“I plan on it. I’m going to visit the ladies’ room.” Her bladder had been break dancing all night and she couldn’t hold it any longer. Nina excused herself from the table and headed for the dimly lit hallway after one of the bussers pointed her in the right direction.
“Well damn.”
The voice stopped her in her tracks. She turned around. “Carter?”
His smile widened. “Nina Marcelle… still gorgeous as ever.”
Law school had produced many attractive men. Most of them eventually became exhausted-looking attorneys. She prayed that it didn’t happen to him. So far, Carter Hayes continued to stay away from that fate. He was tall, dark, and handsome. The suit was tailored and expensive. He stood back with a posture so confident that it made her stand up a lil’ better. She only cared to ever impress her parents, adding other people to an already difficult pair would’ve had her admitted somewhere.
“I knew that was you… shit, it’s dark back here.” Nina laughed. She didn’t share that she kept a tiny gun in her Gucci bag. Those two years with Jio Gotti had not been in vain. She stayed strapped these days, with or without security in tow.
“I haven’t seen you since we ran into you in VIBES,” he recalled.
“That was almost a year ago?” She knew it was exactly a year and two months ago, but hey, who was counting the days of being a single woman?
His eyes traveled briefly across her face. “Yep, and you look incredible.”
The compliment felt genuine, which she despised, but she’d been deprived of affection, intimacy, and attention for quite a while. He couldn’t stop smiling, and for some reason, she couldn’t either.What was happening?
Carter now worked in the prosecutor's office and apparently had political aspirations. She wasn't surprised, he'd always been ambitious. He asked the normal questions that men ask when they were catching up, and she tried to answer them all with a straight face, although her leg was shaking profusely.
“I’m sorry, Carter, I really need to tinkle! It was good seeing you though,” she said dismissively before running off and into the restroom. She couldn’t hold it a second longer. Literally. As soon as her ass hit the unlined toilet, she let it rip.
“Aahhhh,” she breathed out in relief. She freshened up in the mirror. A little perfume dabbed behind her ear, wrists, and in the middle of her tits. She had been secretly dabbling in some of her passion projects and she held one of them between her fingers. A gold bottle in the shape of a lipstick that also had a mirror. The fragrance was a mixture of black currant and vanilla. She was taking her time perfecting every little detail, so for now, it was her own little secret. Whenever anyone complimented her on her scent, she smiled inwardly, knowing that soon the whole world would be smelling like Nina Marcelle.
She was on her way back to the table where her line sisters were congregating when she felt a pull on her arm. Her first instinct was to grab her purse where her protection was buried under keys and things.
“Two more minutes of your time please,” Carter asked gently.
She wished she had it to give but she didn’t.
Nina shook her head.
“There are seven women with me.”
“So?”
“So that’s expensive, and I can’t have a drink with you without making sure they’re good,” she played coy for the fuck of it. His grin widened. When the bartender came over to see what they wanted, Carter happily handed over his card.
“I’ll survive.”
Before she could stop him. “I was joking sir!”
“Can I start a tab?” He asked as his black AMEX disappeared into the bartender’s hand before she could stop him.
Nina winked. “Top shelf only.”
“For you, I’m already knowing. You still drink those Rose, mint, and St. Germaine joints?”
Nina paused and looked up into his eyes that she’d never noticed before. They were the perfect mixture of dark brown and light green.
“You remembered that?”
“Absolutely, you ordered it every time we went anywhere.” He was in her study group during her law school days but she didn’t know he was paying attention to her drink order.
The attention to detail caught her off guard, and for some reason, she liked it… a lot.
Carter remained exactly where he was while Nina ordered a round of drinks for her and her girls. Most men would've used the opportunity to leave once the conversation reached a natural stopping point, but he stayed at the bar
