Babygirl and the Mean Boss (9 page)

             
Marty just smiled and gestured for her to follow him down the stairs.  “Pick out a movie.  I’m going to go pop us some popcorn.”

             
Nicole’s look of admiration was genuine.  “Big screen, home theater AND popcorn?  Man, I’ll never leave.”  Marty’s smile grew even wider.

             
Nicole examined the substantial movie collection and decided on the Sixth Sense.  It had been years since she’d seen that one.

             
He returned with iced tea and microwave popcorn.  “Good choice.”  He said when he put in the DVD.  Then he sat down on the couch next to her.  “Put up your feet if you want.”  He kicked off his shoes and got comfy.  After a moment she slipped of her own and did the same. 

             
Nicole had forgotten how spooky the movie could be and she caught herself jumping a couple of times.  Marty laughed at her and she
hit him with a pillow
, completely
forgetting that this was the boss that she had recently considered an asshole.

             
“Double Feature?”  He suggested when the movie was over.

             
“Okay.”  She got up and scanned through his movie library again, stopping suddenly with a gasp.  “No you don’t!”

             
“No I don’t,
what
?”  He asked.

             
“No you do NOT have
THE PLAYERS CLUB
sitting in here!”

             
“I’ll have you know that Bernie Mac played the hell out of that movie.”

             
Nicole put her hands on her hips with a scowl.  “Oh?  So it wasn’t the naked women?”

             
“Put in the movie, Nicole, and I bet you I can recite every one of Bernie Mac’s lines.”  She put the movie in…and sure enough he did.  Nicole laughed so hard that she had to hold her stitches.  When Marty mimicked Bernie’s line about white women
not wanting to dance for the white man unless they got paid, and then Marty actually had the audacity to scream ‘TITTIES AND ASSES,’
Nicole literally cried.

             
“Marty, have you ever dated a black woman?”  She asked
when she finally wiped away the last tear.

             
Marty loved the sound and sight of her laughter. 
“No
. 
But I’ve liked a few
black women
.”

             
“Scared?”

             
He chuckled.  “No.  It just didn’t happen, either I was involved or they were.
”  His eyes lingered on hers.
 
“
What about you?  You ever date a white guy?”

             
Nicole’s brow furrowed that the script had got
ten
flipped.  “
Oh, um…y
es.”  The look on Marty’s face was priceless.  He was shocked.  “
He was an
Italian guy I knew a long time ago.
  Maybe you wouldn’t call him
white
, but…”

             
“Who was he?”  Marty leaned forward intrigued, wanting the entire story.

             
“Tomas…It was a long time ago.”  She didn’t say anything else but Marty watched her intently willing her to continue.  “I was twenty-one and I lived in…”  She caught herself.
”an apartment that his Mom owned.  She loved me.”  Nicole smiled in remembrance.  “She fed me Italian food…real Italian food-
-
not just pasta and marinara, but fish and scallops and stew.  Did you know
that?  Italian food is more tha
n just spaghetti and meatballs?”

             
Marty nodded smiling slightly.  “What happened between you and Tomas?”

             
“Oh, I had to go home.”  Marty noticed that she was trying to hide her sudden discomfort.  “My Mother died and I had to go home.  I planned to go back to Italy but…things didn’t turn out that
way.” She realized her slip and quickly met his eyes hoping he hadn’t. No such luck.

             
“Nicole, you lived in Italy?”  Again he was surprised.

             
She shrugged uninterested.  “How did we start talking about me?  What about these women?”

             
“What
do you want to know
?”
  He leaned back against his comfy couch and continued watching her.

             
“
Tell me what they looked like
?”

             
He smirked.  “Are you asking me what I find attractive about black women?”  She blushed.  Yes, she was asking that. 

             
“It’s not in the color.
”
  That wasn’t the complete truth. 
H
e always thought the contrast in color was enticing
, h
owever Marty had little interest
in dark or light skinned.  Nicole was car
a
mel; neither dark nor light.  But he would give his left nut just to see if her nipples colored pink or brown against her creamy flesh…
”
I liked two women who were black.  I didn’t like them
because
they were black.”

             
“Okay.  Point made.”

             
He reached for the remote control and
put the movie on pause and then
he looked at her again. 
He was dying to ask her about Tomas, and about her living in Italy but knew that she was closed to the topic.  He did have other things that interested him, though. 
“
So now that you asked me, let me ask you. 
What attracts you to a man?”

             
The question
caught her off guard. 
“What attracts me?” 
F
lipped script again!  “Well…I’m attracted to a man that’s patient, kind, strong-”

             
“What about looks?”
  He was staring at her with those piercing grey eyes of his.

             
“Uh…Big guys.  I’m a big woman.  I have to be with a big guy.”  Quickly she clarified.  “Uh…you know, muscular-
”
Shit
!  That had
co
me out all wrong.

             
“Facial hair?”
 

             
“Yeah, I like facial hair.”

             
“Long hair, short, shaved?”

             
“Shaved head is cool.”

             
“Tats?” 

             
She licked her lips.  “I like tats.”

             
“Piercings?”  He shot back.

             
“It depends where.”

             
“Where do
you
like them?”

             
“One ear only.  No nipple or brow or facial piercings.”

             
Marty stroked his goatee.  “Are you hungry?”

             
“Huh?!”  She jumped a little.

             
“Ready for dinner?” 

             
He watched her innocently while she contemplated why she had just sat there and described the man that attracts her…and it turns out to be a description of him!
  She gave him a suspicious. 

             
“
Um, sure.
”  She
answered even though she wasn’t
hungry after the large lunch, and popcorn.  It was just hard to look into his sexy grey eyes and not agree with everything he said.  That conversation had been strange and slightly sexy which left a pleasant tingling between her thighs.

             
“What sounds good?
”  His voice was a slow sexy drawl.  God, was he doing that on purpose?
 
“
We can do Indian, Chinese, Italian-
”

             
“Indian?”  She asked curiously.

             
“Do you like Indian?”

             
“I
’ve
never had it.”

             
Mart
y’s mouth curved
in
a
slight
grin
.  “Oh what sights I have to show you.”

             
He had such
a beautiful
grin. 
Nicole found her eyes glued to his mouth.  She jumped up.  “I’ll be back.  I’m going to use the bathroom
and take my medicine.”  More tha
n anything she just needed to collect herself.

             
When Nicole was washing her hands she studied her reflection in the mirror. 
The soap began to dry on her hands as
she took in the damage done to her
. 
The sight of her face made her
ill.  Her eye was no longer closed but still swollen and discolored.  Her bottom lip was split but healing with a crusty looking scab.   Her normally luxurious
curls were
kinky and dry-looking. 
Her outside finally matched her insides..
.

             
When she left the bathroom her mood was decidedly somber.  Marty held up a menu, smiling.  Then he noticed her expression and his smile faded.

             
“Nicole, what
’
s wrong?”

             
She sat back down on the couch.  “Nothing.”

             
“Nicole?”

             
She touched her face.  “I didn’t know I…looked so bad
.”  She thought the scar on her lip might
even
be permanent.

             
“Baby Girl, you were just hit by a car…and you don’t look
bad
.”  Marty rubbed his shaved head contemplating something and then he mumbled.  “I think you’re beautiful.”

             
“What?  You think I’m beautiful—you’re nuts!”  Even before the accident Nicole thought she was just okay—not beautiful.

             
“Okay…I’m nuts, you’re not beautiful, I just want to eat.  Now can we decide on what’s for dinner?  I’m starving!”

             
Nicole chuckled slowly.  This time it was Marty that looked at her suspiciously.

             
They decided on what to eat and Marty called the order in.  He gave her a funny look.

             
What?”  She asked touching
her hair
.

             
“Are you going to be okay while I pick this up?  Or, why don’t you com-
”

             
“I’ll be okay.  I’ll watch the rest of The Players Club.  Just…”  She looked around.  It was starting to get dark.  “Make sure all of the doors are locked
?
”