I feel giddy. Bubbly. It’s not “manly” to think maybe but at 35 it hardly ever happens anymore. But there’s more. That taste. So familiar. Sweet and…coconut!” That’s it. She tastes like coconut. I laugh to myself and open my eyes. She’s scanning my face for a reaction. A moment later her smile is mirroring my own.
Tali had texted me earlier, “My friend Jamie is visiting and bored at her hotel. Can you entertain her ’til I get off?” It’s a favor I’ve asked so I agreed without hesitation. And we clicked.
Her flawless Brasilian skin and the way she rolls her R’s is a plus, but it’s the easy groove we fell into that is so…provocative. We’ve debated gin v. vodka in the perfect martini, laughed at the grotesqueness of American tourists and stalemated over which was better, MoMa or the Met. Normally, I’m bored an hour into a date and planning my exit, but I can’t get enough.
She’s not staying.
That was it. I could project whatever perfect girlfriend scenario my heart wanted into those pretty green eyes and the answer would always be a yes. I wish I hadn’t figured that out. I don’t want her to be a fantasy. Our connection is real and there was something behind that kiss.
What does that change?
My attention waivers as her finger runs over my palm. I’m working out how many flights to Sao Paulo I can make before I’m late on rent. I’m imagining us Facetiming in bed a hemisphere apart. I’m envisioning us having sex ’til her airport uber driver threatens to leave without her.
“Where are you?” She asks.
“Just thinking. It’s a shame you’re not staying.”
She laughs with a hint of mockery. “Tali said you were a tortured romantic.”
Or just bored. “I never have dates this good with New York women.”
“You probably aren’t trying that hard.”
We both laugh. She’s kind of right. I want to taste her lips again. I go in for another kiss and my childish impatience gets a deft rebuff. I pivot, “We’ve got another hour?” She nods. “I know a place on 15th. It’ll definitively prove vodka is the superior choice.”
She’s back into me again and her eyes tell me she wants to be kissing as much as I do. I wave to the server, “Check please.”