“When it’s misplaced.”
“Wow. Tell me how you really feel,” he says.
“Listen, Kwame, I’ve been a magnet for men like you my whole life.”
“Well, I think you’re a magnet period,” he says with a cocky grin.
I throw my hands up. “See! I’m telling you off and you’re still flirting.”
He kills his smile and turns his expression somber. “Sorry, please continue telling me off.”
“You know what? Never mind. I’ve had a lifetime of men who think they’re god’s gift because they won the genetic lottery. You look good, sound good, but you only care about yourselves. Hell, I’ve yet to meet one of you who can even make me come.”
This time, he manages to catch himself before he spits his drink out again.
“Is that a challenge?”
“No. I’ve got a vibrator upstairs that’s faster and more dependable than any man could hope to be.”
“It doesn’t buy you dinner first, though.”
“You’re not buying me dinner. We’re going half,” I inform him and look around for the server.
“Not in this lifetime.”
“Then I hope you’re ready to die,” I say with a smirk.
He laughs and watches me catch the server’s eye and wave him over.
“I’d like to pay for my half of the meal, please.” I smile up at him.
“It’s already taken care of. Would you like anything else?”
Irritated and bested, I thank him and wait for him to disappear before I look at Kwame again. “Why did you do that?”
He’s watching me with his chin resting on his upturned wrist. “I wasn’t sure you weren’t dining and dashing when you left earlier.”
“What?” My jaw drops.
He grins. “Now what were you saying a second ago? Something about upstairs and orgasms?” His voice is so sexy and the way his lips form the word orgasm should be illegal.
“You’re hearing things,” I snap and cross my legs tight, trying to contain the ache that’s spreading from my core.
“And you were making up a story about me with no basis in fact. I’m not sure what happened when you went to the bathroom. But I’m the same person I was when we sat down to eat. We’ve had a good time, right?”
I snap my eyes back to him and my anger fizzles. “You know what? You’re right. This has been a perfect night. You’re great, and maybe ifwe’d met when my life wasn’t so complicated, we could have seen where it would go. I’ve got a big day tomorrow and I think I should just get some sleep.”
“You know what? Me too.”
“See? Didn’t you say you’re going back to LA on Sunday? You must have a lot to do.”
He sighs and wraps his hands around his glass and stares down into it. “No, actually I don’t. I’m in town for the reading of my mother’s will. She died three months ago.”
It’s the last thing I expected him to say and my jaw goes slack before I can school my surprise. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry.”
His hesitation to talk about his family makes perfect sense now.
He sighs and lifts apologetic eyes up to mine. “It’s okay. I mean, it’s not, but I didn’t mean to just to blurt it out like that. I sounded so cavalier.”
