After Hours Read Online Free PDF Page B

she’d just stepped off of a runaway, brushed past her and gazed at the angel. “Oh that’s beautiful. I could just see it on my mantle. How much is it?”
    “It's not for--” He started to say, before he looked up and his bored tone and expression vanished.
    “Are you sure I couldn’t talk to someone?” the woman said displaying a flirtatious grin.
    The clerk leaned against the counter, as if he were a gambler ready to get a hot tip. “How much are you willing to offer?”
    The woman looked up at the ceiling and tapped her chin then said, “A hundred.”
    “That sounds like the right price to me. It’s yours.”
    Amera walked up to them. “I thought you said it wasn’t for sale.”
    The man turned his back and opened up the curio. “You didn’t give me a price.”
    Amera looked at the other woman without malice. Clearly the price of entry was a gorgeous face and a great body. She knew that getting Crystal to say yes to Curtis’ proposal would take a little more persuasion and this angel could be the ticket. “Three hundred,” she said.
    “Sorry,” the clerk said, again giving the word little meaning. He reached down and took out several sheets of white tissue paper from beneath the counter and began to wrap the figurine. “I already accepted her offer .”
    “Of course,” Amera said acknowledging defeat. She turned.
    The woman grabbed Amera’s coat sleeve before she could leave. “Wait. Do you really want it?”
    “It doesn’t matter,” Amera said, embarrassed by the woman’s look of pity.
    “I don't want to take what isn't mine.”
    Amera looked at the woman’s fashionable, high-end clothes and exquisite face. The clerk couldn’t help it. He’d wanted to impress her. Most men would. “It was yours the moment you walked in. Excuse me.” She left, but in her haste forgot the step that led up to the door and tumbled forward, falling flat on her face. She quickly jumped to her feet, hoping nobody noticed and wiped her coat.
    “Are you okay?” the woman asked rushing up to her, with the sales clerk close behind.
    “I’m fine.”
“But your--”
“I’m really busy. Excuse me,” she said and hurried past her, feeling a mixture of anger and humiliation.
    ***
    The next day Amera arrived at the hotel, an hour earlier, to organize the lavish suite, removing the one wilted bloom she saw in one of the four bouquets she had ordered--Curtis would have noticed. She dimmed the lights and arranged the candles, keenly aware of the touches of the season that decorated the room. A warm fire blazed, casting an amber glow throughout the main sitting area, accentuating the light scent of cinnamon. The room was set for a romantic holiday engagement, and the exact replica of a scene she’d read in a book.
    She didn’t like Curtis--nobody did--but for a moment she envied Crystal. She wished that one day someone would treat her like a princess. Like she mattered to them, and she didn’t care if he hired someone else, like Curtis had, to make that impression. One day she wanted to dress up in elegant clothes and go out on the town and dine at the finest restaurants and live a life of glamour.
    But Amera knew she’d have no romance this holiday season. There would be no gathering of family and friends. She had a couple of friends, but never wanted to be a bother and she didn’t have any family. It would be the same as last year and the year before that. She’d pretend that Christmas was just another ordinary day. She’d lock herself away, do a reading marathon and then start the New Year. Amera pulled herself out of her slight melancholy and snapped back into the present. Although she’d never experience such a moment, she would make the evening perfect for Crystal and live vicariously.
    “It’s too dark,” Curtis said coming into the room. He turned up the lights.
    Amera turned them back down. “I’m trying to create the perfect mood.”
    He turned them up again. “I like to see what I’m