The Lovely Garden (4 page)

“I prefer my women to come with a challenge, otherwise, I might get bored.” At first, I had believed him to be joking, but no. He was dead serious.

“I’m not sure how I feel about that.” Had to be honest with him. But if he wanted to take a challenge, he chose the right girl. I wouldn’t intentionally try to screw this up, but it would happen. It never fails. Then again, if I keep talking like this, it would be nothing but a self-fulfilling prophecy. “I guess we can give it a shot.” It might be worth it if we keep having the mind-blowing sex we had just had. Like I said, it’s been a while. “That is, if you want to have another date?” Can’t assume there would be another just because we slept together.

There was a small smile on his face when he leaned forward and gave me a brief kiss. “Of course I would.” My heart thumped and I couldn’t help but return his smile with a little pink in my cheeks. “Now, we should get sleep.”

I hummed my agreement, and managed to wiggle myself under the cover. Charles’ arm went around my waist, and pulled me toward him once again. With his heat and smell wrapped around me, it didn’t take long for me to fall asleep.

CHAPTER THREE

Somewhere, there was a phone ringing. Ringing loud enough that it pulled me from my pleasant sleep. It really needed to stop. Like, right now. I didn’t want to have to get up and smash it. And seriously, why the fuck was no one answering it?! Wait. It was my phone. Shit, shit, shit, shit.

That was enough to pull me out of my haze and attempt to get out of the warmth that was Charles. When I started to move away from him, his grip tightened. “I have to answer my phone,” I told him, hoping it was enough to get him to release me.

“Fuck the phone,” he grumbled, pulling me tighter against him. “They’ll leave a message if it’s important. Sure enough, after a couple more rings, the phone went silent. A ding let me know that my caller left a message. “See,” Charles said in my hair.

Just as I started to fall asleep again, the phone started to ring. I sighed and got up, forcing Charles to let me go this time. Whoever was calling me wasn’t going to give up until I answered the damn thing. I stumbled around the room, following the sound since I could not remember where I had dropped my clutch, or when.

When I found it and pulled it out of my clutch, a displeased growl left me at seeing Jenny’s name plastered on my phone and the time. I answered it. “You bitch, why would you call me this early in the morning?” It was 5:30, and Jenny knew damn well that I was not a morning personal. Especially on the weekends, which I never got out of bed before ten.

“Where the
fuck
are you?!”
Panic practically oozed from the speaker.
“You said you would go running with me this morning, remember?”

Oh. Yeah. I did definitely do that. Why the
fuck
would I agree to that?! What was wrong with me?! “I’m a little indisposed.” She would know exactly where I was now.

“Ho-ly shit. The date went that well?”
Though it stung just a bit, her incredulous was well placed. The last few dates had ended up with me leaving early. Walking out really. To be fair, they were kind of douche bags. Like insulting me or trying to grope me without my permission kind of douches.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it then.”
There was a short pause.
“Don’t fuck this one up. And not because of me and Billy. Charles is a great guy. He deserves someone like you.”

“Aw, aren’t you being all sweet and shit. Talk to you later. Bye.” She gave me a kissing sound and hung up. I dropped my phone where it was and headed back toward the bed. Charles welcomed me back with open arms and I snuggled in as close as I could.

“What time is it?” Charles asked, his voice still drowsy with sleep. He groaned when I told him the time. “My alarm goes off in an hour.”

“No, it doesn’t.” I refused to let that happen. “You’re going to turn it off, and we’re going to go back to sleep just like this.”

Charles chuckled. It was low and brassy and made heat wash over me. “We’ve only been on one date and you’re already trying to tell me what to do.”

I nodded. “Yep. It’s for your own good. No one should have to wake up at 6 in the morning on a Saturday. That’s just terrible.” Not that I was one to talk at that moment. I had allowed Jenny to convince me to wake up at 5am to go running. She was could be quite persuasive when she wanted to be. Probably how she convinced me to go on so many dates. Though this last one was an improvement over the rest.

After several minutes of laying in silence, Charles sighed. “I’m not tired now.” I echoed his sentiments. “I’ll go make us some coffee.” He got up and took his warmth with him. “There’s some clothes you can borrow in my dresser if you want to join me,” he told me as he put on a robe that resembled a marshmallow, white and puffy.

There was no way I was going to lay in bed alone, so I didn’t have much choice. I got up and headed toward his dresser, a huff on my breath. Before I reached the dresser, Charles took me in his arms. “Or, you could stay just like this,” he said in my ear.

As tempting at that sounded, I had to say no. There was something about walking around in a stranger’s house naked that didn’t do it for me. “How ‘bout a compromise. I’ll just wear a shirt.” My ass would be bare, but it was better than nothing.

“Hmm,” he hummed as if considering what I had offered. “I think that’s fair.” A cheeky smile was on his face as he run his hands up and down my arms.

“Good, because I wasn’t going to walk around naked anyways.” I had to keep some of my dignity about me, and I couldn’t pull off walking around without clothes on as well as some women could.

“Ha. At the very least, you are honest.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips gently on mine. “Comfortable shirts are in the second drawer. You can have your pick of them.” And with that he moved away from me and headed out of the bedroom.

“Wait!” I called after him. His head popped into the doorway. “I don’t know where the kitchen is.”

“It’s near the front door. I’ll have the light on, so you can’t miss it.”

“Okay,” I said, nodding. “I’ll be down in a minute.” He nodded in return and then his head disappeared, leaving me alone to pick out a shirt. The choices were pretty slim. I either had white cotton t-shirts or black cotton t-shirts. To be fair, he did say these were his comfortable shirts. I went with the black shirt, because I was pretty sure my nipples would be showing through the white ones, which would defeat the purpose of wearing the shirt in the first place.

The shirt fell just above my knees, and I couldn’t have been happier. My ass was covered and still would be when I sat down. Nothing said “good morning” like sitting on something cold with a bare ass and vagina.

My eyes went to my dress as I headed out of the door. I was going to have to do the walk of shame. That had not entered my mind once until that moment. I wished I had the foresight to pack something in my car. But it wouldn’t have mattered because I didn’t have my car either. Just fantastic. Maybe we should work on tipsy Amy having some ability to think before leaping into the car with a (sort of) strange man. Not that I was in any condition to drive. I just couldn’t win with myself.

No. I was not going to allow myself to think like that. Right now, there was a very attractive man waiting for me in the kitchen. Making me coffee even. I was not going to waste what little time I had with him today arguing with myself of things I could have done. I was going to march my happy ass down to the kitchen and spend some time with him. While it was true we had planned a second date, but I doubted I had much more time with him today. There was no telling what plans he already had. I may not have any, this had been my rest weekend, doesn’t mean other people didn’t.

Retracing my steps, I headed back toward the front of the house. It didn’t take long, and it didn’t take much longer after that to find myself in the kitchen. A very big and nice kitchen. Black marble counter tops, an island in the middle of hardwood floor, and red-brown stained cabinets.

Charles was leaning against the island, hands in pockets, staring at the coffee machine as if willing it to brew faster. Not that I blamed him. It was too damn early for us to be up. Damn Jenny for her stupid running and damn me for agreeing to it. I could be asleep at the moment, cuddled against the most attractive man I had ever dated.

“You know,” I started, moving next to him, “glaring at it isn’t going to make it go faster. Haven’t you heard of the boiling pot conundrum?”

His eyes landed on me and the corner of his lips turned up. “I’m not glaring at the pot,” he said, wrapping his arm around me, “I was just thinking what to do for breakfast. I’m much lower on groceries than I expected.”

“How low?” My arms wrapped around his waist and I rested my head on his shoulder. It felt good to be held and to hold someone.

He smiled at me sheepishly. “I managed to run the refrigerator dry.”

Oh. That was bad. “We could always go out for breakfast. I know a great little place that would be open this early. It would be on me.” Since he, you know, paid for my dinner last night. Another reason I’m grateful the date went well. It would have killed my bank account to pay for half of that dinner.

“That sounds wonderful, but what are you going to wear?”

An excellent point and one I hadn’t thought of. “Do you have sweat pants?” He nodded slowly, wondering where I was going with it. “I can steal yours then. The place I’m taking you too isn’t very picky about what their customers wear.”

“Hmm.” Charles leaned forward, kissing my temple. “You must go there a lot.”

I gave him my brightest smile. “I grew up there.” The way his eyes narrowed in confusion was too cute. “My dad owns the place.”

The Diner, yes that was what my dad named it, was located just a few miles from my apartment on the cusp of being downtown. It was a spot my dad had chosen on purpose, hoping to get city and suburban traffic in the place. And I had to say, it had been a good choice. There hadn’t been a time that I had come in and he hadn’t been busy.

Today was different. Though it was a Saturday morning, there was only five people in the diner, four of them regulars that had been coming in for my entire life, and they greeted me as such with a round of “Amy!” and “It’s Amy!” Greg, the only man my dad trusted to the grill, turned and gave me a knowing smile, his dark brown eyes having landed on Charles. “Hey girl,” he greeted, turning back to the grill to flip a sausage patty. “What you doin’ up so early?”

“Jenny.” It was all I needed to say, as me and Charles took seats at the counter right behind Greg. Greg has been helping my dad run The Diner for over twenty years, he knew exactly who Jenny was.

“That monster,” he feigned horrified. “‘Specially with you cuddled up to a very handsome man.” The look he gave Charles was salacious.

“Uh-uh. Nope.” I stood, wrapping my arms around Charles’ neck, getting to my feet. “This one is mine. You can’t have him.”

“Only one date and you’re claiming I’m yours,” Charles chimed in, an amused smile on his face.

“Shh.” I covered his lips. “I’m trying to assert my dominance.” That earned me a round of laughter from everyone, including the one that wasn’t a regular who was trying his damnedest not to listen in. I couldn’t blame him. The place was kind of small, so it was easy to listen in to others’ conversations.

Greg’s dark eyes widened. “Did he just say one date?” Of course, that was the part he listened to. “Girl, I thought I taught you better than that.”

“Ha. You’re the one that told me to ‘try as many men as possible,’ your words exactly if I recall.” Probably not the best conversation to have while my current date was sitting next to me, but he was going to eventually realize that I had slept with more than just him in my life, if he hadn’t figured it out already.

Greg sighed, pouting his full lips. “I did say that. Might been the wrong advice to give you.” The advice wasn’t wrong, but the timing had been. I had been ten years old. Hadn’t really understood it until a few years later. “Oh well, can’t change the past. As long as you’re being safe.” He piled food onto a plate and headed to the only person not at the counter, the pot of coffee in his free hand. “Need anything else, sweetie?” he asked, setting the plate of food in front of the man and refilling the cup.

The man shook his head, a tight smile on his face. Not many straight men could take a gay man calling them terms of endearment, much less a black gay man. It wouldn’t be the first time Greg ran into a problem, and it would be the last time my dad sent someone out on their ass. The man didn’t say anything further. Just an uncomfortable moment for him. Good. I would have hated to throw out a customer.

“Let me know if you need anything,” was the last thing Greg said to the man before sauntering back behind the counter. He turned his smile back on me. “You haven’t asked if your daddy is here.”

Well, when the man was right, he was right. “I figured you would have already called him if he was here.”

Greg huffed and rolled his eyes. “Tom!” He bellowed, making me jump. “Amy’s here!”

“What?!” Came the muffled voice from my father. There was a clatter of something hitting several things before he appeared in the door that led to the back of the diner. A smile lit his face when his eyes so much like mine landed on me. “I’ll be damned.” He moved to my side and wrangled me into a tight hug. “You’re up!”