Love Is Overdue (6 page)

I smiled. “I’m sorry. It’s
just that it’s kinda been a deal-breaker for me in the
past.”

“
How you
mean?”

“
Well...in the
past...when a guy I’m interested in finds out that instead of maybe
the usual pain-in-the-ass best friend he’s typically used to
dealing with in a relationship turns out to be a raging diva with a
dick, they usually tend to run in the opposite direction,” I
admitted.

Ben
laughed at that. “He really that bad?” he wondered, looking amused.
“I thought he was your
‘boy’
– why you go talkin’
‘bout him like that?”

I rolled my eyes. “Because
it’s the truth – and he knows it,” I admitted. “But he’s seeing
someone now so he’s already kicked my ass to the curb again for the
time being. Maybe I’m a little bitter.”

Ben gave me a knowing
glance. “It’s all good,” he said slowly, watching me. “More time
for me.”

My heart did a little flip.
“So what about you?” I wondered then. “Do you have any
deal-breakers I need to know about? Any dusty skeletons hanging out
in your closet?”

He let out a little laugh.
“Damn, you not letting up on me tonight, are you?” He thought for a
minute. “But to be honest with you...” He leaned forward slowly. “I
may not be used to this whole dating game and everything but one
thing I know...” He paused for effect and reached out and took my
hand again. “Never – ever – let any skeletons out the very first
night.” And then he pulled my hand up gently and gave my fingers a
tender little kiss with those beautiful soft lips of
his.

I almost melted but I
regained myself quickly and pulled my hand away playfully. “Not
fair,” I protested. “I’ve already given you a few to
ponder...”

But Ben just sucked his
teeth. “Gabriela, I ain’t heard – or seen – anything about you
tonight that I can’t handle,” he said seriously. “You got nothin’
to worry about.”

I smiled. “So tell me then,”
I said softly. “If you’re so busy that you don’t even have time to
sleep, how is it that you have time to be here right now...with
me?”

“
Hmmm...” He eyed
me again, looking to be debating whether or not to say what he was
about to say. “Because when I want something as bad as I want you,
there’s always enough time.”

I sucked in my breath. “So
you want me, huh?” My voice came out all slippery and sexy – I
barely recognized it.

He did that little barely
noticeable lick of his lips as he stared me down. “Gabriela, I
wanted you from the first day I saw you,” he admitted, without an
apologetic hint in his tone whatsoever. “I already told you,
remember?”

I swallowed. “So what you
want me for?”

“
Everything,” he
said, without hesitation. “But we can start with friends…see what
happens…”

I had to snap out of it.
This conversation was leading down a very dangerous road. And as
bad as I wanted it, it was moving far too fast for me.

“
For someone who
doesn’t date a lot, you really do seem to know all the right things
to say,” I said again, downing the last of the wine in my
glass.

“
Well, I don’t
know...” He looked to be thinking about it seriously. “I don’t
think you need to date a lot to notice something – or someone – you
like when you see it.”

I smiled at his observation.
“Yeah. Maybe you’re right.”

He looked at me closely. “So
I guess it’s fair to say that you’re feelin’ me too,
right?”

Damn, this man was so fine.
His voice was giving me goosebumps.

I nodded slowly. “I think
that would be a fair assumption.”

“
Y’see? It’s
simple,” he said then, picking up the new pint the waitress had
just dropped off at our table. “Once you got chemistry, ain’t
nothin’ else to worry about – whether you a serial dater or rusty
as an old nail...” He gestured toward himself. “It all work out in
the end.”

I laughed. “You’re not
rusty, Ben – you seem pretty well-oiled to me actually.” I picked
up my wine and brought the glass to my lips. “In all aspects,” I
added, suggestively.

He raised his eyebrows.
“Damn. You’re a flirt,” he stated simply. “I was wrong about you,”
he teased me.

I laughed again. “What?
Me?”

“
Yeah, you. Here
I was thinking you were such a shy, quiet girl...but you bold as
shit. I like it.”

I was still laughing. “No,
not really. This is just the wine talking.”

“
Hmmm...well then
I’m glad I decided to get you drunk tonight. This opens up another
world of possibilities.”

I stopped and eyed him
suspiciously. “Oh you think so, huh?” I shook my head. “You may be
smooth but I’m not that easy.”

He smiled. “Well, good.” He
didn’t seem bothered in the least. “Neither am I.”

Chapter
Three

When we stepped out of the
pub about an hour a half later, I started to get anxious about what
was next. I didn’t want the night to end but it was already late,
and I was pretty buzzed, and there was no way I could trust myself
to say no if he asked me to go home with him. I wanted him so badly
it was almost unreal. Every part of me was aching and reacting to
him – every look, every touch, every brush of his arm or his
leg...the flip of my stomach as held the door for me and I caught
another erotic whiff of that Armani cologne...

“
So how you
feeling?” he asked as we stepped away from the door and into the
warm, yet damp breezy night. The streets of Gastown were still
abuzz with people, the night clubs were still hopping.

I took a breath. I was tipsy
and horny and there was only one possible cure – aside from the
obvious. “Hungry,” I answered simply.

“
So you wanna go
get something to eat?” he asked, as if it was the simplest thing in
the world.

I smiled at the prospect of
our date continuing. “Sure – where?” I glanced around to see what
our best options were. It was nearly one am, so I knew they would
be limited.

Ben thought too, looking
around with me, but then just sucked his teeth. “I don’t know,
girl...only thing open right now is pizza by the
slice...”

“
Hmmm...” That
was disappointing. We would have to eat out in the street if we
went that route.

“
I got a better
idea, though.” He looked at me. “You down?”

I kind of laughed. “How can
I be down if I don’t know what it is?”

He smiled at me. “Trust
me.”

And for some reason, there
was not even a question in my mind.

Ben hailed a cab for us and
only once we got inside and he gave our driver the address did I
figure out his mysterious plan.

“
Your
restaurant?” I asked, eyeing him suspiciously. “Aren’t you closed
too?”

“
Yeah, but I have
a key.”

About ten minutes later our
cab pulled up in front of the restaurant on Commercial Drive. He
paid the driver and we stepped out in front of the building. I
waited as Ben unlocked the front door and disarmed the alarm before
entering with him.

This time the restaurant
truly was deserted. Ben hit the lights and I followed him inside
slowly, studying my surroundings in a way that I wasn’t able to do
during my regular visits. I focused my attention on all the black
and white photographs I had previously only glanced at in
passing.

I stopped in front of my
favourite one – the outdoor fruit market and what looked like a
little tiki hut. There was an older woman selling fruit and a
teenaged boy and a few other little kids standing nearby, one on a
bicycle and another clutching a soccer ball. It was such a
beautifully candid shot, so expertly photographed. But my eyes were
suddenly focused in on the teenager leaning against the
counter.

“
Whoa – Ben,” I
called him over. “That’s you,” I said, pointing.

He came up behind me and
looked at where I was pointing. “Nope,” he said simply. “That’s
me.” Instead he pointed to the younger boy on the
bicycle.

“
Oh,” I said,
surprised. “Really?” I studied the photograph again, finding it
hard to believe. “‘Cause he looks just like you.” I motioned to the
teenager again.

“
I know,” he
said. “That’s my brother – we look a lot alike. And that’s my
grandmother.” He pointed to the woman behind the
counter.

I stared at the photograph
again closely. “It’s beautiful,” I said then. “They all are. Are
these all your own personal photographs?” I wondered, even more
impressed, as I turned to him.

He shook his head. “No, my
mother’s,” he said. “That’s why she’s not in any of the
shots.”

“
Wow...” I moved
to glance over at a few more. “She’s so talented...”

I stopped at the shot of the
children playing soccer. “Okay, that’s you,” I pointed, this time
certain of it.

He smiled. “Yeah, you
redeemed yourself,” he told me.

“
You still
play?”

He shrugged, looking at the
photograph again. “A little...it was never as much my thing,” he
admitted. “My brother was the athlete, I was more the geeky kid
that liked to hang out with my grandmother and fry fish.” He kind
of laughed.

I eyed him then,
suspiciously. By the looks of his body there didn’t seem to be
anything nonathletic about him. “Mmmhmm...if you say so,” I teased
him. “So if that’s the case then how do you...” My voice trailed
off and I just finished my sentence by giving him a suggestive up
and down glance with my eyes.

That made him laugh. “What
are you talking about?”

I sighed, still feeling the
wine. “You know...”

He shook his head, confused
but amused at the same time. “What the hell are you talking about,
girl? Or are you just drunk?”

“
I am a little
tipsy,” I admitted. “But what I mean is...” I took a breath. “How
do you keep such a banging body if you don’t work out?”

He raised his eyebrows at
me. “I never said I didn’t work out...you like my body?”

Fuck, he was turning me on
all over again.

I laughed. “Nah...I’m more
into the skinny, nerdy type you profess to be but...for some reason
I still confused you with your brother.”

He nodded slowly. “I
see...”

“
Yeah...so if
this is skinny and nerdy then I would be interested to see what you
call athletic.” I kept my eyes tightly glued to his.

He didn’t say anything right
away, just held my gaze for what seemed like an eternity. He looked
like he wanted to say something – or do something – but he held
back.

“
What?” I
couldn’t stand it anymore.

He shook his head slowly.
“Nothing...just thinking.”

“
About what?” I
was lost.

He kept his eyes on mine.
“Just...you. Thinking about you...thinking about how you would feel
if I told you I’m about to try to kiss you.”

The blood seemed to rush
through my veins at record speed. I caught my breath. “How would I
feel?” I repeated. It was all I could manage.

He nodded. “Wondering if I
should keep thinking about it...or just do it?”

I swallowed. Wet my lips.
This was too much...

“
You’re asking
me?” Again, it was all I could come up with.

He smiled then, just a
little. “Maybe I shouldn’t ask you...”

I paused, my heart racing.
“Maybe...” I admitted, as he brushed a lock of my hair behind my
ear. “But it’s nice that you...”

My voice trailed off as
those soft, beautiful lips of his took my breath away and I was
suddenly overcome with his mouth and his tongue and that sweet
scent of his cologne as he kissed me slowly, gently – and then
deeper and deeper as I started to respond to him. His hand caressed
the side of my face so tenderly. I couldn’t remember the last time
anyone had kissed me like that. What struck me the most was that he
just focused on my mouth, on the kiss... He was so attentive to
that simple act that the rest of his body – the rest of himself –
held back. I was trembling.

And then he pulled away
slowly.

“
Hmmm...” He let
out a satisfied sigh. “Sorry.” His voice was so soft and deep. “I
cut you off.”

I caught my breath – trying
to regain my thoughts. “It’s okay...I didn’t notice.”

He smiled. “You still
hungry?” he wanted to know.

I nodded slowly, still
completely breathless. “Famished.”

He kind of laughed. “All
right...come with me.”

He led me into the kitchen
then as I was still trying to recover from that kiss, trying to
decide if all of this was really happening or if it was just some
extremely intense dream I was having.

“
So what you feel
for, Gabriela?” Ben was talking then, after he had flipped on the
stereo and some soft dub music filled the air around us.

I tried desperately to snap
out of this trance I was in, as I watched him move around his
kitchen, grabbing an apron and a few pots, and then head toward his
industrial-sized refrigerator.