I Like 'Em Pretty (4 page)

“
Oh what a problem to
have,” Nicholas chided and lay on his side, gazing out the
window.

“
Well, it is. She’s
deadly, I tell ya.” Alexander laughed as he spoke in a country
accent.

“
You’re getting rather
good at that, Alex. I can’t do it at all and neither do I want to
for that matter. Not that I don’t like the speech, I just don’t
think it suits me.”

“
Ah, I know, you’re such a
proper bloke. A fashion plate just like your mum and da,” Alexander
added. “I couldn’t see you enjoying yourself in the company of a
bunch of Southern folk.”

“
I couldn’t either. I’d
much rather be at the North Carolina Museum of Art attending a
charity ball.” Nicholas loved art and photography second only to
his medical profession.

“
Yes, yes, I know. It’s
why you need a good Southern gal to loosen you up a little. You’re
too stuffy, Nicholas. You barely go out unless it’s to work
out…”

“
Mhmm…or to the park to
photograph things. Perhaps even the cemetery because I love looking
at old crypts and headstones.”

“
Yes, but what girl is
going to want to join you on
those
kind of excursions? I doubt there will be
many.”

“
Well, I’m not sure
meeting a woman at a club or a swinger’s party is the way to go
either, even though you lucked up on the latter.”

“
Yes, I did. I never
thought I’d find my soulmate
there
. Truthfully, I wasn’t even
going to hook up with anyone. I only wanted to observe.”

“
That’s what you keep
telling me,” Nicholas chuckled and picked up the stray shards of
his glass.

“
Honest I didn’t and then
I saw her, making notes on a sofa, while two very hot women were
getting it on.”

“
Uh huh. I haven’t the
faintest idea why you’d want to watch anyone, especially two women,
when you could join them, Alexander.”

“
It was fun actually.
Well, I hope Rhoda meets your expectations. She’s quite nice if I
say so myself. Not my Sharnette, but still beautiful.”

“
Okay. On a scale of one
to ten, where would you rate Miss Rhoda?” Nicholas rolled the ‘r’
and shifted on the mattress to hear Alex’s answer.

“
Well, since Sharnette is
an eleven, I’d have to say Rhoda is a high eight. She seems a
little shy, and I can’t possibly rate her close to my Sharnette
regardless of how gorgeous she is.”

“
I can work with shy. I
act that way sometimes myself, but you say she fits my
criteria?”

“
Oh yes. A nice size rack,
curvy body, and a beautiful smile. She’s a nurse at Duke Medical
Center.”

Nicholas eyes widened and
his lips curved into a slight grin. “She’s perfect, Alexander. Why
didn’t you introduce me before? A nurse? It means she’ll understand
my schedule better than anyone.”

“
I’m not much of a
matchmaker, Nicholas. I was scared about bringing the two of you
together. I knew if something went awry, it would cause problems
with you two as well as us. You’re my best friend and Rhoda is
Sharnette’s. We want you two to be happy and give it a try. It’s
time for us to settle down and make babies, ol’ boy. We aren’t
gettin’ any younger.”

“
Very true.” Nicholas
crossed his legs and palmed his chin. “So we’re meeting on
Saturday, then?”

“
Yes, it’s a go. I’ll let
Sharnette know that you’re excited about meeting Nurse
Rhoda.”

“
Does she have a last
name?”

“
Yes, Maire. Rhoda
Maire.”

Nicholas nodded and
pictured nurse Rhoda in a tight white uniform that only went half
way down her body and showed beautiful legs poking from underneath.
Just the thought of it caused tightness in his crotch under the
silk loungers.

Rhoda!

“
Nicholas?”

“
Yes,
Alexander?”

“
I’m going to let you go.
I’m thinking you might need a moment.”

“
I’ll chat with you
later.”

* * * *

“
Oh yeah, girl, you
shoulda been there. So many hot lookin’ men, I wish I had time to
date a couple.” Moira forked through her turnip greens and hummed
when she put a portion in her mouth.

“
Heh, you should’ve asked
for some time off to stay, Moira. I’ve been to Paris a couple of
times. Many Europeans are very good looking.” Sharnette bit into
her chicken and wiped her fingers.

Rhoda stayed silent as her
sister took over the conversation, as usual. Thank God it was
getting close to the time when Moira had to leave and meet with her
agent; she’d received his text while they were on the way to the
Down Home restaurant.

“
Rho, you and me should
take a trip abroad one of these days. If you can get the time
off.”

“
Yeah, I’d love that.”
Rhoda half smiled and nodded at her friend. “I’ve never been, but I
always wanted to take the trip.

“
Hey, we should,
Sharnette. I know I could easily ask to take a leave to join you
guys.”

Rhoda wanted to scream when
she heard that. There was her beloved sister again, inviting
herself along, when Sharnette clearly only singled her out and not
Moira.

“
Well, we’ll see. Hey Rho,
how’s the country fried steak? Is it any good?”

“
It’s not bad. I should’ve
had the roasted pork chops with the greens like you did. The sides
are better than the meat.”

“
Ack, don’t you hate
that?” Moira frowned and shook her head.

“
Yeah.” Rhoda shot daggers
at her once again. If they were real knives, Moira would be dead
and full of holes.

“
Yeah… Moira, you sure you
don’t need a ride to the agency?”

“
Naw, babe. I’ll catch a
cab. I don’t want you guys to rush on my account. You’re not even
done eatin’.” Moira glanced at her watch. “As a matter of fact, I
gotta run if I’m gonna be on time for my appointment. Kiss kiss.”
She stood up then leaned down to press her lips against Rhoda’s
head and then Sharnette’s. “We gotta hang when I have more time,
ladies.”

“
Yeah, we do, girl. See
you later, okay?”

“
All right then.” She
dropped a twenty on the table and rushed for the exit, leaving half
her plate of collards.

“
Grrr…” Rhoda scowled and
toyed with her food.

Sharnette laughed and shook
her head. “The two of you are like peas in a pod, ya know. She just
wants to be around her twin sis.”

“
Yadda, yadda, yadda, I
know. We spent nine months in the womb and grew up together. I
think it’s about time we weren’t so joined at the hip don’cha
think?”

“
Perhaps. Hey, Alexander
texted me and it’s a go for Saturday night. Nicholas is ready to
meet you.”

Hearing that brought a
smile to Rhoda’s face and she ate the rest of her mac and cheese.
“Good, because I’m lookin’ forward to seeing him. I need a man in
my life so I can get some business outside the hospital. Plus my
mom’s gettin’ on my last nerves with her
‘the best men are the ones you meet in church’
bullcrap!” Rhoda stabbed a piece of the steak and
plunked it in between her lips.

“
Oh, so the whole scandals
with priests molesting children doesn’t matter? And what about all
the people who have problems with gays and lesbians?”

Oh boy.

Rhoda didn’t want to get
Sharnette on her GLBT soapbox. Not that she didn’t agree, but it
didn’t directly affect her.

She’d much rather talk
about animal cruelty.

“
Well, Nettie, that’s a
big issue and that’s why I don’t agree with her. There’s no one at
her church I’d want to meet up with anyway. I like my men a certain
way and I doubt I’ll find him in the pews of AMC
Baptist.”

“
Right, I know you won’t.
Hopefully, you and Doc Fairlight will hit it off, Rho. The two of
you would make such a lovely couple.”

“
We would?” Rhoda nodded
and smiled in agreement. “I’m ready to meet him more than ever
then. You have to give me some ideas on what to wear on Saturday
night.”

“
Okay, sure. A sexy black
dress, maybe, with just the right earrings and some high
heels…”

“
No stilettos, I
hope.”

“
Nah, maybe just some
pumps, even though black stilettos would have a positive effect on
a man. I wear ‘em all the time for Alex, even in bed.”

“
Uh… TMI!” Rhoda held up
her free hand. “I read about your sex life in your books. I don’t
think I wanna hear anymore.”

Sharenette chuckled and
wiped the corners of her mouth with the cloth napkin. “Heh, and you
don’t enjoy it? I mean, I’m givin’ you a vivid picture and maybe
even some pointers, Rho. Never know when you might wanna use ‘em on
somebody.”

“
I seriously doubt that.
I’m pretty vanilla when it comes to sex. Good ol’ missionary never
hurt anybody,” she stated proudly, drawing stares from a couple of
people walking past.

Sharnette snorted and
gulped down her soda, trying to keep it from coming out her
nose.

“
Damnit, Nettie, you
always get me in trouble.” Rhoda slumped down in her seat and
tapped her fingers on the table in front of her.

She hated talking about the
sex word in public and this would be the other reason
why.

After enduring several more
days of work at the medical center delivering babies, Saturday
finally arrived. Rhoda’s first weekend day off in quite some time
and she was thrilled to be doing something fun.

Sharnette took her
shopping the day prior in a boutique that specialized in curvy
women’s clothing, buying her the best-looking black dress in the
shop. Rhoda could afford it but Sharnette insisted on paying for it
as an early Christmas gift. She remarked,
“
Gotta get ya outta your shell
somehow, girlie. Lemme at least do this for ya.”

Despite being able to
purchase the dress, Rhoda didn’t balk and accepted her best
friend’s kind gesture. Not that she did it regularly,
anyway.

Once she finished putting
on lotion and the proper undergarments, Rhoda pulled the dress out
of the bag and grinned at the sight. Spaghetti straps, the cleavage
portion dipped low, and the just above her knees, which she loved.
The back crisscrossed; since the heat was still on in North
Carolina, even at this time of year, it would be no problem to wear
the dress with a shawl covering her back.

“
Mmhm… I hope it fits the
same as it did yesterday,” she joked to herself and slipped the
dress over her head. To her delight, it did fit exactly the same
way, like a glove. In the mirror she modeled it for herself, making
sure the straps were lined up correctly and the strapless bra was
still doing its job to hold off the gravity from her breasts. “Not
bad, Rhoda!” She smiled and slipped into her new black pumps she
bought even though Sharnette tried her best to get her to buy some
stilettos.

“
You’ll knock ‘em dead
with this, Rho.” Sharnette held up the four-inch heels and
immediately Rhoda grimaced. No way would she be wearing those
things when she could barely stand in anything over two
inches.

Breaking her neck wasn’t
something she wanted to do when meeting this man.

Now with her dress fitting
comfortably, it was time to apply makeup and get ready for the
night. Hopefully the club wouldn’t be one of those pretentious
places she abhorred because she looked forward to enjoying herself.
More importantly, she hoped Dr. Fairlight was the man she’d been
searching for to cure the loneliness she’d been feeling for a long
time.

No time like the present to
find out.

* * * *

Nicholas took a look at
himself in the glass and adjusted his black necktie. Alexander had
informed him the place they were going to was a snazzy club and to
dress accordingly. If anyone had a problem with dressing
appropriately, it was Alexander. He hated wearing ties and
preferred jeans, along with gym shoes, on a casual night
out.

Nicholas concluded
Sharnette must’ve worked her mojo on his friend again to convince
him to go to this new bar. Ah, wouldn’t he love to be under that
spell, even if it were only for a moment?

Nah.

Satisfied with his
appearance, he checked his digital clock next to the bed. Eight o’
eight. Might be time to leave the apartment and make his way to the
club to meet them at the door as they’d discussed. It should be
easy to get a taxi there since it was less than a half an hour away
from his condo. Driving was never a consideration for Dr. Fairlight
because he loved being chauffeured. Besides that, the thought of
driving a vehicle scared him and he didn’t want that type of
responsibility.

Grabbing his cellular and
house keys, he strolled from the bedroom and dragged his hand along
the wall to shut off the light. Excitement flowed through him as he
pondered a night out with friends and possibly a potential lady to
be.