Chapter Five
“From the look on your face I guess the meeting with your mystery lady Nicey didn’t go too well,” Ben Foster asked taking a seat at his table. “I went to your job and they told you were already at lunch.”
Spencer watched how the female patron’s eyes kept wandering back to Ben in his uniform and he swallowed down a laugh.
It still amused him how many women drooled over the uniform.
He did wonder how much attention his buddy would get without the uniform.
However, it was every woman’s fantasy to date a cop.
“Nicey wasn’t as responsive as I thought she would be, so I had to take another approach to win her over,” he confessed pushing away his empty lasagna plate.
“What did you do?”
“Do you know what Pamper Me is?” He inquired trying to learn anything he could about Nicey.
Ben thought about it and then shook his head.
“No, I heard a couple of guys talking about it in passing at work, but I never stayed around to hear the whole story.” “It’s a dating service that hooks up couples with the soul mates,” Spencer replied.
He still couldn’t believe that he paid Nicey for her services and was going to go through with it.
God, this was so unlike him, but the change in her brown eyes made him glad that he did.
“Are you serious?” Ben laughed over the noise of the traffic going past.
“I’m dead serious,” he answered. “I went there and noticed all the pictures on the wall and later found out by reading one of the pamphlets on the table. Most of the couples were interracial.”
“You mean like black men and white women,” Ben frowned crossing his arms on the table.
Spencer didn’t approve of the look on his friend’s face. He had known Ben for years, but he had a bad feeling his friend wasn’t found of interracial dating. “Yes, I saw a few pictures like that, but what I mostly saw were black women with white men.” “You’re kidding?”
“No, do you have a problem with that?” Spencer wasn’t about to stop pursing Nicey if Ben did have a problem, but it wasn’t any of his business who he dated.
“Why?” Ben’s voice held a note of apprehension. “Are you planning on signing up there?”
“I already have,” he answered. “That was the only way I would be able to see Nicey as much as I wanted to.”
“Nicey is black isn’t she,” Ben inquired.
“Yes, she is and it sounds like you have a problem with that.” Spencer snapped feeling betrayed by his friend and the need to protect Nicey all at the same time.
“Don’t go getting all macho on me man,” Ben chuckled at his anger. “I don’t have a problem with Nicey being black, but it’s does seem a little strange.”
“What does?” “Spencer you’re the All-American guy with your hair color and eyes. I just don’t see too many blond haired and blue eyed guys dating a black woman.”
He never thought about that, but Ben did have a point.
He never paid attention to it before, but most of the interracial relationship he had seen didn’t involve a guys like him with a black woman.
Damn, was that the reason Nicey was so cold towards him earlier?
Did she think he was playing some kind of game with her? He had to set her straight.
“I never thought about my looks keeping a woman from asking me out,” he responded. “Yet, it won’t keep me from knowing Nicey better.” Nicey was out of luck, he already set his sights on he and he was a man that could stay focused no matter what the circumstances were.
“I wish you luck. What does Cindy think about this? Wasn’t she trying to fix you up with one of her co-stars?”
Spencer hadn’t let his sister cross his mind since their phone conversation last night.
He only had time to focus on certain things right and soothing his sister’s ego wasn’t one of them.
Cindy had his number and knew how to use a phone.
When she got hurt by Dexter again or needed his help the cell phone in his jacket pocket would ring.
“Honestly, I don’t know how she’s doing; however, I guess she’s going good because I haven’t heard from her since last night.”
“Doesn’t she usually call you every day,” Ben asked leaning back in to seat to watch a tall brunette go past their table.
“So, is that going to be wife number three,” Spencer laughed as the woman winked at Ben then continued on down the sidewalk.
Ben sat up in the chair so fast that it he almost fell out of it. “You know that I’m through with all the vows and commitment nonsense.”
“You never know three times might be your lucky number.” Placing his hand in the air Spencer signaled to the hostess that he wanted his check. Bringing his hand back down he placed in on the center of the table and drummed his fingers on the top.
“Three times isn’t going to be anything for me,” Ben complained then checked the watch on his wrist. “Anyway how did we get off the subject of talking about you over to me?”
“You asked about my sister and I changed the subject,” Spencer answered as waiter placed the bill in front of him. He signed the receipt so the balance could be added to his tab at the restaurant. The waitress took back the information and left him back alone with Ben.
“Right….man, I would love to stay here and waste time talking to you, but my job calls,” Ben uttered standing up from the table. “Let me know how your first date goes with Nicey. She sounds like a hand full.”
“It’s tonight at a club called Peppers.”
“I’ve heard of the place. Nice club. Really classy,” Ben commented then walked away from the table.
Spencer stayed seated at the table a couple more minutes after Ben had left. His mind wandered over all the things that Nicey might have planned for him tonight. Whatever it was she wasn’t about to scare him off. He had his sights set and they were on her.
* * * *
“You better have a good excuse for canceling tonight,” Erika complained in her ear. “I’ve been looking forward to this dinner all night.”
She cringed at the hurt coming from her friend’s voice.
“Erika, I don’t have a choice. I’ve have to take a rain check,” Nicey said her eyes wandering over to the clock on her wall.
She didn’t realize she had set up Spencer’s orientation on the same night as Erika’s dinner plans.
“I promise that I’ll be there night Friday. ”
“You still haven’t told me why you aren’t going to be here.” Erika hedged.
Nicey hated to tell Erika the truth. She would read more into it than it was, but she did deserve an answer. “I’ve a date.”
“Omigod with whom,” Erika’s usually soft-spoken voice screamed in her ear. “Do I know this guy?”
“Erika, it’s with a client.”
“Oh,” the disappointment was loud and clear in her friend’s voice. “I thought you were going out with a guy not one of your find-a-date clients.”
“I wish you wouldn’t talk about my clients like that,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “Not everyone can be born with good genetics like you Erika and be crowned Miss Teen when they are eighteen years old. Some people need help with their looks and self-esteem.”
She would never understand why Erika had such a problem with her business.
It was Pamper Me that gave her the opportunity to meet and fallen in love with Dylan.
If she hadn’t invite snobby-to-the-core Erika over for a late dinner she never would have crossed paths with her cousin.
She loved Erika like a sister, but sometimes her attitude made her such an ugly person.
“How about I keep my business matters to myself since you think they are so beneath you?”
“I’m sorry Nicey. I think it wonderful what you do for everyone that comes to you for help. I’m just in a bitchy mood. Dylan is still at work and my feet and back are killing me. Don’t be mad at me.”
“Okay…I guess I can’t stay mad at you since you’re pregnant. How much longer do you have?” Nicey wanted to hold Erika as long as she could on the phone because she wasn’t ready to talk Spencer.
“Don’t change the subject on me. I might be pregnant but I’m not stupid. Now tell me about this new client.”
What could she tell Erika about Spencer that wouldn’t give her attraction away to him?
He was so damn gorgeous. Why couldn’t he find a date on his own?
Surely, the women in New York weren’t dumb enough to turn him down.
Those baby blues along with that thick blond hair could turn her into a puddle of mush in forty-five seconds flat.
Forget it…guys like him don’t date women like you, her mind told her.
Spencer dated women who looked like him: tall, fit and head-turning good-looking. Now, she wasn’t downing her looks, but she wasn’t going to be in a dream world either.
“Nicey, are you still there?”
“Sorry….I was thinking about this new client. I’ve to meet with him in less than an hour,” she answered feeling her stomach knot up from nerves. Could she really that close to Spencer again and not get all hot and bothered by his piercing eyes and killer body?
“Him,” Erika shrieked, “Your new client is a man. Is he hot? Do you think he’s dating material? Nicey maybe this could be the guy for which you’ve been waiting.”
In spite of her busy schedule thoughts of him did filter back into her mind off and on during the day. The rich scent of his cologne lingered by her desk hours after he had left making her wonder did he always smell that good.
She also remembered the way his steady gaze never moved from hers when they talked, but Erika was wrong Spencer Davis wasn’t the man she had been waiting for all her life. He was a new client and nothing more.
“Erika, you’re a true romantic at heart. I know nothing about this guy and he only signed up for six weeks. I’m going to help him find his soul mate and nothing more. I don’t see him in any other way, so how about we dropped the subject.”
“Honey, you’ve to let someone in. I can hear it in your voice that you find Spencer attractive. Why don’t ask him out on a real date?” Erika pressed like she usually did.
Nicey couldn’t stop from wondering what it would be like to date someone like Spencer.
Her mind kept turning back to last night and how good he looked when she first saw him.
Yet, she wasn’t going to let her mind and body travel down that road with Spencer.
She was staying away from that forbidden place.
He was meant to be someone else’s. Despite the fact thinking about him with someone else did upset her and she didn’t want to think why.
“I hate to cut you off, but I’ve to go home and change clothes. I can’t be late for my first orientation with Mr. Davis,” she informed Erika. “He deserves a hundred and ten percent just like my other clients.”
“But you know that you want to give me more than a hundred and ten percent. Tonight at least be more approachable and maybe you’ll at least get asked to dance,” Erika suggested. “You never know this could be your night.”
“I’ll try, but I’m not making any promise to you.
” Nicey muttered wondering about what she was going to wear tonight.
It was a business meeting, not a date and she wanted to dress appropriately.
The club she suggested was a hot spot and very hard to get into, but she was friends with the owner and always got in free.
“I don’t like the sound of that, but I’ll take what I can get,” Erika mused under her breath.
“Bye Erika and tell Dylan I’ll call him later on in the week.” She needed to talk to Dylan about getting some music set up in the Pamper Me waiting area. She was hoping that he knew some people that could do a good job for a reasonable price.
“I’ll tell him and you take the advice I gave you.” Erika tossed out as a last parting shoot and then she hung up on her.
Nicey hung up her phone, grabbed her purse and briefcase off her desk and then left the office.
She had to make one speedy stop before she went home and got changed for her encounter with Spencer tonight.
All she had to do was see Spencer as her new project and not the handsome man that he was and everything should be okay, at least she prayed that it would.