Yearning for Love (8 page)

His voice was gentle, kind. Nicole felt it cover her like a warm blanket. Looking into his deep blue eyes, she couldn't understand why it was so difficult to say
yes
since there was an obvious attraction between them.  She was taking the steps necessary to change her life.  She was aware the possibility of being asked out by men would happen, but not so soon.  Attending a big wedding and putting her anxiety on the line to mingle with hundreds of people she did not know, was the beginning step.  The dating and getting physical with men was more difficult for her and she had not sought those details through yet.

“This is always the hardest part, not knowing what to say,” she said. “I’m going to accept your date, Walker. The logical way to get over my hang-ups is to go for it.  Whether I sink or swim is up to me, right?”

“That depends. What hang-ups do a beautiful woman such as you, need to get over?”

She rubbed her hands together. “I’m not a very social person.  I don’t date or go to clubs.”

“By choice?” He asked with a lace of skepticism in his voice.

“Yes, by choice,” she said giving him a mordant look.

“What do you do for fun?”

“I create on my drawing board or write.  I keep myself busy, so I don’t miss that sort of entertainment.”

“Good God, woman.  How do you keep the men off you? I mean look at you,” he said creating an outline of her curvy figure with his hands.

“Keep that up and I’ll cancel our date.”

“I’m fooling around but curious how a woman like you doesn’t have a trail of men sniffing after her.”

“It’s hard to be noticed when you’re practically invisible.”

“I noticed you right away.  That smile is impossible to hide.”

His flirting was stirring her insides.  It was something about Walker that held her attention.  He was unlike the one male friend she had years ago who would fit in with the cast of that nerd show, if they had a black character or handsome character.  Walker was raw yet refined in a social way she wasn’t.

She cleared her throat. “I have to get to bed.  Patty will kill me if I have dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep.”

“All right, I’ll see you in the morning.  Hey,” he called after her.

Nicole pulled the bedspread up to cover her chest. “Yes.”

“I’m looking forward to our date.”

She switched off the light so he couldn’t see her blushing. “Me too.”

*****

Nicole checked the time on her cell phone.  Walker was running late for their date. She’d agreed to meet him in the hotel bar for drinks instead of waiting for him in the room.  He found her sitting at the bar nursing a glass of wine.  “Nicole, I’m sorry I’m late.  I got held up at the shop,” he said taking a seat on the stool next to her.

Fiddling with the napkin under her glass, she responded, “I haven’t been waiting long.  May I buy you a drink?”

“How many of those have you had already?”

“I’ve only had one so far.  Not nearly enough to make this day a blur but since I’m diabetic, one will be my limited tonight.  I had a glass of champagne at the reception,” she said turning to face him.

Ordering a beer Walker ushered her to a booth for privacy.  “How was the wedding?  Was it as stressful as you thought it would be?”

Nicole couldn’t get over how handsome he was.  The wine might have been helping her see him differently, but she was definitely attracted to him.  She often thought of how he cared for when she was lying flat on her back.  Although she never considered dating a white man, Walker’s charm and rugged good looks was causing her to think twice, that was if she were dating any man at all.

“It was nice and elegant.  Patty and Jeremy made a beautiful couple.  The only piece of the picture missing was you.”

“Yeah, well it went off without a hitch, and that’s all that matters,” he said taking a swig of his beer.

“After a short delay you caused by being a no-show, it finally got underway,” she said watching the couples dancing.  “I left the reception a little early.  I was beat and needed a nap.”

Walker watched her closely. She was still in full makeup from the wedding.  Her hair was in a fancy upsweep with curls framing her face, but she had changed into an off the shoulder cream-colored sweater with sparkly glitter splattered across the front and beige dress slacks. “So, how many dances did you get?”

She played with the teardrop pendant dangling off the end of the pearl necklace around her neck.  It and the matching earrings was a gift Patty gave each of her bridesmaids. “Honestly, not one person asked me for a dance.  Oh wait, I take that back, Jeremy did ask me for a dance.  I believe Patty took pity and forced him to do it.”

“I’m not being forced to ask you.  Will you dance with me?”

The music playing in the lounge was soft and sensual.  Nicole had never been on the dance floor unless she was walking across it to get to the other side of the room.  She did enjoy listening to music, and would dance around in her bedroom as a little girl.  Even as an adult she attempted to learn a line dance from an online video she’d seen; it proved she had no rhythm to be a black woman.  Somehow none of that mattered as she still hankered to know how it would feel to be held by a man, leading her around on the dance floor.

She protested shaking her head. “I don’t know.  I wasn’t born with the rhythm gene.”

“I’m not a great dancer either.  We’ll get laughed off the dance floor together.  It will be fun to walk a mile of shame back to our seats.”

She twisted her lips contemplating. “You are a daring man.  But, okay—I’m game,” she said excited and up for the quest.

Walker escorted her to the dance floor filled with couples dancing slowly to the soulful music.  As he embraced her small frame, they began moving rhythmically to the beat of Brian McKnight.  Nicole relaxed enclosing her hand in his.  Walker held her hand tightly against his chest as his arm circled her waist.

Nicole felt his heart beating against her as she snuggled against him letting him lead the slow paced dance.  He kept the beat, and she managed not to step on his feet or trip over hers when he spun her around in a slow circle. Walker pulled her back into his arms.  His arms were warm, and she yearned to stay for a bit longer.  The desire was short-lived when the song ended.  He released her but held her hand as they returned to the booth.

Nicole took a sip of wine to calm her nervousness.  “Thank you.  I always imagined what it would be like to slow dance.  And, you lied—you can dance.”

“The worst dancer can slow dance.  Throw on some hip-hop music, and I would clear this place in ten seconds flat.  The term dying from laughter would be a true statement.”

She giggled.  He was naturally funny without trying to impress her. “Me too! I don’t only have two left feet, but two left arms!  I have no concept of rhythm at all.”

His short chuckle gave away to a serious tone.  “You didn’t attend any school dances or your prom?”

She folded her fingers around the stem of the wine glass. “I was home schooled by tutors.  I told you that.”

“Oh yeah, you did.  You missed out on your adolescent years of acting wild and stupid.  You won’t be here long enough for me to show you what we young people do for fun,” he said winking his eye.

“Afraid not, but I enjoyed the dance.  You made my first adult attempt at that fun.”

Walker reached his hand over until he was caressing her fingers with his index finger. “Are you trying to make me blush, Nicole; I do that pretty easy when I get compliments from a pretty lady.”

“Really, so you get all rosy and giddy,” she said teasing.

“Yeah, I actually do.” He moved to her side of the booth.  “Seriously, Columbus is only a couple of hours away; I would love to visit you?”

“I might take you up on that offer, someday.” Her hand took a direction of its own and reached up to caress his face.  Leaning towards him, she kissed him on the cheek whispering.  “Thank you for this.  I’m having a wonderful time.”

He closed his eyes as her soft warm lips touched his cheek. “You’re welcome, Nicole.”

“Patty was right, you are fun.  Your girlfriend had to be insane to let you go.”

“It wasn’t meant to be and life goes on.  I don’t dwell on it.  So, here I am back on the market again for some unsuspecting lady to whisk me off my feet.”

She sighed not wanting to touch that loaded gun. “Oh well, good luck with that.”

Walker drank more of the beer that warmed from sitting on the table, mumbling, “I see that went over your head.”

“No, it didn’t go over my head,” she said drinking a sip of wine.

“You heard me?”

“I sure, did.”

“I didn’t mean anything by it.  I’ve never had to work so hard to get a woman’s attention before.”

“You have my attention.  I’m sitting in a booth with only you and engaging in conversation with only you.”

“Right you are.  But…”

“You are amazed I’m not batting my eyelashes uncontrollably or gushing over you as most of your dated do.”

“No, I wasn’t going to say that but you seem a little stiff.  Are you afraid to loosen up?”

“This is how I am.  I told you; I’m not the social type.”

“Okay, I get that.  How about you think of me as an old friend and not someone you just met yesterday? Nicole, loosen your shoulders and let your hair down for one night.  We have all night to dance, talk and have fun.”

“You’re going to make me hate I have to go home in the morning.”

“I will miss you when you leave.  I’m going to drop this extremely corny line on you, but you are special to me.”

“Yeah, that was pretty lame. You don’t even know me to think I’m special; unique maybe but not special.”

The smile left his face. “I know I want to know more about you.”

“I’m not gone yet,” she said weakly. “Instead of flinging our arms and legs offbeat to the music on the dance floor, we could become acquainted by talking.”

His cupped her face with his hands drawing her into a kiss.  Nicole was surprised but accepted the warmth of his mouth on hers.  The persuasion of his lips set her heart a thunder.  The seductive scent of his aftershave drew her in like a moth to a flame. He was a stranger, and she was out of her comfort zone and loving it.

His was so different from earlier.  This man was an auto mechanic whose hands were most likely calloused, and his fingernails grimy.  He also probably wore coveralls smeared with car grease with a dirty rag hanging from the back pocket.

Tonight, his hands were soft and smooth, and he looked sexy as hell dressed in a wool double breasted peak lapel suit with a long-sleeved white dress shirt underneath, pleated black trousers, and a black and white pinstriped tie.

She took pleasure feeling his demanding sexy lips making her want to croon.  His powerful arms pressing her close to him made her limp as a wet noodle.  She wanted a slice of Walker Albright, only, if she got him, she had no idea how to keep him.

Walker stopped the kiss before he got out of control.  Even though she seemed responsive to his advances he didn’t want to push her. Pulling away from her, he sat back. “Nicole, I don’t want to take advantage of you.  Tell me to back off if I’m coming on too strong.”

“I might be inexperienced with relationships, but I’m not innocent. I had to have that kiss to get you out of my system before I go home,” she said grinning.

Walker smoothed down his tie.  He hated wearing ties, but he wanted to make a good impression and wore a suit.  “Is that right? Then I guess I have to do the same to get you out my system,” he said drawing her into another kiss as onlookers watched them smooching.

As the hours passed and the bar was closing, Walker escorted Nicole to her hotel room.  Nicole paused at the door before opening it.  She hungered for Walker in more ways than a kiss but knew she wouldn’t go that far.  “Well, I guess this is it.”

“Yeah, this is your room.  Maybe we can meet for coffee before you leave tomorrow?”

“I’m leaving early and you will probably be at work.  You have my number, I expect you to call me.”

“Can I get your address?”

“Walker, I have to take this slow.  One day I will be able to explain my life to you.  Trust me, this is the best way for me to ease into this challenge I have put myself under.”

He groaned. “You're a lousy flirt.”

“I haven't had a lot of practice,” she confessed. “Walker, I don't know how to date or how to play the games that men and women do to lure each other.  I could be classified a nun if it weren’t for the fact I use foul language sometimes and I’m not a virgin.”

“From my experience, Nicole, there is no set way to date.  If you like a guy, you go after him if he is available.  If you hit it off as we have, you take a chance and see where it goes.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“It is because you don’t have to be someone you’re not. Just be you.  Have fun getting to know the guy and time will tell if the union is meant to be or not.”

“Wow, what great advice.  Good night, Walker,” she said placing the slightest of a kiss on his lips.

Striking out at first base, he shook his head. “Good night, Nicole and have a safe drive tomorrow.”

Nicole watched him walk down the hall and turn the corner. Closing the door behind her, she leaned against the cool wood, sighing.
“I am so sure this was NOT the way to end a date, with a HOT guy.”

Chapter Five

Walker manipulated the pencil between his fingers like a miniature baton as he looked over the shop’s financials.  His business were thriving and not hurting for money.  Somewhere hiding in the figures was a way to repay Mitch the money and get any paperwork he held in his possession.  He shuffled through the pages fill with figures. His eyes blurred from staring at the numbers for hours and not finding a solid solution for his problem.  He could move money from the general fund, but he was saving to expand to include a collision center. Taking money from that fund would stall construction on that building for a year or more.

“Knock, knock,” the soft voice of his mother broke his concentration.

“Hey, Mom; what brings you here.”  He stood to give his mother a hug.  Her smile had a way of tunneling through his bad mood.