Chapter 11

“Hi, beautiful,” he said. He put his phone in his pocket and hugged me tight against him. I closed my eyes and inhaled. His earthy scent traveled through my lungs and down to my crotch, filling me with heat.

“Hey.”

“Are you okay to walk to the stadium?”

“That’s the beauty of central living.”

“Okay, let’s go. I thought we’d eat at the arena.”

“In the stadium? That food is so overpriced!” I guess he never went to any major sporting event, everyone knew what stupid money the places there charge.

“They are? That’s fine, we’ll stop somewhere on the way.”

Our bellies full, we filed through the stadium doors with the rest of the twenty-thousand spectators. Jay held the tickets out for the woman, and we were through the doors.

“Beers?” I asked.

Jay looked at me with his dazzling smile, “Absolutely.”

When we each had a beer in hand, we entered the stadium. I followed Jay. He seemed to know where he was going. The place was already buzzing and even though I knew nothing about basketball, the atmosphere was electric and I couldn’t help but be excited.

“Here we are. That’s your seat.” Jay pointed to a seat and I furrowed my brow.

“Are you serious?”

He let out a burst of breath. “Of course.”

“How the hell did you score courtside seats?”

His eyes flared. “Buddy of mine.”

“That’s a nice friend to have.”

“He took pity on me. I told him I needed to woo a pretty girl and he offered them.”

I blushed. “You didn’t need fancy tickets to impress me.”

“I’m not trying to impress you.” I didn’t know what he meant by that comment. Sometimes he was too difficult to read. Almost like he didn’t care what anyone thought of him.

“Oh,” I said.

He leaned over, his lips to my ear and said, “If I were trying to impress you, I’d have taken you to an old movie house.”

His words sent a tingle down my spine. No. I shouldn’t approach this as a relationship. This was sex. At least at some point I assumed we were going to do it.

The lights dimmed and spotlights swooped around the stands, which set off the crowd. As the teams emerged and began warming up, the cheering became so loud I scrunched my face in an effort to plug my ears. From my seat at the edge of the court I watched mesmerized as the fast-moving giants did their stuff.

At halftime, a man and woman I recognized from a local TV station appeared center court and began talking to the crowd. A half dozen guys ran out around the court. One stopped in front of me, startling me. He shot some T-shirts out a cannon, then moved down a few seats to shoot off some more.

Jay turned to me, “I want to apologize in advance.”

“What for?”

“Because I have to be somewhere at five tomorrow morning, so I have to take off right after the game finishes.”

“Oh.” So much for sex. This was just a date. A date, as in a relationship. I didn’t like that.

“I’m really sorry, I have a busy week,” he said.

“Doing what? I thought you said you don’t have a job.”

“I don’t. I just have some stuff to do.”

“I don’t get you, Jay. You say you don’t work, you hang around downtown, sit courtside at basketball games, and have an endless wardrobe of what appear to be very expensive suits.” I tried to sound lighthearted. However, the truth was I didn’t really care, since this wasn’t a relationship.

Jay pursed his lips but didn’t respond to my comment. I smiled at him, leaned into him and kissed his cheek. My hand had landed on his bicep, and I let it linger. I thought, but couldn’t be sure through the suit jacket, that he flexed it a little.

* * *

By the time we’d reached my building, we were laughing and chatting and I didn’t want him to go.

“Come up for a coffee?” I asked. My left eyebrow raised in hope, hope blending into begging.

Jay pulled me close and squeezed me, “Not tonight.”

“Tomorrow?”

“I’m coming for dinner, remember.” He kissed the top of my head but didn’t relax his squeeze on me.

I looked up and tried not to pout. “But that’s almost two whole weeks away.”

He released his grip on me. “I know. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

I stretched up to find his lips, and kissed him lightly, hoping I could entice him. His lips responded, and pushed my lips apart, allowing his tongue to explore my mouth. His hand explored down my side, sliding over the curve of my hip until it made its way around to my ass. My entire body stood on alert, yearning for more.

All too soon, he broke away from me, leaving me standing, wanting more at my door.

“I’ll see you at dinner,” he said, he then turned and walked away.