Chapter 12 #4
God, you’re cheesy, Nas!
So what, I decided as I shoved my phone into my pocket and walked out the restroom with my head held high.
Right outside, waiting against the wall in the hallway that led to the restrooms, was Ezekiel. He was posted up, checking something on his phone, chewing his gum. He wasn’t the only one fixated on the act of eating. I liked watching his mouth at work.
He looked up and spotted me, going and putting his cell phone away as he pushed off the wall.
A teen girl and a man came past us, the girl slipped into the women’s restroom as the man headed into the men’s room. Out on the floor, waiters and waitresses were going back and forth from the kitchen. People were leaving and coming. Dellucci’s didn’t just stop because we had finished our lunch.
I approached Ezekiel, eyeing him suspiciously. He was just too perfect to be true. “Before we go any further, you’re not into that tying people up and throwing away the key type of shit, are you?”
Ezekiel was taken aback. “Nah, I was hoping you’d be the one to tie me up.”
I burst into an easy laugh, calming down. “I’m just saying, tell me now so I can at least have time to contemplate it.”
Ezekiel arched a brow. “So, if I said yes, you’d let me tie you up?”
I opened my mouth and shut it. “I mean… I don’t know you, and that type of stuff requires major trust.”
“So? You’re getting to know me.”
True. “You’re cute, but I’m not seeing it.”
“Sometimes we let the idea of fear keep us from truly knowing our limits,” Ezekiel said.
The door to the men’s room opened and one after the other, two men stepped out.
I stepped back and let them pass us before getting back to Ezekiel. “I guess you have a point.”
The women’s restroom opened and the teen girl came by us next, not without shooting us weird looks for probably hovering around.
Ezekiel wasn’t paying them any attention.
In between the women’s room and the men’s room, was a marble fountain. Ezekiel set the carryout container there on the ledge of the fountain before standing to his full height.
“Okay.” He looked around before pushing up his shirt sleeves and surveying our settings. Soon, he backed me up against the nearest wall, going and taking my wrists and pinning them behind me. “How’s that feel?”
His grasp wasn’t tight at all, but definitely secure. “Okay.”
He squeezed my wrists with more firmness. “Now?”
Something deep in my belly lurched with excitement. We were in public. Anyone could walk by and see us. Somehow, that terrified me and thrilled me at the same time.
Shit this felt good and hot. “Y-Yeah.”
Tighter. “Still?”
He was staring down at me, an empty look on his face, and I was suddenly ready to risk it all.
“Nastasia?” He went tighter to get a response out of me. “Tell me how it feels.”
“Oh.” His hands on me. The sound of his demanding voice. The look on his face. My knees buckled and I was embarrassed at how much I loved this. “Too tight.”
“Hmm.” He came close to my ear. “Your mouth says no, yet your body and your eyes say you like it.”
Ezekiel reeled back to look me in the eye as he called me out on my lie.
I couldn’t think straight. “It’s not bad.”
Ezekiel ran his eyes down my figure. “You know, I don’t think we can truly be friends.”
The idea sounded tortuous. “No?”
Ezekiel shook his head. “Not when I want you as badly as I do.”
Same. My posture sagged. “I know what you mean.”
He grabbed the carryout container and put space between us, just in time as a woman was rushing through with a little boy.
“So, what are we waiting for?” Ezekiel probed gently.
I don’t know.
“You know, I am stressed out and horny, and tired of you leaving me hot and bothered,” I stated. “Right now, my mind’s leaning one way.”
“I’d be more than happy to relieve your stress.”
“I’m sure you would.”
He chanced a step closer. “The French call that feeling post-orgasm ‘la petite mort,’ or, the little death. Basically, you’ve lost consciousness, having spasms and weak.
Now, I’m not trying to kill you, but when I’m inside it I want you to have an experience.
That’s what sex should be.” He was in my ear again.
“I’m tryna fuck you senseless. If you’re not catching the Holy Ghost, then my shit terrible. ”
We really couldn’t be friends.
“Big talk,” I managed to get out.
“Honest,” Ezekiel swore. “Ain’t no bragging rights if you don’t finish.”
“You really get off when she gets off?”
Ezekiel shrugged. “I aim to please.”
Have mercy.
“Okay,” I said.
“Okay?” Ezekiel repeated, not following.
I ran a hand through my hair. “Okay, the next time we link up, we’ll have Pad Thai, beer, and whatever happens from there, happens.”
“I don’t want you drunk. I want you sober,” Ezekiel uttered. The want in his eyes, on his face, was agonizing.
“A beer isn’t going to get me drunk.” I licked my lips and made an effort to abandon the hallway before I lost all sense of reason and dragged him into a stall. “The next time we’re alone, we’ll see where it flows. Deal?”
Ezekiel hadn’t moved. His eyes were locked on my body. “Deal.”