Passion by Rachel Kramer Bussel

Author:Rachel Kramer Bussel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cleis Press
Published: 2010-09-29T04:00:00+00:00

He avoided the subject of their date earlier that week for the whole ride home and for the whole time they sat in the basement coffee shop. Ina gave up trying to steer the conversation and just let herself enjoy being with him. It all would have been a pleasure if every twinge of physical attraction she felt hadn’t brought a fresh sense of rejection on its heels.

He took her to dinner after coffee, and still Saeed seemed in no hurry to make good on his promise of an explanation. As she pushed away her dessert plate, Ina drilled her gaze into his. “Thanks for all this, but I’m not going with you for after-dinner drinks or dancing or whatever until we talk about the other night.”

Saeed ducked his head in acknowledgment. “Why don’t you walk me home, and we can talk about it at my apartment?”

“Are you serious? You wouldn’t be ashamed to have a slut like me at your home?” Ina hadn’t realized how angry she was until she heard the bitterness of her words.

He grimaced. “Please. I never intended—” He gave a brief shake of his head. “Please.”

“I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair.”

He shrugged, pushed back from the table and stood. She took the hand he offered, shivering at the grace with which he guided her to her feet.

Saeed lived just a few blocks away from her but on a much nicer street. While Ina’s neighborhood was full of mouse-infested, cheap, student apartments, Saeed had an apartment on the top floor of someone’s real home. Flowerpots lined the porch, and the name QASIM was painted on the mailbox.

“I rent from relatives,” he explained, leading her up the stairs to his private entrance. The small apartment was overstuffed but neat, the bookshelves crammed and the walls covered with photographs and decorations. “I’ve never had a woman in here before,” Saeed said.

“Usually, you do it at her place.” Ina felt a pang of guilt when she saw the hurt that flashed across his face. She pressed her hand to her eyes. “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t—”

He sighed and flung himself into a red armchair in the center of the living room. After a pause, Ina took a seat on the couch across from him.

“Ina, I’ve never dated in the American way.”

She stared at him, studying his handsome features for any sign of a joke. “You don’t mean you’re a virgin?”

He shook his head sharply. “No, in college I would hook up with girls sometimes. It was never anyone I’d have wanted to be seen with the next day.”

“So what do you mean when you say you’ve never dated?”

“The way I was raised, it would be scandalous for us to be sitting in my living room alone together.” He smiled. “I’ll hear about it tomorrow from my cousin downstairs. According to my parents, I shouldn’t have been out to dinner with you, I shouldn’t have asked you to share that cab with me.” Saeed swallowed. “I certainly shouldn’t have touched you the way I did that first day.

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