“All right, but where?” Jill asked, hoping to stay below the radar.
“Do you like the blues?”
“How can we dance to the blues?”
Darren stepped closer to her, placing his lips close to her ear. “Slow and close. Come on, I know the perfect place off the beaten path.”
“All right,” she said, ready to feel Darren’s body pressed against her love-starved one.
Darren led Jill to his Nissan 300X, opened the passenger side door for her and held it open until she slid into the sports car. “Nice,” Jill said. “I guess you like speed, huh?”
“Occasionally. Truthfully, this is my date car. You know what they say about women and sports cars.”
Jill smiled. “Well, it’s not the car; it’s the man driving it.”
Darren leaned back in his seat. “So, what do you think about the man driving this car?”
“He definitely makes the car.”
Darren peeled out of the parking lot and headed out Interstate 85 South to a small blues club near the airport.
“What is this place?” she asked. It actually put her in the mind of the juke joint in the movie The Color Purple.
“A little hole in the wall with none of those pretentious folk from downtown or overpriced drinks. Just music, a dance floor, and dim lighting.” Darren pulled into a parking spot, hopped out of the car and opened the door for Jill.
“Thank you,” she said as he took her hand. “You’re such a gentleman.”
“I try.”
They walked up to the front door of the club and there was no long line as there often was at many of the clubs in midtown where people went just to be seen. No one paid attention to them as they entered and took a seat at one of the wooden tables in the back. They were just two more in the crowd. The lighting inside was almost non-existent, a few candles and dim lamps. B.B. King was blaring from the speakers, singing about the missing thrill.
“We didn’t come here to sit, did we?” Darren asked as he stood up and extended his hand to her. Closing her fingers around his hand, Jill allowed him to lead her to the middle of the tile dance floor. The song changed to an artist she didn’t recognize singing about a wicked woman whose love was so good.
Darren wrapped his arms around her waist and just as he’d promised, pulled her close and danced really slow with her, pushing his pelvis against hers. She felt his arousal as they wound their bodies together in rhythm with the deep bass of the song. Jill nestled her head against his chest. Dancing with him was quite erotic. From the way her body was responding to him with her clothes on, Jill knew he’d make her explode touching her bare skin.
The song ended, but they didn’t separate; they danced to their own melody.
“Are people staring at us yet?” she asked.
“Who cares?” His lips brushed against her neck as he spoke.
Jill couldn’t tell if he was doing it deliberately or not, but she sure enjoyed it. “This is nice.”
“Yeah, and you feel so good. What are you wearing? It’s intoxicating.”
“I could say the same thing about you,” she replied. The truth was, being so close to Darren made her forget the name of the jasmine-scented perfume she was wearing.
Another slow, bluesy song started playing, and a few other couples joined then on the floor, but all they could see was each other.
Chapter Seven
Darren didn’t want his night with Jill to end. He wanted to take her home with him and lay her down on his cool cotton sheets, peel her clothes from her body and explore every inch of her with his tongue, then wake up with Jill nestled in his arms, her soft lips grazing his neck. But as the house lights came up in the club, he knew he had to take her home.
“I had a wonderful time tonight,” Jill said as they exited the club.
“So did I,” he said with a smile on his face. “I’m glad you opened up a little tonight.”
Jill cast her eyes down and smiled. “You made it easy to do that. And I don’t want you to think that I’m judging you by my past experiences, but it’s just hard to…”
Darren didn’t let her finish her statement; her lips just looked too delectable not to kiss. He captured her lips and tasted her sweetness. “I’m sorry, I had to do that. It’s not that I’m not listening to you, though.”
Jill didn’t respond immediately. It was as if Darren had kissed all the words away.
“I guess I’d better get you home,” he said.
“Yeah, it’s getting late.”
Darren opened the car door for her, and they stood against the car, eying each other with unspoken desire and longing. “We’d better go home,” he said, finally finding his voice. As much as he wanted to take Jill home and make love to her, he knew she wasn’t the kind of woman who would give in to lust and hop into bed with a man she barely knew. If she did, he’d be disappointed. Not that he was putting Jill on a pedestal or anything, but she had a certain grace and class that he hadn’t seen in a woman in a long time. Many times, women threw themselves at him, offering him sex on demand. That took the fun and mystery out of dating for him. He didn’t want a woman who had served more people than an all night diner. He wanted class and grace and he was looking right at it.
“Why don’t we get some coffee and dessert before we call it a night,” Jill suggested. “Krispy Kreme is open.”
Darren grinned broadly. “Now I would have never taken you for the doughnut type.”
She pointed to the doughnut shop directly in front of them. “The light is on.”
“Then we’d better go before the hot ones are gone.” Darren wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her to the shop. As they walked, the couple jokingly argued about which doughnuts were the best. Darren like the chocolate glazed with sprinkles on special occasions and Jill was an original glazed girl all the way.
“I guess we lucked up,” he said, holding the door open for her. “Now I’ll have you all to myself and hot doughnuts to boot.”
While they sat at the bar and waited for the clerk to return from the back with fresh doughnuts, Darren clasped Jill’s hand, forcing her to face him on the stool. “You don’t want this night to end any more than I do,” he said.
“Maybe not. Could it be that I just like spending time with you?”
“I hope so because you can expect to see a lot more of me.” He brought Jill’s hand to his lips and placed a butterfly kiss on it.
“Aww!” the counterwoman said as she approached the couple. “That is so sweet. What can I get for y’all?”
“Two glazed and two coffees,” Darren said. Jill nodded her approval.
The woman stared at Jill, narrowing her eyes as if she knew her. Jill turned her head to the side.
“Someone you went to high school with?” Darren whispered as the counterwoman moved away.
“What?”
“She was looking at you as if she knew you, and you turned away from her as if you didn’t want to be recognized.”
Jill laughed hollowly. “I don’t…I had something in my eye. Besides, she doesn’t look that far removed from high school herself.”
He eyed her suspiciously as the woman placed the doughnuts and coffee in front of them.
“Have I seen you somewhere before?” she asked Jill.
“I don’t think so,” she replied politely.
The woman shrugged it off. “You just look so familiar.”
“I get that a lot,” Jill said as she gripped her cup of coffee.
“Sugar or cream?” the counterwoman asked.
“Cream, please,” Darren said.
Jill sipped her coffee black. “This is good,” she said.
Darren stirred his coffee and watched Jill chew her doughnut. Her demeanor changed after the counterwoman inquired about her. What is she hiding? He wondered. Maybe I’m just being too suspicious, but she definitely didn’t want that woman to notice her.
They finished their doughnuts without any further conversation. Jill began
to yawn.
“That’s our cue to leave,” Darren said, putting money on the counter.
“I guess I’m a little drained,” she said.
“Coffee gives most people a second wind,” Darren said as they stood up.
“I think I’ve developed a resistance to caffeine. When I was a freshman at Spelman, I pulled too many all nighters with pots of coffee.”
“I can see you now, fresh-faced college student up to her ears in notes and books and shaking from too much coffee.”
“That was me,” she said as they walked out the door. “Sometimes I’d go a few days without sleeping.”
“It’s always been all work and no play for you, huh?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “I guess I didn’t have a suitable playmate.”
“Has that changed?” he asked as he opened the car door for her.
“I certainly hope so.”
* * *
When Darren pulled up to Jill’s building, she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and told him what a wonderful time she’d had and prayed that he wouldn’t follow her inside. She was afraid that she would invite him in and they’d end up in bed. But Darren was too much of a gentleman to let her walk inside alone, even though the building had a security guard and there was an electronic key required for entry.
“I can’t let you walk up there alone this time of night. I’ll just walk you to the door.” Darren pulled into a visitor parking spot.
When he opened the car door for her and she stood up, their lips brushed. She instantly pulled back because she wasn’t sure she would have the will power to stop the kiss if it went too far.
“Thank you for a wonderful evening,” she said breathlessly. “We’ll have to do it again soon.”
“We certainly will,” he said before giving her a quick peck on the cheek.
Her breath caught in her chest as his lips touched her skin. She wanted that man to wrap his arms around her and hold her until the sun and the stars blurred together and there was no difference between day and night.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said, then turned and headed for his car.
Jill waved to him as he drove down the street. Part of her wished he had asked to come inside, but at the same time, she was relieved that he hadn’t. There was no telling what might have happened.
She’d dodged more than one bullet tonight. The woman at the doughnut shop had probably seen Jill’s picture countless times and read all about her in Essence and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The next time someone noticed her, she might not be so lucky. What if some of the students that she’d spoken to at Spelman had spotted her out with Darren and put her on blast? Or what if a business associate had seen her? Jill was glad Darren liked to go to places off the beaten path, but in Atlanta, it was only a matter of time before you saw someone who knew you. And for Jill, everybody knew her.
Walking into the building, Jill knew that it wasn’t going to be long before she’d have to come clean about everything. The longer she put it off, the more she’d look like a liar in Darren’s eyes.Just a little more time. I need a little more time to make sure he is as genuine as he seems, she thought.
As she headed upstairs, Jill prayed that Darren was the real thing.
* * *
The next morning, Jill did something she hadn’t done in years. She slept until eleven-thirty on a Saturday and awoke only when the phone rang. Rolling over in the bed, she picked up.
“Hello?”
“Jill, it’s Malik, I’m at the office and you aren’t. I just wanted to make sure that you were all right.”
“How many times have you told me that I need a life outside of DVA? As soon as I try to get one, you call and interrupt it,” Jill joked.
“Is that dude there?” Malik asked excitedly.
“No! God, Malik, everyone is not like you, always trying to get into a woman’s pants.”
“You know I’m not like that anymore. I don’t even have to try to get into my wife’s pants, those are mine.”
“What are you doing at the office anyway?” she asked as she sat up in the bed.
“Well, Shari and Evelyn are doing the mother-daughter thing this morning and I had to get out of there. I’m glad that they are getting along these days, but when the Walker women get together there’s a lot of laughing and estrogen flowing. It’s too cold to play golf, so I decided to do something productive.”
“You are so funny. But to answer your original question, I feel better than I have in years. Darren and I had a wonderful time last night and we’re supposed to hook up today for a little something. Maybe catch that movie we missed last night.”
“Jill, I’m really glad that you’ve met someone who makes you this happy. You remind me of what it’s like to fall in love again. But why did you all miss the movie last night?”
“We went dancing. Malik, you sound down. Is everything all right with you and Shari?”
“We’re fine. All marriages have their ups and downs. I think I’m spending too much time at work for her taste but when she’s jet-setting across the country for Essence, I don’t complain. We’ll figure something out,” he said with a sigh. “Nothing major. I love my wife and that isn’t going to change.”
“You and Shari mean too much to each other to let something this petty come between you. Besides, I can cut your hours if you want me to. Learn to delegate your work.”
“It hasn’t become a problem, yet. But you know how you can feel something building?”
“Yeah,” she said, thinking of her own situation. “Malik, how do I tell Darren the truth?”
“What do you mean?”
“I still haven’t told him that I’m not a DVA employee that I own the company.”
“Are you serious?”
Jill could hear the incredulous tone in his voice.
“You’re walking a tight rope with no net,” Malik warned. “What are you so afraid of?”
Jill rubbed the back of her neck. “I just don’t want to find out that Darren isn’t perfect. Malik, you don’t know how hard it is to trust someone enough to unwind with them and let them see the real you. I’ve been there and done that. It didn’t turn out too well.”
“And you’re going to let one bad experience from your past ruin your future?”
“That’s not what I’m doing,” Jill protested. But she knew in her heart that was specifically what she was doing. Jill wanted to trust Darren, believe everything he said and promised, but the last time she’d done that, she’d almost lost everything. Deep in her heart, she knew Darren was nothing like David. But she’d also thought that she and David would marry. “Malik, I don’t know what I should say or how to even bring it up.”
“You just speak from your heart. That’s how I got my wife.”
“I’ve bent your ear enough,” she said. “I’m probably going to do some work from home now since you made me feel so guilty. Can you e-mail me the Bluetooth information I requested?”
“I’m sending it now.”
When Jill hung up, she lounged in the bed a little while longer, squeezing her pillow tightly, wishing it were Darren lying in her arms.
* * *
Darren sat on the floor in Cleveland’s living room waiting for their mother to finish cooking breakfast. He felt thirteen again. When his mother called him at seven-thirty Saturday morning, he knew he’d be spending much of his day in Lithonia.
Cleveland, who was stretched out on the sofa behind him, popped his brother on the back of the head. “How was your date with baby girl last night?”
“It was great. Jill and I stayed out until two-thirty.”
Cleveland raised his eyebrows in Charlie Chaplin fashion. “And what were you two doing out that late?”
“I’d like to know that, too,” Margaret, their mother, said as she appeared in the living room. “What kind of woman gallivants in the streets like that? There’s nothing but trouble out that time of night.”
Darren sighed, knowing
his mother’s heart was in the right place. “Ma, Jill wasn’t bouncing from club to club. We were on a date. We had dinner, went to a little blues club, and then had doughnuts.”
“Um,” she grunted. “Breakfast is ready. You boys want to eat in here or come to the table?”
Darren stood, crossed over to his mother and ushered her to a chair near the coffee table. He kissed her on the forehead. “You cooked, I’ll serve you guys.”
She smiled at her son and patted his hand. Cleveland rolled his eyes and laughed.
Yeah, Darren thought, this is fourteen at best.
Margaret had cooked a smorgasbord of food, scrambled eggs, home fries, blueberry pancakes, grits, oatmeal and fresh-baked cinnamon buns dripping in sweet icing. The aroma in the kitchen took Darren back to the Saturday mornings when his father would come in from his overnight shifts. His mother would greet Walter at the door with a hug, kiss and a bite of one of those sweet buns. She’d let him take one bite and tell him to take a shower so that she could bring him breakfast in bed.
Darren and Cleveland would eat their breakfast in the kitchen while their parents flirted with one another upstairs. Hours later, their parents would come into the living room and shoo the boys outside.
Darren wondered if Jill could cook. He decided that he would call her after breakfast and see if she wanted to catch a matinee and early dinner.
“Damn, Darren, did you have to re-cook the food?” Cleveland bellowed.
“Watch your mouth, Cleveland!” Margaret chastised. “I don’t care how old you are, there is certain language you don’t use around your mother.”
Darren walked into the living room balancing three plates on his arms. “You should just feel lucky that I didn’t eat all the cinnamon buns,” he said as he set the plates on the coffee table.
“I knew that’s what you were in there doing,” Cleveland said as he slowly sat up to take his plate. “He’s always done that, Ma. Always eating the buns before anyone else.”
“Whatever.”
Margaret slid her plate to the end of the table. “I want to hear more about this woman.”
Darren groaned. “Ma, please don’t start this.”
Business of Love Page 7