Chapter 12
Right Where You Want Me
DANAE
“Y’all get home safe,” I said to the duo who had come in at eleven thirty, just before the kitchen closed, to have the diner’s famous French toast.
“You too. And thanks again.” The women waved and left out.
“Alright, y’all. It’s time for me to head out too,” Chef Bee said, walking out front, dressed in her street clothes. She was also a Sullivan.
“Night, Bee,” Aura said from where he sat at the back of the diner. “Love you. Text me when you make it home.”
“Okay.” She hugged me and whispered, “My cousin so crazy ‘bout you.”
“Girl, good night.” I giggled and pushed the door open to let her out.
Locking it behind her, I flipped the sign from open to closed.
Turning, I found Aura walking in my direction.
The man had really spent the whole day at the diner with me.
He didn’t hover or interrupt as promised, just stayed present, watching from a distance.
I’d never met a man so enthralled with me.
No one had ever wanted to be in my presence as much as Aura did. And honestly, I was soaking it all in.
“You worked yo’ ass off today,” he said.
“I work my ass off every day,” I corrected. “I can’t believe you spent your whole day here. A businessman like yourself ain’t have nothing better to do?” I grinned, leaning against the booth, while he stood across from me.
“I couldn’t think of anything better to do today than to watch you. Plus, when you’re the boss, the money is wherever you are, so I made money while watching you. I think the day went pretty well.”
“And who am I to argue a valid point?”
He smirked. “What else you gotta do before you head out?”
I cocked my head to the side. “You mean what else we gotta do? Since you’re here, I could use your help. Two heads are better than one.”
His lips curled into a smile. “You know, when I think about head, that phrase never comes to mind.”
“Oh, my God.” I picked the checkbook up front the table and hit him with it. “Shut up, nasty. The faster you help me, the faster we can go. Can you put the chairs up on the tables, so maintenance can come in and do their thing?”
“I can do whatever you want me to if you let me put my lips on yours.”
“Okay,” I agreed without pressure. I could tell it shocked him. But he made it easy to give in tonight just by keeping his word.
Stepping forward, he reached out and pulled me to him. It was quick. Possessive in a way. I liked it. He lifted my head with his finger and kissed my lips twice.
“I like that glossy shit,” he said, smiling and kissing me again. When he ran his nose along my bottom lip, I giggled. “Coconut.” He picked up on the scent then kissed me a fourth time.
A wide grin spread across my face, and goosebumps crept up the back of my neck. This was the kind of flirty, goofy, loving attention I’d longed for in previous relationships. Most men didn’t display this kind of adoration. Aura, on the other hand, didn’t hide it.
“You just want me to put the chairs up?” he asked once he’d gotten his fix.
“Yes, please. You can start at the back. I’m gonna run the register, and we can head out after.”
“Aight.” Slowly releasing me, he stepped back and got to work.
We caught a groove in the silence – me counting, him putting up the chairs. It didn’t take long for him to complete the task since the diner only had a few two and four top tables. Once he was done, he sat down at the counter, while I finished noting the day’s earnings.
“You still thinking about doing the Airbnb hosting?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I’ve researched a few neighborhoods, pricing, and properties to see what will make the most profit. I’m not as diligent as I could be, but I’m gonna change that.”
“What’s stopping you from being diligent?”
“Money.” I giggled like that wasn’t obvious. “And the fact that I want what I want. And that requires more money than I have right now for the areas I’m looking to rent in.”
“Money is easily attainable,” he said.
“Says the boss.”
“The boss that you’re attached to.”
“Ughh. Aura, don’t be that guy.”
He frowned. “What guy?”
“The one that flaunts his money in the relationship. The one that uses it as a flex to show a woman what he can do for her. It’s corny.”
He smirked. “You think I do that? You think I’m tryna flex when I buy you things?”
I thought about how meaningful the gifts were that he’d bought me, my car being the biggest one.
There was always a “just because” note or text attached to it.
Maybe I was contradicting myself. “I mean, no. It’s just the way you said that.
It was just… eeeyuck.” I mimicked the TikTok creator, Ariana.
“Money is a tool, so I use it as such. According to my grandmother, my love language is acts of service. It’s been that way since I was a kid.
Your car wasn’t a flex. I just wanted to see you in something different.
The flowers, jewelry, and all-expense paid maintenance days are things I feel you deserve.
So, I have no problem doing that. When I say money is attainable because you have access to me, it’s not cause I’m tryna pop it.
I say it because as my woman, you being taken care of and not having to think about where the money’s coming from cause Dada got it is the flex.
I don’t have to say I’m the boss, Nae. That shit so embedded in me, I walk with a boss air. ”
By the time he finished talking, my nipples were hard, and my panties were wet. It wasn’t just what he said, it was how he said it. Aura Sullivan was exactly who the fuck he thought he was and then some.
“I hear you,” I finally spoke while squeezing my legs together behind the register. “I guess you can say I’m just trying to figure this out on my own, ya know? You get a different kind of satisfaction when you know you put the work in yourself.”
“I respect that 100%. I never wanna take away from your grind. I do have a proposition for you that doesn’t include you being on all fours.” He winked, and I pondered with heavy consideration.
“And what’s that?” I asked instead of saying what was really on my mind.
“What if I become a silent investor for you? We can start with two properties. The reason I say two is because you wanna have options. One that’s affordable but still gives the guest the feeling of luxe by the way you decorate and then one that’s more high end.
It comes with additional services such as transportation for the duration of their time in the Airbnb and offers full clean up at no expense to them once their stay ends.
Of course, it’ll be more costly, but you’ll get bookings.
It’s all in how you upsell. People gotta get around.
Once you reach your first 5k, you can start putting the money in our wedding account. How that sound?”
I stuffed the money as well as the receipts into the bank pouch and put it under my arm. “It sounds great. I couldn’t think of a thing wrong until you mentioned our wedding.”
“What about it?”
Setting the bag down, I walked around the counter and sat on the stool next to him. “You put so much stake in me, Aura, that it makes me wonder. Have you ever been in love?”
“I’m Aura, baby. I exude love and shit.” He smiled.
I shook my head, letting out a small laugh. “No, seriously. Have you ever been in love?”
He stared at me for a few seconds before answering. “I can’t say that I have.”
I didn’t believe him. “Seriously?”
He shook his head. “I’ve dealt with women but never at the level where I was open to giving them my heart.”
“Did you feel they didn’t deserve it?”
“I’m sure a few of them did. I’ve just never been open to giving it… until you.”
“Why?” Just like he was persistent in pursuing me, I was the same with my questions.
“I watched my father love my mother with everything he had. I grew up watching him display the kind of love that made the room feel light if it was tense when she walked in because his love moved with her.” He paused.
It seemed like something he’d sat with for a while that he wanted to get out, so I stayed quiet, giving him space to reflect as he spoke.
“I always felt that kept her grounded. Kept her present. But it didn’t.
She was fighting an internal battle with herself, and although she allowed my father to love her, she never let him get in the ring to fight alongside her.
My mother killed herself when I was thirteen.
I watched what it did to my pops in real time.
He’s moved on since then, but I don’t think his heart ever recovered.
From thirteen, I said that I would never give a woman that kinda access to me. ”
“So, essentially, you withheld your heart to avoid being hurt.”
“Yes,” he admitted. “I gave women what they wanted physically, time, money, attention, and dick to compensate for what I couldn’t give them.”
I was searching for the right words to say but came up blank.
“And then you made me work.”
“What I made you work for?”
“You.” His words landed soft but solid. “You did your best to avoid my attention. You didn’t ask for my time or money, and I couldn’t talk you into a date, let alone drop dick in you.”
I laughed because one thing about it, I was hard on a nigga after Byron. “I have been ducking and dodging, huh?”
“Like a muthafucka.” He chuckled.
“So, is that why you wanna give me your heart? Because I made you chase me?”
He stood and closed the small distance between us.
“I wanna give it to you because you don’t ask for it.
You’ve never chased for anything I’ve given you.
Shit, I gotta chase you down to give it.
” We both laughed. “Nobody challenges me the way you do, Danae. And a man of my caliber doesn’t want someone I can easily conquer. ”
He pressed his forehead against mine, and all of a sudden, I was overcome with emotion. Bitch, you better not cry, I thought as I felt tears welling up in my eyes. This was too much. This was too real. Too raw.
“Aura.” I whispered his name and breathed through my nose.