Rebound (12 page)

The buzzer from the washing machines
snapped me out of my thoughts, and I put the clothes in the dryers.
I didn’t even bother to read. I knew that I lacked the mental
focus. My insecurities started creeping into my mind. I worried
that he would think less of me because I slept with him so soon
after meeting. I used un-lady-like language when I told him he
could “fuck me”. I’d never been so irresponsible, so forward, so
sexually charged. I was mortified. He’s my doctor. He’s a member of
the gym. This could mess with my job. Could it? The only question
that kept creeping up was, “what the fuck did I do?”

I suppressed it. There was nothing
much I could do. It may have been a one-time thing. I’d only have
to deal with him at the gym, if our schedules ever coincide. He
also stated that he’s traveling on Thursday. After he heard my
schedule, he pretty much seemed to give up by offering to ‘check
his schedule’ and that he’ll ‘get back’ to me. I wanted to stop
thinking about the future. It didn’t matter if we could get
together because we come from different sides of the
track.

He’s a doctor. His apartment looked
like it was out of a design magazine. It must cost in the millions.
I can barely move around my own apartment. I live paycheck to
paycheck because I’m broke. I’m in immense debt. What the hell do I
have to offer him? And the one word that I kept coming back to was
“sex”. I had sex to offer. And that is what I wanted from him too.
But a deeper part of me, the lonely side of me, wanted more. It
wasn’t just about sex for me. It was about the possibility of
having a compatible partner.

On paper, he fit the profile of the
type of man that I wanted. The looks and height were a given, but
the bonus was his gentle, loving, passionate, and gallant nature.
However, I didn’t know enough about him. Rather, I didn’t
experience enough of us together with our clothes on to know if
we’re a match. We rushed this. How could we make a relationship
work when sex came first?

A huge headache started swelling and
clouding my thoughts. I shook my head and made a decision: I’m not
going to make more of this ‘relationship’ until I confirm if it is
a ‘relationship’. Only time would tell if we will spend time
together again. Finally, I resolved that I wouldn’t worry about
this and I will enjoy what I can get. I took deep inhalations and
exhaled to calm my nerves. I didn’t want to upset myself before
bed. I needed a good night’s sleep so I could work both jobs
tomorrow.

The dryers buzzed within minutes of
each other. I folded all my clothes and stacked them neatly in the
basket. I walked up to my studio. I quickly put my clothes away. I
made my bed with the crisp, white cotton sheets. I put the
bedspread on and fixed my pillows. It felt like a crime to climb
into the perfectly made bed. I went through my to-do list. I
decided that I could tackle the cleaning of the bathroom, kitchen,
and floors throughout the week. I’m tired and emotionally
spent.

I changed into my nightgown, turned on
the alarm clock and settled into my soft bed, tucking myself in to
read a bit before I fall asleep. When my stomach growled, I patted
it and decided that I was not in the mood to eat, nor had the
energy to prepare food, at almost nine in the evening. I turned off
the light and turned on my little book light. I read about one
paragraph before sleep overtook me. I slept deeply until my alarm
rang at 4:30 a.m.

***

I got dressed, packed my frozen meals for the day in my
cooler, and put my phone and wallet in my satchel, and grabbed my
keys to get to my 5:07 a.m. bus. I bounded down the stairs and
unlock the front door. After exiting to the street, I turned to
lock the door. It was still dark out, and when I turned around, I
heard, “Perla”.

I was startled by the voice in front
of me. I looked to see Dashing standing in front of the Range
Rover, the headlights illuminating him. “What? What are you doing
here?” I asked, looking to either side of me, as I walked toward
him. I was surprised and a bit creeped out by seeing him at this
hour.

“
I tried to call you last
night. You’re phone went straight to voice . . .”

“
Is there something
wrong?”

“
No. No. I left you a
message that I wanted to drive you to work today. I figured we
could spend a little time in between your jobs?” He walked over to
me, stood close, and put his hands in his pocket, like a shy
teenager talking to his crush. “Is that okay?” I smiled, put my
hands on his waist, and I pulled him to me. I tiptoed up to meet
his lips and gave him a peck.

A car honked behind the Range Rover.
“What is wrong with this place?”

“
I told you. Having a car
in this city is inconvenient. He walked me to the passenger side
and opened the door for me to enter. He jogged to the driver’s
side, gave a quick wave, and entered the car. He pulled forward
into the street.

I reached into my purse and searched
for my cellphone. It was off. “My phone was off. Sorry.” I turned
on the phone and waited till it powered up.

“
I called and texted you a
million times, so ignore the obscene number of calls and the
stalkerish messages that I left.” I laughed. I decided to listen to
them later while at work.

“
It’s really nice of you
to come pick me up. You really didn’t have to do that.

“
I wanted to see you
again. I was worried that you wouldn’t want to see me
again.”

“
Have I given you any
indication that I wouldn’t want to see you?”

“
You don’t seem like the
type to have casual sex. I thought you’d might be ashamed and
uncomfortable around me.” From the corner of my eye, I could see
that he looked over at me. I kept my eyes trained ahead. “I wanted
to show you that I won’t ignore you. I like you and I would like to
see more of you.”

“
I think you’ve seen it
all.” I said with a hint of humor in my voice. He laughed, “I’d
like that, but my life is super complicated. I don’t have much time
to devote to someone else.” I needed to be honest.

“
I understand. The same
goes for me. I’m busy with my practice and I travel a lot for work.
I usually have evenings available and you don’t, but I’d like to
try making our schedules work, even if we’re stealing seconds in
time.” His words were so sincere.

“
Well, I don’t have to be
at work until 6 a.m. I’ll be too early to open up. How about we go
to a café and get something to eat?”

“
I was hoping we could do
that. I know just the place.” He looked over to me with that
delightful smile. “So you’re not wearing a dress or a skirt. How
will I make you climax in my car again?” I blushed at the reminder.
He squeezed my thigh. I felt the heat rising from my
loins.

I blushed. “It’s a bit early for
that.”

“
It’s never too early to
be satisfied.”

“
Stop. You’re making me
blush.”

He took his hand off my thigh so he
could make a turn. Instantly, I missed the warmth of his touch.
Within seconds of feeling a void, he put his hand back on my thigh.
I put my hand over his and said, “I like it when you touch me.
You’re so warm.” He smiled. “But you can have your hand back when
you need it. I know how important it is to have your hands on ten
and two.” He laughed.

“
Were you able to get
things done around your apartment?”

“
Well, my apartment is
less than one hundred square feet, so there isn’t much space to do
anything. I did manage to wash clothes and be prepared for the
week.”

“
I’m sorry that I took you
out of your routine.” I squeezed his hand.

“
No need to apologize. I’m
not sorry. You filled the time quite nicely. So where are we
going?”

“
Any coffee shop, there’s
one open at this time within a two block radius.” He smiled. “We’ll
have time to talk without feeling rushed. I’ll take you to work.
And if you don’t mind, I’d like to pick you up after your shift and
take you to your next job. If you would’ve listened to my message,
you would’ve heard my request for you to pack an overnight bag, so
you could spend the night with me. My place is closer to your
jobs.”

My heart skipped a beat and my belly
flipped at his words. A mixture of flattered and mini freak out
swirled in my head. He was rushing things much faster than I could
process. However, limited my time is, he’s really trying to work
around my crazy schedule.

I forced myself to respond, “I’m going
to have an insane day. I work until two at the gym and then I have
the Inn at five until eleven. It’s chaotic and you shouldn’t have
to spend your free day running around after me.”

“
If you couldn’t tell from
my running on the treadmill, I love a good chase.” I looked at his
beautiful face and that brilliant smile that knocked me out the
first time returned.

“
I don’t know Matt. I’m
like a wounded gazelle. I’ve been easy to catch . . . but . .
.”

He laughed, but I was quite serious.
“I’m just asking for one more day. I can pick you up tonight, drive
you home and get your things, and we can go back to my
place.”

I took a long pause. I didn’t want to
say ‘no’, but I wasn’t sure.

“
Am I moving too fast?” He
sounded deflated.

“
No. No.” I paused to
collect my thoughts and think of the right thing to say. “I just
don’t know what the right thing to do is. You have me at a
disadvantage with the dating thing. I like you. I want to see where
this goes, but you might not stick around after you learn about my
crazy life.” I said trying to bring some levity. He brought my hand
to his lips then held it on his lap.

“
I can say with certainty
that I’m not going anywhere, anytime soon. I enjoy being with you.”
He turned the car into a parking lot in Duration’s building. After
taking the ticket, he sought out a parking spot. The clock on the
car dash said 5:25 a.m. Dashing parked in a spot. I took my things
and exited the car.

“
Why do you have a
cooler?” He asked when he came around to my side of the car. He
took the cooler from my hand and slung it over his shoulder, and
grabbed my hand, leading out of the parking stall. I’ve never
experienced such attentiveness.

“
I prepare my food for the
day. I’ll cook on Saturdays. I portion things out and I freeze in
advance. I save money. And it’s helping me lose weight.”

“
Well, don’t lose too much
weight. I love your curves. I intend to feed you each meal today.
You may be able to save it for tomorrow.” He grabbed me around the
waist and pulled me close. I blushed at his words.

“
Don’t you want to spend
the day resting instead of living on my ridiculous schedule?” We
arrived at the elevator, and he pressed the button.

“
No.” He gave me a kiss on
my head, and touched the nape of my neck. “You smell so good, and
it’s so soft.” He caressed my hair. The elevator bell rang its
arrival.

“
Thank you.” He had me
enter the elevator first. Once inside, he cornered me and started
kissing me with ferocity of a lion in heat. His tongue swirled
around my tongue, his lips sucked my lower lip, and his teeth
nipped at my lips and chin. I moaned under the pressure of his body
on mine, reminding me of the sex filled afternoon we spent
together.

I felt him picking me up.
Instinctively, My legs rose to wrap around his hips. I could feel
the hardness in his groin on my core. Why couldn’t I have the day
off? I would be so much happier taking the elevator to his
apartment and ripping his clothes off as soon as we stopped on his
floor.

The elevator door closed, but didn’t
move. “We’ll never get to have breakfast together if we continue to
make out in here.” I reasoned. He stopped kissing my neck. As I
lowered my legs, and he lowered me down. I gave him a strong peck
on the lips, then pressed the button to the ground
level.

He was quiet. I tugged at his jacket
and looked into his amazing brown eyes, giving him a kiss. We kept
our eyes open kissing with playful tongues dipping in and out of
each other’s mouth. The connection that I felt was staggering. It
was as if we understood what the other wanted and needed, and that
we could fulfill that need for the other.

I wanted to feel his skin on mine. He
wore a button down shirt, so I couldn’t put my hand under his shirt
to feel his warm skin on mine. I snaked two fingers in between the
buttons at his abdomen. I felt him shudder and his breath hiss
through his clenched mouth. He slammed my lower body to his. I felt
his hard cock on my stomach. He arranged my jacket. His thumb
rubbed across my lips as he stared into my eyes with his dark gaze,
and leaned in for another kiss.

When the elevator arrived at ground
level, I pulled away from his kiss. I took in a deep breath. “Thank
you for picking me up. You’re very thoughtful and caring. I don’t
remember ever being taken care of like that.” The elevator doors
opened. He took my hand and I followed him out of the elevator. We
walked out of the parking ramp and walked toward Duration where a
coffee shop could be found.

We walked to the cashier. I ordered a
medium soy latte with a banana nut muffin. He ordered a regular
coffee with a lemon poppy seed muffin. I reached to pay my
share.