by Yvette Hines
The blunt, jagged style of his nails drew her attention, they showed evidence that he nibbled on them when he was under stress or in deep concentration. It didn’t take away from his appeal. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. The small quirk made her think he was more human and less working machine than she initially expected.
She observed him placing an illegible signature at the bottom of the page and pondered whether he had ever thought about being a doctor. Shaking her head, she returned to her seat.
Jason handed her the clipboard. “So, what does all that information say about me?”
Yasmine took a moment to analyze the completed sheets. “I’m glad to see you no longer smoke. How long has it been since you quit?”
“Three years—I kept running out of time to incorporate a smoke break into my schedule.”
Yasmine returned her gaze to the papers. “You don’t eat enough. Your work out schedule looks good. What activities do you do for an hour daily?”
“I swim and once a week I run.”
He settled his fame more comfortably in the chair, Yasmine noticed he was beginning to appear less uptight. Catching a glimpse of the movement of his mouth while he spoke, the slight dimple in his chin caught her attention. She had to admit it was very sexy. She wondered if he ever smiled.
Yasmine jotted down the information. “Your exercise schedule is great, but I have to tell you that if you don’t start eating more often your body is going to start living off your muscle and you don’t want that to happen.”
“Okay so three squares a day. Got it.”
“I’m talking about a meal plan that is right for you.” Yasmine reached over to the handouts on her desk and grabbed a nutritional food guide.
“Eating once a day is my meal plan. Usually don’t have time to eat before dinner; because of work, and if I do it’s a quick power lunch. Where there’s a lot more business being discussed than food being eaten.”
Yasmine shook her head. “Mr. Richardson, I know you have a busy schedule and I can’t begin to understand the complications of your day. But, that’s no excuse for not taking care of yourself.”
Yasmine placed the guide open on the desk and a blank meal plan sheet next to it so they both could have a view. “Okay, Mr. Richardson, by using this guide I’m going to help you plan meals that you could accomplish without any major interruptions to your day.”
“Would it make you feel better if I told you I would promise to drive through a fast food restaurant on my way to work and grab breakfast?”
“Negative.” Yasmine couldn’t help smiling at Jason’s attempt at avoiding designing a meal plan. “Now, these are things you can buy when you’re grocery shopping that you can make quickly or grab on your way out the door. They are better for you than a breakfast sandwich at a quick bite place.”
“I don’t buy groceries.”
“What do you mean—you don’t go shopping for food? What do you use your refrigerator for, a filing cabinet?”
“Very funny.” The corners of his mouth lifted slightly almost smiling. “No, I have a lady who comes in once a week to do light cleaning and pick up things from the store for me.”
“Do I want to ask what you have her buy?” Yasmine asked, hesitant.
“Micro meals.” His green eyes held a sparkle as they lit with humor.
Oh, hell. There’s the full-blown smile.
Yasmine had to make herself look away from his mouth. Her heart leaped, then sped up. She crossed her legs underneath the table to quench the full tingling at the apex of her thighs. His smile appeared both sweet and sexy at the same time. He should always smile, Yasmine thought.
Jason’s voice brought her mind back around to the conversation at hand.
“Yogurt, grain breakfast bars, fruit smoothies...” Jason scanned the guide.
“Mr. Richardson, there are other things you can have.” Yasmine turned the page as she pointed out some things. “If lunch is something you don’t get to very often there are a lot of protein drinks you can down in between your meetings.”
“You don’t mean the slim drink things, do you?”
She laughed at his appalled expression. “No. Look here, sir, and I’ll show you all the different brands and types.”
Yasmine flipped a few pages and showed him the list of energy drinks.
“Now about your dinner.” Yasmine bit one side of her bottom lip as she concentrated. “Your micro meals are going to have to go.”
“How did I know you were going to say that?”
Yasmine shrugged her shoulders as she got up and went to her filing cabinet and stooped down to pull out some paper from the bottom drawer. When she stood and turned back toward the desk, she caught a glimpse of a strange expression go swiftly across his face, but wasn’t sure what had caused it.
Disregarding it, Yasmine walked back to her desk and handed him a stack of papers stapled together. “These are copies of twenty-minute balanced recipes that you can make in the evenings for dinner. On the last page of the guide, it will also have tips on what things would be best for you to order when out at a restaurant.”
Jason took a brief moment to look at the last page of the booklet. “Are we done now?”
“Pretty much we are. I usually like to keep track of my clients for the first two or three months to see how they’re doing or to modify the plan if the need arises. But, since I know this is not something you particularly care to do, then I just hope it helped or gave you something to think about.”
Yasmine watched him begin to gather up the booklets and papers preparing to leave. “Before you go, Mr. Richardson, we never touched on your stress level.”
He stood. “I work, therefore I have stress.”
She rose along with him. “I did notice that on the sheet you left out extracurricular activities. I hope it was an oversight, because I can’t stress how—”
“Important it is having some way to relieve the stress…is to my overall health.” Jason finished her sentence.
“Well, I guess you’ve heard that a few times.”
“You have no idea. If I believed in signs, I’d think God was trying to tell me something.” The smile too briefly touched his lips again. “Good thing I don’t. I’ll give your suggestions a thought and get back with you.”
The desire to reach out and trace his lips with her fingers assailed her. “I won’t hold my breath.” Yasmine gave him a smile of her own.
“You may on this one.” Jason winked, then walked out the door.
Yasmine barely had time to catch the blush daring to tint her face at the small flirtatious gesture, before Leigh entered the room.
“Let me guess, soft honey-gold.” Leigh bubbled with excitement.
“That was him in the flesh.” Yasmine retook her seat.
“Girl, I can’t believe you let that sexy Eddie Cibrian lookin’ hunk just walk out the door. I’m not even down with vanilla and I’d have given him my number.” Shaking her head, Leigh questioned, “Tell me you got a date or something?”
“Leigh, first of all he is a client, and second of all I’m sure he’s not lacking social company.”
“But you are—”
“Not looking.” Yasmine gathered up Jason’s papers and put them in his folder.
“You don’t have to be starving to grab a quick bite—you just need to know you haven’t eaten in a while.” Leigh leaned forward on her desk. “Old Mother Hubbard, you don’t have to go to your cupboard to know that it’s bare.” Standing back up to her full height, Leigh told her, “It probably has cobwebs.”
“Whatever...” Yasmine wadded up a sheet of paper and threw it at her friend, missing her completely before it fell to the floor.
“I can see your aim isn’t any better than it was in freshmen year when you played basketball.”
“Okay—like a white girl can jump.”
“You have to be inspired to jump—like that man who just walked out the door. He could make even your honey-pot dri
p—”
“Suficiente! Can we move on to another topic? Like lunch. Let’s go, your treat.”
“Fine, then you’ll listen while I tell you about how handsome stared at your assets while you were bending over by the file cabinet.”
“I don’t want to know.” Yasmine pulled her purse out from the desk drawer and lead the way out of her office.
“Then what’s up with the sashaying you got going on?” Leigh called to her exiting form as she left the building.
~ML~
Jason rolled over in his four-poster king sized bed and looked at his alarm clock for the fourth time that night.
11:49 it read.
He had gone to bed almost two hours ago and had not gotten one wink of sleep. The meatloaf microwave dinner was sitting in his stomach like lead. After his mother’s great cooking he had found it difficult to digest the processed food. He should have ordered carryout from PF Chang’s.
Jason threw the covers off his body and padded down the hall of his Town Center apartment in his T-shirt, boxers, and socks toward his extra bedroom that doubled as a home office; even though he hardly ever used it. There were a lot of things on his mind tonight. Work was just one of them.
Ms. Sousa was another of them. He normally wasn’t a man that obsessed about women, but since he had left the registered dietitian’s office he had not been able to get her out of his mind. If he was perfectly honest with himself, he had not gotten her out of his thoughts since the briefing she had given him in the hospital.
All day he had been telling himself that the only reason his brain kept giving her attention was because everywhere he turned someone was telling him that he needed to add a little extracurricular activity in his life to burn off steam.
Hell, even she had told me as much. Jason thought to himself as he turned his computer on. He sat down and connected to the Internet to check his instant messenger service to see who was on-line.
He smiled as he looked at his friends list; which consisted of Teddy, Lisa, and his college roommate Isaac, who had opened up his own club in Chicago. They were both busy and only got time to speak on occasion. A smiley face was bouncing next to polarbear, signifying that his brother was on-line. His own login name was jayatwork, since that was where he spent most of his time.
Good, talking to his brother would give him something to do to pass the time away until he could sleep.
Jason clicked on his brother’s screen name and began typing.
jayatwork: Teddy, what’s up?
Jason waited just seconds for his brother to respond. It was a large reason why they corresponded this way instead of regular e-mail. It was hard to carry on a conversation if you had to wait five minutes for the person’s response to be sent back.
polarbear: Jay, what are you doing up at this hour? I’m the night owl remember?
jayatwork: Haha, couldn’t sleep.
polarbear: I should ask you what’s up.
jayatwork: Lot on my mind.
polarbear: Beating around the bush?
jayatwork: Guess so.
polarbear: So.
jayatwork: Okay, a woman.
polarbear: That’s new. Girl from the office?
jayatwork: No.
polarbear: Not going to play that game again.
jayatwork: Look, I don’t even know why I’m bringing her up.
polarbear: Yes, you do.
Jason ran his hands across his face. Did he really want to go there? He had only met the woman twice. It isn’t that complicated, he said to himself.
jayatwork: I think I’m just tired.
polarbear: Jason...
jayatwork: Girl I met and thought she was cute.
polarbear: All this over cute?
A quick image of Yasmine squatting down at the file cabinet flashed into his mind. He could still remember how her backside looked pressed tight to the fabric of her pants as she bent over. He had noted there was an absence of a panty line; which made his mind conjure up the image of her wearing a thong.
jayatwork: Having a drought, mind overreacting.
polarbear: Where did you meet her?
jayatwork: She gave me a briefing about health after heart attack.
polarbear: Ask her out.
jayatwork: I’m her client...thanks to my doctor.
polarbear: What is she...?
jayatwork: Dietitian.
polarbear: What happened with the skirt at your office?
jayatwork: Lost interest.
polarbear: Didn’t she do the tongue thing and swallow a sausage whole?
jayatwork: Oooooh, yea, LOL.
polarbear: ROLF! Well, if can’t get diet girl off your mind, go for it.
jayatwork: Don’t think I have time.
polarbear: Make it. I did.
Jason considered the possibility, but disregarded it. He just didn’t have the time, while he was trying to make vice-president, to date. Mr. Coleman’s advice came back to his mind and he pushed it away. “I’ll worry about that later if I have to.”
jayatwork: I’ll think about it.
polarbear: Anything else?
jayatwork: Nope.
Jason typed as he stifled a yawn.
jayatwork: I’m gone.
polarbear: Nice talking to you, little brother, call if you need to.
jayatwork: I will.
polarbear: Ask her.
jayatwork: G-night.
Jason logged off before his brother could respond and padded off to bed. He knew he would never see Yasmine again, he wasn’t planning on going back to her office for another session and he wasn’t going to end up back in the hospital if he could help it. So, it was irrelevant.
“Out of sight, out of mind.” Jason quoted to his pillow as he lay on his stomach and went to sleep.
Five
“Terrance Jordan, please,” Jason spoke to the receptionist who answered the phone at Scorpio’s.
“May I say who’s calling?”
“Jason Richardson, from Coleman and Weary, he’s expecting my call.”
Jason listened to the soft jazz music playing in his ear while he waited to be connected to Mr. Jordan.
A male voice came on the line. “Jordan here.”
“Mr. Jordan, when can we meet? I have a proposal for you to look over.”
“That’s great, Jason. I was wondering if you had forgotten about me while you were out recuperating. Where were you, in Tahiti lounging around the beach with some olive-skinned beauties?”
Jason laughed. “I should be so lucky. What’s your schedule like on Monday, say ten o’clock?”
“Give me one moment to pull up my schedule and I’ll let you know.”
Jason listened to Terrance Jordan, president of Scorpio, hum as he searched his calendar for available slots.
“I can’t do ten, but eight to maybe nine-thirty is free.”
Jason looked at his schedule up on his computer. “I’ll see you at eight.”
“Eight it is.” The other man confirmed, then hung up.
~ML~
“Yassi, you need to come in here.” Leigh spoke into the phone when Yasmine picked up the line.
“Can’t you tell me over the phone?” Yasmine asked her friend, leaning over slightly in her chair and making eye contact with her across the waiting area.
“If I’d wanted to do that I wouldn’t have told you to come here now, would I?”
“Your butt was always too smart for your pants.”
“Are you coming?” Leigh questioned, cutting her off.
Yasmine’s answer was to hang up the phone. She rose from her desk and walked straight across the floor into Leigh’s office.
“You rang, your highness.” Yasmine performed a mock curtsy.
“See, it’s attitude like that which will get you nothing.” Leigh wagged her finger.
“So, what am I possibly going to miss out on?”
“Something that you, more than anyone else I know, needs.”
�
��You got me a millionaire to buy the orphanage for me?” Yasmine pasted on a fake smile to her friend.
“No, sweetie. But what I do have is this.” Leigh handed her a white envelope.
Yasmine took a moment to review the contents. “Wow, did you win a contest?” Yasmine asked, as she read the confirmation slip for weekend stay at one of the fancy oceanfront hotels, for two rooms and half-day treatment at the posh spa in the hotel.
“You remember Ernest, the guy I told you I met last week at the bookstore?”
“The one that was a professor at the college who wanted to sit by the fireplace and read Shakespeare to you?” Yasmine questioned.
Euphoric recall was evident on Leigh’s face for a brief moment. “I never knew a brotha that could make a sonnet come alive like he did, hmm.” Exhaling a breath Leigh continued, “But, not him, Ernest is the psychologist, who is divorced with two kids older than us.”
“Oh, Mister Mid-life Crisis.” Yasmine smiled, remembering the story her friend had told her. Leigh had the confidence and ability to get picked up anywhere, by all types of men.
“Exactly. Well, he called me a few days ago and asked if I wanted to take a weekend trip with him.”
“Leigh, I know you said no, having only known the guy barely over a week.” Yasmine cautioned her friend.
“Yassi, I may be a little freakish at times, but I’m not crazy. There are too many maniacs in the world. Well anyway, I told him it would have to be two separate rooms and I wouldn’t feel comfortable unless it was somewhere local. A girl never knows when she may need to make an escape.”
Yasmine looked back at the paper in her hand. “Well, I guess he didn’t have a problem with your request.” Yasmine handed the information back to her friend. “Have fun, hope the two of you enjoy it.”
“Yasmine, you’re coming with me.”
“Leigh, I don’t think Ernest will be happy about me joining your romantic get away—and even if he didn’t mind, I’m not that kind of girl.” Yasmine was insulted her friend would have suggested she tag along as the hopeless third wheel.
