If that was the case, I was in for a world of trouble.
***
I sat back in my chair at the café and studied Lyla as she placed some sugar in her tea. She stirred the straw in her cup and her eyes shone bright. She leaned forward, her legs crossed under the table, her toe dancing intimately with my knee, letting me know she was close enough that if I wanted to make a scene, I could grab her from across the table and pull her onto my lap.
“Tell me, Kace, what’s your story.”
“Not much of a story to tell,” I responded vaguely. I didn’t know this woman. Therefore I wasn’t about to tell her about my life, especially given my horrid past.
“Enlighten me,” she smiled.
“Tell me about your life first,” I countered.
Her smile turned into a knowing smirk. “All right. No questions about the past.”
From her brush-off, I could tell she was hiding something as well, but I wasn’t about to pressure her to tell me because I’d just gotten a free pass. I wasn’t about to have it taken away.
“Fine with me,” I responded as we came to a standoff.
Our waitress brought over our food, replenished our drinks, and then took off. Lyla got a shrimp po’boy, same as me. I was impressed with her candidness about eating in front of a guy, ordering a sandwich just as big as mine. Most women I ate with were dainty with their meals, but not Lyla. I surveyed her as she picked up the loaded sandwich and took a giant bite out of it.You would think I’d have gotten sick of the food in New Orleans, but that wasn’t the case. I couldn’t get enough of the traditional cuisine. When I was in a good mood to appreciate things, I knew when I was fortunate enough to experience some good cooking.
“All right, so no past questions. Then tell me, what do you like to do on a typical Saturday?”
I took another bite of my sandwich and then wiped my mouth with a paper napkin that shredded under my sauce-coated fingers. “Well, when I’m not trying to wrangle up your friend at the club, or preparing for a presentation in the Toulouse Room, I like to spend time in the gym.” It was an honest answer. Wasting away my life in my room didn’t seem like something she would have liked to hear, and for some reason, I felt like trying to impress this woman.
“Workout? Seriously? You don’t have to tell me you work out. I can tell.”
“Ah, so you’ve been checking me out.” I smirked at her.
“It’s hard not to when I have fear that one of your muscles will poke me in the eye while we’re eating.”
“You would only be so lucky if my muscle poked you in the eye.”
Lyla eyed me and said, “Are you referring to your penis?”
I almost choked on my sandwich from her brazenness and grabbed my water to help the spurt of coughing that attacked me. I should have expected her to say something so crass. She did hang out with Goldie.
“You always this forward?”
“Yeah. Do you have a problem with it?” she asked as she took a giant bite of her sandwich.
“Nope, just want to know what to expect.”
She shook her head at me and leaned over to pat my arm. “Sorry to say, Kace, but you’re never going to be fully prepared when hanging out with me. I’m a loose cannon.”
“Fair enough,” I said, leaning back in my chair.
She continued to eat her sandwich in silence, devouring it quicker than me. She licked her fingers, showing me exactly what she could do with those gorgeous lips. I wondered what it would feel like to own those lips, to have them on my body, to feel them against mine.
I adjusted in my seat as my thoughts turned dirty.
“You have that glazed-over look. What are you thinking about?” she asked, tossing her napkin on her plate.
“What your lips would feel like on my body,” I answered honestly.
Her eyebrow rose. “And you think I’m forward?”
“Just evening the playing field, babe.”
“Fair enough. Tell me, do you believe in ghosts?”
I could tell her question wasn’t complicated, but for me, it was a loaded answer. I did believe in ghosts because right now, I felt like a walking ghost in the streets of New Orleans.“I do,” I said, keeping it short and simple. “Do you?”
“I think there is this whole other world we don’t know about, that we won’t know about until we breathe our last breath. A place where we can make up for what we’ve done in life, a place where everyone gets along and where your biggest concern is who are we going to spook that night.”
“Who would you spook?” I asked, wondering who she would want to freak out in the mortal world.
“Isn’t it obvious? I would haunt the fuck out of Goldie. She is an easy target. It would be too much fun to freak her out.”
I laughed, a foreign noise to me, but the image of Goldie freaking out from Lyla’s ghost was too comical. Goldie would be an easy target, hands down.
“Damn, I might have to join you on that one.”
“All right, shark diving, skydiving, or bungee jumping?”
A lightness ran through me as I realized I was enjoying my lunch with Lyla more than I’d expected. Yes, I was attracted to her, like I was desperate to be inside of her. I thought she was so beautiful, but as I sat here in the café with zydeco music playing in the background, staring at her exotic face, I felt euphoric from her company. I allowed myself to engage in the feeling. It was rare for me, but I allowed it this day.
“Not much of a swimmer. I’ve been parachuting, which was fun, but bungee jumping is more of a thrill.”
“Sign me up for swimming with the sharks. Those beasts are just some toothy assholes who act like they own the water. I would show them a thing or two.”
I believed her. “You’ve heard of shark attacks, right?”
“Eh, not scared. A little punch to the schnoz, and those fuckers would be gone in two seconds.”
“Where the hell are you getting your information?” I asked. “You know you have to avoid their mouths to get to their nose.”
“You would be surprised by my accuracy,” she responded nonchalantly. “Sweet tooth or savory?”
“Do vegetables count?” I asked.
“Oh Christ, don’t tell me you’re one of those neurotic eaters. Is that why you’re nursing that sandwich? Just eat it. Your figure will be fine.”
“I’m fucking with you,” I laughed. “What do you think I am, sweet or savory?”
Lyla studied me for a second before answering. “I would say savory. You look like a hard liquor kind of guy who enjoys a beer every once in a while, but I think you would grab a chip before a cookie. Although, I would have really hoped for you to be a sweet person.”
“Why’s that?” I asked.
“Because I have a sweet pussy.”
I shook my head at her. “How would you know?”
“I’ve been told. Plus, I’ve heard that whatever you crave is the opposite of what you are. So, I wish you liked sweet because I like salty.” She winked at me, and I about sprung out of my fucking jeans.
Clearing my throat, I played with my water glass while looking at her from under my lashes. “I think your theory might be wrong.”
“Only one way to find out,” she said while licking her lips. “But we have time to do that. I want to know, what is your favorite Disney movie?”
The fact that she was able to change the subject so quickly from sex to Disney was slightly disturbing, but I went with it. “Beauty and the Beast,” I said, not skipping a beat.
Lyla genuinely looked shocked. “Seriously? Wow, I never would have guessed that.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Well, I would have expected a burly man like you to have picked something like The Lion King or Aladdin, but Beauty and the Beast really surprises me.”
“It’s a classic love story of looking past the outer beauty and into the person’s soul.”