Ghost
The following evening
I didn’t know why I thought that once Luxe was done with business, she was gon’ take her ass back home.
She’d been relaxing on the beach most of the day and ended up with a slight tan.
When we made it back to the hut, she made it known that she was getting ready for dinner and wanted to go somewhere.
I’d been sitting in the living room, waiting for her to get dressed so we could leave. Luxe had been back there over two hours. I wasn’t sure what was taking her so long, but I was getting hungry myself.
Heels clacked against the marble, gaining my attention. I looked up and saw Luxe stop in the doorway, and she removed every breath from my lungs. She was stunning as fuck in the sheer green dress she wore. It had a split going up the right side and flowed with every step she took.
“Damn,” left my lips before I was able to catch myself.
The corner of her mouth quirked. “I look good, huh?” She twirled in the doorway and then strutted in my direction.
My dick throbbed from staring at her. The way she looked in that dress had me wanting to bend her fine ass over.
“C’mon, crypt keeper,” I told her and lifted to my feet. We needed to get the hell out of here before I ended up doing something I’d regret.
She gasped, and her mouth slacked.
“I see what you did there. I’ma let you slide with that one.”
Luxe went over and grabbed her clutch off the kitchen counter. I opened the door, and we left out.
She didn’t tell me where she wanted to go. Just said she wanted it to be somewhere nice that she could have a good time as well, so I found this hole-in-the-wall restaurant. I wasn’t sure if she was gon’ like it or what, but I was hoping she did. It seemed a bit out of her environment.
“Where are we?” Luxe asked when the truck came to a halt in front of the building. The outside looked rundown and abandoned. It was this point that I regretted my decision, but we were already here, so we might as well go through with it.
Turning to her, I asked, “You trust me?” even though I didn’t trust my decision-making at the moment.
Her hazel eyes stared into mine. I sensed the hesitation, but she responded, “Yeah.”
Taking her by the hand, I opened the door and climbed out and then helped her out the truck.
We entered the building and followed the dimly lit hallway down to another door where a guy stood.
He looked at us and then opened the door.
Music blared. We stepped inside, and it looked like an entirely different world.
People were sitting at the bar, eating and having drinks. The place was dimly lit. People were on the dance floor having a good time. Others sat at their tables with a light in the center of them. Maybe I did make a good choice.
“How many?” the hostess asked as we stepped completely through the door.
“One,” I answered.
“Two,” Luxe said and looked back at me.
She knew that I wasn’t about to sit down at no table with her. Even though nothing had happened so far while we were here, I still needed to be on my toes. She was in here acting like we were on a date or something.
“Two,” Luxe stated again and turned back toward the hostess with her middle and index finger up in the air.
She grabbed two menus and left the booth. “Follow me.”
We went behind her toward a table at the back of the restaurant. There was a huge hole in the wall next to the table she stopped at. Luxe took her seat first, and I remained standing while the hostess set the menus down on the table.
“Your waitress will be over shortly,” she said and left the table.
Luxe stared up at me and asked, “You really gon’ make me sit here alone?”
“I’m not here for pleasure.”
“Ghost, sit your ass down.” Now, she was sounding like my mama whenever I frustrated her. “I’m not going to tell you again. I’ll cause a scene in here. You want me to do that?”
I glanced around and then sat down. We weren’t about to get put out of here when we just got here, because she wanted to act a fool.
“That’s better.” Luxe grinned at me and then picked up the menu.
“What can I get you two started with tonight?” the waitress asked when she approached our table.
“I’ll just have a water,” I told her, not even bothering to look at the menu.
Luxe peeked at me over the top of it and said, “You’re really gonna make me sit here and drink by myself? I thought you had more manners than that.”
“I don’t drink on the job,” I told her.
“Take a look around. I’m not in danger.” She turned her gaze back to the waitress and said, “We’re both going to have some champagne. In fact, just bring out the whole bottle. Thanks,” and then turned her attention back to the menu.
“I’m not drinking with you.”
Luxe politely rested her menu against the table and gave me her undivided attention. “I thought you were a gentleman. Am I wrong? You work for me, and if I want to enjoy your company, you’re going to drink some champagne with me.”
That was the end of the discussion because she removed her hearing aids until the waitress returned with the bottle and two glasses. She poured us both a glass, and then we ordered food. I had a simple smoked salmon with grits while Luxe ordered damn near everything on the menu.
“Who all are you trying to feed? Everyone in the fucking bar?” I questioned her after the waitress left.
She snickered. “Everything just sounded so good that I couldn’t decide. There’s no telling when I’ll come back, so I want to try it.”
Her glass rested at her lips as she swayed in her seat to the song that was playing in the background.
“Have you ever thought about getting the surgery so you can hear without hearing aids?” It was something that I’d been wanting to ask her for some time now.
She rested her glass against the table and leaned forward, holding her head up with her hand as she gazed at me.
The look in her eyes just did something to me.
It was lustful and sexy at the same time.
The sudden urge to lean forward and kiss her glossy lips took over my body, but I tried my best to hold my composure.
“No. I like being able to turn the world off. My parents brought it up to me when I was younger, but I never wanted to go through with it. I like being different. It’s what makes me . . . me. Would you want to change the one unique thing about you to make you just like everyone else?”
I guess she had a point there. “No, I wouldn’t.”
“Come with me.”
Luxe got up from the table and took me by the hand. She pulled me to my feet and dragged me out toward the dance floor.
“Can you dance?” she asked me.
“No.”
“It’s really not that hard. Let me show you.”
Everything Luxe was doing tonight was inappropriate, but nothing was making me stop her.
“This is something that you should’ve been learned. How old are you?”
“What makes you think that I want to know how to dance?” I saw no reason in me learning to. Gripping her by the waist, I pulled her into my frame. “This about the best you gon’ get out of me.”
Luxe stared up at me with wide eyes. She wasn’t expecting me to handle her the way I did. Her head rested against my chest as we swayed to the music.
“You still didn’t tell me how old you were.”
“Does it really matter?”
“I’m just trying to get to know the guy that I’ve been spending all my time with.” The way she was talking was as if we were on a date.
When she moved, I caught her scent. Luxe always smelled good whenever she came around me. I’d get whiffs of her when she entered and got out the cars. Her hair had a fragrance that I could just lay there and smell all day long.
“I’m twenty-eight.”
“Dang, you’re just a baby.” Her head lifted, and she stared up at me.
“I’m a grown-ass man. Stop playing with me.”
“To me, you’re just a baby. Are you this mean when dealing with your girlfriend? I’d hate to see what she has to go through.”
“Lucky for me, I’m single.” And I’d rather keep it that way. Relationships weren’t nothing but trouble. I’d rather keep my sanity.
“I don’t blame you. I don’t like me when I like somebody.”
I wasn’t sure exactly what she meant by that, and I wasn’t about to pry and find out. That was her business. Soon as I saw the waitress place our food on the table, I peeled away from her. Luxe gazed at me with a bewildered expression.
“The food,” was the only response she got out of me.
She looked over at our table and then strutted in that direction. An older woman caught me by the wrist as I followed her. She was lucky that she was my elder or else I would’ve cursed her ass out.
“You two are a lovely couple,” she said with a smile.
Everyone had the exact same reaction whenever they saw us. I was so tired of correcting them that I said “Thank you” and continued on about my way.
“Let me find out you’re into cougars,” Luxe joked when I made it back to the table. She had already dug into her food.
“She said we were a nice couple.”
She snickered when she heard me say that.
“You and me a couple . . .?” Her index finger pointed in between us.
“Ha! That’s funny as fuck. I don’t rob cradles.
” After she said that, she stuffed her fork into her mouth.
She was lucky as fuck that I was on a mission right now or else I’d bend her ass over and make her eat those very words.
Dinner seemed to have lasted a million years. Luxe ordered all that got damn food, knowing full and well she wasn’t gon’ be able to eat all of it. The woman asked if she wanted to-go plates and Luxe told her no. Just wasted all that damn food for nothing.
I led her out the door and held the door open on the truck for her to get inside while I watched our surroundings. It didn’t matter that it seemed we were safe here, I still wasn’t letting my guard down.
Jumping in alongside her, I shut the door, and the driver pulled off.
The ride back to the hotel was silent. Luxe had drank almost the entire bottle of champagne by herself.
I could tell the way she was staggering a bit that she was a bit tipsy and needed to make it to the bed.
The truck hit a bump in the road, and Luxe’s body tilted over into mine.
Her hand landed on my thigh. She stared up at me with wide eyes.
“Sorry,” she said and snatched away. She scooted over a bit away from me as if she was embarrassed that she touched me.
“You’re good,” I assured her to ease her mind.
As we pulled up toward the hotel, we noticed flashing lights. “What’s going on?” I questioned as the truck came to a halt. “Wait right here,” I told Luxe and got out of the truck.
I neared the hotel and found Christine, the chick who was working the front desk. “What happened?” I tapped her on the shoulder and asked.
“Someone decided to use real candles in their hut and set it on fire. Your suite has some smoke damage. We were able to get your belongings out of there, but you won’t be able to stay there for the night.”
“So what are you saying?”
“You two will be moved to another hut. Follow me so that we can get your keys.”
I took another look at the black smoke coming from the huts before flowing her toward the entrance of the hotel. When we got inside, she stepped behind the desk and grabbed a pair of key cards.
“This was the last suite that we have available. Let me know if I can help you with anything else.”
I took the keys back out to the truck. “What happened?” Luxe wasted no time asking me.
“The hut next to ours caught on fire. They moved us to another one.” I looked down at the room number. “Hut twelve.”
“That’s crazy,” she said as the driver pulled off and headed toward the hut where we would be staying.
When the truck stopped, I helped Luxe out and then walked her up to the door. I opened the door, and this hut was much smaller than the one we were staying in.
“I just know this one ain’t . . .” Before she finished her sentence, she entered the hut and headed straight to the bedroom part. “It’s one bed! Oh my God, are you kidding me!” That’s all I heard coming from the bedroom.
I shut the door behind me and locked it. Our suitcases were placed next to the door. I followed Luxe’s voice to the bedroom part to find a huge king-sized bed. It had a heart shaped out of rose petals on the sheets.
“I can’t believe they gave us just one bed.” She was worried about the bed; meanwhile, they had the room set up like we were on our honeymoon.
“It’s fine, Luxe. You can just sleep in here, and I’ll take the sofa.”
Luxe brushed her hair back out her face and dropped her head. “No. You don’t have to take the sofa. I’m sure it’s gon’ be uncomfortable.”
“I’m not taking the bed and letting you get on the couch.”
“You’re crazy if you think I’m going to sleep on the sofa. We’ll both just take the bed.”
“Both?”
“Are you scared or something? There’s a million pillows in here. We can just place some in the middle. Don’t cross the pillow and sleep with clothes on. We should be fine.”
“I’ll bring your stuff in here.”
Exiting the room, I went and grabbed her luggage and brought it back to her.
She immediately went into it to find herself something to put on.
I went back to get my suitcase and found me a pair of pajama pants and a T-shirt.
By the time I headed to the bathroom, Luxe was coming out.
She brushed up against me, swiping her ass cheek against my dick.
Her eyes damn near bulged from her head.
I wasn’t sure how this—us sleeping in the same bed—was going to work.
I shut the door behind me and took a quick shower. When I came out the bathroom, Luxe was already in bed with her pillow divider. She had the cover pulled up to her neck, lying on her back with her phone up to her face.
I flipped the light off and climbed in on the other side of the pillows. “Good night,” left my lips as I turned on my side, giving her my back. Not long after, the room went completely dark. There was a shift on Luxe’s side of the bed, and then I felt something hit my leg.
I flipped the light on the nightstand and saw that Luxe had tossed her leg over mine.
So much for staying on our sides of the bed.
My lips fixed for me to say something, but she was knocked out with her mouth wide open, and the sound of a lawn mower escaped her lips.
It should be a crime for something that loud to come from something so beautiful.
Not wanting to disturb her, I just turned the light off and lay down.