6. Harlem #2
“Or is that your effort to be all in my space?”
I laughed and bobbed my head. “Pretty girl, I told you what type of time I was on.”
She laughed and replied, “You did,” just as her phone rang. She looked at the phone and held up a finger; she punched answer as she placed it on speakerphone. “Hello?”
“Baby, are you busy?”
“I’m folding towels. What’s going on?”
“I was just calling to tell you that I’m at the mall, and I saw the perfect little outfit for you. When I passed it up, it screamed, ‘This is for Baby!’ so I had to get it. When will you be free to swing by my place?”
“I can roll through in the morning on my way to the shop.”
“Okay, girl. I can’t wait to see you in it. That booty’s gon’ eat and—”
She clicked the call off, and she smiled at me with a red face. I was so confused. Who was the chick on the phone buying her clothes, calling her baby, and talking about her booty? Maybe she didn’t date guys. My heart sank at that possibility, or maybe she was bisexual.
“Was that your girlfriend or—”
Her face grew even redder as she sharply swung her head from side to side. “No! That’s my best friend.”
“Oh, the way she was talking about your booty, buying you clothes, and calling you baby, I just thought she might be something more than a friend.”
She giggled softly and exhaled. “No. We buy each other clothes quite often. We’ve been best friends since middle school, trying on each other’s clothing, and hyping each other up about our bodies.
As far as her calling me Baby, that’s my nickname.
All my family and friends call me that. No one calls me Tegan unless it’s in a professional setting. ”
I lifted my eyebrow at that news. “I’m not trying to call you what everyone else does, but can I call you Baby until I call you something more?”
She bit down on her bottom lip and lowered her gaze. I wanted to reach out and cup her cheek, but I was aware of her staff in the vicinity, and I didn’t want to do anything disrespectful.
“Maybe on a coffee date, . . . or if we see each other out and about, or whenever we might happen to be in the same space alone, but not around my staff.”
“Well, how about we test out that theory in three days? This Friday. I’d like to take you out to dinner.”
“Friday?”
The minute she seemed hesitant, I jumped in there to convince her.
“Trust me, you need a break before the shop opens. I don’t know if you’ve ever launched a store before, but once it opens, life will get extremely busy.”
“Let me think about it.”
“I promise that it will be worth your time. You have to eat, and I have to eat. It doesn’t matter the time, or if you need to change the day, we can do that too.”
She smirked at me and lowered her gaze as she folded the towel. She reached across to where I was folding one and straightened the edge a little. Her finger brushed mine, and I lifted my gaze to her when she snatched her hand back.
I stretched my hand out and grabbed hers and rubbed my thumb in the center of her palm. My eyes grew heavy as I watched her breathing hitch in her chest.
I wasn’t sure what it was, but there was something special about her, something magnetic that pulled me in and incited arousal just being in her presence. Walking away wasn’t an option.
There was a gentleness in everything that she did, and I loved how she seemed to always have an optimistic attitude.
I could tell from some of the designs that I had seen her create on her cupcakes and cakes she had baked over the last few days that she was a creative type, and she was obviously independent.
For all those good things that drew me in, I noticed there was also a certain alert and focused temperament about her. I wasn’t sure where that came from, what her past had been.
“Or we could just stick to early morning coffee dates,” she replied with a smirk, folding another towel.
“Or we could just find time to eat, even if that means we do it over folding towels.”
She met my gaze with a light smile. “You are something else, you know that?”
“I know that I want to be something else, something more than a member of the welcoming committee.”
“You two look cute over there,” one of the girls stated.
“Mimi, don’t you have some books you need to be studying?” she asked the young girl who giggled and walked away.
“She ain’t lying, though, boss lady,” one of the men proclaimed.
“Warren . . .” That was all she said, before the man backed away with his hands up.
“You’re right, . . . you’re right. I have a lot of things I can be doing to get ready for the launch party.”
When he walked away, and there was no one out front but her and me, I reached out and stroked her cheek with the back of my hand. Her eyelids fluttered before she allowed them to close briefly.
When she opened them again, it was after I removed my hand. “We’re going to have that dinner, and you’re going to be just fine.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“It’s all good. Don’t give your people a hard time about that either. They’re just observing what I’m waiting for you to figure out.”
“Which is what?”
“That we belong together. I’m coming hard after you, Baby, and I won’t let up.”
She blushed again. “I told you to only call me that—”
“When we were in the same space alone. We’re very much alone.”
Shaking her head, she declared, “I’m going to have to watch you, I see.”
“Damn right, you’ll have to watch me. Watch how I’m coming for you.”
“That was my part-time sales assistant, Mimi, and Warren, my pastry chef.”
“Pretty cool peeps,” I declared, folding the last towel.
“Pretty nosy peeps who need to mind their own business.”
“Yeah, a’ight. Just know that I’m coming for you, beautiful,” I reminded her as I stood.
“Where are you going?”
“I have another appointment coming in about twenty minutes. I need to prep for that.”
“You do that,” she declared as she stood and followed me to the door.
“I saw that.”
“What?”
“How you let it slip that you weren’t ready for me to leave yet, that you’re missing me already.”
She giggled and tossed her head back. Shaking it, she replied, “You’re so crazy.”
“Crazy about Baby with those buns,” I replied, winking at her.
The way her mouth dropped, and her face grew red, was so cute. “Yeah, I’m definitely about to apply the pressure to your li’l cute ass.”
She giggled and closed the door hurriedly behind me. I jogged across the street with my mind already on Friday night.
I loved it when a woman made it easy for you to come for her. Baby was definitely giving me all the green lights, and I had a feeling that it might be easy to love a woman like her.
I was ready for love with no drama.