I return the smile, then hit her wit’: “Yeah, e’erything’s perfect. I was thinkin’ how runnin’ into you at Spago musta been fate. It’s definitely a sign.”
“Oh, yeah?” she asks, lookin’ me dead in the eyes while cuppin’ her hands underneath her chin. “A sign for what?”
“It’s top secret, baby,” I tell her, grinnin’. “Just know that right at this very moment, I’m enjoyin’ e’ery minute wit’ you.”
“Awwww…how sweet. I’m enjoying the time with you as well. I have to say, you’re definitely full of surprises. I had no idea you could be romantic.”
“I told you, there’s a lot ’bout me you don’t know. I can be anything I wanna be, or whatever it is you need me to be. My only purpose today was to put a smile on ya pretty face, baby.”
“And that you did,” she says, smilin’.
I place my forearms on the table and lean in. “You don’t really wanna know,” I tell her just as the waiter returns to the table wit’ our food. He places our plates in front of us, asks if he can get us anything else, then leaves when we tell ’em we’re good. She presses the issue, puttin’ a forkful of shrimp into her mouth. I smile, watchin’ her lick her lips and moan. “Damn, it’s good like that?”
“Mmm-hmm, it’s delicious. I love seafood. Now tell me what you were thinking when you were looking at me like that.”
“I was thinkin’ ’bout makin’ love to you. Wonderin’ how it would feel to be deep inside of you.”
She grins.
I smile. “So is that a yes-you-can grin, or a no-nigga-you-done-banged-ya-muthafuckin’-head grin?”
She laughs. “Neither. It’s an if-I-were-a-ho-I’d-probably-let-you-find-out-right-here-right-now grin. But since I’m not, I guess you’re gonna have to keep wondering…”
“Damn. I guess that’s too bad for me.”
She sticks her fork into another shrimp, then stops before puttin’ it into her mouth. “Looks that way—
I smile. “Oh, aiight. I like the sound of that ‘for now.’ That’s wassup.”
She bites into her shrimp, then moans again, smilin’.
I shake my head. “Yo, you fuckin’ wit’ me. You know that, right?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she says, laughin’. “I’m just enjoying my meal.”
“Yeah, aiight. Keep it up and you’re gonna end up gettin’ a whole lot more to enjoy.”
“Hmmm. Is that a threat or a promise?”
I grin, winkin’ at her. “You take it however you want, pretty baby.”
“I just might do that.”
We spend the rest of the time laughin’ and talkin’ and flirtin’ to the point where we both lose track of time. When I finally glance down at my watch, it’s almost five o’clock.
I pay the bill, and I’m impressed when she says she’s got the tip. I smile. She gets mad props for that, word up. I can’t stand for a ho to get a paid meal, then sit with her arms wrapped tight ’round her muthafuckin’ pocketbook like she ain’t tryna come up offa no paper. Lucky for me, I don’t haveta deal wit’ that bullshit since you already know a muhfucka like me hardly ever comes outta his pocket to buy a bitch shit. Yo, hol’ up…So what if the money I spent today ain’t mine. It never is.
When Kanika says she has to use the bathroom, I tell her I’ma run out and get the car, so she doesn’t haveta take that walk back. She thinks it’s me bein’ sweet that I offer, and I don’t let her know any different. But, on some real shit, it’s me needin’ to check my phone messages wit’out her bein’ all up on my ear, if I need to make any calls.