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Breathing heavily, we stared at each other. There was so much longing, so much passion, and so much unchecked desire between us that I was certain he was about to kiss me.

My next-door neighbor loudly came out of his apartment with two garbage bags. We startled away from each other as if we’d justgotten caught doing something we shouldn’t. I stared at my neighbor because I didn’t—Icouldn’t—look Ahmad in his eyes.

My heart was racing. My door was against my back, and I was thankful for something solid to hold on to.

“Good afternoon,” the neighbor greeted us with a curt nod.

Ahmad and I spoke in unison and then stared at each other until the neighbor disappeared through the door leading to the stairwell.

“I should, um… I should probably go get ready,” Ahmad said, breaking the silence.

His breathing seemed to be just as irregular as mine. He held the dress out to me, and I was scared to grab it. I was scared to touch him. I couldn’t even hide how my breasts were excited by the moment we’d just shared. I was fortunate he couldn’t see other parts of me.

I forced myself to speak. “Yeah, you should,” I agreed. Timidly, I reached out for the dress, and our fingers brushed. I sucked in a quick breath as we shocked each other. I brought the dress to my chest to cover myself up. “I hope you have a good time.”

He took a step back. “Thank you. I hope you have a good night as well. I enjoyed you today.”

As he was talking, my eyes dropped down to the prominent print I saw etched in his gray sweatpants. Three whole seconds ticked by before I forced my eyes back to his face.

“I enjoyed you, too,” I said breathily.

Did he see that? I know he saw that. Oh. My. God.

“See you Friday?” he asked.

Lifting my hand in a wave, I confirmed, “See you Friday.”

For my date.

I’ll see you Friday for my date.

I had to repeat it a couple of times in my head to try to force the print outline from haunting my thoughts.

16

Between working on a big project for work, chatting up a bunch of men on TenderFish, and getting to know Lennox, I had a full week. When Friday rolled around, I realized that I hadn’t been that excited about a first date in a while. I wasn’t nervous, but meeting him felt different from when I met with the others.

Maybe because I’ve been thinking about Ahmad’s dick, and now I’m going to have to face him for the first time since he watched me eye-fuck him.

I shook off the intrusive thought.

The thing with Lennox seemed like it could be something real. The fantasy with Ahmad was just that—a fantasy.

Ahmad and I are friends. Lennox is trying to be more than that.

Lennox was the kind of man who just sucked me in. Talking to him was so interesting and fun that a quick hello would turn into a three-hour conversation. The way he told stories was so engaging that he’d have me hanging on to his every word. He lived an interesting life and had a story about everything. In his thirty-six years, he’d gone to college, served in the military, started a business, and almost won the grand prize on a popular game show.

Wanting to make a good first impression, I wore a low-cut floral romper with a pair of pink slingbacks and the matching bag. The necklace I chose was a thin gold chain that dropped two strings between my breasts. It was a subtle attention-grabber. Gold pins adorned my picked-out ’fro, which added a little razzle-dazzle. I walked out of my apartment looking as good as I felt.

It wasn’t until I was about to open the door to Onyx that I felt a few nerves.

Because of Lennox or Ahmad?

“Hey, Aaliyah!” Asia chirped as soon as I walked in. “Ahmad should be out in a few. He’s finishing up inventory.”

“Okay, cool. Thanks.” I took a seat in my same spot at the bar. “How are you?”

“I’m fine. How are you?” She looked around and lowered her voice. “Did you talk to him?”