Talk a Good Game (36 page)

“
Well
it
’s
happening and you deserve it.”
That
’s
what I loved about Nyree. You
would have thought it was her restaurant the way she was beaming.
“Look, I gotta get to work, but I’ll call you tonight.” I nodded
and blew her an air kiss as she walked out the
building.

After she was gone, I walked around, shaking hands
with patrons congratulating me on their way toward the door. I felt
like I was on a cloud.

“
Look at little Jae doing her
thang!”

Grinning, I turned around as
Frankie swept me into his arms and spun me around. “Put me down!” I
was laughing and screaming at the same time.

Chuckling, he finally lowered me
to my feet. “I
’
m so proud of you.”

I had tears in my eyes as I took
in how good he looked in Dockers and a yellow button down shirt. I
know he couldn’t wait to get back home to his wife-beater and
jeans. I was just thankful he was willing to upgrade his wardrobe a
few hours for little old me.

“
Thanks for coming, Frankie.” His
support truly meant a lot. Especially since it was a shame my man
couldn’t share the same feelings for me. But just as I had
instructed he hadn’t even bothered to come although part of me had
hoped Kaleb would have showed up anyway.

“
Jae, how
‘
bout we go out tonight?
We
’ve
gotta lot to celebrate.”

My brow arched. “What are we
celebrating?”

Frankie was standing in front of
me showing off a pretty white smile. “You winning the award… and me
getting my carwash.”

“
You got the carwash? I’m so happy
for you!” I squealed.

His chest was stuck out with
pride. “Yeah, it looks like I’ll be able to finally get off the
road.” Since his return home, Frankie had been, doing deliveries
for a local distributor that had him driving all across the
state.

“
We definitely need to celebrate.
Where you wanna go tonight?”

He shrugged. “
I don’t
know. How about some pool?”

I grinned. “I haven’t played pool
in a long time.”

“
No time like the present,” he
said with a wink.

* * *

When the lights came on, I wanted to scream. There
was no way it was closing time even though I noticed several
couples moving toward the door. Damn, and I was having a bomb ass
time.

I tightened my arms around Frankie
and continued to slow dance to Jodeci
’s
“Forever my
Lady.” Jodeci did things to my body that I couldn’t begin to
imagine. In fact for the last two hours, I had been bumping and
grinding, and creaming in my thong. Hell, if I had known it was
going to be this kinda night, I would have worn a panty
liner.

Even though we were the last two on the dance floor,
I figured as long as the DJ was playing, I was dancing. I tightened
my hold on Frankie, squeezing him across the back and savored the
way it felt being held in his arms.

We had started the evening out shooting pool at this
hole in the wall he found in Jefferson City near Lincoln
University. They had pool tables in the far corner. A bar and a
wooden dance floor. We spent hours shooting one round of pool after
another while sipping Coronas. I think it was somewhere between
bottles four and five that I realized the lights had dimmed and
folks were gyrating all over the place. I looked over at Frankie
and the moment we made eyes contact, he was putting our sticks away
and leading me out onto the dance floor. And we had been there ever
since.

“
I think
it
’s
time for us to go,” he whispered then pressed his
lips against my forehead. Goodness them bad boys were warm, wet and
once again had me wondering what they would feel like buried
between my thighs.

“
Okay,” I said and I was sure he
heard the disappointment before he drew back and stared down at
me.

“
You ready to go?” Frankie
asked.

There was no way I was putting my
feelings out there before I knew where this conversation was
headed. “
I
guess,
” I said, nibbling my bottom
lip.

“
Quit lying.
You
’
re not ready to leave any more
than I am.” Frankie took my hand and led me off the dance floor.
Neither of us spoke until we were outside and walking over to his
Sequoia.

“
What else is there to do at this
time of night?” I asked. Well, I could think of a couple of things,
but I wasn’t about to go there.

“
How about we go
back to my place for waffles?” he suggested. “At least
I
’
m close by.” He had rented a two
bedroom apartment in Jefferson City saying he was glad to be back,
but didn’t want to be in Columbia. Otherwise his mom, Ms. Lorraine
would be dropping by every day. It was a good thing he didn’t live
in the area. I didn’t have to worry about us running into
Kaleb.

I
laughed.
“
Waffles? You cook?
”

“
Anyone can cook
using Aunt Jemima
’s
Pancake Mix. All you do is add
water.”

I stuck a well-manicured finger
into the air. “Don’t say
anybody
? I met many who can’t even
boil an egg.”

“
Boiling an egg is hard
work.”

I looked over at him and grinned.
“Okay, maybe I should have said water.”

“
Good answer.
” He
playfully bumped my shoulder. “So how about it? I even have a floor
we can dance on the rest of the night if you
want.”

I laughed and it truly felt good.
Frankie always did have a sense of humor. “Sounds good.”

He pulled away and headed to his apartment. I was
impressed. It was located right near downtown but far enough away
from the college crowd. I admired his simple decorations and unique
pieces of art.

Frankie was reaching inside the
refrigerator when he glanced over at me and said, “I got that while
I was in Germany.”

“
Very nice.” I put the unique
paper weight back down on the shelf and padded into the kitchen
with bare feet. As soon as we had arrived at his apartment, those
puppies came off my feet. “I would love to live overseas,” I said
with a sigh, “but with the restaurant I don’t know if that dream is
ever gonna happen.”

Shaking his head, he put a carton
of eggs on the counter. “Quit doubting yourself. It will happen.
Just like your dream of opening a restaurant. What you need to do
is start taking time off for yourself. Your family is capable
enough of running that place while you
’
re gone.
”

I lowered onto a stool in front of
a small island. “Yeah, you
’
re right. I do need to
start taking more time out for myself.”

“
Yo…,
I
’
m just flattered you took time to
hang out with little ole me.” While grinning, he held his hands up
in surrender.

I gave an exaggerated eye roll.
“Whatever. I should be the one who feels special to be hanging out
with such a gorgeous man.”

His eyes narrowed as he smirked.
“So you think I
’
m gorgeous?”

Damn, I put my foot in my mouth on
that one. “You
’
re a
’
ight,” I
murmured and yawned. Frankie took another look at me and we
laughed.

While we waited for the waffle
iron to heat, I scrambled six eggs and found a pack of breakfast
sausages in the refrigerator. Frankie wasn’t lying, he did have
some skills. I watched as he mixed up the batter and added melted
butter, then water and mixed it up.

“
Now close your eyes,” he
said.

“
Why is that?” I asked although I
lowered my lids.

“
Because I don’t want you to see
my secret recipe.”

I laughed but kept my eyes closed as he reached into
the cabinet for his secret ingredient, and added it to the batter
before I could open my eyes again.

I moved back to the barstool, and
took a seat. “I remember Mommy telling me you were engaged to this
model. Why didn’t you marry her?”

Frankie poured batter onto the
griddle before speaking. “Excuse my French but Heaven was a ho.
I
’
m serious. Anything that had
three legs she was humping it.” I giggled and he paused to laugh.
“I
’
m serious. It wasn’t even about
money. It was about how many men she could screw in a year.” He
grinned. “But then I met Lynn while I was stationed in California
and she threw me for a loop.”

“
You really loved her?”

“
Yeah, my wife was my rock.” He
nodded and looked lost in the memories before his smile returned
again. Damn, I would give anything for a man to look like that
while talking about me.

“
So
what
’s
up this week with you and
dude?”

I shrugged because to be honest
even I didn’t know for sure. “
I don’t
know. I needed a
break from him. I
’
m just not sure
we
’
re ready to get
married.”

“
That
’s
too bad.” Yeah right. The smirk
on his lips said he wasn’t the least bit
disappointed.

I blew out an exaggerated sigh and
explained how Kaleb had flipped out. “I
’
m starting
to think that everybody isn’t meant to be married and maybe
I
’
m one of those
people.”

The frown on
Frankie
’s
face said he didn’t agree.
“Maybe the problem is you keep picking the wrong men for the wrong
reasons.”

No he wasn’t trying to analyze
me
. “Really? And what
’s
your problem? You’ve been home for months. Why hasn’t
somebody snatched you up?”

He shrugged. “
I don’t
want just anybody.”

His words warmed my heart. “I
guess I
’
m not the only one
who
’s
picky.” We shared a smile.

While I scrambled eggs, I watched him remove one
golden waffle after another. That man sure knew his way around his
little kitchen.

Frankie had a folding table and chairs set up in the
breakfast nook. I carried in the orange juice and the plate of
bacon while he grabbed the eggs and waffles. I found a bottle of
syrup in the pantry. Smiling we both took a seat, said grace, and
dug in.

“
Mmmm, now you have to admit this
taste better than Waffle House,” he managed between
chews.

“
Ewww
! Anything is better than that
dirty place.”

He shook his head.
“C
’
mon that used to be the joint
after the club.”

“
Yeah when I was young and didn’t
know any better.”

“
And now
you
’
re a beast in the kitchen. I
ain’t mad at ya.”

I smirked. “
Thanks.
”

My cellphone vibrated but I didn’t
even bother to answer it. I had the ringer off but chances were it
was Kaleb calling to apologize like he always does after he flips
out on me. My voice mail would be full by morning.

“
You need to get that?” Frankie
asked curiously.

I shook my head. “Nope. That part
of my life is on hold.”

After we cleaned up the kitchen we moved into the
living room and he showed me his extensive music collection.

“
Oh shit! You got Kurtis Blow?” I
jumped up and pretended I was holding a mike. “Clap your hands,
everybody… if you got what it takes… ‘cause I’m Kurtis Blow and I
want you to know… that these are the breaks,” Frankie jumped up and
joined in. We got maybe halfway through the song before we forgot
the rest of the lyrics and started fumbling over our words like a
couple of stuttering idiots.

I took another seat on the floor and started
thumbing through his collection again and found Stacy Lattisaw. I
had him put her album in and we started slow dancing again, and
before I knew it he was staring down at me.

“
If you don’t want me to kiss you
then you better say something,” he whispered.

“
Something,” I teased and next
thing I know I was tilting my chin and his lips were all over mine.
His kiss was skillful, warm and wet and I was enjoying every second
of it. His arms tightened around me and I didn’t object when his
tongue slipped inside. Frankie’s strokes were steady and confident
like we had all the time in the world. I guess we did because I
didn’t need to be anywhere until lunch tomorrow.