“Are you attracted to white men?” he asked abruptly. He swallowed hard after his question and sat his mug on the table. She watched his Adam’s apple bulge. His eyes were bright. Could it be that he was sincere?
“I’m not attracted to any man on the rebound, Mitch,” she said sympathetically. “Are you cute? Yes. You’re probably everything that a woman needs, but you just came out of a serious relationship, a marriage rather and...”
“Goodness, woman. I just asked if you were attracted to white men. I didn’t ask you to be my girl,” he said, shaking his head.
There was complete silence.
“Are you ready?” she asked, getting out of the booth.
“Yeah,” he said, under his breath. Standing up, he threw the money down on the table and watched her walk off. “Must have been something I said.”
When LaToya and Mitch arrived back at his place, she parked the car and turned down the radio. Although it was just a short drive, he had fallen back to sleep with his head tilted back on the seat. Softly, she placed her hand on his and stirred him awake.
“We’re here,” she smiled.
“Wow, I went to sleep that quickly?” He sat up and yawned. “Thanks for...everything.”
“Welcome.”
He paused for a minute. “Look, if I did anything to make you feel uncomfortable, I do apologize. It was very nice of you to take time out of your day for me. I needed it, and you didn’t have to.”
She cut him off with the wave of her hand. “You didn’t offend me. I’m a big girl, trust me.”
Mitch nodded.
“Look, your home is to the point where we can go to one hour three times a week now,” she explained.
He frowned. “I did offend you.”
“No. No. I was going to tell you earlier, but then all this happened, and it really just slipped my mind. Don’t you see the difference in your place?”
“It looks great. I feel like I can actually think in there. My work productivity has gone up tremendously because of you.”
She liked that. “Well, I’ll see you Friday...for one hour then.”
“Alright...goodnight.”
But the hand he had on the door didn’t move. Instead, he looked at her, as if he was waiting for something. LaToya watched his face, how beautiful he seemed, how different he was becoming in her mind.
Mitch swallowed hard again. LaToya was an enigma to him. She was strong and silent, direct and professional, but there was a side to her that he was curious to see. Earlier, she had smiled and laughed with him, shared with him. He had forgotten all about Elaine. For one moment, he was just a normal guy out with a beautiful girl grabbing a bite to eat. And now, something deep inside of him wanted to know more about her.
“Rebound,” she finally said, breaking his concentration on the beautiful curl of her glossy lips.
“Excuse me?”
“It’s all a part of the rebound,” she said as she hit the console and unlocked the doors. “Goodnight, Mitch. Get some rest.”
Chapter Four
LaToya laid in bed past the alarm’s loud blare on Thursday. Staring at the ceiling, she thought about Mitch again. He was an odd ball. To look at him, she would have sworn that he had it all together. He had a great house, a great job and a great body. But looks where not everything and mostly they were deceiving. He was also funny and warm, very much aware of his shortcomings and amazingly, there wasn’t a conceited bone in his body. He was quite an unusual package.
The smell of his cologne came to mind, and she trailed her fingers over the comforter and bit her lip. What if she had taken him up on his advances? What if she had moved in just close enough to kiss his lips last night? Would she be alone in her bed right now?
It had been a long time since she was in a relationship. After the breakup with Troy four years ago, all things sexual had gone out the window, maybe except her toys. Her move from San Diego to Phoenix had been sudden. She followed Angela to this desert oasis in hopes of starting over. When she first bought her little two-bedroom home, she had sworn to lose weight, change her entire outer appearance from her hair to her makeup to her style. But nothing had changed except her view of men.
Dates had been sparse since she arrived in Phoenix. She’d gone on two, in fact, in the last year. Both were disasters. One man picked his teeth throughout the entire date and the other talked about his Porsche through dinner, which once he walked her to the car, she found out was an ’83 in horrible condition and missing paint spots on the hood.