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Dinner.

I’m not hungry, but I’m not ready to end my date with her either. So, sitting in a booth at this family restaurant is where we are. She ordered beef tips and rice. I got fried chicken with green beans.

“So, you’re still not going to tell me what you and my mom were talking about?”

She shrugs, attempts to hide a smile but fails. “We weren’t talking about you, Judah.”

“That smile says otherwise.”

She eats rice and says, “Your mother is such a sweetheart.”

“That still doesn’t answer my question.”

“It doesn’t?” She looks up at me as she takes a sip of tea. Lowering the cup to the table, she says, “Okay…she said some things about you. She mentioned how upset you were when your fiancée left. She thinks that’s the main reason you never tried dating again.”

“Really?”

“Mmm hmm...”

“Then why are we sitting in a restaurant sharing a meal?”

“You consider this a date?” she asks.

“I do.”

“Then why is it that you’re so quick to label me a friend?”

“Because that’s who you are.”

“Okay, but Luna, Tabitha, Moriah and the other women in the circle are your friends, too. Can you see how that’s confusing?”

“I can, so let me clarify. I don’t feel drawn to their lips like I’m drawn to yours. You’ve intoxicated me with your scent. I’m constantly in amazement by your aura. You do for me what they can’t. You’ve touched my soul, and I can’t fight that feeling.”

“So, what are we?” she asks, looking for me to say definitively that she’s my girl.

“We are what we are,” I say. “Let’s just enjoy that.”

“Okay,” she says.

“Okay.” I reach for her plate, slide it across the table next to my plate, and say, “I need you sitting beside me. We’re too far apart.”

“Yes, sir.”

She gets up, slides into the booth next to me, then wraps her arms around me asking, “Is that better?”

“It is,” I respond, my eyes angling down at her lips.

When I lean close to them, I know I can’t stop myself from kissing her, sucking those sweet lips of hers and kissing her deeply.

It doesn’t matter how many people are around us.

It just can’t be helped. This woman brings out the best in me.

She makes me feel good inside and this feeling is the most addictive I’ve ever experienced.

When I pull away from her slowly, we both smile.

I say, “I think I should’ve ordered what you got because it tastes good. Or maybe it’s just your tongue. Unfortunately, I can’t eat that.”

“Well, you sure gave it a valiant effort.”

“I think I want to try again.”

“No, Judah. They’re going to kick us out of here.”

“How can they kick us out for displaying affection?”

“It’s going to make people uncomfortable.”

“See, that’s what’s wrong with the world. People can’t stand to see love.”

She stirs her food and takes a helping to her mouth. Meanwhile, I sit here and think about what I said. Did I just admit that I love her?

She takes a chicken leg from my plate, bites it, and says, “Oh my God. That’s freakin’ amazing.”

I do us a favor and swap plates. She eats my chicken – I eat her beef and rice. Afterward, we share a slice of strawberry cheesecake. She gets a piece on the fork and holds it in front of my mouth. I do the same for her.

We leave the restaurant good and full. I walk her to her car, thinking about asking her to stay with me again tonight, but I know she needs to get home and handle her chores and errands. Her life can’t be all wrapped up in me.

“Well, I guess this is goodbye,” I say.

“Why are you saying that like you’ll never see me again. Boy, stop playing.” She pulls me in for a hug, pressing her head against my chest. “I’m sure I’ll see you at some point in the next few days.”

“For sure.”

She tries to release me, but I won’t let her.

I bathe in her warmth, let it consume me completely and then I release her just enough to meet her lips.

She rises onto her tiptoes to meet mine.

My arms rest around the curve of her back as I kiss her all I want – get all I need until we see each other again.

And when we part, her eyes are still closed.

She looks completely breathless. Smitten.

Taken. She looks like she belongs to me.