by Audrey Storm
“Candy?” Yvette asked, her forehead a little creased in confusion.
“You know… the placebo pills could be some powdered sugar and water hardened up into small pills with a letter in the middle…” Corrine looked up and shrugged. “Fucking candy.”
Yvette frowned and took a long sip of her water.
“The place looks really amazing. The wedding party will be supper stoked,” she said and Corrine looked around. A smile played on her lips as she looked at the restaurant that had every round table draped in a black tablecloth with a white and red rose centerpiece. Everything was perfect. And the arch… that damn arch made her want to get married. It was a white rose arch with what seemed to be a ribbon of red roses going around it from one end of the arch to the other. And to think she had done all that by herself was even more reason to be proud.
“I hope they will be,” Corrine said as she reached for her phone. At some point during the day, she had decided to rely on her people; to rely on Mona and Simon and the team that they had handpicked. And so far, she had done a great job. The job at Giovanni’s was great. But now she had to find out how the situation at the second hotel was. She dialed Zeke Richards, one of the guys she had left in charge at the G-Spot and held the phone to her ear, her heart racing. “Hey, how’s everything at the G-Spot?” A smile played on her lips when she said that. Every single time she saw the name of the restaurant, it tickled her fancy. But probably that was what Dante had in mind when naming the restaurant in the first place. To get people talking. And it had worked too.
“Almost done. We were hoping you would come and approve the décor before we left,” he said.
“Sure. I’m almost finished here anyway,” Corrine said.
She was still talking to one of the staffers at the G-Spot when she spotted Dante walking in. His presence was almost impossible to ignore. His tall lean and muscular self looked perfect in the grey slim suit and burgundy shirt he had on. His full head of dark shiny hair was a little out of place, a sign that he’d had a hard day running his fingers through his hair a lot. But even then, he still looked perfect. He was a few meters away but she could almost see his green eyes piercing through her.
“Zeke, I have to go,” she said before hanging up quickly, without even giving him a chance to say anything.
Her heart was racing as Dante made his way towards her. With every step he took, she felt like her heart was going to explode out of her chest. The back and forth dance that they had been doing over the last few months was finally getting to her. She could no longer ignore it. He had been flirting with her. There was no doubt about it. And she had been entertaining it. Heck, she loved it. She loved the fact that a man of Dante’s caliber, a ten in every sense of the word would ever take an interest in her, a plus-sized black woman who could not hold a candle to some of the world’s most attractive plus-sized women… it was not like Kim Kardashian had made the world any simpler for plus-sized women in the world. You were either as slim as Giselle Bundchen or as curvy as a Kardashian. Anything out of those confines was… simply unacceptable.
She was still standing rooted to the spot like an idiot when Dante walked up to where she was.
“Corrine,” he said in a soft voice.
“Dante,” she said in an equally soft voice, hoping to the heavens that he could not pick up on the tension she was feeling.
“How come the boss is getting her hands dirty today? Something seems amiss,” Dante pointed out as he looked at the flower arrangement in her hand.
“Yeah… my people had…” her voice trailed off. She was not very sure what she was supposed to say. She wanted to say on leave or on break but at the back of her mind, she knew that there was no word good enough to explain what was so bad that she had to be the one on her hands and knees instead of her employees. “Emergencies,” she said after a long break.
“Emergencies?” Dante asked and she nodded.
“Emergencies,” she echoed.
She placed the flowers in her hand in a vase before she put it on the last table.
“I was actually just finishing up here. The rest of the stuff will be handled by…” her voice trailed off as she looked around. “I was about to head to the G-Spot.”
She was trying as much as she could not to look into his eyes but it was virtually impossible. Dante was looking at her, almost as if he was undressing her with her eyes.
“You are finally able to say the name of the club without giggling,” Dante noticed.
“Well, trust me. It wasn’t easy,” she said as she zipped up her bag.
“Wait, Corrine. I just got here,” Dante said as he looked at her.
“Yes, and right now you are my boss talking to me about not doing a job you paid me to do,” she said. “Definitely need to go.”
She grabbed her keys and looked into his eyes.
“You know I can cut you some slack right?” he asked. “I mean, all I need is a few minutes of your time.”
She looked at him and at that moment, she had a million questions. She wanted to know why he needed a few minutes alone with her, not that she minded or anything.
“A few minutes?” she asked and he nodded.
“Why don’t you step into my office?” he said, taking her hand to lead her out of the main restaurant area and into his office. What she was feeling at that moment could only be described as a million different bolts of electricity going through her body. Her heart was racing as they walked into his office. For a man with so many restaurants, she was always surprised at how big his offices usually were. You would think one office would be enough but not for Dante Giovanni.
“We really don’t have anything to talk about, Dante,” she started as he closed the door and leaned against it. Almost like he was sending a message that he was imprisoning her. She looked at him and felt a shiver going through her body. That was the kind of hold he had on her and she hated the idea that he knew it too.
“Yes we do,” he said in a low voice as he began slowly walking towards her. “I have been waiting for two weeks for you to honor my invite.”
“Your invite?” she asked and he nodded.
“I asked you out to dinner a while ago… a couple of weeks ago to be exact.”
She took a long deep breath. She really thought she had dodged that bullet. Yes, he had asked her out but she had so many reservations. Her biggest one being the fact that this was the same man she thought that she could never have. The macho guy in high school. The hot quarterback and she was the kid who never got picked at P.E. They were from two different worlds and there was no way no universe where the two would ever be together.
“Are you going to make me wait forever?” he asked as he slowly began walking towards her. She held her breath and bit her lower lip as she looked at him.
“Dante… we can’t…” she started in a soft voice. “It’s not a good idea.”
“What? When has sharing a meal ever been a bad idea?” he asked. By this time he was so close to her she could feel herself panicking.
“But dinner…” she shook her head. “It’s a little too intimate.”
“But I do want to have something intimate with you.”
“Intimate?” she asked in a whisper and he nodded.
“And I mean it in every sense of the word,” he said in a low tone.
He slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. She gasped as she heard her car keys fall to the floor with a rattling noise.
“Why are you making me work so hard for you?” he asked in a whisper. “I mean, not that I’m complaining. You are worth every single fight but baby…”
“Don’t call me that.”
He pulled her even closer, crushing her against his body. She was so close to him that she could smell his intoxicating scent. It was all around her. Engulfing her. Drowning her.
“I want to call you that.” He began lowering his head, bringing his lips closer and closer to her neck. “Every day for the rest of our lives.
”
“Dante…” she said, putting a hand against his shoulder. But he never gave her enough time to say or do anything else. His lips were on her neck and she suddenly felt herself melting into his arms. He was kissing her, nibbling on her neck… doing everything right that made her weak in the knees. She wanted to push him away but he seemed hell bent on having her right there and then. “Dante, please stop it,” she finally managed to say when she found her voice. She pulled herself from him and took a long deep breath.
“What? Why do you keep on pushing me away?” he asked and she stood there for a long minute trying to figure out what she was supposed to say. But after a long moment of awkward silence, all she could do was just bend down to pick her keys before she walked out leaving a stunned Dante behind, looking at her wondering if he had possibly crossed the line.
*****
By the time Corrine got back to her apartment, it was a little after nine and she was exhausted. And she knew that she had nothing left over in the refrigerator. She would have loved to whip something up but she was too tired. She couldn’t even think of making a plate of mac and cheese. It was that thought that made her dial Mr. Wok’s, her favorite Chinese restaurant.
“Yeah, hi. This is Corrine Marshall. I was wondering if I can have Kung Pao chicken and a side of fried rice delivered to me… yes. 1347 Willoughby Street apartment 402… yes, that’s my address…” she kicked off her shoes. “Forty minutes sounds perfect. Thank you.”
She hang up and sighed loudly as she made her way down the hallway to her bedroom. All she wanted to do was to jump in the shower and wash off the day’s exhaustion and maybe try to wash away the memory of what had happened earlier on at Giovanni’s. As she stood in the bathroom, under the running water, she could not help but wonder what Dante’s angle was. The first time she had seen Dante, she had immediately had that feeling that she would never be the kind of woman he would look at twice. His kind of woman. And to make matters worse, he had a girl with him the very first time she had seen him. And it was not the kind of girl you can claim to be just friends with. She had been hanging on to his every word, taking every excuse to touch him… as far as Corrine was concerned, she was just a needy girl who was taking every moment to show the world that he was hers and hers alone.
She did not know how long it had been before she finally stepped out of the shower. She had just wrapped her hair in a towel and put on a bathrobe when she heard her doorbell ringing loudly, piercing through the peaceful quiet of the apartment.
“That was fast,” she thought as she began making her way to the front door. She was sure she had not been in the bathroom for all of forty minutes already. She grabbed her purse and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill before she made it to the door. “You deserve a tip…” she started as she opened the door but her voice trailed off when she saw Dante standing on the doorstep.
“Yeah, I think so too,” he said in a soft voice, smiling as he looked at her.
“Dante…hey….I thought you were my Kung Pao chicken,” she said as she looked into his eyes, confused.
“I needed to see you,” he said. “And seeing as you ran out of Giovanni’s so fast…” he shrugged and sighed loudly. “I needed to see you,” he said again.
She shook her head.
“About what? We have nothing to say to each other.”
“Actually, we have a whole lot to say to each other,” Dante said just as the delivery guy walked up to the door.
“Kung Pao chicken, side of rice,” the young delivery guy said and she forced a smile. She was just about to hand him the twenty in her hand when Dante gave the delivery guy a hundred dollar bill.
“Whoa, bro…I don’t think I can break this… I don’t have enough…” the delivery guy started before Dante shook his head.
“It’s all right. You can keep it,” he said and the delivery guy looked at him, both surprised and confused.
“Look dude, I only need eighteen bucks,” he started before Dante shrugged.
“It’s all right. Really,” he said.
“Whoa… thanks man,” the delivery guy said leaving Dante standing at the doorstep holding Corrine’s takeout bag. He turned his attention to her and handed her the bag.
“You know, I can pay for my own food,” she said grabbing the bag.
“I know you can.” He put his hands in his pocket and sighed. “So, are you going to invite me in or are you going to just let me stand out here all night? Because I am not leaving until we talk.”
Corrine sighed and stepped aside so that he could walk in. She unwrapped her hair and her curls fell perfectly into place.
“I’m sorry… I only got the one order,” she said in a soft voice as she walked towards her kitchen.
“It’s all right. I’m not hungry… I just want to see you. To talk to you.” He watched her as she got half a bottle of red wine from the counter.
“Drink?” she asked and he nodded.
She got two glasses and poured the wine before she pushed one glass towards him. He looked at the glass and then at the bottle and a smile played on his lips.
“This is the bottle I got you after the launch of the fourth restaurant, huh?” he asked as he looked at her and she nodded.
“Yeah… and actually, you gave me a case. Heck, crate,” she said smiling. She raised her glass and took one long sip before she got a pair of chopsticks.
“Well, you were worth every single bottle in there,” he said.
She opened her box of chicken and took a bite. Until then, she had not realized just how hungry she really was. She took a few more bites and then sipped on her wine before she looked up at him.
“Guess someone really was hungry,” he said and she nodded.
“As it turns out I haven’t had a chance to eat anything all day. So… I guess I’m allowed.”
“Well, now that you are full maybe we should talk.”
“Dante, you and I have nothing to talk about,” she said but he shook his head.
“You and I both know that is not true, Corrine.”
She rolled her eyes. He was beginning to get to her. She was feeling like she had a fire inside her. A fire that he had started weeks ago when he started asking her out. And this was it. This was the straw that was finally going to break her back. She dropped her chopsticks and sighed loudly.
“I am beginning to think that letting you in was a terrible idea,” she started.
“Wait… what?” he asked and she dabbed the sides of her mouth,
“Because you are trying to bed me and I am not interested in being your flavor of the month, Dante. I don’t think I ever will.” He looked at her and shook his head.
“I am not trying to make you into a flavor of the month, Corrine.”
“Really?” She hated the fact that she had a condescending tone but she could not help it. “Because I have seen you with every kind of skinny woman in the world. Models, actresses, celebrities and suddenly you want your average fat black girl around the corner?”
She was so furious that she didn’t even realize he had walked round the counter to where she was. He stood in front of her and almost immediately, her throat went dry. It was like she had not been the one who had been talking just seconds earlier. He held her waist and she felt a chill going through her body. She knew what was about to happen. She was about to relive what had happened earlier that day.
“I have all these women because I am always looking for something. Looking for what you have in them and I can never really find it,” Dante said in a soft voice.
“What are you talking about?” she asked.
“It is you I want, Corrine. You are the one I have always wanted.” He slowly brought a hand up and held the back of her neck. “I don’t want you as a flavor of the month. I want you. Period.”
She shook her head.
“Dante…” she started as she looked at him.
“What is your reason for pushing me away, Corrine? Because I know that there is no one in
your life right now,” he said. “You have no reason to refuse me.”
She tried pushing him off but she just didn’t have the will to.
“I want you and I know you want me too.” He pushed her wet hair back and began lowering his head. “Just let me have you.”
“I am not property, Dante,” she whispered and he smiled.
“You have been mine for a really long time, you just didn’t realize it. Until now.” He kissed her lips softly and she closed her eyes when she felt his lips on hers. He was kissing her warmly, taking her lower lip in between his own warm ones. He pulled her even closer and crushed her against his body before he pulled away from her. “I have been dying to do that ever since I first saw you,” he said in a low voice.
“Really?” She was whispering. He nodded and his eyes fell to the V of her robe that showed off her generous cleavage.
“And I really don’t want to stop by just kissing you,” he whispered as he gently tugged on the chords of her bathrobe. “But I don’t want to make it look like all I want is…” his voice trailed off when she pushed herself into him and kissed him softly.
“I don’t want you to stop,” she said when she pulled away.
A smile played on his lips and he lifted her up to place her on the counter. She gasped when he untied her bathrobe chords and pulled the two ends apart exposing her damp nudity to him.
“You are even more beautiful than I imagined,” he whispered before he kissed her once more. She exhaled into his mouth when he filled her hand with her breast. She was moaning softly and he was claiming her lips, her cheek and her neck. His hand was slowly going down her back to the soft bump that was the start of the curve of her ass. She had not been handled like this in a very long time… actually, no one had ever been this way with her. So slow, so soft and so gentle. She could feel that he really did have serious feelings for her. It might have been ridiculous to think like that but the truth was that she was indeed feeling what he was. She slowly brought a hand up and held the side of his cheek as he gently pushed his tongue into her mouth. She sighed softly and allowed his tongue to find hers. What she did not know at that moment was that the sound she made at the back of her throat, that soft purr she made at the back of her throat roused every neuron in his body, made every hair stand at edge. She could not see him or feel him but at that moment, he was so hard and all he could think of doing was sinking himself inside her. Taking her in every single way. It took everything he had not to bring her down from the counter bend her over and just fuck her. He began tracing his kisses down her neck to her chest. He raised his head briefly to look at her but she had her eyes closed and her lips slightly parted. He went on lower and lower, brushing his lips against his right nipple before he put his hands on either knee. He gently parted her legs and fondled her breast gently before he began tracing his lips down one thigh to her knee and then up the other one.
