“I’m working on it.” I grab the back of Tabi’s neck and pull her down for a quick kiss. “All right, man. I gotta run. I’ll call you.” I end the call before he can say anything else.
“Who was that?”
“My brother. He wants to bring his chick up here and do couples shit.”
“Oh.”
“Look … I don’t do things like that. I don’t date.”
“I understand. I don’t want that either. What’s he like?”
“Like me, only younger and nicer.”
I stand and lower her to her feet, giving her a playful slap on the ass. “Clean up the table and meet me in the bedroom in half an hour.”
“Okay …”
***
I wasn’t expecting Tabi to affect me, but she is and it’s freaking me out. For a few minutes, I actually forgot who she was, and what I did. It all felt … normal. Like I’m just a normal guy and she’s just a normal chick, and we met randomly and hit it off. I wish my life could be that normal, and not the dysfunctional mess it’s always been. I’ve never gotten attached, but damn, this girl is somehow getting under my skin. In a different time, under different circumstances, she would have been perfect for me. I could have been perfect for her.
She comes into the room forty minutes after I left her to clean up dinner. I’m actually glad she’s late, because now I can do what I’ve been itching to do. Punish her.
“You’re late.” I’m sitting on the bed with black shorts on and nothing else, the pearls and ribbon waiting next to me.
“I know. I played with the cat for a few minutes and took a quick shower. I had rice in my hair.”
I cross the room and go to the closet, take out a thin foam pillow, and throw it on the floor a few feet away from the bed.
“Undress and kneel on this.”
She opens her mouth to protest and I put my finger to her lips. “No debates,” I say. “Undress slowly so I can enjoy it.”
She’s trembling as she takes her clothes off in front of me, awkward and unsure of herself, showing zero confidence in how beautiful she is and the feelings she’s stirring in me. Naked, she walks to the small pillow and drops to her knees.
I bend down next to her and put my hands on her back. “Lower your head ’til your forehead touches the floor.”
She pops her head back up and looks over her shoulder at me. “Seriously?”