I sat at the bar sipping my apple martini when the bartender slid a new martini in front of me, “From the gentleman,” he said, nodding his head toward the end of the bar. I gave the bartender a small smile and turned my head toward the end of the bar to see the gentlemen who bought me a drink and damn near choked.
Damn, he’s fine,I thought to myself as I squinted my eyes to see him more clearly. He looked familiar but because the bar was dim, I couldn’t make out his face completely, but he was definitely famous, like snap finger famous. You know how you seen a person before, but you don’t know where or when and you hope snapping your fingers will help knock the memory loose, that’s how I was feeling about the fine man at the bar.
I may not be able to recognize his face, but I could tell that the chocolate Adonis sitting on the far end of the bar was panty dropping fine. If I were wearing panties tonight, I would have just given them to him and said come meet me in the bathroom. Although he was sitting on a bar stool, I could tell he was well over six feet tall, his salmon-colored dress shirt was rolled halfway up his defined forearms, and his navy-blue tie was loosened like he had a long day in the office. His dark hair was cut low. The lights over the bar glinted off his moisturized deep waves, and the way his neatly groomed beard framed his face, it enhanced his strong jaw and high cheekbones.
I felt like the amount of time I spent staring at him was starting to inch toward the creepy territory, but just when I was about to look away, he winked at me and angled his body in my direction, as if he was inviting my eyes to take all the timeI needed, and I happily accepted. The small smile he gave me was seductive, and I silently thanked the Lord that his smile was bright, and his teeth were straight. I had to press my thighs tighter when I noticed his deep dimples from where I was sitting.
I raised my glass as a silent thank you, and he smirked as he lifted his hand and put two fingers against the side of his head and gave me a salute to say you’re welcome. After that, I turned forward, making sure my hair fell over my shoulder to hide the side of my face, so he couldn’t see me peeking through my hair as I prepared myself for him to come over now that we were finished eye fucking each other. I watched as he motioned for the bartender to come over, and once the bartender was in front of him, I watched him pull out his wallet and slide a black card across the bar. I knew at any moment he was going to come over here, so I angled my body away from him and relaxed my shoulders, hoping my body language gave off the impression of nonchalance and unbothered. I slowly swirled my tongue around the thin straw in my glass, hoping he was looking, while I absently twirled my finger in my hair. I kept this game up for maybe ten seconds when I noticed my chocolate Adonis hadn’t made his way over to me yet, and I immediately stopped tongue fucking my straw, only for me to look up and realize that he was no longer sitting at the bar. I subtly scanned the room, and he was nowhere in sight. He was gone.
My mouth dropped open, and I quickly closed it. He fuckingleft,and he had thenerveto not even look in my fucking direction first, nowthat both surprised me and pissed me the fuck off. I wouldn’t describe myself as conceited, but I knew I had it going on. My skin was the color of brown sugar, my thick thighs propped up the full and plump ass my mamma passed down to me. My waist was small…well small-ish, my hips were wide, and my titties were full and perky, and I made sure my hair was always laid. Ok, so maybe I was conceited, sue me, but ain’ta damn thing wrong with having confidence and knowing you’re that girl, but I had to admit, having a fine ass man leave without trying to get my number, was a hit to my ego.
Before I could dwell too much on the missed opportunity with my mystery man, Marlow finally came from the bathroom and hopped on the barstool next to me.
“Well, this was fun, but I have a husband to get home to; he called me while I was in the bathroom and said he’s ready to loosen up my throat,” she said, licking her lips suggestively. I shook my head because Marlow was the complete opposite of me.
I was a workaholic. I loved being busy and working long hours and weekends, whereas Marlow made sure she left the office no later than five, and no matter what, she would not work weekends. I always dressed to show off my curves, but Marlow dressed more modestly and would never show off her coke bottle shape. I bought the best hair money could buy, and I changed hairstyles like underwear but no one outside of my family and Marlow has ever seen my natural hair. Whereas Marlow only wore her natural coils in a protective style when it was time for her to go on vacation, like now her faux locs were in because she just came from vacation. But one would be shocked that under that crystal loving, sage burning, meek and mild demeanor was a woman who was the poster child for sexual freedom, and I love that for her. I’m a firm believer that every woman deserves the best sexual experience that works for them, I just wished Marlow stopped sharing all the explicit details of hers with me.
“Ew freak, that’s TMI,” I said, covering my ears.
“I hope he gives me a facial with his cum. Remember when you asked about my skin care routine? Well, that’s the secret; the protein in my man’s nut makes my skin glow,” Marlow shared in a dreamlike voice as if she was wishing for her husband to walk in here and cum on her face right now. I was so speechlessby what she said that my only response was to sit here with my mouth wide open.
“Anyway,” Marlow expressed, changing the subject as if she didn’t just casually mention getting a cum facial, “I’ll see you in the office tomorrow; you have that meeting with that water company. If we land that account too, we’ll make our competitors fear us.” Marlow gathered her belongings and air kissed me before rushing out the door.
Since I did not have a man, a dog, or even a plant to go home to, I sat at the bar and had another apple martini while thinking about my loveless love life. Most days I loved my single life because I enjoyed the freedom of just living life, shopping, traveling. And if I didn’t feel like cooking or busting it open, it was cool because I didn’t have a man whining about being hungry or not getting pussy. But on nights like tonight when I wanted to relax on the couch wrapped in the strong arms of a hard bodied man while wearing my favorite yoga pants and an oversized shirt, I hated the single life with a passion. Tonight, I hated the single life like Mister fromThe Color Purpleor toxic ass men who start a podcast to bash women, and then get on said podcast and say shit like “I’m an Alpha male” or ask bullshit like “where are the women who still cook for their man after a long day?” That’s how much I hated the single life right now.
The more I sat here sipping, the more I started to feel a buzz from these martinis, so I pulled out my phone and opened the app to request a rideshare. When I signaled the bartender over to me so I could pay my tab, he told me my chocolate Adonis already paid for it.
Well, he could have at least left his number, I thought to myself and shrugged my shoulders as I put my credit card away and left.
Bailey
“Good morning, Ms. Henson!” My assistant Penny greeted me cheerfully while handing me a much-needed cup of coffee. I didn’t get much sleep last night, and when I finally closed my eyes, it was time to get up. Thank goodness my first meeting wasn’t until noon so I could take a nap with my cold mask on to help reduce the bags under my eyes and have enough energy to push through the meeting.
“I have some phone messages for you, but the most important one is on top; it’s from the CEO of Hydro. He has to go out of the country, so he has to move the meeting up,” she said a little hesitantly as she handed me a stack of mail and phone messages.
“Shit! Move it to when?”
So much for a nap. I thought as I pouted.
“Right now, he’s been in the conference room for five minutes.” Penny looked a little scared because she’s witnessed my temper flare before. I loved routine, and when unexpected changes came up that threw my day off, such as meetings being changed on short notice, I tended to be a little dramatic.
But right now, was not the time to have a temper tantrum, so I grabbed the papers from Penny with my free hand and walkedinto my office. After I set my purse and laptop bag down on my desk, I rushed over to the closet in my office and changed into my favorite pair of black, patent leather red bottom stilettos. After I put my heels on, I slipped on my favorite black blazer because it was tailored to perfection, and it made my waist look snatched without me having to wear a belt over it. I looked in the mirror hanging on the closet door as I buttoned the middle button. When I was finished, I took a deep calming breath and let it out in a quick huff to let go of some of the irritation I was feeling. Then I smiled as I smoothed my hands over my hips, as I admired how great they looked in my black pencil skirt.
“That bitch bad, looking like a bag of money.” I rapped the chorus of “Bag of Money” in my best Rick Ross voice to get myself hype as I checked out my angles in the mirror before I went to grab my makeup bag.
After putting on what seemed like five layers of concealer over the luggage bags under my eyes, I was ready for my meeting. I grabbed my laptop bag, took a huge gulp of coffee, and hurried to the conference room.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” I greeted as I quickly walked in the room while rummaging through my papers to make sure they were in order. When I looked up, I saw five men standing, and at the head of the table looking like the most delicious piece of chocolate in a navy blue, three-piece suit, was my chocolate Adonis from the bar last night.
When his lips quirked as though he was going to smile, I knew he recognized me too. Gathering my wits about myself, I took a glance around the room and was surprised. I thought I was only meeting with one person today; instead, there was a room full of fine ass men to concentrate on while I did my pitch. They were all around the same height, which I estimated to be around 6’5 or 6’6. All of them had the solid build of football players with beautiful faces of male models and manners ofSouthern gentleman, because it was rare to see men stand when a woman entered a room. I quickly composed myself as I took my seat at the other end of the large glass and chrome conference table and was pleasantly surprised when they all sat down a second after me.
“Don’t worry about the wait, my brother insisted last night that we move the meeting up since he has a trip planned, so this was last minute.” The man sitting to the right of the chocolate Adonis spoke. His voice was deep and rich with a lovely southern drawl.
So, they were southern gentlemen, I concluded to myself.
“I’m Travis Browning, Chief Financial Officer ofHydro; this is my twin brother Tyran; he’s the Chief Operating Officer.” He pointed to the identical replica across from him, except Tyran had a goatee and locs that reached his shoulders, whereas Travis was clean shaven with a small curly afro that was cut low on the sides. Tyran smiled and tilted his head in greeting.
“Nice to meet you.” I smiled what I called my professional smile, which was not too big but pleasant enough to seem friendly. I learned a long time ago that if I smiled too wide, men may think I was flirting and wouldn’t take me serious, but if I didn’t smile wide enough or smile at all then they assumed I was a bitch. The smile I had right now was the perfect balance and it was a damn shame that I had to adjust my actions because I was a woman, specifically a Black woman in corporate America, so I didn’t come off a certain way. From my peripheral, I saw chocolate Adonis tilt his head slightly to the side as though he was studying me.
