As she sat down opposite of me, our eyes met for a split second. However brief the moment was, as soon as I looked into those emerald pools the beast inside me woke up and roared. For years it had been restrained, locked away in a dark recess of the mind, but now the carnal spirit pounded against the bars of its cage demanding to be released. It liked what it had seen, and wanted more. In the time it takes for a balloon to pop it had soaked in the details: the thin creases that marked her smile, the little speckles in her left eye, two eyelashes that stubbornly hung on to each other. The beast growled, whispered, begged and pleased to be let out of its confine. In turn, I spoke sternly, trying to appeal to reason. But my soothing words only enraged it more – it had seen what it wanted, and I stood in its way. The hinges began to came undone, straining under the pressure.

And then it was over. She broke the silence that hung between us in that moment. “Mind if I sit here? Are you still reading that?”.