Breathless 4: Loving Montie

by Shani Greene-Dowdell

  “Come on, let’s sit down a minute. You had quite a few mimosas at the restaurant and now you’re drinking more wine.” He picked up the almost empty bottle of red wine on his table to show me how much I’d drank, alone.

  “Remind me not to drink like a sailor at a restaurant and then follow a man home and commence to drinking at his home,” I said a little slower than usual.

  “Let me go get you a glass of water,” he offered.

  “I appreciate it, but no thanks. I think I need to go on to the house…my house, that is.”

  “Let me drive you. It’s not a good idea that you drive tonight,” he said.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “Yes, you will because I’ll drive you.”

  “No, Montie,” I said steadying myself so that I could make it home without an escort. “I don’t want to have to go through the trouble of having to come back to get my car. I’m fine, for real.”

  “Well, I’m going to follow you to make sure you make it safely then,” he said following me to the counter where I picked up my purse. “At least let me do that, so I don’t feel like a complete puss.”

  “I’m telling you none of that is necessary. I’ll be fine.” I reached into my purse and took out my car keys. “I can handle driving and everything will be just dandy.” I recognized my slur for the first time that night. Dang, he’s going to take my keys.

  “Are you sure you’re fine, Lissa?” Montie asked with a sly grin.

  I raised my hand over my heart as I walked to the door. “Girl Scout’s honor.”

  “If you’re fine, then why are you trying to stick your key into my front doorknob?”

  I looked down at my right hand that was hovering over his doorknob with my key. “Oh damn. I might need you to drive me,” I regretfully admitted.

  “Yeah, so like I said, I’ll take you home.” Montie grabbed his key from the hook and we both broke out into laughter. Elation of that type was new to me, foreign even. It felt good to be in the presence of someone that didn’t take themselves too serious like Seth and Jameson. I appreciated a man even more who enjoyed my sense of humor without trying to take advantage of me by getting me into his bed at the end of the night.

  The ride home seemed to happen in slow motion. I thought about how nice of a time I had working with Montie and getting to know the man behind the success story. He was fun and lively. He had hopes and dreams that had been deferred, just like I had. And, yes, he was all man. Damn, he’s definitely that, I thought, as I stole glimpses of his hard chest and imagined it pressed into my back when he guided me out of the restaurant, or how his strong hand grabbed mine when he wanted to take a detour from the normal walking path.

  He pulled into my usual parking space in front of my townhouse. I reached for my purse and everything spilled out. I had forgotten to zip it back up when I got my keys out earlier.

  “Aw man,” I said as I spent a few seconds fiddling around trying to put all my contents back inside.

  “Did you get everything?” he asked as he reached over in attempt to help.

  “I think so,” I said and giggled at the feel of his close contact.

  He reached across my lap to look for himself. His hand rode up my thigh as he felt for loose objects.

  “I’m really not that drunk, Montie. I just dropped some things, but I picked them up already,” I said of his intrusion into my space. I looked at him as he stared at me, our lips only inches apart. If he wanted to kiss me, pretending to look for my lost items was the hard way around it.

  Montie slowly raised his hands up in the air and moved back into his seat. That wasn’t what I wanted him to do. What I wanted him to do was to press his lips into mine, push my head against the headrest of his car and drive me fucking insane. Obviously, he had the good sense not to ruin our working relationship in that way. I reluctantly followed his lead with the plan to get into my house, take a cool shower, and forget that I ever wanted to be Montie’s thot for a night. I reached for the door handle.

  “I’ll get that,” he jumped out and came around to open my door.

  When I stepped out of the car, I looked into his dark gaze that was glazed over with the reflection of the moon. “Um, thank you for giving me a ride home,” I muttered, the sweet smell of wine emanating from my breath and permeating the air amid us.

  “I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Now, let me walk you to the door.”

  I unenthusiastically put one foot in front of the other and sauntered to my porch. Montie shadowed close on my heels. I put my key in the door and spun around to say, “Good night.”

  His wet and succulent lips inched close to mine. I couldn’t tell if gravity was shifting on me again, or if he was about to kiss me. Entrapped in the sensation of gratified anticipation, I stood frozen under Montie’s intense stare. So much for my year of Yes to No.

  Were the liquor effects driving me insane or was overdue loving that would without a doubt end up in heartbreak in my cards? I pushed the ramifications of both out of my mind. My head tilted and my mouth opened to accept the passionate intimacy I imagined awaited me in Montie’s lips. Once Montie was close enough to breathe for me, he stopped.

  “Thanks again for everything, Lissa,” he said with a sudden flash of innocence in his eyes. Like he didn’t know he just took my soul out of my body and held it in his eyes. “I really hate our time together has come to an end. I will call you soon. I’ll need to use your firm again. Oh, and I’ll have your car to you first thing in the morning,” he added.

  I closed my mouth, righted my head and shook off the rejection that lingered in my gut. I had been foolish to think we were more than two colleagues getting to know one another. Montie was about his business. I needed to climb out of my feelings and be the same.

  “I look forward to working with you again, Montie.” I fumbled around with my key and unlocked my door. “I had fun tonight.”

  “Good night,” we said together.

  I stepped over my threshold and slammed the door in his handsome face, leaving him standing there looking at my door.

  After I got my composure, I peeked through the blinds and watched him stand at the edge of the porch looking at my door like he wanted to knock it down and devour me. For at least one full minute, he stood there in contemplation before he turned and jogged down the steps.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Lissa

  The Past Is Just That

  I’d never been so happy to see my friend’s face light up on my cell. “Shayla! Honey, I'm so stoked that you called. I've been needing to talk to you.”

  “Oh…kay…” she drawled out. “What did I miss?”

  “A lot, since you’ve been antisocial the past week,” I reminded her.

  “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to ignore my best friend. I’ve just been over here pregnant with my second child in a constant baby-induced sleeping coma,” Shayla huffed and complained.

  “In that case, I forgive you. God baby number two is going to be trouble. She's letting you have it right now, Shayla,” I said, giggling at the thought of how beautiful Glory would be once she arrived.

  “Yes, she is going to be a little bugger. I have literally slept the past four months straight. Anyway, why are you so stoked that I called? What’s going on with you?” Shayla asked.

  “I went on a date with one of my colleagues. It started out as a dinner to celebrate a successful project, and then…" I paused and Shayla chimed in.

  "You screwed him."

  "Shayla, is that the best you can think of me?" I asked in a faux incredulous tone before an onslaught of giggles erupted from my throat. "No, I didn’t wrestle him down and take his eggplant from him, if that’s what you’re thinking. That’s not to say the man didn’t have my panties on fire.”

  “Fast tail.”

  “At least I’m trying to behave, because let me tell you…” Images of Montie standing in front of me in a Brooks Brother suit flashed in my head. “It’s hard not to just reach o
ut and touch him.”

  “Is this the same guy told me about last week?”

  “Yes Lord. Honey, do you remember how crazy I was about Seth from the moment he took to the podium?"

  "How can I forget?"

  "Then Jameson had me on fire shortly after him. Both men almost ruined me when they left me alone. What I’m trying to do is not get too caught up with Montie, but he makes it so hard. How much chill can a sista have in this situation?”

  “Just remember Seth had a wife and Jameson ran off with another woman who was Rhonda, of all people,” Shayla said. “That’s enough chill to last for a few years at least.”

  “Don’t even mention that wicked witch of the south’s name,” I said, feeling anger rise in me at just the thought of her.

  “I’m just saying that she could be reclothed in the next woman, waiting to devastate your world with secrets,” Shayla said.

  “You’ve been extra blunt during this pregnancy,” I pointed out.

  “After everything I went through with Rhonda, I can't help but be a bit cynical. I mean, she ran off with my first husband and tried to trap my second with a baby. I loved her and Titus once, and they double crossed me.”

  “It’s funny how both of our men, Titus and Jameson, had a thing for her crazy tail. I would have thought more of Jameson though. As a grown ass man, he should have gotten over his crush a long time ago, especially after he found out what kind of woman she was. Puppy love never let him go after all these years.”

  “He was one of the good ones that was corrupted by that crazy love,” Shayla said. “Rhonda will show him better than anyone that it was his loss leaving you,” she added, smacking her lips as if she were eating.

  “I guess you have a point there. What are you eating?”

  “Walnut ice cream and, before you get started, the walnuts are good for me.”

  "I'm sure it's all good for the baby. She needs dessert too," I agreed as I heard the sound of a spoon scraping an empty bowl.

  “I just can’t believe how she got off so easy in court," Shayla said. "She’s over there in the psych hospital fooling all the nurses. Everyone who really knows her knows that she's as deceitful as they come,” she ruminated over her friend turned arch enemy.

  “Yeah, she’ll be out soon on good behavior,” I agreed. "And when she is we'll be pistol ready."

  “Lord, I pray for the world once she is released,” she said and let out a helpless sigh.

  “How is Antonio doing?” I asked to change the subject.

  “He’s been overcompensating for all the trouble Rhonda caused. I keep telling him he hasn’t done anything wrong and that he doesn’t owe me any special attention, but on the low I love it. I don’t have to lift a finger around here.”

  “Pregnant women always get the good treatment. I wish I had a man in my life that I felt was good enough to have his baby. My clock is ticking and I’m ready to have me some babies.”

  “What about the man you just went on a date with?”

  “Oh him? Lord, we would have the most gorgeous babies,” I said, imagining cute little chocolate children, a girl and twin boys, running around a playground with Montie and I in their trails. Laying Montie down for a night of breeding that neither of us would soon forget was the next thing that flashed through my mind. “I would so let him put all his babies in me," I admitted.

  “Dang, he’s that good, huh?” she asked.

  “What I know of him is amazing. I would like to find out more about him, though.”

  “What are you waiting on? You normally would have at least tested the waters by now. I don't know whether to be stunned by your cautiousness or proud.”

  “If I’m being real about how I feel about him physically, I want nothing more than to hop in the sack with him. It gets harder and harder to fight my attraction as each day passes. I’m not ready to cross that line, though. We work together and I depend on our partnership for my firm to make money.”

  “Yeah, and we both know sex clouds judgements. I’d hate to see you let it get in the way of you meeting your goals,” she said.

  “Right, look at what happened with Seth. I went to his conference to learn the steps to take my company to multi-millionaire status and ended up learning a new sexual position in his bed instead. Sleeping with him was the biggest setback of my adult life. The sex wasn’t worth it, as much as I thought it was at the time,” I recalled.

  “There definitely are more important things.”

  “Yeah, you would say that with your belly full of your husband’s lovechild,” I teased. "When are you not having sex?"

  “Hey, I can’t help it that I’m always pregnant.”

  “Antonio won’t give that booty a break.”

  “And I don’t want one either,” Shayla’s sassiness cracked me up. She snapped her fingers and laughed with me.

  “And yet you call me fast tail. I think we need to reevaluate our labels.”

  “Whatever, I have to get out of this house. When are we going to hang out again?” she whined.

  “If you're awake during lunchtime tomorrow, let’s do lunch.”

  “Sounds good to me. I’ll call around eleven.”

  “Okay, honey. See you then.”

  “Bye sweets.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Montie

  Hungry for More

  “Thanks for another great workout, Mario. Now, I gotta go find some grub because a brother is starving,” I said as I tossed my backpack over my shoulder.

  “Yo man, I hear they have good food at that new joint, The Tavern. Want to go check it out?” Mario asked.

  “Only if you can leave now. My breakfast was too light to wait on you slow footing around. If you can roll in the next two minutes, let’s do this. If not, I’ll have to leave you behind.”

  “Aight man. Calm down. I know you get cranky when you’re hungry. I’m coming right out now. Just let me grab my wallet.” Mario reached under the counter to unlock a door to retrieve his wallet. “You driving?” he asked.

  “Nah, you might as well grab your keys, bro. You’re driving today,” I said.

  “That’s cool. I didn’t want to be cramped up in your little car anyway,” he said of my BMW i8. “We’re riding in a man’s vehicle,” he said as we walked toward his truck parked in his parking space by the entrance.

  “You know you love my car,” I retorted, hopping into his Ford F-150 that glided through Atlanta traffic like it owned the roadways. Within minutes, we pulled up to The Tavern—a nice, swanky restaurant that I noted was jam packed once we entered. “Man, I don’t feel like waiting hours to be seated and to get my food. If they say it’s going to take too long, I’m just going to a burger joint.”

  “I know you’re not up in here talking about burgers to your physical trainer,” Mario said.

  “I sure as hell am,” I said as a hostess approached us. “I can have a burger. My abs are tighter than yours. You’re the one that needs to watch what you eat.”

  “How many?” the waitress asked interrupting before Mario could reply with a quip.

  “First, how long is your wait?” I asked in a grouchy tone.

  “Oh, it’s only about fifteen minutes on food today. We’re busy but the kitchen is moving fast.”

  “Cool. It’s just the two of us then,” I said and blew out a sigh of relief. My stomach took that time to release a roaring grumble.

  “Greedy ass,” Mario said under his breath as we followed behind the hostess. Suddenly, he stopped walking and stood looking toward the back of the restaurant. “Dear God, you have sent me an angel. This must be my lucky day,” he said as he raised his hand to his mouth and blew into it. He took a whiff and smiled in satisfaction of his findings.

  “What do they have a buffet?” I asked and trained my eyes to the edge of the room that he was staring in.

  “Look to the right, second table. I’m about to go holler at the one in the blue dress and see what’s up,” Mario said and motioned his hea
d toward a table in the center of the restaurant where, no doubt, a magnificent woman sat with a very pregnant woman.

  “Aye,” I tried to catch Mario. He rubbed his hands together and dapped off like a reincarnated Superfly from the 70s. Mario was already at the table talking to Lissa by the time I caught up with what was happening.

  It was the Monday after our date. I thought about her all day Saturday and Sunday. I recounted the jokes she told and laughed at them over and over again as I spent the long weekend reflecting. Now, my homeboy was trying to push up on her. I must admit, it was a pleasure to see her smile nervously as she talked to Mario.

  I hung back just to see how she responded to him. She was cordial. However, she didn’t look interested in taking him up on anything he offered. That was evident by the way she shook her head with her eyes squinted like she was trying to figure him out. He placed his fingers on his chin and rubbed at the stubble growing there as he tried to get her to lighten up. He looked like he was sweating in the hot seat, and I relished every minute of his torture.

  “I couldn’t help but notice you two beautiful ladies sitting here peacefully until my friend decided to badger you. I came over save you from him. He’s really just a nice guy who knows two beautiful ladies when he sees them,” I said and Mario smirked at me.

  “Well, hi there Montie,” Lissa squeaked out then stood to hug me. “So good to see you, again,” she added before she returned to her seat. “We would love it if you would join us like your friend, Mario, already has.”

  “Nah, you two ladies enjoy yourself. Mario and I would hate to interrupt your lunch date,” I said, knowing Mario had already intruded.

  “No, you’re perfectly fine,” the pregnant woman said as she sent questioning gazes from me to Lissa. “If you’re a friend of Lissa’s, you’re a friend of mine.”

  “Montie this is Shayla—Shayla, Montie.” Lissa introduced us. “And she’s right, we don’t mind you joining us.”

  I shook Shayla’s hand and introduced Mario. “This is my friend Mario.”

  “Oh, we’ve met Mario,” Lissa giggled.