I chuckled. “I told you I do alright for myself, beautiful.”
She turned to me as I lifted the butterfly door for her to slide inside. “So, the humble type?”
I shrugged. “I don’t attach my worth to materialistic things, because they come and go.”
I felt her eyes studying me as I closed her inside. The walk to the driver’s side was quick. I hopped in, then shot off like lightning.
Free screamed in the passenger seat. “Boy, slow the fuck down!” When I glanced over toward the passenger seat, I saw her holding on to the door frame for dear life.
I chuckled before easing off the gas a little. “You just have to get used to it, but you’re good. I promise.”
She didn’t look convinced and continued to hold on to the door until I pulled in front of the building that housed the steakhouse where we were having dinner.
I pulled into the lane for valet parking, then climbed out. I tossed the keys to the attendant, then opened the door for Free. She was slow-moving and paused to adjust her dress before taking my hand in hers. I escorted us to the elevator and then to the top floor, where the steakhouse was located.
Free gasped when the hostess led us out on the terrace deck for our private dinner. The table was set with a vase filled with vibrant red roses. The harpist I hired for the evening began to slowly strum a tune, enchanting the air with every cord plucked. Free stood beside the table as I pulled her chair out. She was completely mesmerized by the setting sun.
“Wow. This is beautiful,” she murmured, but I was close enough that I could hear her. The view we had was of Mount Juliet in the distance with rolling hills and lush, green forests. I could admit I was nervous at first, but I felt more at ease now that I was sharing space with Free.
I finally pulled her chair out for her, and she took a seat. After I tucked her in, I joined her on the other side of the table. The waitress came over to pour us glasses of champagne. We were tasting everything on the menu tonight, so she didn’t ask what we wanted.
I noticed Free was super quiet, and I found her watching the sunset with tears in her eyes. “Are you okay?” I asked, concerned.
She nodded and sniffled. “Yeah. This is just my favorite time of day.” She turned to the harpist. “She sounds like an angel.”
I looked over at the young girl who looked like she was in a world of her own while playing melodies that sounded as though they came straight from heaven. “I thought so too when my sister showed me her videos.”
She grinned. “Oh, so she doesn’t come with the restaurant reservation?”
I shook my head. “Not at all. I figured I would give you some good music to listen to in case you got tired of hearing my voice.”
She lifted her glass of champagne with the most adorable grin. “I don’t foresee that happening, but it’s the perfect touch. Makes me want to talk to you even more now.” The longer she looked at me, the louder my sister’s voice became in my mind.
Becoming shy, I dropped my head to hide my smile. I wiped my sweaty palms down my legs to dry them off, then lifted my glass to meet hers in the middle of the table. “To not getting tired of each other’s voices,” I said, feeling more confident than when I pulled up outside of her house.
My heart wouldn’t stop racing. Everything Ketai did was alluring, like the way he was cutting into his steak, making the veins in his arm pop, had me ready to jump his bones. I shifted in my seat and crossed my legs, trying to tamper the growing pulse in my center. My desire to be close to him was nearly insatiable.
For our date, he was dressed casually in navy-blue trousers with a white, collared shirt that had green stripes around the collar, sleeves, and hemline. The loafers on his feet brought his look together. I admired the diamond earring in his ear and the gold jewelry on his neck and wrists. Ketai had quiet wealth, thekind where you had to know a designer label to even clock that he was wearing the average person’s yearly salary in one outfit.
“So, I have to ask. How is a man like yourself single?” I blurted out, filling the silence between us.
He lifted his head before stuffing the steak in his mouth in the sexiest way. Was I ovulating? Why was I mesmerized by his every move? And to make matters worse, his raspy voice was so even and deep that it felt like velvet across my skin. Was agreeing to come on this date a good idea?
So far, Ketai was checking off every box on my list, and that terrified me. I glanced around the terrace and knew the choice to come on this date was worth it though. He’d put some thought into everything, and the way he carried himself intrigued me. And he had a gentle spirit, which put me at ease around him. I didn’t often have that level of peace with other men I’d gone on dates with.
“I honestly haven’t really prioritized dating. Like, I can meet a woman and begin getting to know her, but it always dies down. I always take that as a sign that it wasn’t meant to be. Eventually, I just shifted focus strictly to my business.”
“That means you believe in soul mates?”
He leaned back in his seat and nodded. I watched his fingers run through his thick beard, wishing that I could feel how soft it was. “I believe I have a person out there just for me. Like, you mean to tell me it’s a billion people on this Earth, and none of them could be a perfect match for me?”
I leaned forward, inclined to entertain his answer. “But nothing in life is perfect.”
He shook his head. “Nah, that’s not true. God is perfect, and if we each have His spirit living inside of us, then that means, to some degree, we experience perfection through one another.” I wanted to have something witty to say back to that, but I decided to stuff my mouth with shrimp instead. He smirked, and I nearlychoked on the food. “What about you? What do you believe, beautiful?”
I nibbled on my bottom lip, wondering how to respond. If I leaned toward the girl who’d recently gotten her heart toyed with again, my answer would contradict everything he said. It would also be against the girl who always believed in love. I settled for a simple answer that was somewhere between the truth and where I was currently in my belief journey.
“I believe that if you get to find your soulmate in your lifetime, you are one of God’s favorites.”
