Starstruck

The Rooftop

When the elevator doors opened after a loud chime, we stepped in and Logan pushed the 25 button and then cradled my face in his hands, staring deep into my eyes.

“I’m really glad I asked you to dance tonight.” He said, his rich brown eyes practically dancing with excitement. I beamed.

“So am I.” I said before extending onto the tips of my toes to reach his lips with my own. Logan smiled against my mouth after a few seconds and snickered. I pulled away a few inches to see what he was laughing at.

“What’s so funny?” I asked as I reached my right hand up to brush a strand of his wavy brown hair out of his eyes.

“Nothing. I’m just… happy.” He said with a dazzling grin. Geez, he was so alluring. He lightly gripped the back of my neck with his right hand as his thumb began to caress my cheek, sending tingles down the left side of my neck. I leaned up to kiss him again and then surprised both of us by pushing gently on his chest and stepping forward a few paces, backing Logan into the elevator wall. He responded by kissing me even harder, then pulled my bottom lip between both of his and bit down softly. I let out a faint, throaty moan and tangled my right hand in the back of his silky hair, my left one snaking down around his right hip to pull him closer to me. We both jumped slightly as we heard the elevator chime again and felt it steady itself after stopping rather abruptly on the top floor.

Logan gave me one more brief kiss, then turned towards the elevator door and pressed his hand into the small of my back to guide me out onto the floral-patterned carpet of the 25th floor. He steered me to the right towards a door labeled ROOF ACCESS and pushed the door open, holding it aloft for me to enter first. I shot him a playful wink as I stepped into the stairwell, then ascended the stairs to a small landing with a heavy metal door that had a smooth black panel underneath the polished silver handle. Logan removed his keys from his back pocket and fished around until he held a small blue plastic card with a white “RC” symbol on it in between his pointer finger and thumb. It looked like a mini credit card with a minuscule hole in the center at the top where the key-ring was hooked through. He pressed the card to the panel on the door and a small green light blinked, then the pressed down on the handle with his left hand and pushed the door open with his right. Again, he held the door open for me as I stepped out onto the dark rooftop, straining my eyes to see several silhouettes in the dim moonlight.

    Logan allowed the heavy door to fall shut as he walked up to a breaker box embedded in the wall to our right, opened it, and flipped on every breaker in the box. After a few seconds, the rooftop was illuminated by a few floor lamps and several rows of string lights suspended in the air above the roof, crossing and intertwining like a beautiful bright maze. I felt my jaw drop as my eyes widened, taking it all in. In the left corner of the roof, about 20 feet from where we were standing, there was a round hot tub lined with beautifully stained wood panels that had a color-changing LED light in the middle. The water began swirling and bubbling as my eyes roamed over it. I let them trail past the hot tub, over the deep gray stone tile floor, until I saw a long luxurious looking couch lining the edge of the rooftop, facing another identical couch that was perched about 10 feet away. 2 Love-seats and 2 loungers stood between the 2 long couches, one of each kind on each side, forming a rectangular lounge area. The dark tan fabric on the couches and love-seats appeared to be covered with some sort of canvas material, which was obviously necessary seeing as they were outside. There was a rectangular table in the middle of the lounge area with a gleaming glass top and a galvanized copper frame and legs.

Beyond the lounge area in the far-left corner of the roof there was a pool table with dark red felt in the center and a wooden cabinet behind it with clear glass panels on the doors, revealing several pool sticks and a triangular box that held the pool balls inside. To the right of the pool table area, in the center of the wall opposite us, stood a beautifully carved sweetheart swing that looked to be made of cherry with a comfortable looking cushioned seat. It was facing away from the center of the rooftop, and an 8-foot section of the wall right in front of it had been shortened, so that anyone who sat in it could overlook the city. A few feet to the right of that, in the far-right corner, there was a magnificent bar with tall, dark wood counters that extended its way well past the half-way point of the right roof-line. There were dark metal bar stools lined with round red cushions positioned in front of the bar and a liquor assortment that could easily rival a bar in an upscale night club on the counter and adjoining shelves behind it.

Beyond the bar there was a rectangular wooden dance floor directly across the rooftop from the lounge area. On the other side of that, parallel to the hot tub, there was a wooden dartboard cabinet illuminated by 4 round florescent bulbs mounted to the wall a few inches above it. In the dead center of the roof, in between the lounge area and the dance floor, there was a tall awning-type structure with a pointed tin roof and thick wooden beams in each corner. In the center of the structure there was a huge king-sized swing bed, suspended from the large and sturdy looking support beams that ran horizontally across the inside of the awning underneath the tin roof.  It had a thick turquoise colored cushion and several outdoor decorative pillows. Once I had drank in every detail of the rooftop, I turned my head to the right to see Logan grinning at me flirtatiously, obviously enjoying watching my reaction to each section I had been observing.

"Logan!" I shouted, lightly backhanding his left shoulder.

He recoiled a few inches, eyes widening in surprise.

"What?" he said, clearly confused.

"A nice little hang out spot?" I said, quoting the words he had used to describe this place when we were downstairs.

"This place is freaking amazing! I feel like I'm at a party in Vegas or something!" I practically shouted.

Logan snorted and rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"Seriously, Logan. You did all this?" I said, looking at him incredulously.

"Yupp." he said simply, beaming.

I gaped at him.

"It's incredible."

He blushed slightly, an almost sheepish half-grin on his face.

"I had help. But I did design it all."  he said.

"I was NOT expecting this." I said with an admiring smile.

He stepped closer to me, turning his body, and pressing it close to mine as he reached up to cup my left cheek. My breath caught in my chest.

"You'll soon learn that I'm full of surprises, darling."

My knees went weak as a fervent desire to tackle him onto that swing bed erupted in my chest. He leaned down to plant a soft, sweet kiss on my lips, then straightened up and draped his left arm around my shoulders, extending his right arm out, palm up, gesturing to our surroundings.

"So, what would you like to do first?"

I had to exercise some serious control in order to stop myself from saying 'You'.

"Hmm." I said, allowing my eyes to scan the area once more.

"Let's get a drink."

Logan beamed again.

"A girl after my own heart." he said, winking at me.

I wrapped my right arm around his waist as we began to walk in sync towards the bar.

“What would you like?” Logan asked as we approached the bar area.

“How about I guess your favorite drink and make it for you?” I suggested with a sly grin.

Logan raised his eyebrows.

“What, are you a bartender or something?” he asked in disbelief.

“Used to be.” I said simply.

“And you think you can guess my favorite drink?” he said, a daring look on his face.

“Piece of cake.” I said, winking at him.

He chuckled.

“I like the confidence, kiddo,”

A ripple of affection coursed through my stomach at the nickname he had chosen. I tried to stifle a grin so I wouldn’t give away how much I liked it.

“but my favorite drink often surprises people.” he said coyly.

“One Manhattan coming right up.” I said as I gently pushed him into the bar stool at the far end of the counter.

Logan gaped at me, eyes wide, as I slipped behind the bar and began looking for the Rye Whiskey and Vermouth. I turned my back to him so he couldn’t see me excited grin. Nailed it!! I thought triumphantly.

“How did you do that?” he asked, still staring at me in amazement when I slid the drink across the bar in front of him.

“It’s a gift.” I said with a smug smile.

He shook his head, grinning at me as he brought his lips to the glass for a taste.

“That’s impressive.” He said after taking a drink.

“What, the guess or the quality of the drink?”

“Both.” He said, winking at me.

I laughed animatedly, shaking my head slightly.

“You’re not the only one who’s full of surprises, darling.” I said, mimicking his words from a few minutes ago.

He snorted into his drink, spewing a little bit out of the glass, and causing me to burst into laughter. I was having so much fun and it felt like the night was just beginning. I grabbed a napkin from the dispenser on the back counter and began mopping up his small mess on the bar.

“Sorry about that.” He said, smiling.

“No worries.” I said, returning the gesture.

“So, what will you be having?” he asked, standing up to join me on the inside of the bar.

“Hmm... I think I’ll take a Mean Green if you have some Butterscotch.” I said with a sly grin.

“A mean what?” he asked, giggling slightly.

“It’s rum and pineapple juice with a dash of Butterscotch flavoring. But it’s good without the Butterscotch too.”

“Everything that isn’t hard liquor is stored under here.” He said, opening a cabinet a few feet away from me underneath the counter top.

I bent down to examine the selection of extras and felt his eyes on me. In his defense, I had chosen a short pair of cutoff blue jeans that accentuated my ass to wear that night. He let out a low whistle as I stood back up with the Butterscotch, putting on a bit of a show for him since I knew he was watching.

“You did that on purpose.” He said, feigning annoyance.

“You liked it.” I said batting my eyelashes. 

I had no idea what had gotten into me. I never acted this way, but I couldn’t seem to help myself.

“You’re a little tease.” He said with a warm smile.

I laughed.

“Funny thing is I’m usually not.” I said as I searched for the Malibu Rum on the back counter, feeling his eyes on my ass again.

“But something about you makes it fun.”

I turned around once I had retrieved the rum, having had to stand on my tiptoes as I’m only 5”3’, and saw Logan practically drooling as I tried unsuccessfully to will my cheeks not to flush.

“You can tease me all you want but I have to warn you, I usually get what I want sooner or later.” He said, grinning at me.

I laughed again and shook my head before bending down to open the mini fridge in the search for pineapple juice.

“Can I ask you a question?” I said as I straightened back up, juice in hand.

“Sure.” Logan said after taking another drink of his Manhattan.

“Why go to a bar full of loud, annoying idiots when you have access to a place like this?” I asked him, gesturing around the rooftop with my hands, palms up.

He hesitated before answering, seemingly contemplating whether or not to tell me the truth.

“I was actually supposed to meet someone there. But all the same, if I hadn’t gone, I wouldn’t have met you.”

He smiled lightly after he said it, but his eyes had grown even darker with desire, causing my breath to catch in my throat. He was incredibly sexy.

“Meeting someone, as in a friend?” I asked curiously as I made my way around the bar to sit beside him.

He hesitated again as I sat my glass down on the bar and looked into his eyes.

“No. A blind date as a matter of fact.” He said with a small, crooked grin.

“Wait a second, you blew off a date to leave with me?” I asked incredulously.

“Yeah.” Logan said simply, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

“You blew off your boyfriend to leave with me.”

I stared at him, digesting his words.

“Good point.” I said with a small smirk before taking a long sip of my drink.

“There’s something you should know about me.” He murmured, reaching out to pull my bar stool closer to his, after I set my drink back down.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” I asked playfully.

“I’m not usually very… nice to women.”

I blinked, confused.

“Why not?” I said, looking at him quizzically.

He shrugged again but held our eye contact.

“I’ve never met one that I wanted more than s*x from before tonight. Most of the ones I meet are either after money, fame, or both, and a quick way to feel like you’ve accomplished that is by sleeping with a local celebrity.”

“Wow.” I said, trying to stay calm after hearing that I was the first woman he had ever wanted more than s*x from.

“So, what’s so special about me?” I asked, genuinely wanting to know the answer.

“Everything.” He said after standing up from his stool and stepping in between my legs. He gently grabbed my face in both his hands and pulled it into his, our lips meeting roughly and hungrily once again.