Cutting Loose (11 page)

“That’s my diagnosis at the moment.”

Fearing that he was about to give up and
leave she said, “Maybe it is something else.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know.” She waited a beat and
added, “You’re the ‘Professional.’”

“Are you mocking me?”

“Would you like something to drink?”

“Don’t answer my question with a
question,” he said crossing his arms over his chest before adding, “And yes,
that would be nice.”

When she was out of the room she went to
the kitchen and laughed her ass off. She had him right where she wanted him.

After she raided through her
refrigerator she went back to the office and handed Brett a glass of lemonade.

“Thank you,” he said, taking the glass
and taking a quick sip. He frowned and asked, “It this homemade?”

“Yes,” beamed Sabrina. “How do you like
it?”

“It’s um,” he eyed his cup and looked
back at Sabrina before saying, “It’s a little tart I guess.”

She rolled her eyes and asked, “Are you
almost done yet?” with a hint of impatience in her voice.

“Almost.”

She pivoted on the spot and said, “I’ll
be outside on the patio if you need me.”

That said, she went to the living room,
grabbed her laptop and went outside to the patio, where she sat in a lounge
chair under the shade. She wasn’t doing anything in particular on the laptop,
just making herself look busy in case he came outside. She stopped what she was
doing and glanced at the pool that looked daunting with the heat making her
want to jump in.

She obliged to the brilliant idea and
ran upstairs and changed into a Dior two-piece bathing suit. Outside, she
dangled her toes over the edge and tested the temperature of the water. It was
nice and warm, perfect, even. She sat down on the edge of the pool and prayed
like hell that she wouldn’t fall into the water, because she didn’t want her
hair getting ruined.

As she sat there, she envisioned Brett
walking outside wearing a pair of swimming trunks and asking if he could join
her. She imagined herself saying yes and seeing him dive into the pool,
splashing water all over her in the process and not giving a damn about her
hair getting wet because she was blinded by the perfection of his rock hard
muscles and his washboard abs dripping wet. She also imagined him emerging from
the pool, brushing his wet hair from his face as he stretched out on the chaise
lounge as the sun’s rays tan his tanned skin.

She could imagine herself rubbing sun
tan lotion all over his body and laying on her back as he did the same to her.

She snapped from her vivid imagination
when she heard Brett’s voice calling her name. She got up from the pool and
walked over to where he stood.

“Sorry I was in my zone. What’s up?”

He couldn’t help but notice the way the
sweat was trickling down the crevice of her breasts and immediately diverted
his eyes and said, “I figured out what’s happened to your computer.”

“Oh, really? And what’s that?”

“It killed over because it was old and
the operating system was attacked by an unknown virus.”

“That’s interesting. And it sucks. So,
how much do I owe you for this favor?”

“Absolutely nothing.”

“Okay,” she grabbed her towel off of the
chair and began to dry off her legs. She pranced back inside. She turned around
to find Brett momentarily dazed.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” said Brett coolly. He waited a
beat and asked, “Do you work out a lot or are you just naturally fit?”

Sabrina laughed out loud. “Thanks for
the compliment. I think it’s a little bit of both. My mother has good genes.”
She walked over to him and rubbed her index finger over his chest and asked,
“Do you work out?”

“Yes, I do.”

Sabrina smiled and said, “That I can
tell.”

Brett smiled back.

Then silence fell between them.

More silence.

Brett broke the silence and asked, “Are
you doing anything today?”

“Um, yeah. Work.”

He paused. “You’re working on a
Saturday?”

“Yeah. Why?’

“I was hoping you and I could go on that
second date.”

Her heart skipped a beat. She was glad
to hear those words and couldn’t believe herself when she said, “I’m not going
to be busy all day. And since you won the bet, what do you have in mind for our
second date thing?”

Brett chuckled. “You’re saying it like
it’s a bad thing.”

“Sorry,” she said apologetically. “I
don’t like the word ‘date.’ It makes everything all formal and mushy.”

“I see,” said Brett. “I’ll try to use
another word like engagement or meeting or rendezvous or—”

“Okay, I get it.”

He smiled and said, “Just throwing it
out there.”

A moment or so later Sabrina said, “If we’re
going to do this rendezvous thing, I need a time frame so I can get ready.”

“How much time do you need?”

“At least two hours.”

“You need two hours to get ready?”

“Yes,” snapped Sabrina. “Unless you want
me looking like a hot mess.”

Brett laughed and said, “Okay. I’ll get
going and give you a call around seven or eight.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.”

Hours after Brett left her house she
hurried to the mall and bought a new outfit. She didn’t want to be caught dead
in some old outfit she ducked away in her closet. Tonight she was pulling out
all the stops. Tonight Sabrina was going to get some sexual healing.

Chapter Ten:

Getting Close

Sabrina sat on the sofa dressed in a new
outfit she bought with a matching new hairstyle just for the occasion of going
out tonight with Brett. In the midst of her shopping she even managed to throw
in a manicure, pedicure and even a facial that she hadn’t had the time to enjoy
in a long time. At first she wanted to hold back and not look as if she was
trying too hard but all the while, she wanted to look her best.

With all that had gone on throughout the
day she had neglected to inform Larissa and Cassandra that she was going out,
not to mention it was going to be their second date and she didn’t even tell
them about the first date she had. In the back of Sabrina’s mind she wanted to
tell them but then again, she figured she might as well keep her mouth shut for
the time being, so as to not jinx her new relationship that was going so well.

Considering the fact that Brett didn’t
necessarily tell her where it was that they were going, she hoped like hell hat
she wasn’t too overdressed in her elegant ensemble which consisted of a white
cashmere top and denim skinny jeans and a pair of Gucci boots that caught her
eye while shopping. Everything inside her told her not to wear boots but hell,
she liked the way she looked in them, even if by the end of the night she was
going to have blisters on her feet.

Her nerves were starting to get the best
of her and she had to get up and walk around to try to shake the jitters off.
Then there was a knock on the door that made her jump a little.

She walked over to the foyer and opened
the door. Brett stood there with a big smile on his face and his hands behind
his back. He brought his hands in front of him to reveal a dozen red roses.

“For you,” he said, holding them out for
her to take.

“Wow. They’re beautiful. Thank you,” she
said, as she took them and pressed a rose to her nose and inhaled the amazing
scent. “Would you like to come in while I find a vase to put these in?”

“Sure,” Brett said without hesitation
and followed her inside.

Sabrina pranced into the kitchen and
searched for a vase until she found one and displayed the roses on the granite
counter.

“Nice place,” Brett said as he took in
the place.

“Not bad for a college grad, right?”
Sabrina asked from the kitchen.

He whistled. “Right. What was your
major?”

“Journalism. I grew up around fashion
and my mother talked me out going to design school.”

When she returned, he glanced over her
body-hugging dress with an appreciative smile. “You’re definitely dressed to
the nines.”

Sabrina gazed over his black jacket over
his V-neck t-shirt and fitted jeans, a style that she had been seeing a lot
lately that didn’t work for a lot of men. But Brett, he made it work for him
and then some. “You look handsome,” she finally managed to say.

“Thanks. For a moment there I thought
you were going to insult my outfit. If only you knew how long it took me to put
this together.” He laughed and sent her a wink.

“It was definitely worth it.” She held
his gaze before grabbing her handbag. “I don’t know about you, but I am
starving.”

They left Sabrina’s house and jetted off
to Brett’s secret location he claimed Sabrina was going to like. After about
fifteen minutes of driving Brett pulled up to a place that looked like it was
overflowing with people waiting to get inside. Sabrina thought to ask Brett how
in the world he knew about the place and if they were going to have to stand in
line with the rest of everybody else.

As if he was reading her mind he said,
“No, you will not have to stand in line, so stop worrying.”

She was at lost for words and couldn’t
respond, just nodded her head as if to say, “Okay.”

After they got out of the car, Brett
gently held her hand as he lead them inside and met a hostess who was beaming
at them as they walked up to her.

“Good afternoon and welcome to The Chill
Grill! May I have the name of your party, please?”

“Deltour, party of two,” Brett said
distinctively.

The hostess scanned a paper in front of
her for a moment or so and looked back up and said, “Okay, sir. Your table is
ready and a server will be right with you momentarily. And don’t forget tonight
is karaoke night and happy hour starts at eight-thirty. Enjoy your meal!”

A young girl who looked to be in her
early twenties with crimson hair tied into a fierce ponytail greeted them and
escorted them to their table in a dimly lit area.

“Hi, I’m April and I will be serving you
tonight,” she said energetically. “Can I start you off with a drink?” she asked
as she placed a menu in front of them.

“Sure,” said Brett without even glancing
at the menu. “I’ll have the strawberry and lemon daiquiri.”

She jotted down on her notepad and
turned to Sabrina. “And for you, ma’am?”

Sabrina opened the menu and after a few
seconds finally decided on the same thing Brett ordered.

Once the waitress disappeared, Sabrina
said to Brett, “You handled yourself quite well.”

He laughed softly. “It wasn’t much.
Besides, I come here way too often. I’ve practically got the menu down to the
T.”

“That’s really sad.”

Brett laughed his ass off, his face
turned scarlet from laughing so hard. “That was a good one.”

Sabrina smiled. “I guess you won’t have
a problem ordering for me then. Just don’t get anything nasty.”

Brett tilted his head to the side and
said, “It won’t be a problem at all.”

The waitress emerged with their drinks
and sat them down in front of them and placed a basket of steaming bread rolls
in front of them.

 “Would you guys like to start out with
an appetizer or do you need more time?”

Brett closed his menu and looked at the
server. “We’ll have the Buffalo wings with ranch and sauce dipping as our
appetizer and for dinner I’d like the pepper steak, medium done with the Clam
Chowder soup and for the lady, she’ll have the Caesar chicken salad with Ranch
dressing on the side.”

The waitress smiled and said, “Great. Is
everything going okay so far?”

“Yes, it’s perfect,” Sabrina said as
Brett opened his mouth to speak but didn’t get the chance.

She giggled and said, “Okay,” as she
collected the menus and walked off.

“That was mean,” said Brett.

“What?”

Brett leaned closer to Sabrina and said,
“You jumped in before I had a chance to say anything.”

“Aww, did I hurt your feelings?”

In the dim light Sabrina could see his
face tense a little. He chuckled and asked, “Are you serious?”

Sabrina picked up a warm bread roll and
nibbled off a piece and said, “This bread is good.”

Brett shook his head and said, “Wow.
That’s all I can say.”

Sabrina popped the remainder of the
bread roll into her mouth and picked one from the basket and asked Brett if he
was up for a sample.

He replaced the seriousness on his face
with a semi-smile and said, “Sure.”

Sabrina leaned forward and placed the
bread roll on his tongue and watched as he closed his mouth and licked his lips
while chewing the remainder.