One Night: A BWWM Interracial Romance (22 page)

All the same, he felt he owed it to her to be honest.
 
Did he want kids?
 
Janet made it seem so ideal, and if
she
could manage to create a family that seemed functional and happy maybe he could too.
 
He thought of Sam and Kenny and smiled.
 

Honestly, if any woman could bring him around, it was probably the one sitting next to him right now. At some point he should probably make that clear, but he wanted to be sure first. This was the most time they had spent around each other since they’d met and it seemed silly to think about getting serious this soon.
 

They at least had one thing going for them, as last night had proven. It was a good start. A great start.
 

They pulled up to the building his loft was in and he paid the fare and opened the door, taking Natalie’s hand and bringing her out with him. She looked up at the slick, updated, industrial building with curiosity.
 

He unlocked the entrance and grabbed her hand as they headed to the elevator. He had chosen the building because it offered a certain degree of privacy and wasn’t too fussy in terms of bells and whistles. No doorman. Few neighbors. Distanced from major streets, but close to certain conveniences. A stark interior that let him create the space that he wanted instead of some architect’s cookie cutter layout.
 

It was only when he was leading her down the hall to his front door that he began to feel a bit nervous.
 
What would she think of his place? Would she make certain assumptions from his rather minimalist, and decidedly bachelor-esque living situation?
 

He unlocked the door and opened it, letting her walk in first. He watched the look on her face as she had her first impression of the place. He was relieved to see a slight smile creep up in the look of wonder as she caught her first glimpse.
 

The loft inside was as industrial looking as the exterior, with a more comfortable feel. Two brick walls faced each other across a 1000 sq ft
 
expanse.
 
The back wall housed, on one side, the modern kitchen of bamboo cabinets and steel appliances and counter tops. Next to that was supposed to be a dining area, but Jake had turned it into an office area, with a large desk and computer set up. He spent most of his time eating at his desk, at the kitchen counter, or on the sofa watching football anyway.
 
The wall leading away from the desk had floor to ceiling bookshelves. The ceiling-high bookshelves curved around to create a wall between the desk area and the king sized bed on the other side closer to the window.
 

Natalie made her way to the bookcases as he predicted she would. He smiled at their mutual bibliophilist tendencies. That was one more item to add to the list of things they had in common. Of course the books that lined his shelves, mostly spy novels, military non-fiction, political biographies, and books on current world events were probably slightly different than those that she lined her shelves with. But he had to admit, the display was impressive.
 

The other wall was made entirely of floor to ceiling windows that could be covered by either a lightweight set of curtains or, at the push of a button, shades that blocked the light from coming in. Right now the curtains were drawn and the light was low.
 
Jake watched Natalie’s face as the shadows danced across it through the open shelves as she walked the length of them.
 

The slight apprehension he felt earlier at revealing his living space to her eroded as the smile of awe grew on her lips. She turned around to the desk and ran her fingers over the smooth, wood surface.

“So is this where you write as well?” she asked, looking up at him.

“Partially,” Jake responded, closing the door and heading over to her. “I mostly do research, brainstorming, outlining, rough drafts. All the preparation. I get away to write the final manuscript.”
 

“I never asked you about that,” she said looking up at him with interest. “Why do you go all the way to the other side of the country? I mean, this place,” she looked around her with admiration, “is so perfect. If I was a writer, I would love writing here.”
 

Jake smiled and sighed. “Well, it’s kind of a long story.”

“We’ve got all week,” she smiled back at him.

He chuckled for a moment then grabbed her hand and walked her over to the couch that was situated facing the wall-mounted TV in the portion of the room in front of the bed. They sat down on the couch and she look at him with curiosity as he began.
 

“Okay, then. Well, my first book was kind of a lark. And I certainly wasn’t living in a place like this,” his eyes wandered around the loft to demonstrate the point. “I had just quit working for the government and was sort of puttering around. I’ve always liked the outdoors so I went upstate mostly hiking and camping and lazing around for a bit before figuring what to do.

“I thought I’d just join some private security firm or something. I certainly got a lot of calls about it. Then I was reading a novel, kind of like what I write now. I won’t say who the author was, but I kept overthinking it as I read. The stuff that he got right and the stuff he didn’t. At the end of it I thought to myself, hey,
I
can write this kind of thing.” He shrugged, “So I did.”
 

“I happened to be taking up residence for an indeterminate period of time in a bare bones cabin at a campground. My sister gave me a laptop she was planning on upgrading from anyway so I used that and...well that began the ‘ritual.’
 
I drove down to the nearest bar when it was done, not realizing I was located in the vacation spot for rich New Yorkers to go skiing. I asked for the most expensive thing he had and…well, you’ve tasted it,” he looked at Natalie with a smile.

She laughed and nodded, encouraging him on.
 

“I let my sister have first dibs at it and she liked it. I lent it to a few other people who liked it as well.
 
Eventually I thought, what the heck? So I shopped it around, got an agent, the book got picked up and the rest is history.
 

“For the second one, the specific cabin I used was no longer vacant so I thought I’d try a new and different mountain locale. This time it was Tennessee, beautiful place by the way. It’s my excuse to see the country. I take some time off afterward to go exploring the mountains—although sometimes other diversions come along,” he gave Natalie a knowing smile and she slapped him lightly on the chest.
 

“Anyway, you happened to catch me on a west coast stint.
 
I hadn’t been to Lake Tahoe yet.
 
So far it’s my favorite,” he gave her a wink, which brought out a laughing smile.
 

Natalie leaned her head on her arm that was folded on the back of the couch and looked at him. “So, it really was providence,” she said. “Lucky me.”

“Lucky
me,
” he said with a smile.
 

He thought of something then. “Speaking of which,” he said with a wicked grin, hopping up off the couch to head over to the dresser near his bed. He pulled out the top drawer and dug around in the back, pulling out the white, cotton prize hidden back there.

Natalie looked at the white cloth in confusion until she realized what they were. “Oh my god!” she cried, laughing. “Wait a sec, did you
steal
them?”

Jake was taken aback. “What? No!” he replied, walking back the couch. “I found them on top of the cabinet in my room.”

“And you held on to them all this time?” Natalie asked, looking at them with incredulity.
 

“I suppose my subconscious was hoping I’d see you again,” he said handing them to her. “I guess they’re lucky.”

“Did you even wash them,” she said, grabbing them between one finger and thumb.
 

“What fun would that have been?” he asked, giving her an evil grin.

“Ew,” she said laughing. “I think they should be thrown out at this point.”
 

“Don’t you dare,” Jake protested. “It’s a lovely reminder of the beginning of our beautiful relationship.”

“Oh yes,” Natalie said sarcastically. “Let’s maybe frame them. Then, when our grandkids ask about them I can explain how their pervert grandpa held on to them for 6 months after our one-night stand.”
 

She laughed before she realized the implications of what she had just said.
 
Jake had an enjoyable moment watching her become flustered, as she stuffed them in her purse anyway, most likely just wanting them out of sight.
 

“So, a cabin the woods and look at you now,” she said, trying to change the subject. “Must have been
some
cabin.”

“Hardly,” he laughed. “I think it was mostly for people who like roughing it a bit. Which was fine by me. I had the basics: bed, stove, fridge, bathroom, shower. I mostly worked at the little dining table in the kitchen area.”

He looked over at her speculatively. “Do you want to see it?”

Her eyes grew wide with surprise. “Really?” she asked. “You don’t mind? How will we get up there?”

He laughed. “Of course I don’t mind…and I have a very fast car.”
 

JAKE

It was after lunch and they were speeding down the highway, enjoying the scenery as the concrete and steel transitioned to trees and open road. Escapes like this were the whole reason Jake had bought the car. He only ever used it for mini joy rides into the wilderness and to visit his sister. It didn’t hurt that the Maserati had always been his dream car.

Now he was headed off to the place that had helped make it all possible. He looked over at Natalie who was staring out the window as the greenery flashed by.
 
She was in a large, loose white shirt that had a tendency to slip off one shoulder to reveal an enticing patch of smooth, brown skin. Her jeans were tight and the short, black boots she had on wrapped the whole package up nicely.
 

He hadn’t been back to the campground since his first novel. He actually had to map it out before hand just to recall how to get there. Up until now he really had no interest in it. Natalie’s enthusiasm had spurred just a pinch of nostalgia in him and he found himself a bit eager to re-visit the place.
 

They exited the highway and drove for a few miles until he saw the entrance for the place. It looked just like he remembered, if a bit more wear and tear. There was the basic wood sign painted to announce that you had arrived at the Green Vista campground. A chain link fence blocked off the dirt parking lot from the rather austere pool that was the centerpiece of the main cabin area. These were the ones created for families and had more room inside.
 

The cabin he’d inhabited was for Green Vista’s other clientele, solitary folk just trying to escape for a bit.
 
They were distanced far away from the potential cacophony that might come from the pool.
 

He parked his conspicuous Maserati in the lot full of Honda Civics, Mini vans, and dirty pick-up trucks and they walked in together.
 
The only thing that seemed to have changed was the person behind the desk who had transformed from a tall, thin man with long, hippy-dippy, white hair in a ponytail and a beard to match. The new person at the desk looked like she was there to guard the place from pesky invaders rather than to actually greet guests. She was a small, older woman with her white hair in a bun and a the stern expression of a school marm about to handle two unruly children.
 

“Can I help you?” she asked matter-of-factly.
 

“Hi,” Jake said, with his most endearing smile. “I was just wondering if I could take a look at one of your cabins, Cabin 11, up near the treeline? You see, my…wife and I—”
 

It was an inspired bit of ad-libbing. She seemed like the type to be more sympathetic to a married couple. Plus, he kind of liked the sound of it.

“Let me stop you right there,” she said, interrupting him with closed eyes, while holding up a hand as though to preemptively quell any protest. “The only way you and your
wife,
” she looked pointedly down at his left hand which was resting on the counter, and he cursed himself for that one, “are getting past those gates is if you pay for a cabin.”

“But we really only—”

“60 dollars,” she said firmly.

“It’s okay, Jake,” Natalie said behind him. “We don’t have to.”

Jay looked at the woman one more second, willing her to change her mind, then sighed. “You drive hard bargain,” he said pulling out his wallet.

“I drive a business,” she corrected him, “and lookey-loos need not apply.”
 

She took his credit card and rang him up as though he was a normal customer, despite everything he’d just revealed.
 
All he could do was sit there and smile with amused disbelief. He turned to Natalie and saw the same bemused smile on her face.
 

Lookey-loos?
she mouthed to him and suppressed a laugh.
 

“Fortunately for you, Cabin 11 is available,” the woman said, handing him his card and two keys. “Check out is noon tomorrow.” She threw in, fulfilling her duties to the very end.
 

When they walked out Natalie let out a giggle and Jake couldn’t help but join her. She grabbed his arm as they made their way to the back trail up to the treeline cabins.
 

“So, dear
husband,
” she cooed, “are we on our honeymoon then? Are you going to carry me over the threshold?” She looked up at him and batted her eyes.

Jake laughed at that and shook his head in remembrance of how that little bit of improv had backfired. “Yeah, I guess that one wasn’t very well thought out.”

“It was sweet,” she insisted. “Though I think the lack of rings was a little telling.”