are you for real? Besides a cordless won’t work in a blackout.”
    She exhaled. Maybe she was taking this to the extreme. “Fine. I’ll come in.”
    “Well, don’t do me any favors.” He turned, shaking his head.
    Destiny entered and instantly caught the fresh scent of flowers. She drew in a deep breath and smiled. “It smells good in here,” she said, deciding that it was okay to pay him a compliment.
    “You sound surprised.”
    “I don’t know too many bachelors whose pad smells like a section of the Botanical gardens.”
    He laughed and he headed back toward her. “It’s hard for you to be nice to me, isn’t it?”
    “You have no idea.”
    “La telephone, mademoiselle.”
    “Ah, you speak French?”
    “Oui, et toi?”
    “No. In fact, you just exhausted my vocabulary in the matter.” She accepted the phone. “Thank you.”
    “Je t’en prie,” he said, and then turned away.
    Destiny quickly punched in the number for downstairs and waited. After the tenth ring, she disconnected the call and frowned. “I wonder where that boy is.”
    “Knowing Wendell, he’s probably taken this chance to sneak some time away with Angela.”
    “Who’s Angela?”
    “Seventeen-year-old in eleven-eighteen.”
    “You’re kidding me?”
    “I can’t think of a more romantic setting than a city blackout.”
    “Now how come that doesn’t surprise me?”
    Miles laughed.
    There was a click and then a small flame of light posed over a candle and then another. Soon the entire living room glowed with the soft light.
    “You’re a candle aficionado, too?”
    “No, just a silly romantic.”
    That won a laugh out of her.
    “Don’t worry,” Miles continued. “For some reason, the mood has deserted me tonight.”
    She wrinkled her nose at him and swallowed her retort. “How about we just call it a truce for the night?”
    He shrugged and Destiny caught herself admiring his body’s outline. It wasn’t the first time she’d done so. Usually, she’d sneak a peek at him in the morning and admire his discipline. Rain, snow or just plain hot as hell, Miles ran religiously every morning and on Fridays, he would take an additional run in the evenings before getting ready to paint the town red.
    “So,” he said, looking awkwardly around. “Can I get you something while you wait? Something to drink, perhaps?”
    Battling her own uneasiness, she shrugged. “Sure, um, some water would be nice.”
    “Water it is.” He headed toward the kitchen. “Please, make yourself comfortable.”
    Instantly, Destiny’s gaze fell to a large, black leather sofa and thought of the countless women he’d seduced there. Now while she thought about it, the