Page 88 of When I Thug You Like That

Cradling the flowers in her arm, she walked past me, hitting the lock on a Lexus that was parked a car away from mine. I jogged over to it and leaned up against the back door, while she stood with the driver’s side door open.

“You know, usually when I take a woman out on a date, we ride together. But for the sake of this being our first, we’ll do it your way.”

She shot me a slick grin. “It must be killin’ you to let that happen. Considering how you are about safety and all.”

“Oh, I’m still gon’ ride close behind you. Then, when we walk to the restaurant, I’ma grab your hand to make sure you’re at my side. Inside the place, you’ll walk ahead of me, while I guide you from behind with my hand on the small of your back.”

Nodding slowly, she slid into her car, holding the door open. “I drive fast.”

“I can keep up,” I replied confidently, pushing the door closed and bopping back to my car.

True to her word, Jai’ana drove fast as fuck. It wasn’t reckless either. She drove like she knew where cops would be, slowing down when necessary but speeding when she knew the coast was clear. She turned into the closest parking garage, and I followed. After getting directions from the parking attendant on where to park, we were given tickets to give back once we returned.

“Who the hell taught you to drive, Ma? NASCAR?” I asked once we were out on the street.

She giggled. “You said you could keep up. I wanted to test that theory.”

“And you saw me on yo’ ass. I don’t fuck around.”

I held my hand out to her, and she looked down at it. I looked down too.

“We good?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool, hand.”

She bit her lip then gave me her hand, fingers tightening around mine.

We walked to the restaurant, and upon entering, I did exactly what I told her I would do once we got inside. Once I gave my name for the 7:15 reservation that she didn’t know I booked, I let my hand rest on the small of her back, while the hostess escorted us to our table.

“A man of your word,” she said once we were seated.

“Always.”

The waiter took our drink orders first then gave us a minute to look over the menu.

“When did you make a reservation?”

“The night I sent you the flowers.”

“How’d you know I was gonna say yes to the date?”

I leaned back in my chair.

“I know things.”

The waiter returned with our drinks and asked if we were ready to place our food orders.

“He’ll be ordering for us,” Jai’ana said with a small grin. “He knows things.”

I smirked and nodded. “You eat seafood?” I asked her.

She shrugged and placed her arms on the table in a challenging way. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll see if my face swell up and I get to looking like Hitch in here.”

The waiter chuckled, and I shook my head.

“We’ll take the Sei Less lobster noodles and two orders of lamb chops.”