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Just a little taste…

 

Jade walked by the dance floor, bobbing her head to the music. Just as she put her glass on a passing waiter’s tray, someone grabbed her hand and yanked her to the dance floor.

 “Hey! What the—”

 “Shh! Here, turn your back this way. You gotta dance with me. Can you step?”

 “What? Excuse you, but—”

 “Shh! Please, help me out. I’m trying to hide over here.”

 “Hide?” She looked around quickly, letting him pull her around the dance floor. “Hide from what?”

 “Not a what, a who. I don’t know who she is, but she’s been following me around since I got here.” He ducked behind her and twirled her around.

 She moved stiffly in his arms and spoke crisply. “Look, I didn’t come to this party to do protection work.”

 “Okay, then why did you come to this party?” He lowered himself again, his body folded almost in half in an attempt to hide himself behind Jade’s smaller frame. “Shit, don’t move. There she is,” he whispered urgently.

 He retreated, pulling Jade with him, closer to the center of the dance floor. Somehow he managed to keep the beat with the fast paced music as he slipped by the dancers He kept his face down and her back turned to the woman, using her as a shield, but Jade’s curiosity was peaked. She peeked over her left shoulder, trying to spy who the man was hiding from.

 Several people separated them from a beautiful, young black woman who appeared to be scanning the crowded dance floor. Her bottle blonde hair bobbed up and down, poking out between the shifting shoulders of the people as she shimmied among them in her search. He readjusted their position to keep Jade between him. Jade only caught glimpses of the tiny yellow curls and the red dress that her top heavy body was stuffed into as she pushed her way through the sea of dancers. The small woman was clearly having difficulty maneuvering through the dance floor. To her partner’s obvious relief, she finally gave up her search and he stood to his full height.

 “What was the problem? She’s, umm…pretty.”

 He chuckled. “Yeah, the problem is she’s only pretty on the outside. It took ten minutes of conversing with her for me to figure that out. She kept telling me everything her man could do for her, and buy for her, and how she’d spend all her days and nights going out of her way to be pretty for him. Check this out. She asked me what time it was, right? I said, ‘It’s a quarter to seven’. Guess what she said next?” He twirled her and went on, not waiting for an answer. “Oh that’s great! I’ve got twenty-five minutes before my friend comes,” he mimicked her high-pitched, cartoonish voice, then laughed. “What does that tell you?”

 She laughed, too. “I don’t know. Maybe she just can’t tell time.”

 He laughed again. “Yeah, okay. You know, you dance good for someone who got dragged out to the dance floor.”

 “It’s well.”

 “What’s well?” he asked, sending a quick look over his shoulder.

 “It’s, ‘you dance ‘well’ for someone who got dragged to the dance floor.’”

 Mike’s brows scrunched as he twirled her again. “That’s what I said.”

 Jade shook her head negatively, careful not to miss the beat. “No, that’s not what you said. You said good.”

 “Good is bad?” the man asked with a raised brow.

 Jade continued to stare at his feet to stay in step with him. “No, good isn’t bad, it’s just not right.”

 “So, good is wrong, but not bad?” he asked in a teasing tone.

 “No, good isn’t—” Suddenly she stopped moving and looked up at him. “Are you doing that on purpose?”

 “Doing what? I’m learning,” he assured her with a laughing grin.

 Jade stood on the dance floor staring into his smiling eyes as the people continued to dance around them. Then she rolled her own.

 “Whatever.”

 Her mystery man laughed aloud and then gripped her waist to bring her back into step with him.  “So, tell me. Why did you come to this party?”

 “I came with my friend. I’m her date.”

 “Her date? Your friend is a female? Well, this conversation just got interesting,” he said with a growing smile.

 She laughed. “Down boy, it ain’t that kind of party. We’re best friends and she came to this meet and greet to meet and greet for her company, like everyone else.” She started to relax.

 “Really? What’s her company?”

 “Spotless Cleaning Services. Her name is Kelley Kingsley.”

 He nodded. “That’s cool, and what’s your name?”

 She twisted her lips at first, staring at him, but then a slow smile came to them. “My name is Jade Dupree.”

 He returned her smile. “How’re you doing, Jade Dupree? I’m Mike Davis.”

 Mike turned her to him while they danced, holding her firmly against his chest, with his arm around her waist. Jade realized how tall the man was. At the moment her head rested against his face. She had the feeling that if she were bare footed her face would rest closer to the crook of his neck instead of being just about cheek-to-cheek as she was now.

 “Mike Davis? As in Michael Davis? The one that bought the Rayburn Suite Inn? That Michael Davis?”

 “Yup, but my friends call me Mike. Wanna be my friend?” he asked close to her ear, before he spun her around.

 She relaxed even more and chuckled. “Wow.”

 “No, there’s no wow. It’s just work,” he said modestly. “How’d you know about that?”

 She danced more fluidly with him. “Well, I’m a writer at HOT MAGAZINE. It’s my job to keep up with what’s hot.”

 “HOT MAGAZINE, huh? It’s that bright red one with the yellow letters and the big fire blazing behind it, right?”

 “Yes, that’s it.”

 “So, if I made it to your magazine, does that mean I’m considered hot?”

 “Well, you did make a huge purchase buying the Rayburn Suites Inn. It sent your net worth through the roof and moved you up to the top ten on the list of most eligible African-American bachelors in the United States for 2009. Number three, if I remember correctly, behind Jamie Foxx and Terrence Howard. So, yeah, I guess that might make you a little hot,” she answered with a giggle.

 The music stopped and they ended their dance and clapped along with everyone else.

 “Thanks for the dance and the protection, Jade. I felt extremely safe in your arms,” he said with a laughing grin.

 She giggled, again. “No problem.” She turned to walk away, but he grabbed her hand.

 “Umm, can I buy you a thank you drink?”

 Jade wrapped her arms across her chest, tapped her foot and looked him over with great scrutiny. Mike was clean-shaven with a strong square jaw. His sparkling ebony eyes had black caterpillars hovering over them that were brushed smooth. The black, double-breasted Stacey Adams tuxedo he wore had satin lapels and it accentuated his wide chest, broad shoulders and slim waist excellently. A small grin touched her lips as she nodded her approval.

 He chuckled and held out his arms out wide. ”Should I do a spin move so you can get a better look?”

 Jade smiled wider and then shook her head hard, trying not to laugh. “No, no, I’ve seen enough, but thanks for the offer, and yes. I think I will take you up on that drink.”

 He offered her his arm. They walked off the floor as another song started and it filled with people again.

 “Bacardi and Coke, please.”

 Jade watched him out the corner of her eye. His eyes widened as she slid onto the stool with femininity and grace. He blinked and shook his head as he watched her. Her dress fell open when she crossed her legs and his eyes bulged. She hide her grin as he forced himself to turn away and slide onto the stool next to her.

 He cleared his throat. “I’ll have a Remy on the rocks, my man,” he told the bartender then swiveled his stool toward Jade. “So, now that I have the Rayburn Suites I’m thinking the cleaning contracts might be negotiable. Maybe I can use Spotless Cleaning Services for my hotels. Do you have a card?”

 The bartender handed her a drink. “Thank you. Nope, Kelley has all the cards with her.”

 “Thanks, man. Well, do you have a card for you?”

 She laughed lightly and took another sip. “You’re very smooth, Mr. Mike. I’ll give you that.”

 He sipped his drink, not taking his eyes off of her.

 She raised her glass to take another sip, but stopped midway. “You’re serious?”

 He swirled his glass swishing the ice around. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

 She shrugged. “I don’t know. I would think that being the third most eligible bachelor in 2009. I’m sure you have women everywhere you went falling at your feet.”

 He smirked. “Really?”

 She nodded. “Uh-huh. A man with your kind of juice could surely have a woman in every city he went to if he wanted–probably two at home.” She shrugged and her glass finally reached her lips.

 “You think so, huh? How did someone so beautiful become so cynical?”

 “I’m not trying to be a cynic, just a realist.”

 “Okay, I can accept that. Well, I don’t know about everyone else, but I don’t have the kind of time it takes to be entertaining a bunch of different women and contrary to what you may hear men say, we don’t have that kind of stamina either,” he added under his breath with a chuckle. “Besides, I don’t need a bunch of women to make me happy, nor do I want them.” He finished his drink and set his glass down with a clunk. “I’m just looking for one.”

 “Mmm, hmm, that’s nice.” She finished her drink, clunking her glass next to his and slid off the stool. “Well, thanks for the drink and it was nice meeting you, Mike.” She walked away, leaving him with a smile over her shoulder.