Love Is Overdue (11 page)

I bit my lip, thinking.
“What you want me to do about it?”

But Ben just shook his head
at me. “Nah, I don’t play that way...I don’t ask for anything...I
just wait for it to come to me.”

Fuck, this man had skills. I
licked my lips. “Well, then...” I thought again. “I guess it’s a
good thing you’re so damn patient.”

I leaned over quickly and
gave him a soft little peck on the cheek and swung open my door.
“See you later.”

My heart didn’t stop racing
for a good couple of hours.

Ω

“
Who’s your
favourite reggae artist?”

We were on the
phone the next night. I had just crawled into bed when my phone
rang at about eleven pm, and when I checked the number my heart
started beating immediately. He always called so late and kept me
up for a couple hours. And as much as I knew he wanted it, it was
never for a booty call. Not that I could have accommodated him with
that anyway, considering I couldn’t leave the house, but it felt
nice anyway.

He was quizzing me now. I
would have to get on my game. I figured this would surprise
him.

“
Well...Gregory
Isaacs.”

A slight pause on his end.
“See, that surprise me...”

I laughed. “I know.
Actually, my girlfriend Corinne from high school that I would get
high with all the time had all these old school reggae LPs...they
were her dad’s...he was this weird hippie that lived in Jamaica in
the 1970s,” I explained.

Another pause. “Yeah,
Jamaicans some weird-ass people dem...” he teased me, kicking up
his accent a notch.

“
You kinda look
like a young Gregory Isaacs,” I teased him.

“
Oh really?” He
chuckled at that. “He was kinda small though…”

I laughed. “Yeah, you’re
right. We got into all that stuff, though...Burning Spear, Culture,
Bob of course, Inner Circle – fuck, who else?” My mind was racing.
“We even got some fake IDs and got into see Lucky Dube at the
Commodore.”

“
I was at that
show.”

My mouth dropped open.
“What? How do you know?”

“
Because Lucky
only been here once in the past twelve years. And then he
died.”

Oh. He got me. “Hmmm. Funny,
I didn’t see you there,” I teased him back.

“
I was in the
back in a corner hitting on some Swedish girl all night,” he
answered simply.

I laughed again. “Did it pay
off?”

A soft laugh on Ben’s end.
“Of course.”

“
You say it with
such reluctant modesty.”

“
Not reluctant or
modest,” he corrected me, jokingly.

“
Why doesn’t that
surprise me?” I shot back.

“
Aww...come on
now...” His sexy voice again.

I took a breath, recovering
myself. “Okay, yours.”

“
My
what?”

“
Your favourite
reggae artist.”

“
I have a
few.”

“
Go ahead.” My
ears perked up.

“
Depend on my
mood.”

“
Name
some.”

“
Buju Banton.
Richie Spice. Me like some old-school Shabba sometimes too,
y’know….”

“
Hmmm...” I
thought. “Hip-hop?”

“
Roots. Mos Def.
Outkast.”

“
Favourite
movie.” I was enjoying this now.

“
Shaft.”

“
Never heard of
it. Pick another one.”

Ben laughed. “I don’t
know...anything Tarantino...that’s one brilliantly fucked-up
mind...kinda like me,” he teased.

“
I see...” I
smiled to myself. “Favourite TV show.”

“
The Boondocks.
Chappelle Show. The Discovery Channel. Shit like that.”

I laughed at the
combination. “Hmmm...favourite food.”

“
Depend on my
mood.”

I laughed again. “Okay,
favourite food according to your current mood.”

“
Lays...Ruffles...Original flavour...”

I laughed. “Potato chips?
Seriously?” I thought I had heard some crunching. “This coming from
the super chef?”

“
I don’t cook a
lot at home,” he said simply. “No point really.”

“
Interesting.”
Why did this man fascinate me so much? “Okay, favourite
sport.”

“
Soccer...and
basketball. I’ve been bowling before too.” He was teasing me
now.

“
Favourite
drink.”

“
Guinness…or rum
punch with soursop and guava…carrot juice and callalloo, if I feel
like bein’ a good boy…”

I giggled. “Favourite sexual
position.” It was out of my mouth quickly before I had a chance to
rethink my impulse.

Slight pause on Ben’s end.
“Inside.”

I laughed. “Not
fair.”

“
Really?” I could
almost see him smiling, that sexy voice picking up again. “I can’t
give away all my secrets.”

“
Okay.” I
rethought. “Age.”

“
I already told
you that.”

I smiled. “No...age when
you...you know...tried a sexual position out for the first
time.”

No hesitation.
“Fifteen.”

“
Hmmm...” I was
feeling bold again. “Kinkiest shit you’ve ever done.”

He laughed at that one. “I
can’t tell you that.”

“
Why not?” I
couldn’t hide my disappointment.

“
Don’t wanna
scare you off.” That quiet sexy voice was back again.

“
You think it
would?” He was starting to turn me on again so badly.

“
Who knows?” he
said easily. “But am actually more worried ‘bout spoilin’ the
surprise...”

My mouth fell open.
“Damn...” I let my breath out and I heard Ben laugh softly. “You’re
so presumptuous.”

“
About some
things.”

“
Things like
whether or not you’re gonna get laid?” I guessed, teasing him some
more.

Ben laughed again. “If you
fail to plan, you plan to fail. Remember that,” he teased me back.
“But you and me...well...” His voice trailed off.

“
What?” I asked,
much too eagerly.

“
Well...I just
think with you and me it’s not really a question of ‘if’, it’s more
a question of ‘when’ and so in that case, I need to watch what I
say,” he admitted.

I swallowed. “In what
way?”

“
I just don’t
think I should lay all my shit out on the table when it comes to
sex with someone who I...” His voice trailed off again.

“
Who you what?” I
wanted to know. “Who you’re planning to fuck?”

Slight pause. “You’re such a
smart girl.”

I just laughed again. “Well
in that case...truth is you don’t know...maybe telling me would
spark my interest.”

“
I’ve already
sparked your interest.”

I just couldn’t stop
giggling. Fuck, he was full of himself...

“
Damn...” Ben was
laughing at my giggling. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you
just done get high with me...”

I stopped laughing. “Did you
just get high?”

“
Yes,
ma’am.”

I let my breath out.
“Jealous.”

“
Hmmm...” He
thought for a moment. “Didn’t know that...shoulda mentioned that.
You know I’d hook a pretty girl like you up any time, Gabriela.
Free of charge too.”

“
Well, aren’t you
kind.” It was my turn to use my sexy voice.

“
Yes.” And
suddenly he was all serious. In one word.

I caught my breath. “So no
kinky shit for me then, I guess...”

“
Nah...I never
said that,” he insisted smoothly. “What kinda kinky shit you
want?”

And I laughed again. “You
see that?”

“
See what?” He
was amused along with me.

“
You see how you
just turn the question back at me like that? Now who ain’t playin’
fair, huh?” I wanted to know.

“
I just answered
my twenty questions. Your turn now.”

“
Oh!” I decided
to play along. “So what are my favourite musicians, movies, sports
and drinks?” I played innocent.

I could sense his smile.
“You know I don’t care about any of that,” he teased me back
harshly.

And I sucked my breath in,
wrapping myself up tighter in my blanket. I loved talking to him so
much...

“
Typical,” I
sighed. “So what you care about?”

“
Well, except the
food question,” he admitted softly. “That might come in handy again
some day... What’s your favourite food, Gabriela?” Sweet Ben was
back, trying to redeem himself.

I
smiled. “Those really super garlicky Gyros from
Falafel Palace
,
with an insane amount of tzaziki sauce,” I joked.

“
Damn, baby,
that’s sexy,” he was teasing me again. “Can you imagine me feeding
you one a those in bed?”

It was pretty funny, but the
mention of Ben and me in bed together was nothing but dead serious
business. My insides quivered and shook from the
thought.

“
Hmmm...” I
sighed. “No, but I can imagine those pancakes of yours in bed
though.”

“
You liked that,
huh?” He was pleased, I could tell. “Okay, next
question.”

I smiled.

“
So...”

I waited. He was thinking
about this one.

“
So...if you were
all alone for twenty-four hours – all by yourself, no one to bother
you, talk to you, need somethin’ from you, distract you – nothing.
What would you do?”

I didn’t expect this. I was
at a loss. This was a serious question. One that if I took some
real time to think about I was sure I could come up with a much
better answer. But I just decided to take a deep breath and go with
the flow instead.

“
Well, let’s
see...first I would probably run a scorching hot bubble bath and
soak for as long as it takes me to listen to my favourite album
back to back at least two or three times. Then I’d probably catch
the sea bus to North Van and watch the seagulls from the pier,
listening to the buskers, drinking lattés and smoking cigarettes.
Then I’d go to Robson and try on all the Jimmy Choo’s I can fit
into and stand up on and fantasize about walking out in a pair of
fire-engine pumps. Then I’d buy myself a new knock-off hand bag, a
bottle of wine, some Ben and Jerry’s, and go home and watch a bunch
of really sappy tear-jerker foreign films – usually in Portuguese
since I’d be way too lazy to read subtitles at that point – and go
to bed. Well...maybe throw in a quick little browse through youtube
or some soft-core porn on my lap top, and then go to bed.” I sighed
and let my breath out.

Ben didn’t say anything
right away and I worried for a moment that I might have weirded him
out. But then I heard him let his breath out and I could feel his
smile.

“
What’s your
favourite album?”

His
question surprised me. “Sinead O’Connor.
Faith and Courage
.”

Slight pause. “So watching
me on youtube turns you on to porn, huh?” His voice was slow.
Deliberately sexy.

I smiled. “I guess so...” I
had no sense to deny it. “Maybe I shouldn’t say that, huh?” I kept
my tone soft. Longing. I was so wet for him...

“
Well...” His
voice was soft too, matching mine. “You in a bubble bath is all the
porn I would need.”

I gasped. “You know I don’t
really...” My voice trailed off.

“
You don’t really
what?” Ben wanted to know.

“
I don’t
really...you know...get like this with – well, with guys that I
just met...” I stopped myself. This wasn’t the right thing to
say.

“
It’s okay.”
Ben’s soft, serious voice was back again, pulling me in. “I’m not
rushing you, baby. Take all the time you need. To be honest...” He
paused and I held my breath, waiting. “I just love the way you put
a smile on mi face before I go to sleep at night, so...am not
complaining.”

I smiled. “So you’re happy
just getting all hot and bothered over the phone?”

Ben laughed softly. “No.
That’s your job, baby,” he teased me back, cranking up the sexy in
his voice again.

“
I have no idea
what you’re talking about,” I lied unconvincingly.

“
Ahh...” He was
still chuckling softly at me. “So you don’t secretly play with
yourself when you’re on the phone with me and then act like you
don’t know what am talking about when I call you on it?”

I
laughed, my face flushing. “Ohhh....
that.
” I shrugged it off.
“That was just a minor lapse, I don’t know why...I must have just
been ovulating or something.” I bit my tongue. Fuck, I was an
idiot...

But Ben laughed. “Damn. You
must ovulate a lot more than once a month. Fucking you could get
dangerous.”