It was almost midnight and I was outside my office waiting for a cab that I called twenty minutes ago. I just wanted to reach home, take a shower and go to bed. My car was at the garage and would not be available for another few weeks, so the only option to get home at that hour was to call a cab. I had been calling the same company for years now and this was the first time I had to wait this long.
"Oh my God, this is ridiculous!" I yelled. Just as I was taking out my phone to call the company for the third time, my phone rang.
"Yes!" I answered angrily. I was in no mood to be polite at this hour.
"Hi, you called for a cab?" A charming voice asked. "I am not sure where the location is. Can you give me directions to where you are?"
I sighed, "I am at the Law building, take the left at the stop sign and you will see me waiting in a red dress," I replied, trying to hide how annoyed I was.
"Ok, I'll be right there." He muttered.
I hanged up the phone. A minute later he was at my feet. I stomped my way around to the front seat and got in beside him.
"Good night," I muttered under my breath. I am sure he saw that I was not in the mood to be any more polite than I was being. As mad as I was though, I could not help but notice how cute he was. I started to relax as I was waiting for him to drive out of the compound, then I heard him muttered, "Damn, this gate is closed." I sighed and shook my head, "Is this your first time coming on campus, don't you know that this gate closes off at 10pm?"
He smiled and it melted everything inside me.
"Let's just take the back gate; you can take the next right turn here." At this time my response was a bit softer now.
We drove out onto the empty road and with the cool breeze hitting my face, I quickly relaxed. He turned on the radio and the sound of Celine Dion’s voice echoed in the night. All I could think was, ‘Fuck, this man is reading my mind.’
As we approached closer to my home, I took out the regular taxi fare to pay him, but he declined full payment citing the fact that he was late in picking me up and insisted to take me straight to my gate. The road leading to my gate was very rocky, so other drivers did not usually take me straight there.
“Here you are,” he said with a smile, “and again, I apologize for showing up late.”
I thanked him, smiled and went inside. I thought about him that night. Why was he different from the others? What was so special about him that after one cab ride home, he still lingered on my mind? Honestly, I was not looking to start anything with anyone right now; I was fully focused on my career. Furthermore, I just got out of a ten-year relationship and I was not ready to get into another one.
Then again, a woman had needs, Right? It does not have to be a relationship. I was in my own imaginary world as I pictured his broad shoulders in that white T-shirt; I remembered how his hands firmly held the steering wheel and imagined they were holding me instead.
“What the fuck is wrong with me!” I said out loud. “How can I just meet a guy and fantasizing about him already?” I brushed the thought away, “I think I better take a shower and go to bed.”
A few days later, here I was again working the night shift. I had my life all planned out and needed this money to put those plans into action, so I did as much overtime as I could.
So, after another tiring night, I called for a cab and this time they assured me of one being there in seven minutes. I listened to some music while I waited; music relaxed me after a hectic day. In about five minutes, a familiar cab stopped at my feet, I could not help but smile when I realized it was him. I was happy to see him.
“Hi,” I greeted him cheerfully.
“Hi,” he replied with that grin I admired.
“You are early tonight. I see you have gotten familiar with the building,” I teased.
He flashed me that smile again, ‘how the hell can one smile have such an effect on me?' Okay, I admit, I had not had sex in almost a year, and one main reason was due to the fact that I was mad at every male species, so I was not usually affected like this. What was it that was so special about him? Yes, he was very handsome, tall, masculine and an overall hottie.
I noticed he was not playing any music tonight, so I ask, “Do you still have that Celine Dion Album that you played a few nights ago? I love her songs. Can you put on some music for me?”
“Absolutely,” he answered.
Hearing her songs always relaxed me. Before I realized, I was singing along to her song, “It's all coming back to me." He turned up the volume and started singing with me. I was having so much fun I did not realize that we had reach my gate.
“Thank you,” I said, opening the door.
“You are welcome,” he said while handing his card with his number and name on it.
“Now you can call me directly,” he smiled.
“That I will definitely do,” I answered.
“I don’t have your name?” He called out as I was opening my gate.
“Tasha,” I answered.
“Okay, Tasha. Have a wonderful night; all my information is on the card.”
I told him goodnight and closed the gate behind me. Am I really crushing on this guy? I did not even know I had it in me anymore to feel anything for the opposite sex. I looked at the card he gave me, his name was Zade. “Damn, even his name is sexy,” I lamented to myself.
It became a routine for him to pick me up, and with routine our conversations got more personal. I looked forward to working the night shift just so I could see him.
“So, might I ask why a sexy lady like you is still single?” He asked.
I knew he was flirting with me but it still made me blush.
“Who said I was single?” I asked.
“Oh sorry,” he said, “I just assumed.”
I smiled, and then whispered, “I am single.”
I thought I saw him smile through the corner of my eyes. It had been only a month but seeing him almost every night felt like I knew him enough to confide in him.
“To be honest, I am coming out of a relationship and it was not the best, so I decided to take a break.”
“Okay, that I can understand but so you know, not everyone is the same, but I think I know where you are coming from.” He replied.
“Yeah, everyone seems to have an agenda these days, I am just not into the games, lies and deceit, so being single it's working out perfectly well. I have not slept with anyone in over a year and it feels good. Trust me; I am staying away from love.”
I couldn’t believe I shared all that information, but I felt kind of relief getting it off my chest.
“So are you saying that you will never fall in love again?” he asked with a smile.
“Maybe not never, but I am not looking to fall in love anytime soon.”
“Ok, tell me something?” I realized that he started a lot of his questions with this phrase.
“During that one year you have not felt like you needed a man?” He asked.
“You sound like it's something hard to do? I'll have you know that some women have gone longer than a year and it's not a problem. I don't need a man and yes during that time I felt like I wanted someone to keep my company, after all, I am only human but I also have self-control.”
“Well, I certainly respect your restraint as not many women I know can say that they were able to stay away from men for so long.”
All this talk about sex had got me so turned on but I continued to act as if I was not bothered by his presence next to me. I had not had sex in a year, and I had not kissed in about two years. Sitting so close to him, listening to some soft music, I wanted nothing more than to kiss him.
“Well, you are a very sexy and intelligent lady, so I am sure someone will come along and sweep you off your feet.” He interrupted my thoughts.
“My heart is closed for business so that man will have to do a lot of sweeping before I even attempt to open the door.”
We both laughed at that last statement. We talked about relationships for a few more minutes then continued our routine car karaoke.
A few times at work I found myself thinking about him. One day my coworker had to literally shake me back to reality.
“Girl, what the hell are you thinking about?” asked Stacy.
Stacy was very nosy, but she was also my friend and I told her almost everything.
“Nothing,” I lied. “I was just thinking about the upcoming presentation that we have with the clients next week.”
It was not entirely a lie I was kind of nervous about the meeting with the client and I knew Stacy was too, so this was the best way to have her not prying in my distant thoughts.
“Don't even remind me,” Stacy replied, “I am already having a nervous breakdown because my team is not performing that well and I have no idea what I am going to say to them.”
We both worked at a business processing outsourcing company and we were both team managers and lately our performance had not been the best, so we had to give a presentation showing what's going wrong and what we intended to do to fix the problem. I was happy when she changed the subject to something a little bit lighter.
“Did you hear that Lisa got fired?” Stacy whispered.
“What?” Lisa was also a Team Manager and she was always performing; her team was always on top even when everyone else was failing.
“Yes, I just heard that they did an audit and found out that she was actually cheating the system, so she was not getting those results honestly.”
“Wow, I can't believe it! I guess you can't trust anyone, can you?” Just then our boss came out of his office so Stacy quickly walked away.
“Tasha come by my office now please,” my boss called to me.
“Okay sir, I'll be right there,” I answered while beckoning Stacy to ask her what was going on.
She shrugged her shoulder, as she was not aware of what was going on either. As I made my way to his office, I tried to remember the past week and if there was anything that I had done wrong. I came in late one morning, but I was sure no one saw me. I approached his office, knocked and opened the door.
“You wanted to see me sir?” I asked.
“Yes, close the door and take a seat.” Jack was not usually so serious; he loved his employees and he always tried to make the place feel like home. I rarely saw him in this mood.
“I know you must have heard by now that we had to release Lisa from her duties," he began. Before I could answer he continued. “So her team is without a manager, well what is left of her team because we had to let some of them go too. You are the strongest manager we have here and so I am putting them on your team. Is there any question?”
I wanted to shout, “Fuck yes, I already have too many persons.” But, being the good girl I was, I said, “No sir, no problem,” plus I saw that he was already under some stress.
“Ok, good. I know I can count on you. That was it, you may go now.”
As I closed the door behind me I thought to myself, “this presentation is going to be even worst then I thought.”
Later that day, Zade picked me up and as we approached my gate, the attraction and our chemistry over the past weeks had gotten stronger. I saw him leaning closer to me and I met him halfway and then in minutes our lips touched, it was like I was floating. It was like in the movies where you were lost into each other and there was nothing or no one else around.
Just then, an annoying sound interrupted my magical moment. It was the ringing of his cell phone. “I have to get that,” he mumbled without taking away his lips.
I smiled and we gently pulled apart while he answered his phone. “Yes, sure, I can pick you up in 10 minutes.” He hanged up the phone and smiled, “I'll see you tomorrow.” He then gave me a quick kiss on my lips and said, “Good night.”
“Good night,” I replied. He waited until I closed the gate behind me before driving off, I was not even in the house a minute when he called.
“Hi,” I answered.
“How was the kiss?” He asked.
I wanted to scream, 'that was fucking fantastic!' Instead I calmly said, “I can't form an opinion just yet, it ended too quickly.”
He laughed, “Are you saying that I should turn back and do it again?”
I laughed because I knew he had another job to do and he was just teasing but I wanted to say 'yes, please', but instead I whispered, “The small taste I got was good, you are a really good kisser.” We flirted some more until it was time to pick up his passenger.
“Sweet dreams, I'll see you tomorrow.” He said.
“Okay, goodnight Zade,” I replied and hang up. I thought about his lips, they were perfect, and his scent was just captivating. It took me a while to fall asleep, but I was anxious to see him the next day.
