One Night: A BWWM Interracial Romance (20 page)

“And you didn’t have time to find a dress that wasn’t wrinkled?” her mom went on.
 

“Leave the girl alone, Caren,” fussed her grandma. “If we don’t go in now, I know that Lucille is going to try and take my pew.”
 

Her mother sighed and followed Natalie’s grandma up the steps into the church, giving her daughter one last disappointed look. Aunt Gloria also had a look for her that was far more insinuating than disappointed. She just smiled knowingly then turned to follow them inside. Natalie brought up the rear. Why did she have to run into Jake Cavanaugh
this
weekend of all weekends?
 

As a member of the church, going on 50 years, the congregation allowed Natalie’s grandmother her own unofficial seat, 2nd row, left side. They knew that her daughters and granddaughter joined her every first Sunday so they included room for them as well. The half empty pew beckoned them as the four women strolled in past the congregation that had mostly settled in.
 

If Natalie felt like the Walk of Shame this morning in Jake’s hotel room, right now she felt like Lady Godiva. Her hair and wrinkled dress and god knew what else was like a neon sign telling everyone I HAD SEX LAST NIGHT! She probably already had bruises from being groped and grabbed and banged up against the wall of the show—
 

She shook her head. It wouldn’t do any good recalling what had happened only hours ago. Natalie stared up at the cross behind Reverend Jackson’s head. Thank God the Baptists didn’t include the actual figure of Jesus.
 

As the service wore on, Natalie, as usual, ended up letting her mind wander. Usually it wasn’t all that interesting: the past week; the upcoming week; people in the congregation; her nails; the pair of shoes she’d seen online; TV shows; books; how many more hours to go until church was over.
 

Today it was singularly focused on one thing: Jake Cavanaugh. His wet body covered in nothing but a towel. The feel of his hair underneath her hands as his mouth covered her nipples. His strong chest pressed against hers. And that thing he’d done with his tongue this morning!

Natalie inadvertently let out an audible gasp. She was sitting next to Gloria, who turned to give her a appraising look. Natalie quickly composed herself and turned to her aunt with wide-eyed innocence. This was greeted with a dubious twist of the lips. Then her aunt let it go and turned back to Reverend Jackson.
 

Natalie took a surreptitious glance at the time on her watch. Ugh! The service wasn’t even half over. Maybe this Sunday would be a good time to start actually paying attention in church.
 

Natalie cleared her mind and stared intently up at the reverend, hanging on to every word.
 

After church they continued the tradition by having an early dinner. Natalie was patently ignoring the side glances her mother made at her dress and hair. Thankfully her mother kept her disappointed thoughts to herself.
 

“So, Natalie,” Aunt Gloria said, “I hear that you’re famous now.”
 

Natalie looked up at her with surprise, then turned to her mother with an accusatory glare.
 

“Don’t look so shocked,” her mother said, “Of course I told your Aunt Gloria about it.”
 

“It wasn’t so bad,” her aunt assured her, “fairly tame compared to some of the stuff I’ve read. Heck, it’s pretty tame compared to some of the stuff I’ve
done
!” she laughed.

“You read it?” Natalie asked with disbelief.

“Of course I read it,” she said. “I also saw his picture in the back. Not too shabby.” She winked at Natalie, causing her face to burn.
 

“
Gloria?!”
Natalie hissed, nodding her head in the direction of her grandma.

Natalie’s mom was shooting death stares at her sister, willing her to shut up.
 

“You all don’t have to talk around me like I’m not here,” her grandma said, surprising all of them. Her Georgia roots were coloring every word as they did when she got worked up. “Everybody wants to keep grandma in the dark, talk all secretive like grandma doesn’t know what’s going on. Well let me tell you, grandma was here long before all of you and has done far more than all of you. You think grandma didn’t get her grove on back in the day? You think grandpa was the first man grandma’s been with?
No
. The things grandma did would make all of y’all blush. Now stop this nonsense and clue grandma in.”

They all stared at her in shock.
 

“Jesus, grandma,” Natalie whispered.
 

“That doesn’t mean grandma is open to taking the good Lord’s name in vain,” she cautioned her granddaughter.
 

“Sorry, grandma,” Natalie said, staring down at the table in attrition.
 

One second later she, her mother, and her aunt burst out laughing.

“Well are you all going to let me know what’s what?” she frowned at them.

Natalie looked up in horror. Then decided that the best policy would be to control the flow of information. “I have a
friend
who wrote a book. One of the characters...well, he kind of based it
somewhat
on me.”
 

Natalie gave a look to her aunt, the most obvious candidate contradict her and enlighten her grandmother on the details.
 

“Mmm hmm,” her grandma said, looking at her speculatively. She was leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed in her lap, those piercing, all-seeing brown eyes waiting for more.
 

“That’s it,” Natalie said.

“His name is Jake Steele,” Gloria said to her mother. “Good looking white guy.”
 

“Jake Cavanaugh, actually,” Natalie corrected.
 

“
Cavanaugh,
” Gloria said dismissively. She turned to Natalie with a conspiratorial smile, “I heard he was in town doing a book tour and some movie thing.”

Natalie’s jaw hardened. Usually she loved her aunt’s liberal way of viewing life and ability to hilariously poke fun at people. That was when it was turned on certain colorful members of the congregation or other family members. Now all her attention was on her niece, a niece whose face was probably glowing from embarrassment.
 

“Have you had a chance to meet up with your
friend
?” she teased.
 

Half truths were better than full lies. “I went to a book signing,” she admitted. “We...had a nice...chat.” Natalie left it at that.
 

“
Chat
, hmm?”
 
Gloria taunted.
 

“Stop teasing the girl, Gloria,” her grandma admonished. Then she turned to Natalie and said, “Honey, you don’t have to tiptoe around your grandma’s feelings. You know I don’t have a problem with you dating a white man. And baby, you’re 29. No one here thinks this boy is just a
friend
. If your dress and hair are any indication, you’d better hold on tight to this one.”
 

“Good Lord, mama,” sighed Natalie’s mom, shaking her head in disbelief.

“What did I say about the Lord’s name?” her grandma said, quick as a whip.
 

“Sorry, mama,” her mother said.
 

Gloria just laughed. Natalie stared at her grandmother in awe and was rewarded with a wink.
 
Wonders never ceased.

THREE WEEKS LATER

NATALIE

Natalie walked into the baggage claim area and saw the driver holding a sign with her name on it. She had just flown first class into JFK from Los Angeles and was feeling pretty damn special. The driver was the icing on the cake.
 

She was excited to be in New York.
 
She had visited several times before and loved it so it was nice to be back. She was even more excited to see Jake again. It had been exactly three weeks since they’d spent that night in the hotel. Since then, they had spent almost every night talking on the phone like a couple of teenagers. She had almost forgotten what it was like to be that comfortable with a man.
 

She sat back in the back seat of the car watching as they approached the city. The car was taking her to the Ritz Carlton, which Natalie thought was pretty swanky, especially for the girlfriend of a writer, even if he was a best selling author.

Natalie thought about that term. Girlfriend. They hadn’t really discussed labels yet. She thought maybe they were a couple, even if they did live on opposite coasts. It had been three measly weeks, most of it on the phone.

In the end, she decided not to dwell on it. This week would be telling. It was one thing to have a night of hot and heavy passion—or rather two such nights when you added them all up. It was another to spend the entire week together. She wondered how the two of them would work out, spending that much time in each other’s company.
 

Natalie’s mouth fell open in awe as she walked into the hotel room. She thanked the man who rolled her one suitcase in and gave him what she hoped was a decent tip. The lushness of her surroundings told her she was definitely out of her element. He smiled pleasantly at any rate and closed the door behind him.

She threw her purse on the armchair and walked over to the window which offered a spectacular view of Central Park. She sat there a while watching the trees and people go by, smiling to herself.
 
Then she turned around to get a better view of the room. There was a deliciously fluffy-looking, king-sized bed that she quickly walked over to and threw herself down on.
 

This
was what you called a vacation.

Her eyes caught a bouquet on the side table. There were beautiful fresh flowers displayed in the room but this one stood out. She slid herself down the bed and went over to inspect them.
 
It was a vase of 24 colorful tulips, her favorite. She saw there was a card tucked inside and she smiled as she pulled it out and opened the envelope.
 

For my Muse...and hopefully much more
.

Her smile grew. She walked back over to her purse and pulled out her cell phone.
 
She moved the purse and curled up in the chair to look out the window at the park as she rang Jake’s number.
 

“Hey there,” said the voice that still made her melt. “Did you make it okay then?”

“Yeah,” she said, “The room is so nice. And some secret admirer left me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers.”
 

“Hmm,” he said. “Looks like I have some competition.
 
I guess I better impress you while I have you this week.”
 

Natalie laughed.

“So how do you like the room?” he asked.

“It seems awfully...
extravagant
,” she said. “I’m not even one of their writers.”
 

“Well, it took some pressuring on my part,” he confessed. “They
do
like to keep me happy.”
 

“Obviously. Right now I’m looking out a the most spectacular view of Central Park,” she said with awe.

“Wow,” he said, “I’m feeling kind of jealous. I just have a view of the building across the street.”

“Well you’re welcome to come and visit,” she said suggestively, “Maybe we can pick up where we left off last time.”

“Well now you’re going to ruin all my plans for the evening,” he said.

“What plans are those?” she asked, a tinge of giddiness coloring her words.
 

“Well, this time I planned far enough ahead to get us a table at
Nobu
,” he said. “After that, feel free to ravish me at will.”

Natalie laughed again. This was going to be a fun week.
 

JAKE

Jake looked across the table at Natalie as her eyes explored the exotic decor and chic diners surrounding them. She felt his eyes on her and she turned back to him with a smile. She had a gleam of excitement in her eyes.
 

Jake enjoyed watching her excitement. It was the beginning of what promised to be a fun week, ending with the awards dinner that he had originally been reluctant to go to. Fancy, dress-up dinners weren’t his usual thing.
 
With Natalie by his side it was worth it, especially since it was the lure that had brought her out to New York.

At this point it would have been stupid of him to reveal that
he
was in fact the one footing the bill on this pricey little trip. Hopefully his assurances about pressuring Wright had convinced her. He probably should have told her the truth back in L.A., or at least during one of their many phone conversations.
 
Now it was best to let her go on thinking it wasn’t him. It certainly hadn’t been cheap: the first class ticket; the car service; the hotel. Of course it was a minor blip on Jake’s bank account statement.
 
Looking at the woman across from him, it had been worth it.
 

She had her suspicions of course. What company pays for the
girlfriend
of someone to fly out and stay at a luxury hotel?
 

He thought about that word. It had slipped so easily into his mind, that it was only on reflection he realized the gravity of that term. Girlfriend. Was she his girlfriend? It sounded slightly...high school-ish. He smiled to
 
himself; Natalie and Jake, going steady.
 

But seriously, what were they?
 
It had only been three weeks since their—very spectacular—reunion. It was a bit early to start making these sorts of determinations. After all, most of this—
relationship
—had been over the phone. On the other hand, it gave Jake a spasm of pure jealously to think that she might be open to seeing other people while they figured it out. He certainly couldn’t imagine having eyes for anyone else.
 

Perhaps this week would be the test. How would Jake and Natalie work out after spending every day together for the next seven days?
 
He decided he would just let it happen naturally, no pressure.