Plymouth, the street they traveled down, was pretty popular at night. Many of the good all night Coney Island’s and night clubs were on the street, plus popular after party places.
Shane could have kicked herself for being stupid for getting in the car with a complete stranger. Evan was probably kicking himself as well and she gripped the phone tightly and forced herself to breath calmly.
Cutting her eyes toward him without moving her head, she studied him in her peripheral vision. He was nervously tapping the wheel and this put her at ease a little. He was just as panicky as she was.
The first light they stopped at, he said, “Thank you so much.”
“It’s no problem. I had nothing better to do tonight, but sleep,” she teased relaxing a little.
He looked over at her and frowned. “Did you hurt yourself?”
Shane turned away ashamed so he wouldn’t see her eye that much. “Yeah, I’m pretty clumsy.” By now the black eye had become a slight scar under her eye, but it was going away.
“An ex-girlfriend of mine use to say that about her father too,” he said more under his breath.
Shane didn’t respond, but pretended interest in the light.
After the light changed, he asked, “Will you let me know your name?”
“Shane,” she answered quietly. “What’s so important this late at night, Paul?”
“Business. My father left a building to my brother and I on this side of town. The property manager died and there was a slight fire this morning. My brother went ot go check it out this afternoon and get the fire report, plus assess the damage. Someone stole his truck and he’s been stranded for the past three house while I’ve been trying to find him.”
She would not admit she had heard very little of what he had said, because for some reason she couldn’t take her eye off his lips. Thin yet sensuous, he articulated as if every word mattered. Did he know he did this or was this just a natural way he exuded his attraction to women?
Her throat went dry and she jammed her hands in her jacket pocket to find the Chapstick she always carried with her. Clearing her throat, she forced her eyes to look straight as they hit another red light. She became very aware that they were an arms length of room between them and nothing to stop him from sliding over and…
“I’m sorry,” he said suddenly.
She looked at him frowning. “For what?”
“I’ve made you uncomfortable with my staring, haven’t I?” he assumed.
Shane felt she was the one who should apologize. She had a feeling it wouldn’t have mattered if Paul were black, there was something about his persona that she found… attractive. “No reason to be sorry.”
“I just haven’t had the experience of…” He stopped himself.
“What?” she asked now very interested in what he had to say.
He stopped himself and actually flushed, bringing out a boyish charm in his face. I’ve never had the pleasure of personally conversing with a woman of your color,” he admitted. “It’s mostly business and impersonal.”
She was amused at his round about way of speaking. “If I didn’t know better, you just said you don’t know a lot of black people.”
H nodded as they came to another light. “So do you?” he asked, looking over at her.
“Yes, I know a lot of black people,” she teased.
Paul flushed again and chuckled getting her sense of humor immediately. “That’s not what I meant, Shane. Do you know a lot of people like me?”
“Nervous and lost? No, but white? Yes. He’s a good friend of the family.” She really didn’t want to go into the lawyer bit, because then she knew he would probably inquire about her trust and so forth. A discussion she hated speaking about – her family.
“I’m not the talker as you can see,” Paul admitted. “My brother is the talker. He could sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. I’m more of a doer. I do business, while my brother relates to the clients and customers.”
“That’s okay, Paul.” She was refreshed by his honesty in himself.
“What’s a nice girl like you doing out on a night like this?” he questioned.
They arrived at Wyoming, but she decided they could get to Elmhurst faster if they went another route. “Don’t get in the left lane,” she ordered. “We’re going straight.”
He frowned with a little wariness in his eyes. “According to your directions we’re supposed to turn.”
“Let’s just say we’re taking the Batman route.”
Paul followed her directions and stayed straight. If she had other intentions, he decided he would trust her still.
“I work part-time at the McDonald’s from where you picked me up at,” she said answering his prior questions. She opened her jacket to show off her uniform.
“Why don’t you look like a McDonald’s type of person? And you certainly don’t act like someone who works there.” He winced. “I’m doing it again.”
“What?”
“Putting my foot in my mouth.”
“It doesn’t look so bad there,” she teased.
He smiled. “Like I said, I’m not the talker.”
“What do you do, Paul?” she inquired.
“My brother and I own real estate. Plus, we head up a liquidation firm in Harper Woods. Our house also works sometimes like our secondary office. You’d like it.”
What was the chance of her possibly meeting a real estate owner in the middle of the night on the way home from work? Obviously a good possibility since he was sitting next to her. She frowned a bit disarmed. “How would you know what I like, Paul?”
“I wouldn’t dare to do anymore presuming, Shane. I don’t think I can get my foot down my throat any farther,” he quickly said.
It was her turn to laugh and be put at ease Although she still found it strange that he happened to be in the real estate business, she figured maybe this was her lucky day.
“My brother does all the real estate basically,” he explained. “Like I said, he works with the clients and customers, while I’m in charge of the business end. I go into homes of the deceased and liquidate the items in the house. WE also do businesses as well. I get the best price for everything, and then after we take out our percentage, we give a check over to the person’s relatives or the business that took over the estate.”
Shane could tell Paul enjoyed his job and took his business very serious. She had a feeling anything that he put his mind to, he took extremely serious and did his best at all that he tried.
He seemed to radiate his enjoyment for his work as he spoke. From his hands to his lips, she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. Quickly, she caught herself staring hard before he noticed. She determined he was naturally sensuous. A rare quality in a man, yet could he incite sensuality in a woman?
Shane blushed to herself. Never in her life had she had such thoughts about any man – especially a complete stranger! Opening up her jacket a little bit more, she looked to see if the heat was high in the car. It was not. Yet she felt like her temperature was rising all over.
The next light was a three way street. Giving him instructions on how to get through the maze of roads, they stopped at the longest light.
Paul looked at her and even though it was dark she could feel his eyes searching her face. “Can I ask you a favor?” His voice had gone peculiarly deep.
“Depends on the favor,” she said, mildly curious.
He seemed to lean over to her. “Can I touch your face?” Before she had a chance to protest, he quickly added, “I want to see if you skin is as soft as it looks.”
With words like that she found her senses quite shook up. Her own fascination with him grew ten times and the thought of making that connection made her mind swirl heavily. “Yes, Paul.”
Paul was surprised she had agreed to the request, but immediately raised his hand and slowly let the back of his knuckles touch her left cheek. He glided the tip of his thumb under her chin turning her face towards him. Her eyes closed partially as she could not only feel his physical touch, but there was more. A soul stirring sensation that brought to life a spirit buried deep inside of her. His thumb rubbed her other cheek and his fingertips briefly caressed her now parted lips as they moved up over her nose flowing over to her forehead, then his palm cupped her cheek.
The movement had been so fluid and detailed as each stroke seemed to ignite the spirit inside of her. Shane leaned into his warm soft hand and turned her mouth towards his palm pressing her lip against his flesh.
Gasping, she jerked away and grabbed his hand as if it had hurt. Meeting his eyes, she was surprised to find pure fascination filling his gaze.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked concerned.
She could only shake her head and looked away trying to control her breathing because she didn’t want to show how much he had really affected her. “I didn’t mean…”
He cut her off. “Don’t apologize, Shane.”
Realizing she was still holding his hand, she released it and moved as far against the passenger door as possible. He had scooted over a little, but his body size was so impressive he could stretch quite far and make it seem close enough.
The light had changed from red to green and then back to red again. Feelings like this were pretty much all new for her. She was feeling very confused within herself and with his proximity.
“It’s your turn,” he said.
Her eyes widened in fear. “My turn for what?”
Paul frowned giving her an amused but hard stare for a moment before asking, “You didn’t feel it, Shane?”
Lawd! He knew? How? He felt it too?!
When she didn’t answer right away, he shrugged and faced forward. “I guess it was just me, then.”
‘Are you going to miss this moment because you’re too scared?’ Her lips wouldn’t part to save her life to ask to touch him like he had touched her. It was just too crazy. ‘But that’s why you got in here. To explore why he made you feel like this.’ Pursing her thick lips together, she still couldn’t find the courage to say what she wanted.
Looking at her again, he smiled knowingly. “And you don’t want to touch me?”
‘YES!’ her mind screamed. She wanted to do more than touch him! That’s why she hadn’t spoke before. Biting her tongue she prayed she hadn’t said that out loud, but the grin on his face said something else. Blushing, she asked, “Did I say that out loud?”
“That you wanted to do more than touch me? Yes.” He looked too delighted with that admission.
The embarrassment increased. She felt like she had no control over her own body with him around. “Paul, I don’t think…”
“Then don’t think,” he said again, cutting her off and reaching over and taking her had. She didn’t fight him as he raised her palm to his face. The tips of her fingers stroked his cheek. The touch of him was like a magnet to her hand and she found herself laying all her fingers, then her entire palm against his cheek. The feel of the clean-shaven skin seem to vibrate underneath the most sensitive nerves in her palm. Her hand moved down gradually until her thumb was caressing the bottom half of his lip fascinated by the touch and feel of it.
“Well?” he asked his eyes dancing in excitement from her touch.
“Well what?” she asked confused.
“How did it feel?”
Trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, she said, “Like anyone else’s skin. Smooth to touch, masculine when needed.”
He smiled wickedly. “Do you want to know?”
She wondered did he always speak in half sentences where she was forced to ask a question with his question. “Know what?”
“If yours felt as soft as I thought,” he answered.
“Did it?”
“Silkier,” he said iniquitously.
Shane couldn’t help but to laugh. Whether he was serious or not, it just felt nice to speak to someone like this. Would this be called wordplay? She always wondered how it would feel to have a sexually stimulating conversation and she felt nice. Paul had a way of making a woman feel at ease and she certainly was feeling at ease with him if not more.
This was the first time she had laughed out loud and Paul was amazed at the change in her. She was even more beautiful than he would have though her to be. He wondered what else was she hiding from the world underneath those god-awful frumpy clothes.
“How old are you?” he inquired quietly as they waited for the light to change.
“I just turned twenty-one,” she said. “And you?”
“Thirty-five actually.”
“You look younger.”
He smiled knowingly again. “I get that a lot. My brother looks older than I, but I think it’s because of his size.”
“Speaking of your brother, don’t you think we should be hurrying to pick him up?” she questioned suspiciously.
“He’s waited this long, I don’t think it’s going to kill him to wait a few moments longer. Plus, if he needed me, he would have called my phone.” He nodded to the cell phone on the floor of the cab that he had plugged into the cigarette lighter.
So enthralled in him, she had not noticed. The light changed and he proceeded through and down another street where Plymouth officially needed at another light and they started going down a residential area. The streetlights occasionally lit the way, yet other times it was dark. Paul spoke to ease his nervousness about being somewhere he didn’t know.
“Is Shane a nickname?” he asked.
“It’s my real name,” she answered calmly. “Make a right at this corner and just go through until the third light.”
As much as he wanted to hurry, he wanted to make this trip as long as possible to spend more time with the young lady. She was enchanting and charming with a hidden sensuality about her that he was sure with further encouragement from him, could be nurtured into an exciting temptress.
“Do you do more than work at McDonald’s?” he questioned.
“I go to school at Wayne State. I’ll be earning my bachelors soon and was planning to try my hand at law school.” As she spoke, she noted he continuously took his eyes off the road to look at her. He was pretty much a safe driver, but if there were daylight, she would certainly say she was a distraction to his driving. His eyes seemed to constantly be drawn to her lips and that made her want to speak more, loving the attention he bestowed upon her.
Paul had a way to make a woman seem as if she were the most important thing at that point and time. At the third light, it was green and he veered a little to the left to go down another residential street. “You wouldn’t happen to be getting me lost on purpose, would you, Shane?”
“It’s the Batman route, and if I wanted you lost, I would have just given you bad instructions in the beginning,” she said.
“I meant that you’re trying to get me lost, to spend more time with me.”
She chuckled biting her lips, then let slip out, “It’s a thought.”
‘Why can’t I control my mouth around him?!’ she asked herself appalled at her brazenness.
That wicked glint appeared in his eyes again as she once again blushed at her slip up. “And what would you do with me, Shane?”
“I plead the fifth,” she answered, biting her lip even harder hoping nothing else fell out. Her eyes were going down the wide expanse of his chest, the flat stomach and the thick powerful long legs. She guessed he had to be a little over six feet and took excellent care of his body.
According to her nose, he wasn’t wearing any cologne, but used some here and there. A nice pleasant masculine smell, but his natural scent was earthy and enjoyable to her senses. Maybe her own pheromones were going into overdrive and she was just picking up anything and everything about this man.
The streetlights were few and far between as he continued to drive.
“Can I confess something?” he asked.
Although the thought of what he might say made her only slightly wary, curiosity of what he might say net got the best of her. “It’s a free country.”
“I’ve wanted to kiss you for past ten minutes.”
Her mouth fell open at the thought – no the possibility – of something like that happening to her. He spoke of it so casually as if he were asking her to give him the time. Directing her gaze forward, she tried to pay attention to the road and not the flurry of erotic thoughts that were forming in her mind. The thought of actual kissing was new to her.
She wasn’t going to admit to him she had been with a man, once – or more like a boy – because the guy she had been with had no idea what he was doing, but at the time she thought something had actually happened. Matter of fact, she barely remembered the incident and was so disgusted once it was over – after about a minute, that she never wanted to think about it again and she hadn’t until this moment.
The cab slowed down to stop at a red light, but it was as if the slower the vehicle went the faster her heartbeat accelerated.
He leaned over to her and whispered, “Are you wondering what it feels like?”
If she had been standing up, she probably would have collapsed to the floor. If the floodgate of arousal hadn’t been open up before, it was surely flowing like Niagara Falls now. He had purposely said half a question again to make her respond. Clearing her throat, she asked, “What do you mean?”
With just a tip of his finger, he guided her chin so that she turned and looked into his face, which was a millimeter from her own. He didn’t answer her question, but pressed his lips apprehensively against her own waiting to be pushed away. After a moment when she didn’t move away or reject his advances, Paul deepened the kiss pressing more against her lips and moving an arm around her waist drawing her towards him. He was careful to keep his foot on the brake, but was able to turn his body slightly into hers and feel her chest against his own. Her heartbeat seemed to pulse not only through the thick clothes she wore, but he could also feel the pulsations in ever inch of her skin.Shane couldn’t believe this was happening to her. Terrified by her own body reaction, she could not deny the wave of pleasure erupting throughout every vein in her body. Her heart was going so fast, yet it felt she weren’t getting enough air in her body.At least a minute passed before she was able to respond and out of reflex, she moved her arms up against his chest. His jacket was open so she was touching his body and the knowledge that his heartbeat was going just as fast as hers was almost reassuring. Instead of pushing away, which her subconscious was screaming to do, she allowed her arms to listen to her body wanted.Wrapping her arms around his neck was all the encouragement he needed as he titled his head slightly and she felt his tongue part her lips and entwine with hers. This was a shock to her system and he must have anticipated the arousal he caused he used the shudder to draw her easily into his lap.Shane felt as if she were outside of her own body, yet relishing in the exquisite phenomenon of his kiss. He didn’t just kiss, he touched, stroked and maneuvered his hands until his palms were under her shirt and his hands were massaging her breast. The groan that escaped his throat titillated her sanity. She knew she must have been losing what little mental capacity she had left, as she allowed him to raise her shirt, break the kiss and envelope a dark nipple into his mouth. Her back arched and she gripped his shoulders as he switched to the other areole paying just as much attention as he had lovingly paid the first one. His mouth returned to hers and she savored his lips even more as he drew the last of her resistance away. Her subconscious suddenly screamed inside her head, “STOP! STOP IT NOW!’ It took every effort of mental strength she had to move away from him. Breathlessly, she said, “We shouldn’t. We can’t.” Closing her eyes, trying to find that frigid lonely girl inside of her again, she moaned as her body trembled with new awakenings he had caused. Even with him not touching her, she felt those midnight blue eyes show her that he wanted to do things to her body she could never imagine. The trembling increased and she became truly frightened. Not by what he had done, but what she wanted to do to him. “This is wrong,” she said more to herself than him. He moved his hands away and nodded silently, though his breathing was just as erratic as hers. Before she changed her mind, she quickly moved off his lap and back to her side of the truck. “We should go, Paul.” “But…” This time she cut him off, and insisted, “Please drive!” The light was green and he did so. They had to have been at that light for over ten minutes and he wondered what he neighbors were thinking. The silence between them was awkward as he finally came to the beginning of Elmhurst. She didn’t even speak, but pointed in the direction of where he needed to turn until they crossed Livernois and arrived at the apartments he needed to go to. He put the truck in park and looked over at her. She was holding her jacket closed and staring out the passenger window twitching nervously. He knew he could probably take her away from all this to his home and make love to her and she wouldn’t protest. He knew he had that ability to make his will, her own, but he wouldn’t. Not right now. There would be another time, he knew and when that moment came, he couldn’t wait to see her look deep into his eyes thanking him for the pleasure he would make her feel. “Thank you,” he said quietly. Shane looked at her lap too terrified of her own control to look at him. “You’re welcome.” “I’ll go hail you a cab, unless you wanted to come home with me, Shane?” She closed her eyes pretending what he had just said had really not be said to her. She imagined she had overheard this conversation by someone else. “I need to go home, Paul,” she forced out knowing if she didn’t answer him, he would form one of those wicked questions to make her lose what little power she had over her will to keep her hands to herself. He got out and went to the main street. With this being a main street, the lights around him were bright and she was able to see he was tall and lean. What did he see in her? She wondered. What made him attracted to her? And why all of a sudden was she actually attracted to a man? Hailing a cab was quick work for him and he said something to the driver before he came back over to her on the passenger side and opened the door. Getting out of the slightly high vehicle she found that she was required to take his hand and slide down to the ground. Making physical contact with him again, forced her to look up at hi. He moved closer and despite their difference in height she knew it would take him a few seconds to swoop down and kiss her in public. He didn’t seem to care where they were and that she was black, he was white and people wouldn’t approve of what they wanted to do to each other in public. “Good night, Shane,” he said and passed her a business card along with some money. “This is for the taxi. Call me if you ever need me.” “Thank you,” she said briskly. He walked over to the taxicab with her. “Is there a possible chance I will see you again?” “I shouldn’t. My studies are important to me,” she said, but this was just an excuse not to see him. It was better if she stayed as far away from Paul as possible. Nothing good could ever come out of this relationship. She wouldn’t mind the interracial relationship, but she knew realistically, the Meadows would eat him alive and Bethany would find out even if Shane tried to keep it a secret. Right now, Shane didn’t need to drag anyone else in on her misery, especially a man like Paul. Getting in the taxi, she started to close the door, but he moved his body to block that action to look down at her. “That’s one lousy excuse, Shane,” he said as if reading her mind. “But before you come up with another one, why don’t you meet me for lunch on Thursday at The Detroit Institute of Arts – Downtown.” Just as she was going to protest, he moved away, shut the door and the taxi took off. Shane looked back to see Paul turn around and go back to his truck. Whether he was there to pick up his brother or not, she couldn’t be sure. The cab driver had been given specific instructions to take her home so she was forced to give the driver her address and then sit back and enjoy the ride.
