5
O lani was seated at the table, waiting on her third date.
The two last week had been a waste of time for lack of a better term.
The first one hadn’t gotten past introductions before telling her he hadn’t known she was a woman of color and only preferred to date his “own kind.” She hadn’t been upset about that and respected his choice.
However, she had wondered how many women of non-color he’d heard of with the name Olani.
Her second date had been a little too into her.
So much so that their appetizer hadn’t even arrived yet when he invited her to skip dinner and join him in his car for a little fun.
Olani stared at him for a moment because the man didn’t even have the decency to invite her back to a place with a bed to fool around.
Not that it had been what she was looking for, but damn, he could have had some respect.
It proved to her that reading about a person from the information they’d given could end up the same way as traditional dating.
She’d known that from the start, and while she hadn’t been expecting all the dates she went on during this process to be spectacular, especially since it would be them getting to know each other on this first one.
She had hoped they were looking for the same thing she was due to the type of survey they’d filled out.
“Good evening.”
Olani looked up to find a man, who she assumed was her third date, had been led to the table.
She couldn’t help but take him in. He was taller than she was.
Olani would place him over six feet. His dark brown hair was pushed back out of his face, and pool blue eyes stared down at her.
His face housed a full beard and goatee, which were nicely manicured.
He wore a pair of dark gray slacks and a black button-down shirt.
She could make out slight markings on the left side of his neck and assumed it was a tattoo.
This man was fine, and Olani realized she’d been staring.
“Good evening. Elion, correct?” she questioned as she stood to shake his hand.
“I am. You must be, Olani,” he responded, bringing the hand he held to his lips and placing a chaste kiss on it.
She found herself nodding, impressed that he’d pronounced her name correctly.
Most people tended to butcher it the first time, pronouncing the Lani as Laynie instead of Lonnie.
When she went to reclaim her seat, he stood behind it, pushing it in for her before going around the table and taking his own.
He was a gentleman, it seemed. However, her last date had started that way as well.
So, she would reserve her brownie points until later in the evening.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Elion stated once they were both seated. “I apologize for being late. Traffic into the city was terrible for a Wednesday evening.”
That caught Olani’s attention. She’d sent her advertisement to a sixty-mile radius, so she wondered how far he’d driven.
“Oh, you don’t stay in town?” she questioned.
“I stay just outside of it. I like living close enough to the city that I can get to it quickly, but I also enjoy the seclusion.”
“I can understand that,” Olani responded. “You’re a sculptor. I assume the seclusion helps with the creative process.”
He nodded. “It does. The quiet allows me to get lost in what I’m doing, though it doesn’t seem to be helping at the moment.”
Olani was about to ask him why that was when their server approached the table asking for their drink order. They’d come when she was first seated, but she’d asked them to return when the other part of her party arrived.
She turned her attention to him, allowing him to order, only for him to defer the choice back to her. Deciding to surprise them both since one of his answers had been that he enjoyed trying something new, she asked their server to bring them a bottle of their most popular wine.
When they were alone again, she turned back to Elion to find he was already looking at her.
“You said that being secluded wasn’t helping you work. Are you having an artistic block?” Olani questioned.
“I suppose you could say that,” Elion responded. “I’m attempting to start on pieces for my next exhibit, but I’m not fairing too well.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
Elion chuckled. “Don’t be. I tend to run into blocks now and then. Especially when trying to start a new project so close to my last one.”
“How long ago was your last project? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“The last exhibit was about a month ago.”
Olani thought for a moment. “I’m not an artist, and I won’t pretend to know anything about timelines when it comes to work as one, but that sounds quick. Maybe you need a break. A few weeks to focus on something different, and then you’ll be able to get back into the swing of things.”
Olani watched as Elion stared at her for a moment. He didn’t say anything, and she thought she might have overstepped somehow. Here she was, meeting him for the first time and trying to tell him what to do when he probably had his process of doing things.
“I apologize. It wasn’t my place to get into your business.”
“No, it’s fine. It’s just that Clara, my niece, always tells me that. It sounds different coming from someone else.” Elion shook his head slightly. “But enough about me. You run a temp agency. Tell me about it.”
Olani weighed what she wanted to say for a moment. Usually, when she’d discuss her work with someone she was out on a date with, it always went the same way. So, she figured she’d give the cliff notes version.
“There isn’t much to say about it. I started it right out of college, and my main focus is to find everyone that registers with us permanent employment while sending them on temporary jobs if I have to until that happens.”
At that moment, their server returned with the bottle of wine and poured them each a glass, asking if they were ready to order. They were not since neither had looked at the menu, so they asked for a few more minutes.
When the server left them, she picked up her menu and looked over it. She’d been here a couple of times, but she wanted to try something new. It only took her a few moments to choose what she wanted, and when she had, she placed the menu back on the table.
“So, you started your business out of college,” Elion continued where the conversation left off. “What made you want to go into job placement?”
Olani paused for a moment. She hadn’t expected him to ask her that. If she were honest, she hadn’t expected him to ask her any follow-up questions. What she did usually wasn’t that interesting to most people.
“I saw several of the people I went to college with graduate and still have difficulty finding a job. I didn’t want that to be me, and I wanted to help people in their situations. So, it just seemed like a good idea.”
“Was it challenging to get started?” Elion inquired. “I know that you had to gather businesses. Did that take you a while?”
Olani shook her head. “No, I started gathering businesses my last year in college and contracting with them. I was upfront in letting them know the timeframe I was looking at to get started. I also started collecting job candidates even though they hadn’t graduated yet.”
“That was smart, and it makes a lot of sense. Colleges are the best places to find job candidates.”
Their server returned, and they placed their orders. When they were left alone again, Olani drank the red wine their server had selected. She looked at the bottle, mentally noting the name to buy some for herself. She’d never been a fan of dry red wine, and this semi-sweet was perfect.
“So, I have to ask, but that doesn’t mean you have to answer me,” Elion restarted the conversation.
“What’s a beautiful woman like you doing filling out dating surveys on a website whose end goal is marriage?
” He took a drink from his glass. “It’s hard for me to believe that no one’s put a ring on your finger yet. ”
Olani smiled at him. “Traditional dating wasn’t working out for me. Why not try something else, right?” She played with the stem of her glass. “It was something different. A way to connect with someone whose end goal was the same as mine.”
Olani had struck out with her last two dates; however, she would keep that tidbit to herself for now.
“What about you?” she then questioned. “What made you send in your survey?”
“Honestly, I didn’t. My niece filled it out for me without my knowledge. She thought I needed to get out and date more.”
That made Olani pause. When she’d been selecting the candidates she was interested in and narrowing them down, it never occurred to her that someone may not have completed their own survey.
It made her wonder how much of what was in his was true if someone else had filled it out for him.
It also made her question: Was he here because he felt like he had no choice once it was filled out and submitted?
“Though, I will say I’m not as upset about it as I was due to present company.”
Olani bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. This man was smooth, which was a dangerous combination with his looks and personality so far. Though she had to admit, they were only half an hour into the date, and it was already one of the best she’d had in a while.
E lion watched her take another sip from her wine glass as a lull in conversation settled.
His eyes dipped down to her delicate fingers as they held the stem of the glass.
He knew that while most men tended to be attracted to other parts of a woman, other assets, Elion had always found something so intriguing about a woman’s hands.
That wasn’t to say he also didn’t enjoy those other assets.
Her fingers were slender, and a part of Elion knew they’d be soft, smooth like silk, were she to touch him. Her nails were a shade of mauve, and the color complimented her rich, penny-colored skin.