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“Do you have to ask?” His expression and demeanor changed to that all-knowing sexy arrogant smirk that I loved. “Nobody gets to me how you do. Not even Ruth. You make my relationship with her look like child’s play.”
The temperature rose by at least one hundred degrees. I squeezed my thighs together to stop the throb that registered low and hard. The pulse beat faster than my heart, begging for just a taste of Raphael Dubois.
“Here’s the check. Is there anything else that you need tonight?” When we both shook our heads, she thanked us and disappeared.
“Ready to show me some more of New Orleans?” Raphael asked.
“Don’t you mean, N'awlins?”
“Is that what I mean?” Confusion laced his features, and I giggled at his lack of understanding.
“It is. That’s the way we say it here. It’s pronounced New Orleans by the nonlocals.”
“Then New Orleans it is.” Raphael stood, dropped a few notes on the table, and helped me out of my chair. “Shall we?” He asked.
I nodded and walked toward the door side by side.
Chapter Twelve
RAPHAEL
Opening the exit door, Anise stepped out before me, allowing me another chance to smell how wonderful smelled. I joined her, lifting my arm for her to take. Anise hesitated, but I encouraged her with just a nod. There was no destination as we walked. No words were needed. I took in the sights as we passed people, buildings, and spectacles. None of them caught my attention. My only focus was the woman nestled next to me. I replaced the excitement that once brewed at spending more time with her with the contentment of feeling her near. Too much. It wasn’t part of the plan, but here we were.
As we passed the door of a club, the smoothest live ensemble I’ve ever heard pulled me back.
“What are you…?”
“How much?” I asked the guy manning the door. He told me a price, and I paid it, no questions asked.
Inside, I passed the tables filled with swooning bodies and move to the dance floor. Few people moved about there, which I couldn’t understand. Something about the jazz and the man singing about possibilities called to me.
“You’re crazy!” Anise said, stumbling along behind me.
“You know this already.”
Finding the right spot, I pulled Anise into my arms, successfully shutting her up. I pressed her body up against mine, arms around her waist, hers around my neck, and we rocked side to side. The man sang about a love gone wrong, one that he could have saved. Possibilities that he couldn’t see before that were so clear to him now. I pushed the words away and focused on the music that his band played. The guitarist, saxophonist, pianist, drummer, trumpeter, and singer were so in tune that getting lost in their symphony was easy.
This is our love. We should be together. Your hands holding mine.
This is our love. We need to be together. My arms around ya’ suga’.
This is our love. We could be together. Your lips against mine.
This is our love. We want to be together. My body missing yours.
The words snuck inside and wrapped around my heart, making me feel every word, like they made this song just for us. Anise looked up into my eyes, almost as if she felt it too. Music had a way of tearing down my defenses and baring my soul. It always came out through my eyes. It told every dirty secret.
My hands rested on the top of the curve of her ass, though I held her by the waist. Anise rocked against me, slow and deliberate. Taunting me with her innocence. She wanted me, but would never come after me. Not when she was feeling so vulnerable. The movement of her body was a reaction to mine. Electricity. I felt it everywhere, a connection too strong to break. Heat warmed her skin, softening her resolve that was present when we first entered. I gripped her tighter, branding her with my fingertips.
“You’re playing with fire, Raphael.” Anise’s voice was husky, filled with trepidation and lust at the same time. It scared her. She wanted something that I wasn’t offering. Could you blame her?
“It wouldn’t be the first time, and definitely won’t be the last.” And that was the truth. It drew us to one another, a collision course we weren’t prepared to stop, and we knew it.
“We…”
I spun her away from me, caught her arm to pull her back with a quick and easy tug until she was back into my arms, tighter than before.
Anise gasped at the same time that I began moving again. This was where she was supposed to be. I hummed the words, catching on to the hook easily. Anise rested her head on my chest, listening to the music and the beat of my heart. I could pretend that she was mine and that the world was perfect. Love existed. I could make no mistakes. The song made me think that the thing that I thought was superficial was the only thing I needed to survive. Truth was, Anise made me feel that way, too. It was a cloud of smoke that would disappear when I been suckered into the lowest low. When I was completely consumed, that’s when the truth would show its ugly head. Anise was a ploy to make me vulnerable. She was the one thing that would make me crumble. Here I was, embracing her and thinking about happily ever afters and the impossible.
